Thai Delight Restaurant Taupo — Restaurant in North Island

Doesn’t even deserve one star. The chicken smell was very apparent, as if it wasn’t washed properly. The Tom yum spoil smelled foul and so did the noodles and Pad Thai we ordered. We eat Thai food regularly and never had such a bad experience. We didn’t touch the food as the smell was too overpowering (did taste some of the soup). We talked to the server and said we didn’t touch the food as the chicken smell was very foul. The server was not polite, did not apologise at all nor offer to replace the food. Said we needed to pay for the food anyway. So we paid $63 for the food that we did not touch and left. They just wanted us to pay and leave. Would not recommend both for the food and the service.

Update - responding to restaurant owner’s reply below.

We said we’ve had Thai food in multiple places before and none of them ever smelt this bad. We didn’t say it didn’t look or taste like them. Your female staff said ‘you had Thai food in ONE restaurant in Wellington!’. That was condescending and felt insinuating that we never had Thai food before which is why we repeated ourselves. Staff did NOT offer to replace the food. He did ask if we wanted to take it, we declined. Also, I did mention we had a little bit of the Tom yum soup but definitely didn’t finish it (not that it matters). We paid for the food without any kind of arguments understanding the food was prepared for us despite us not liking it. However, leaving a 1-star review is mainly so others can see we have had a bad experience (the whole point of reviewing is sharing your experience with others so they can make informed decisions). No, leaving a bad review did not make me happy - in fact I have never bad reviews for anyone even if the food wasn’t great, usually because the service would make up for it. However, the bad service combined with your review really throwing it all back on us really says something. Also, Google local guides don’t...

I always look forward to dining out when hosting visitors, as it makes their visit special.

So this time we were looking forward to the unique, and complex flavours of Thailand.

The decor, the atmosphere and the welcome by the staff at Thai Delight was an encouraging start to the evening. A full restaurant is also a good sign, and the menu gave an excellent range from which to choose.

We looked forward to our choices arriving, which they did in very quick time. Almost too quickly! Visually the presentation of the meals and the associated aroma looked promising, but simplistic. And we certainly enjoyed our conversation and wine at a table nicely set out.

Afterwards we discussed our evening and agreed that the venue was nice, but the meal was rather underwhelming.

An entree of spring rolls, might well have come direct from a supermarket freezer, as they lacked any hint of being custom made by a chef. The chicken satay sticks felt like they were precooked and reheated. The meat was dry but saved by the flavour of the satay sauce. Our mains were kind of colourful, but the portions, at $30 - $38 each, were disappointingly small and rather westernised. They lacked the complex flavours that Thai food is so famous for. A few carrot sculptures didn't make up for the intricate components that were missing.

So three stars represents an honest indication of our experience. It wasn't bad, it was just ok. For what we received, it was expensive, and the food...

Few days ago, we went there for lunch, I requested if they can change the chicken to tofu cashew nuts and go without fish sauce, the waitress who’s got short grey hair with the glasses told me to order the dinner menu, I said there’s no difference with the dinner or lunch menu I just need to replace the chicken to tofu and without fish sauce . (We know she was trying to upsell us cos dinner cost $10 more ) and then she was very unhappy and rude towards us but she still said yes they can do that.(in a rude way) So when the meals came, my tofu cashew nuts tasted extremely salty, the chicken curry tasted watery. And the veggies on all the meals were so dry, chicken seem not so fresh, spring rolls was ok. We used to go there every now and then. But after this terrible experience we WILL NOT go back again for sure! LOTUS or SIAM (service wise and food wise) still the best in taupo. So if anyone wanna to have quality Thai food or better service go to...