Thai Gate Alqana — Restaurant in Abu Dhabi

We came here for dinner because of the positive reviews and the ambience was nice at night. The tom yum was indeed great, but that was about it. We ordered a seafood salad, chicken satay, a noodle dish and the much-applauded fried rice in a pineapple shell by many reviewers here. The chicken satay was over seasoned/too salty and the rest of the dishes were ok but nothing special. The mongo sticky rice was good, but the mango did most of the heavy lifting anyways.

The fried rice in a pineapple was my main problem with this place. A waitress came up to us in the middle of the meal and told us that they ran out of pineapple shells and asked whether it was ok to serve it on a plate. She also added that diced pineapples will be added to the plate. Since she was nice and asked politely, we agreed - and that’s when things went wrong. 10min or so after our chicken fried rice was casually served instead on a cold plate (as you can see from the upper right corner of this pic - it was bland and oily so we barely touched it), the table behind us who came in 15min or so later got their ornately adorned seafood fried rice in a pineapple shell served. Hmn, so a pineapples suddenly became available if it was a higher priced dish? Curious. Without the visual contribution of the pineapple, what we got was just an overpriced fried rice dish that was poorly executed and thereby failing to attract the attention of the adults or the kid.

When I pointed it out to the lady in spectacles after I asked for the check, the lady appeared to be embarrassed and uttered something that did not make much sense to me (to paraphrase the story, it sounded like that her explanation was that when we ordered it, the restaurant was busy and they needed time to carve out the pineapple. This was nonsense as no new parties came in when we got seated and several parties left when we placed the order. We were never offered the option to wait for a lucky pineapple shell to be carved for us). Maybe they could have prepared more pineapples for all the dishes that required this shell to skip this story telling that completely ruined my enjoyment of the evening.

To sum up, ok food but not worth the visit if you have plenty of Thai options...

Booked this restaurant 2 days back to dine on the 17th of June at 8pm. Requested for a nice table location or the teepee table on the day of booking and they said that they will give us a nice table. On the day booked, we arrived at 7:40 pm, and informed that we have a booking for 2, I requested to be seated on the table with teepee(tent), I was told that it is only for families (take note... for them a mother and son is not family), instead I was told by the receptionist (suzaa, dunno if I got the name right) that we can have the small table for 2 which is right beside the reception and the spot looks congested and not even set.

If an advance booking is made, at least provide an acceptable spot for a customer since there are lots of empty good tables available.

I was looking forward to dine in this restaurant but what the female receptionist did destroyed our mood. Ended up canceling our reservation and dining in a much customer friendly restaurant with accommodating and hospitable staff. Thai people originally are very hospitable, but the Thai receptionist on duty on this day was not even close to being accommodating.

I don't recommend...

A Flavorful Journey to Thailand

I recently dined at Thai Gate, Abu Dhabi Gate and it was an exceptional experience from start to finish. The ambiance transported me straight to Thailand with its beautiful decor and serene atmosphere. The staff were incredibly welcoming and attentive, ensuring every aspect of our meal was perfect.

The menu offered a wide variety of authentic Thai dishes. I started with the papaya mango salad, which had the perfect balance of sour, spicy, and savory flavors. For the main course, I tried the Pad Thai and the Green Curry and Red Curry.

The Pad Thai was a delightful combination of noodles, and peanuts, while the Green Curry had a rich, creamy texture with just the right amount of heat. Every bite was bursting with flavor.

To top it all off, I had the...