Venue 7 — Restaurant in England

Recently visited this restaurant on our way back from holidays and had an unpleasant experience unfortunately. I am surprised to see so many positive reviews as we dint like the food at all. Thai curries were too sweet and dint feel authentic. When we were trying to book a table, I was told that the restaurant was fully booked and they are adjusting us somehow which was untrue. I don't understand what was the need of lying but whole internal area was empty for 1.5 hrs when we were there. Service was too slow and staff wasn't proactive at all. They dint even offer us a glass of water when we arrived. We had our whole meal without water. We were sitting on a table next to kitchen door and I was shocked to see that staff was washing dishes with hands which is ofcourse not very hygienic and lot of water gets wasted. Staff was just rushing to wash the dishes after every meal and dint seem very happy to wash them again and again.

Another thing that I found very unprofessional was all the staff keep standing near the main counter and keep chatting and laughing. They would not bother to notice if any customer need anything. My daughter literally had to walk to the counter to ask for a piece of lemon and their reaction was not very nice. They were trying to mock her as if she did a big mistake by asking for a lemon. Instead they should have asked us why we are taking lemons or if anything is wrong with food.

My family loves thai food and we love to try different thai restaurants in different cities and this was one of the worst experience we had in terms of food, staff and customer service. Will never...

Didn't know where to start with this review to be honest. It's a difficult one. The best way to summarise River Thai is that the restaurant in terms of decor, music and quality of food is aimed at a younger group with a late night bar feel - but you are charged prices that you would expect in an actual Thai restaurant. To qualify this, the decor gives off a late night bar feel, nothing indicates its a Thai restaurant. The music is for the teens. The food itself is as described by other reviewers; bland, there is just no flavour. The sauce is extremely light and slightly sweet. No flavour to the chicken. The way I can describe the food is that it resembles something you would find being served by a friend who is starting to do some dabbling at home - you would go away thinking it was pleasant enough - issue at River Thai is that you are paying £15+ per dish. If you have tried "made in thai" in Wolverhampton (comparable pricing of food) Suree kitchen in Ironbridge you will understand what people mean by River Thai not being authentic - whether the chef is from Thailand or not, with one or twenty years experience, it doesn't matter, the quality of food is not there unfortunately, despite best intentions. Genuinely want the business to succeed and it might well be doing so being aimed at a younger audience, young couples who might visit for dates, part of a night out - but if you want what is :"authentic" Thai food plenty of flavours, withba traditional Thai setting this is not the place. I would like to add the lady running the restaurant and her staff are great, and I do wish them...

Tasted like it came out of the river! I went on new years eve, where it had a set menu, there were 2 tables full in the whole place, which should have given us the first hint to run. The first starter I had was 3 little ribs and my friend had 3 spring rolls that were the size of her fingers. However these were really both tasty, so we both thought oh maybe it will be a good meal. Still hungry though of course! So, main came out quite quickly I might add, hence the 2 star rating(although I would hope so as the place was practically empty) I had the pad Thai noodles, which I know they're supposed to be Al dente but these were chewy, they also must have a liking for fish sauce because that's all I tasted throughout my chicken pad Thai, my friend had the beef chow mein and again fish sauce. Finally we had our desserts, 2 measly looking chocolate mousses (could have had this at home for £2) as I started eating through it, suddenly I got a mouthful of a whole cherry which, by that point, I then could not finish my dessert. Finally, we get our bill and for a drink, a cocktail, a 3 course meal and 2 still hungry bellys we paid £40 each!

Second redeeming feature were all the staff that worked that night were amazing and helpful, we had a laugh which made everything else easier, the man who opens the door for you is really sweet. I felt sorry for everyone who worked there that night and should have raised my complaint then but just too polite. We went to KFC in the end much better meal, highly...