Nakontong Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Waikato

If you are in Thames on a Sunday night, hoping for a good meal... Go somewhere else.

This was some of the worst food I have ever eaten in NZ! We ordered the Massaman curry and Jungle Curry as well as a small sampler entreé. Oh, and it came with rice.

Both curries had the texture of weak soup and only the vaguest semblance of the flavours and ingredients they were supposed to have. The meat, chicken and pork, resembled boiled waxed cardboard, and were completely unpalatable.

The entreé consisted of a miniscule handful of overly deep fried prepackaged bits. And the shrivelled, curled fish cake was certainly fishy.

Ironically the harshest part of the meal was the rice! What should have been a simple, tasty steaming base for lush curries bursting with flavour, was in fact a brutal experience on the throat. The rice was so poorly cooked and tough that even the insipid curries could not hydrate it enough to get it down.

After a mere handful of bites, we simply gave up trying to choke the meal down.

We even left all of the left overs there. Which for me is a capitol sin as I know it will j ust go in the bin. I just couldn't stand the though of trying to choke down another bite ever.

This place actually ranks high up on the list of worst places I have ever eaten! Of which there are two in NZ.

I write this in the hopes the owners take a serious look at the food they produce from the rice, most fundamental of elements in ALL asian cuisine, to the texture and quality of all of their dishes.

And, until such time as they do, go ANYWHERE else! Your throat and stomach...

Great food, portions and service! For some reason their Tom Yum made me nostalgic of when I travelled to Bangkok. It was really good and spicy! The portions were really generous for the price, specially the meat. We also had Macadamia chicken, mixed appetisers and pad thai (not my favourite but the flavor was still there).

We cam just after 5 pm and though they were fully booked, they managed to get a table of 3 for us. Staff were friendly, accommodating, friendly and efficient. They were quite busy on a saturday night but they seem to cater to everyone very well.

Atmosphere is really cool! Takes me back to southeast Asia!...

Not often have I walked in to a Thai restaurant and had an iced cold water poured before I even get to the table! This was clearly the local for all in thames and I understand why. Beautiful service, amazing people and the food was not bad too 😄 They didn't offer larb gai on their menu but when we asked, they had no hesitation in making it for us, and it was one of the nicest ones we have had, and we've had a fair few dozen of these! They would come back to the table to top waters up which you don't often get at thai restaurants and same with the rice. Amazing options for drinks and we'll priced. We'd definitely go back when we're back...