The Old Siam — Restaurant in England

I feel bad giving a 3* review for The Old Siam, because it's a lovely restaurant and the food is amazing. We went on a Saturday night with a late sit-down, but it was still very busy. However to their credit the table was ready and reset (save for a fork, but I'll let that slide) when we arrived. However, it did take 20 minutes to take our drinks order, and at that point we ordered our starter too as we were getting hungry. Our drink took a while to get to us as the waitress had a lot of trouble opening the bottle of wine, and had to leave for several minutes to get a colleague to help her. We finally got our drink 30-35 minutes after sitting down which really isn't fast enough, and ordered our mains. We waited for another 10-15 minutes and our mains were brought to the table, but our starter had been forgotten about. We quickly reminded them of our starter and this arrived a few minutes later (to their credit this did get to us quickly after the error was pointed out). Our mains arrived soon after we ordered our starter, but sadly my partner's meal had green beans in even though she ordered it without, and there were mushrooms in her meal too despite this not being on the menu, even though they were mentioned in many other dishes. The staff member (who we assumed to be the manager) who sorted this out said that she should have mentioned that she didn't like mushrooms when ordering despite the ingredient not being present on the menu, which wasn't particularly professional due to its curtness. However, the meal was taken away to be changed, but arrived back a short time later with green beans still in, but luckily this time with no mushrooms. Instead of causing a fuss for a third time, we just picked the beans out. Not exactly ideal, but my meal was getting cold at this point, so we just ate. To the restaurant's credit, the food was absolutely delicious and is why they got 3*, and as well the staff were all polite and friendly, but on this occasion the quality of the service severely let them down as it seemed like they needed an extra member of staff or a slightly better guiding hand. I'd love to go back as the food was so good, but maybe on a quieter night when the staff aren't...

I was up in York for a few days and was looking for a place to eat close to where I was staying. I had noticed The Old Siam when I had gone for a walk along Micklegate. This was a Thai restaurant with wooden floors and batik wall hangings.

When I arrived it was quite busy, but I was given a warm welcome. I was shown to my table. I liked the atmosphere of the place, and there was a real buzz about it. The wooden furniture offered an informal dining experience which I liked.

There was quite a lot of choice of different Thai dishes on the menu, but in the end I decided to go for the salt n pepper soft shell crab as a starter followed by the mixed seafood pad cashew nut as my main course.

The salt n pepper soft shell crab was soft shell crab in a tempura batter with garlic, salt, pepper and served with sriracha sauce.

The batter was nice and crispy and I liked the crab, which had a real crab flavour. Sometimes when I’ve had battered soft shell crab, the crab can be somewhat tasteless. This time I could definitely taste the crab. The sriracha sauce was a little too spicy for me. However, despite that I really enjoyed the crab.

It wasn’t long before my main course arrived. This was stir fried light battered mixed seafood with roasted cashew nut, carrot, onion, red pepper and mushroom. Alongside I had a serving of sticky rice.

This was a nice dish. There was a good mix and portion of battered seafood. I did think the batter as a little thick in places, but there was a nice crunch. The sauce was nice and there was a good amount of cashew nuts. The sauce was nice and it worked well combining all the aspects of the dish together.

Overall I really liked the food here, the service was excellent, warm, and friendly. I was tempted to go again, but I know if I am up in York again, I will try and visit...

A Delightful Dining Experience at The Old Siam

We had an absolutely wonderful time at The Old Siam in York. The service was not only highly professional (thank you Toon!) but also incredibly kind, with special mention to our amazing waitress Ida, who went above and beyond to make us feel welcome and cared for throughout the evening.

We opted for the Early Bird menu and were thoroughly impressed. Every dish we tried was bursting with flavour and beautifully presented; truly a testament to the kitchen's skill and attention to detail.

Thank you for offering such a well-crafted menu, with exceptional execution and warm hospitality. We’re already looking forward to...