Black Ginger | Thai Restaurant | The Slate, Phuket — Restaurant in Sakhu

Unfortunately after paying almost 18,000 baht ($850 AUD). We have to say this was the most disappointing experience we’ve ever experienced.

After arriving and being seated at 8:30 to indulge in the 7 course meal for New Year’s Eve, our first course was served 30 minutes into seating (a little dumpling and a slice of watermelon), and our next was served a further 45 minutes after the first course! A minuscule amount of food for that amount of time to wait is honestly just a joke. So we’re already an hour and 15 minutes into our seating and we’ve had two plates with about 200 grams worth of food.

After mentioning this to the waitress they then said we’ll get it fast tracked, as you look around the room almost everyone has already had enough of waiting, the mood is quite literally dead in the room. With it being ice cold temps in the room we were in and the dark and gloomy atmosphere, people were practically falling asleep, and my partner literally did so between courses.

Unfortunately again it took over 30 minutes to bring the next meals and to just get the pre-main dessert it also took 30 minutes which was a small scoop of overly sweet Icecream..

This restaurant clearly was severely over-staffed with an over the top degustation that they just couldn’t execute. Most of the dishes were saturated with a heavy fragrance and flavour of lemongrass you could hardly taste any other components of the dishes.

Once it came up to 10 minutes to 11, in which its time for the restaurant to close and everyone head to the coliseum lawn for the fireworks and after-party, most people hadn’t even been served their mains and those that had left before the final dessert because the wait was just ridiculously long, we asked the waitresses (3 in total we asked) about how we’re going to be served our mains and dessert if they’re closing in 10 minutes, we were told they’ll check on this and get back to us, nobody did..

Up came 11:25 and we were finally served mains, my partner is allergic to seafood and they casually served him a deep fried fish knowing this..

Honestly such a disappointing experience and feel it’s just popular due to the fancy entrance and picturesque scenery.

We unfortunately had to miss the fireworks and visit to the coliseum lawn as at the time of leaving there was no one to help navigate us to the right area and my partner and I were so exhausted from waiting so long and the wrong atmosphere we just decided to make our way home..

Will be seeking compensation for such an awful experience and lack of providing the service for what...

I was on recommendation of a good friend from the Pullman Arcadia (https://goo.gl/maps/put6hvWF2pXgMMme6) at the Black Ginger and it was definitely worth to take a closer look to this restaurant.

The Black Ginger is located on the grounds of The Slate Hotel – but because we arrived after dark, we did not see much of The Slate. From the lobby we went straight to the restaurant with a golf cart - that toke us six to eight minutes.

We were dropped off at the uniquely designed entrance to the Black Ginger and from there a blue-dipped path leads to the pier, where we were pulled over by hand with a small traditional wooden ferry.

The loving decoration of the entire entrance area is a real eye-catcher - my compliment - on the way to the restaurant you feel like been “kidnapped” into another world.

When we arrived at the other side we were led into one of the guest rooms which was mainly set up in black to gray - in the Black Ginger the color accents set by Food & Drinks - in my view exactly the right concept to focus on the essentials.

Cutlery and glasses were of a special quality and the service was very courteous, professional and by no means intrusive. Among other things, we also had a Virgin Mochito where you could clearly taste that the bartender understands his craftmanship.

Everything from the kitchen was an eyecatcher - with love prepared - here should not distract anything from the food. The food tasted good to very good, but especially the Yam Nüa Nam Tok did. The beef was medium grilled Australian ribeye which was cut into strips and then reassembled into a slice.

The typical sauce for this dish was served in a small bowl - you prepare the yam yourself - a small touch of "thai novel cuisine". The meat had a very pleasant taste, neat roasted aromas and was buttery soft.

This sauce was a dream, with coriander and red Thai onions seasoned to the point and in interaction with the meat and a bit of rice overwhelming yummy.

Finally, we had a chocolate pumpkin tart and a ball of cashew ice cream both were delicious.

The Black Ginger may not be the cheapest restaurant in the area, but certainly something special when it comes to the combination of fine dining, unique look and sophisticated atmosphere.

I would definitely recommend a visit to Black Ginger.

...take a look to the restrooms they are amazing!

Feel free to follow my Google Maps profile, check out my other reviews and be sure to visit...

We absolutely loved our time at The Slate. For context, we chose to stay here twice during our trip — once at the beginning to rest after a long flight, and again at the end for a relaxing finish before heading home. The location, design, and overall vibe were fantastic.

We also dined at Black Ginger earlier during our stay with no issues — and despite the incident, we still plan to dine there again tonight before our flight, which speaks to how much we enjoyed the food and ambiance. The quality of the food and service inside the restaurant is phenomenal and truly deserving of praise.

That said, the experience we had the night before our flight — one of the final nights of our honeymoon — was deeply disappointing and negatively impacted our overall impression of the resort.

We had an 8 PM reservation and were denied entry by the restaurant manager (Juu), who claimed I wasn’t dressed appropriately. I was wearing a collared shirt, dress shorts, and loafers — all well within the restaurant’s posted smart casual dress code, which allows dress shorts and only restricts singlets, beachwear, sportswear, and beach sandals (none of which I was wearing).

Despite being polite and explaining that this was one of the last nights of our honeymoon, we were turned away without real explanation or effort to resolve the situation. After nearly an hour of trying to sort it out — including walking back to the lobby ourselves — we finally spoke with a manager (Awy), who confirmed I was indeed compliant with the dress code. She apologized and offered a bottle of champagne, which was appreciated, but we lost over an hour in the heat and were starving, this paired with the emotional toll took a lot away from our final night.

What could have been a seamless and memorable night turned into an exhausting and frustrating experience — not because of policy, but because of poor judgment, lack of flexibility, and absence of basic hospitality from the restaurant team.

This would have easily been a 5-star review. We still appreciate the quality of the resort and the restaurant, but the way this incident was handled needs serious reflection. I hope management takes this feedback seriously to prevent it from happening to other guests in the future — especially during such meaningful and...