ZANA Ormiston — Restaurant in Howick

IF U ARE VEGAN OR VEGETARIAN DO NOT GO THERE! We checked the buffet menu before hand which stated that they cater for vegan and vegetarians. We joined our group there for my nephews birthday. When my son and I reached we went to pay for the buffet. Staff were polite. We went to pay and I told them we are vegetarians. Lady told me that they only had one vegetarian option available which was okra sabzi and because my son and I were vegetarian and werent going to eat much that she would charge us both child prices. My cousin who reached before us had asked the chef beforehand to make paneer sabzi which he said he would. The adult price was $25 and the lady charged us a reduced rate of $20 each (which was not the child rate) . We were given our plates which were old and grubby, I asked for another plate because they were not clean, which they did replace. We spoke to the man in charge and he said that he will make kadai paneer which is listed in the menu. In the meantime we decided to eat a few spring rolls and watered down icy mango pulp drink while the rest of our group were nearly finishing off their meals. Lady then brings in aloo Gobi to our table and we tell here that the cook has already said he will make kadai paneer. She said that will take 15 min more we said we will wait. An hour has passed and we are happy to be getting kadai paneer only to be disappointed when it did arrive. No way did it resemble kadai paneer it didn't even have any capsicum in it. What we did get was a slightly sweet gravy with bits of paneer brocolli beans and frozen mixed veges. My son tried it and felt nauseus and went outside. I too had a few bites and felt sick. Afterwards I went and told the lady of my disappointment and all she said is sorry and that she would pass my concerns on to the cook. I explained to her that the dish made us feel sick because that combination does not go together. We left the restaurant hungry because there was hardly anything to eat.... Not exactly how I envisaged a buffet.

The rest of the group said the buffet was average. They tried the okra dish that was available and they said it was waaay too spicy. I did like the kheer dessert but that's about it.

Staff were polite but helpless and unorganized.

Crazy amount of flies flying around even though the room was nicely air conditioned

I hope they improve their service for their own good. I understand that they recently added the buffet service which is not in the same building as the restaurant itself but around the corner. I think they are not fully equipped in that building and lack organization. Good luck to you and hope you can turn things around BUT will not be going back...

Unacceptable service, poor management and below average food

We visited for the first time and it's definitely going to be our last!

It took two waiters to take our order and they still couldn't get the order right

We ordered drinks and was never told that their smoothie machine or hot water kettle wasn't working at the time of ordering we were almost done eating and then was told "Sorry our smoothie machine isn't working" if we never called the waiter asking for our drinks they never would have made an effort to come tell us, what's shocking is that they couldn't even serve hot green tea! was their kettle not working too?

The food was honestly below average and definitely not worth the price it's a knock off version of Nickies Thai Restaurant no originality or creativity whatsoever.

Not forgetting the paper cups! For some strange reason we were given paper cups to drink water from while other tables had proper glass... Are the seriously avoiding to do dishes or they just never had enough glass

why the paper cups in a restaurant?

And lastly what triggered me the most is when I went to pay I was asked to wait 10 minutes so they can get the bill ready and I said no this is what I ordered and I would like to pay now and go if we never had takeaway containers as proof showing them what we ate they'd still be questioning each other asking who took the order

Seriously went in with high expectations left with nothing but disappointment

Management needs to be...

I realised while eating my food that this is actually the worst Thai restaurant I have ever been to (and I’ve been to a lot!)

Firstly the food was, although edible (we were really hungry as I’d not eaten in 24 hours) not genuine Thai food at all. I had massaman curry, the menu mentioned potato and seasonal vegetables as per a genuine massaman curry. There were no potato’s. And the vegetables were made of diced frozen veg, broccoli and cauliflower. There was little presence of curry paste and a very watery and heavily coconut milk based curry, again not genuine Thai, just loosely based on a Thai curry. My partner (who is Thai) ordered “fish bowl soup” this was actually “fish ball soup” and was made with ingredients that a genuine Thai chef would not put in a soup for example capsicum.

The restaurant floor was filthy and looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in a week, the staff wanted to communicate without using words.

I wanted to provide some constructive feedback to them to try and help them to improve, but as we paid they did not talk to me, just pointed at their checkout till and gestured for me to use paywave…

The only saving grace was the price, but for an extra $4 a head it really is worth paying a little more for real Thai food.

I’m unsure why anyone would go here when there are great “genuine thai” restaurants just...