Chaophraya Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in City of Edinburgh

I will start this by saying that we did feedback many of these issues to the manager and were given a discount on our meal, however, this restaurant is still fairly expensive and as such I feel that this review remains appropriate. I went to Chaophyra tonight to celebrate my partner’s birthday. I was recommended here by a family member. Unfortunately, tonight was disappointing. The host welcomed us and told us to go to the bar to wait for our table. We weren’t shown where the bar was or taken there, but we found it easily enough anyway. After enjoying a drink at the bar, we were seated 15 minutes after our reservation time. After 20 minutes of waiting, we were offered some water and drinks. We took this opportunity to order food also. The FOH seemed chaotic at best. Waiters were barely present and would often simply walk past our table despite courses being finished or wine glasses being empty. Maybe my expectations were set too high by the location and price point, but fine dining it certainly was not. Starters arrived 30 minutes after being ordered as part of a set menu. The food was basic but by this point we were very hungry. There was a stray onion ring on the starter, which when we asked a waiter about was informed that this was a ‘garnish’. If true, very strange choice. The mains arrived 45 minutes after our starters were cleared. The food was okay, but nothing special. It was akin to going to a local thai restaurant. The presentation was informal and basic. One of the dishes was described as ‘the mildest dish we have’ or something to that effect. It was so spicy that we asked the waiter if it was the correct dish. He informed us that the dish we had was normally spicy and offered us some coconut milk to cool it down. Maybe the menu needs updating. The beef in the dish was tough regardless. To add fuel to the fire, the setting of the cutlery between courses was lazy. Small details matter and it seems that the team here overlook such things. The dessert was amazing, a hazelnut-y chocolate slice of deliciousness. It was a good attempt at redemption but unfortunately not quite enough to bring me back. I went to the bathroom when leaving and could only laugh at the fact that a tempura prawn was hanging out by the sink (photo attached). I think this sums up the attention to detail offered here. I was appreciative of Jaimee’s service, so much that I asked for her name to include it in this review. She was friendly, helpful, and professional; even in the midst of what seemed to be a BOH crisis. Overall, if you’d like to pay a lot for basic thai food and to pour your own wine then you would love this restaurant. Otherwise, I think it’s advisable to look...

I booked this restaurant for a friend’s birthday after receiving a strong recommendation from a family member who had visited this exact location before. I’ve personally been to the Manchester branch, so I was expecting the usual high-quality food and service. Unfortunately, last night was an absolute disaster from start to finish.

Our table was booked for 8:15 PM, and we placed our drinks, starter, and mains orders within the first 15 minutes of being seated. The drink service was very slow, I was told they had run out of Pinot Blush wine. I was given the last glass, which was disappointing since it was only option served by glass instead of a bottle.

The starters took 40-45 minutes to arrive, which was average at best. On two separate occasions, we were told items from our order were out of stock and were asked to change our order. This was frustrating, as they should have known this when we initially ordered. We begrudgingly made the changes, but after an hour of waiting for our mains, we had enough. By 10 PM, we asked a waiter when our food would be ready since we didn't want to wait any longer. We were told it would be out soon, but we’d have to change our order yet again—this time because they had run out of beef for the Penang dish. They offered a different beef option, but warned it would be tougher and harder to chew. Given that this dish costs over £25, this was unacceptable. We refused to change our order again, which left the birthday girl with nothing to eat.

After another 10 minutes of waiting, we decided to tell the waiter we no longer wanted our mains. It just didn’t feel fair for one of us to be left without food. As soon as we said this, they claimed the food was ready, but at that point, we had already been sitting for almost 1 hour 45 minutes. They did take the mains off the bill, but the way the waiter laughed about it and offered us a discount on the rest of the bill was inappropriate and unprofessional.

What made the situation worse was the restaurant wasn’t even busy, so there was no reason for these delays. When we asked to speak to the manager, she was dismissive and didn’t want to address our concerns. To top it off, she started speaking in a different language to the staff right in front of us, completely ignoring us, which I found incredibly rude.

This was an incredibly disappointing experience, especially for a special occasion like a birthday. Given my positive past experiences with the Manchester branch and the high recommendations for this location, I was shocked at how poorly everything went last night. I won’t be returning, and I can no longer recommend this...

I've travelled a lot around Southeast Asia, including Thailand. I also love a good Thai restaurant in the UK.

I've never had such a woefully lacking 'Thai' related dining experience anywhere in the world. This includes an Indian interpretation of Thai green curry (this was on a beach in Goa) that involved blended spinach to achieve the green colour. The cost for that meal plus beverages was less than £10. Vile. But still better than this comedy of errors.

This also includes my go-to Thai restaurant at the end of the road that does a decent meal for two for under £30 (starters and mains).

A not insignificant portion of our £100 bill was made up of two very watered-down cocktails and two rather warm pints of Singa.

Our starter was basically the thickest rice paper known to man holding together strands of lettuce and mint covered with enough sweet chilli sauce to feasibly give you type II diabetes in one sitting.

Despite nearly choking on the aforementioned ricepaper, this was the better of the two courses.

I went for the vegetarian Thai green curry, and my wife went for the Pad Thai. There are two things that you can normally rely on to be difficult to mess up.

Can anyone who's been veggie a while remember those Fry's chicken style strips? That was 80% of my Thai curry along with four rather lonely bits of courgette and one and a half green beans. In fairness, the five to six individual pieces of vegetables had some bite and tased fresh. The Fry's chicken strips tasted a bit off though.

My wife's Pad Thai was the least flavoursome dish of the evening, even edging out the spring rolls!

I can't believe any thought, went into this meal aside from 'you know who we haven't ripped off yet, vegetarians and vegans!'

The music was another complete travesty. Loud, poorly chosen early 2000's 'dance music' that was just naff and made me embarrassed just to sitting there listening to it.

The highlight of our evening was the lovely server, Mary. I get the impression that bad responses to the food are common, so she dealt with our feedback with care and grace. Something lacking from every other aspect of...