Siamese Doll — Restaurant in Upper Harbour

My husband and I went to Siamese Doll for the first time for a dinner reservation set for 7:30pm.

Great location on the wharf and at the end of Hobsonville Point. It’s set amongst a trendy crowd including Little Creatures Brewing, Catalina Bay Farmers Market, Fabric Cafe Bistro, and a Pilates studio. To add to the upscale setting is a beautiful backdrop of the water and nature. Walking inside it feels eclectic and upbeat with modern decor and a tall industrial ceiling. We’re guided to our table set beyond spacious looking booths and hints of Asian aesthetic and artwork.

Based on the culinary work of the chefs - the food was full of flavour and visually appealing. 10/10. If the experience was based solely on the food, Siamese Doll would give other establishments a run for their money.

Unfortunately that’s where the good vibes stopped.

We had to watch chefs physically bring dishes to servers to make sure they got to tables within an appropriate amount of time to ensure meals go out hot. Numerous bell ‘dings’ notifying staff to run the meals did not quicken their pace.

The thing that stood out the most was the lack of service.

The only moment of enthusiasm we got was upon entrance when the hostess smiled and said hello, asked for our reservation and brought us to our table. End of conversation or welcome remarks.

It took almost 30 minutes for anyone to come to the table and offer water. Unknownst to us, our sullen and quiet water boy was to be our server. We unfortunately had to flag someone down to tell them we would like to order. A similar theme we saw with the table next to us.

In the hospitality industry the experience you give a customer is a lasting memory. Whether that’s asking if they’ve been there before, how they’re doing, smiling, recommendations…these are but small gestures that show you’re enthusiastic and knowledgeable about your place of work.

Important to note as well, if you order the sake, it will come divided on two trays, each with a cup/shot and a small pouring jug…which I’m used to having maybe cream or a dessert custard put into - not a traditional looking carafe. The sake will spill out of these and into the tray as the server walks it to your table. Meaning, the drink you paid for will be partially wasted…

We ordered two starters and two mains, plus roti to accompany a curry. Upon confirmation of our order and that we wanted the starters to arrive before our mains the server carried on. My partner received his starter, beautiful fresh rolls, then his green curry (main) afterwards….while I waited. I hadn’t received my starter, which were 4 dumplings until he was halfway through his meal. At the same time, receiving my main. Missing item - roti. Never came so I politely asked the server to make sure that it wasn’t on the bill because we hadn’t received it. We got blank stares as he walked away. It was as if he’d rather be anywhere, but in that restaurant, was the impression we got.

It’s a let down because the restaurant has the potential to be something amazing - you have brilliant food, wine & cocktails, great atmosphere. We counted 5-6 people running food to tables, including the hostess, another lady I assume was an owner, a service manager who stationed himself on one side of the pass, and waiters.

There was a sign at the checkout counter claiming to bare with them as they’re low on staff because people are ill. In our experience, there needed to be better management and customer service training, at minimum, for our sullen server. The restaurant wasn’t at full capacity and meals were coming out at a slow to steady pace. We’re talking rainy, windy, Wednesday night.

In short - please come here for the amazing food, but be aware that your service experience will be sub par. There is so much potential for Siamese Doll to build a great reputation as a top restaurant based on exquisite food and great service, but time will tell. I greatly hope that my next visit is a marked service improvement to the first experience, plus that of others, otherwise it will...

We went there for lunch today upon a recommendation from someone and both of us were really disappointed to the point we didn't even finish our main.

We both had bao buns to start with and while mine was nice enough it was pretty underwhelming compared to bao buns at other place, the karaage chicken in it was tiny, the pickled papaya was almost non-existent and there was so much coriander in there that i had to pick most of it out. I then ordered the Pad see ew, which I choose as it was one of the dishes that didn't say it came with tofu but when it came out it had tofu in it and whenI questioned it they said not all the dishes on the menu mention every ingredient. Anyway they happily exchanged it for something else. I got a donburi and again it just was just ok, the sauce came in a pot on the side which was strange. In the bowl itself it was just karaage chicken, rice and a dress salad, I ate half of it but it just wasn't tasty enough to want to finish it. My friend had a curry and it was very watery and she didn't finish hers either. Nobody came to check if everything was ok at any point apart from when I called them over about the pad see ew. We mentioned when paying that we'd been disappointed in the food and the girl taking our payment just kind of ignored what we were saying and spent more time looking for a stapler to staple the receipt and then just said as we left "sorry about that". The young girl next to her who worked there looked apologetic and kind of embarrassed that the other girl was ignoring what we were saying. We won't be going back anytime soon or recommending...

We had such high hopes for this place, considering the location and the other reviews.

We came on a Friday evening. Reservations are a must - we watched several people get turned away because of lack of space. The service seems a bit slipshod, not fully explained by the business. I'm convinced that if we hadn't somehow caught the attention of our waitress while she was walking by, we would have been destined to sit there forever waiting to order drinks.

For 5 of us we ordered a couple plates of dumplings/bao, the fried chicken, Tom Yum, pad Thai, the blue crab fried rice, massamun curry, and fried fish. The food was underwhelming to say the least. The fish was overcooked, dry, and chewy, the dumplings were unconvincing in terms of flavour and wrapped in what looked like storebought wonton wrappers, and everything in general was just too sweet. Portion sizes were, to be frank, pitiful. The Tom Yum at least tasted like what I expected, and the prawns at least were cooked just right.

The biggest letdown was the fried rice. Several of our party were literally salivating at the prospect, but the portion sizes were too small, and there was not enough crab flavour. Mixing a tiny spoonful of crab with some eggy rice does not make fried rice, unfortunately.

For the 5 of us we would have needed at least a couple more dishes and big plates, but Siamese Doll was disappointing enough that we decided to finish our meal elsewhere. The bottle of wine we got was the best part of the meal, which unfortunately says a lot about the...