SOI 55 Thai Eatery Ballito — Restaurant in KwaDukuza Local Municipality

My friend and I went through to Soi 55 last night after reading some rave reviews about the restaurant. It wasn’t too busy but had a good crowd for a Saturday night.

We ordered the dim sum for starters and Pad Grapow for mains. The dim sum was tasteless and didn’t encompass Thai flavours at all. The manager approached us and asked about the starters - I advised that they were okay but could do with some seasoning, at least. It literally just tasted like an unseasoned, steamed prawn. He acknowledged and said he hopes our mains will be more satisfactory.

For mains my friend ordered chicken, and I, crispy pork belly Pad Grapow. The chicken was good, but the pork belly? 1. if I did not read crispy pork belly on the menu, I would not have known it was. 2. I’m not sure if the manager took my feedback on the starter and asked the chefs to ensure that the food has seasoning, but it was really salty. To the point where it was almost inedible. It first took around 40 mins to receive our food but after I advised that the food was too salty, the waitress took it away and brought back a “new” plate of food in less than 5 minutes which tasted EXACTLY THE SAME. Both her and the manager insisted they cooked up a new meal but i found it hard to believe. It had the same pieces of pork and the same egg in the dish as it had previously. At this point I just accepted the food and hardly ate anything. The waiter and manager had both tapped off by now, however, for such a “fine” and “authentic” establishment, I expected solutions. Maybe offer up something else on the menu or apologize for the experience? Instead, there was just an insistence that I received a new plate of food. 2 stars is generous on the taste and overall experience. I really hope that future patrons receive a...

We had an unfortunately terrible experience. We specifically went to Ballito to try out this Asian restaurant. We were very excited. What ruined the whole experience was eating pork dumplings. My girlfriend is a strict vegetarian, and has never eaten any meat, much less pork. We specifically ordered veg dumplings and even spoke to the waiter about her being a vegetarian. I have never seen my girlfriend look as defeated as she was when the waiter confirmed that he had accidentally brought us pork dumplings. But those dumplings had been on our table for about 10 minutes while i had gone back to the car to get a jacket. And when asked the waiter immidiately confirmed that it was a mistaken pork dumplings set. My girlfriend had already ingested 2 of them. What shocked and confused us was that the waiter knew straight away, without checking the dumplings or going back to ask the chef. I can’t help but wonder if he knew but just didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to get in trouble for ordering the wrong dumplings. It was a miserable experience and i did not feel enough was done to repair the damage...

I used to enjoy the food here, but my last visit was honestly shocking. I ordered still water and was given a bottle with the restaurant’s own label. It tasted a bit strange, but since the server poured it into a glass with a lemon slice, I didn’t think much of it at first. When I got home, I opened the remaining water in the bottle and noticed a strong smell similar to tap water. My family members, who were dining with me, also agreed that it smelled like tap water. Upon closer inspection, I saw some foreign matter stuck inside the bottle — clearly visible in the photo I took. Because of the smell and the visible contamination inside the bottle, I suspect that it may have been reused and possibly refilled with tap water, though I cannot be certain. Even if that’s the case, it’s a serious hygiene concern and a complete breach of trust. Reusing bottles and presenting them as new would be absolutely unacceptable. I will not be returning here. I hope this review helps others make an informed decision...