De GRAND Thai Restaurant and Bar — Restaurant in Albert-Eden

I have worked in the hospitality industry for the past 5 years and never in my experience working in multiple restaurants around Auckland have I ever heard of a restaurant charging $20 for people who aren’t eating in a large group. There are no expenses that come with setting up a table or pouring cold tap water which is the bare minimum in a dining experience. I came here the other day for a birthday dinner with my partner and a number of others. The waiter was extremely rude insisting that we pay $20 even though we weren’t eating. He poked me on the shoulder quite aggressively to get my attention and he waved the menu in front of my partners face and slammed it on the table to show us the $20 fee on the front page. We got up and left as we did not want to pay $20 to sit and talk with our friends. There’s no justification for a charge like that and to blame it on covid is a lousy excuse for daylight robbery. Easily the worst service and restaurant I’ve ever been to. I’m shocked and appalled that for a restaurant with such expensive items on their menu (who definitely make a lot of money as most people that were there at the same time were large groups) that they would impose a fee on those who don’t want to/can’t eat.

EDIT: owner accused me of being a fake account created by my partner. Harassed a friend of ours over the phone to get her to ask us to remove the reviews. Spoke to the owner over the phone to tell him that the way he conducted himself with our friend was overstepping. He was very unprofessional and antagonistic. Said I was “arrogant” and proceeded to hang up the phone.

POST EDIT: owner tried calling me again, sent me a verbally abusive text, threatening to contact my employers and University. He came into my workplace looking for me and has now made my partner and I very uncomfortable with how he’s handled this review. Not on at all. Be wary when...

Been here before many times but that was over 7 years ago. Came here for dinner wanting to try their deep fried whole snapper with thai sweet chili sauce which is our favourite Thai dish. We also had the soft shell crab appetiser. The crab was beyond my expectation as most soft shell crab normally is cooked from frozen but they did well to fry it and the sauce was sweet, tangy and really is the perfect start. The main was the fish which was filleted for us and serves on top of the bones. The fish was fried lightly battered and the sauce was the best I have had for this dish. The sauce had little bits of courgette and baby corn which added volume and was very appetizing and flavourful to go with the rice. We also had the banana chocolate spring roll with ice cream for dessert which was lovely as well and was good ending to the meal.

Service was quite funny, it was generally good but the wait staff normally don't face the direction of diners so I think not trained very well or at all. They also have almost zero knowledge of their own menu but at least they go around refilling water which was good.

Overall, superb meal. One of the best Thai food...

Went for dinner one night and was really impressed. Greeted straight away, and seated. Friendly staff and overall service was just fantastic. My order was taken efficiently and even though it’s was really busy everything was just great. The venue itself was easy to find, have a great atmosphere and vide about it. Some places you go to can seem like they are trying to prove they are Thai, etc by overcompensating with the decor. Not here...was great. You know you were in a Thai restaurant, but not overpowered by the theme. The food. Wow. Delicious !!! Again ... did Not have to wait long at all for my starters And the main followed soon after finishing that. May sound dull to most, but I love a good Pad Thai... Thai was not a good pad Thai, at all. It was amazing! I have not have Pad Thai this great before. I am not joking. Flavour, lots of meat, nuts and ohhh I could have gone another one!! Reasonably priced for the cuisine, and an all round great place!! The one down side of the parking, but was plenty of street parking when I was there Keep up the awesome work team. I look forward to consign...