Giggling Squid - Harborne — Restaurant in Birmingham

Probably the first time I've rated a restaurant so low...have given it a lot of thought before writing. We visited for lunch last Saturday, got my mum out of the house after forever, group of 6 with kids. The good - very prettily decorated, summery and pastel shades, also very clean. Best, our waitress was lovely, polite and very very friendly. Now the not so good - We love Thai food, eaten it in Thailand and our beloved Thai Edge several times, were looking forward to the food. Sadly, a complete disappointment. Just no taste to anything. We ordered a selection of the food, lots of tapas which was 4 portions on a plate, pretty to look at but no taste. The tom yum paste or red Thai paste I buy from Wing Wah has way more flavour Drinks £4 for a tiny plastic bottle of coconut water... The coconut rum for the same price was much better. We were over charged for 2 kids meals, the lovely Best said we had them free?? It took several minutes for them to check the bill, which, with the correct price was almost halved, seriously!!! Please check your bills. The manager was sitting bang in the middle of the restaurant as we entered on his tablet. Assumed he was the owner, but was told manager. Space not given up for larger groups, the staff kept going to ask him things, larger groups unable to use the semi circle he was sat in by himself. Never ever seen a staff member take up seating in the middle of a restaurant. We won't be back, I've cancelled a planned return visit with friends and changed to...

We decided to check this place out on recommendation from a friend after being dissatisfied with the last experience we had at Sabai Sabai. I can honestly say that this place impressed us initially on walking in... very pretty, lovely, welcoming staff - we sat upstairs, going up this beautiful sprial stairway... all was good. The drinks we ordered were fine, wouldn't say I was blown away but they were cool... the starters came out in a decent time, not quick but not too long... and for the most part they were delicious. The zingy prawns were great, the salmon basket parcel things lol, unreal! The pork dumpings were delicious as well... my favourite was my calamari though, hands down the best salt and pepper calamari I've ever had! Easily could have had a main of that! Chicken satay for me wasn't saying much and was kind of bland. But all of them were luke warm... near enough cold. But we didn't want to complain so we left it. We all had the butterfly king prawn pad thai and omg, it was delicious!!!!! Had to ask for extra chilli flakes with mine (after already requesting they make it spicier) but with that it was 💯🤤 usually don't have space for desert but we tried the trio, which was small but super super tasty... the mango cake was AMAZING reminded me a little of pineapple upside down cake but much nicer... and then my dad had the coconut sorbet with the liqueur, that was bloody lovely!!! All in all, I'd go back again and hopefully they give me an experience I can give...

Booked this restaurant for a family meal to celebrate my birthday. Food was ok for most, but the service was very poor. It was clear from the time of booking that they were only interested in our money and had no interest in customer experience. I had multiple emails from them chasing our deposit, but no replies to my queries about allergens or side dishes. I had asked about food provision for one guest with allergies soya and dairy… no response. On the night the options provided were very limited, in a way that suggests the food is not cooked from fresh. In the end she was offered a vegetable curry but when they brought it, she noticed it contained large pieces of tofu (soya). Thankfully she realised before she ate it. I had also asked about side dishes for some of the mains and whether we could add some on. On the night no sides were provided except for the curries. Everyone else just had plates of meat with no carbs or veg, which was quite dull as well as feeling unhealthy. We were brought several dishes we hadn’t ordered and never received some we had. It felt like they wanted us out as quickly as possible, despite the restaurant being fairly empty. Our food was brought out to us before all of the guests had arrived, staff didn’t check if we were ready. Despite all of this we were forced to pay a service charge. Overall not a great experience. I wouldn’t go back and I certainly wouldn’t recommend for anyone with special dietary...