Manaw — Restaurant in Mexico City

I was super excited about having a Thai cuisine in Polanco. I'd heard from others that it was good. I have since confronted those friends and reevaluated our relationship. (From now on we'll only discuss books and films.)

Came here to find alone and ended up joining a table of friends. They had ordered appetizers prior to my arrival but assured me that only one of them made their taste buds dance. I was in a hunt for good Thai and was insulted.

The papaya salad was horrible! Other than having papaya, nothing about the dish gave me Thailand. I've been to Thailand. I took cooking lessons because I became addicted to papaya salad. I've made the salad multiple times. What they brought me.... Let's just say everyone at the table tried a small grated piece of papaya and none of us were willing to keep it on the table. Please remove the imposter!

I opted for the pad thai as an entree. Underwhelming in every since of the word. It's a though they knew noodles were involved but unaware of the flavor they should take.

My soul, nor tastebuds will allow me to return. As for recommendations - try anything non Thai or possibly...

My wife and I just got back to Mexico after a month in Thailand and as if we hadn't eaten enough Thai food in Thailand, we came to check out Manaw; one of the few Thai restaurants in Mexico city we hadn't yet visited.

We had the Tom Yum 5/5 Crispy chicken sticky bun 5/5 Coconut sea bass 5/5 Mango sticky rice 3/5

The reason for the less than stellar marks on the sticky rice, though tasty, fell short in comparison to even our least favorite mango sticky rice we had out of a sample size of maybe 10-12 around Thailand. We felt that the mango to rice ratio was a little shy however if the mango here were as sweet and succulent as the mango in Thailand, this may have been offset. Also we found that the salt level in this dish is traditionally higher, creating more "pop" in the dish. Another aspect is that the coconut cream used to flavor the dish in Thailand was noticably derived from fresh coco whereas this version did not give that impression. Understandable considering the location and the cost of fresh coconut.

All in all the service was attentive, friendly and efficient and the food rivaled some of the best food we had...

We had high hopes for Manaw, the restaurant looks stunning, it’s well rated, and we were excited to try it for a business dinner with four colleagues. Unfortunately, the experience didn’t live up to the promise.

From the moment we arrived, the service felt disorganised. Staff seemed confused, led us around the restaurant for a while before seating us at a table that was clearly too small for our group, we could barely fit, especially with large plates and drinks. Despite the obvious discomfort, it wasn’t until halfway through our mains that someone offered to move us, by which point it was far too late.

The food was equally hit and miss. The satay chicken was genuinely delicious, the one standout dish of the evening , but everything else fell short. Cocktails were underwhelming and one colleague’s main arrived with none of the vegetables listed on the menu – all had been replaced without any explanation or notice.

It felt like style over substance, and for the price point and reputation, we expected much more. Unfortunately, between the poor service and inconsistent food, I wouldn’t return or...