Sri Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Napier

I acquired a love for Thai and Vietnamese food while on an Asian cruise/stay vacation a few years back. I always read the reviews when traveling in areas where Asian food is common, like New Zealand. I was pleased to find a highly recommended restaurant offering both. Sri Thai lived up to its reputation... The food was authentic and very tasty... The service was inexplicably slow.

We arrived rather late in the evening. You know, not too late that the kitchen is closing down, but after the rush, where most tables that empty are not reseated. For this reason and the fact that the server promptly took our order and delivered the wine, I put the blame on the kitchen crew for taking over an hour to deliver the main course, including the soup.

That being said, the Fancy Thai Prawn Appetizer arrived in a somewhat timely manner, but it took the kitchen another 45 minutes for the Tom yum soup, the Spicy Basil Noodles, and the Chicken Lemon Grass. Maybe the 45-minute wait heightened our appetite, allowing us to appreciate the food even more. Regardless, even after the wait, the food was great.

So... if you find yourself in Napier craving some authentic Asian cuisine AND you aren't in a hurry, Sri Thai might...

After our film at the Globe, we wanted to try this restaurant as someone I know had recommend it. We ordered tea and food and I was expecting the tea to arrive promptly, but we had to wait 25 minutes for our cups. It was tea in bag and we had nowhere to put the bags after recommended 2 minutes brewing. We ended up putting the bags in a water glass, which was no big deal, as we were offered no water anyway. The food arrived just after the tea, and my dear friend's so-called sizzling plate was barely warm whereas my food was lukewarm. Have you ever had jasmine tea with fairly spicy food? I wouldn't recommend it. The tea was hot enough, as opposed to the food. And now we come to the food. I ordered a duck stir-fry. Not only was the portion minimalistic, but the overcooked duck was little more than leftover grizzle and fat, and hardly graced the plate with its presence. They even managed to serve overcooked rice that had burned bits in it. We were fortunate enough to be charged extra for that privilege. Not once did anyone come by to enquire whether we needed anything. My thought is that there must be other Thai...

Obviously understaffed as most places are, at the moment, but they are still taking massive table bookings and putting huge loads of takeaways out the door. 2 hour wait from the time of ordering to main meal arriving - no advance warning of the wait and unfortunately the hangry monster appeared and the poor waiting staff copped it, which I seriously apologise for! I usually know better than this, it’s not their fault. Owners of this place need to step up big time /they should be seriously embarrassed to have their waiting staff put in the line of fire from hungry customers…we won’t be back nor will I recommend this place unless you have a load of time and...