Cattleya Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in London

I last did a review of Cattleya some 10 years ago, so it is about time I did another update review. I have been a regular here for the last 15 years. The food is lovely and the staff are very friendly and helpful. The food is a combination of Thai dishes and Spanish tapas. When the owner Nittaya took over the Tapas bar called Chu & Cho and renamed it Cattleya Thai Restaurant, the Tapas side of the previous business was so popular they decided to keep it going, hence the Thai, and Spanish combination. Over the years, they have added new items to the menus, but the usual Thai restaurant favourites are all there, along with a small selection of Spanish Tapas dishes. Thai food can be quite spicy and hot, but I think Nittaya has toned down the heat a bit to accommodate the British taste of fantastic Thai flavours without too much burn. If you ask her nicely, I’m sure she will add a few more chilli if you like it hot. They have had several live singers and bands to entertain patrons, once a month over the years. For many years now, this has been provided by the ‘Charlton Central Residents Association called ’SE7’ which is the area postcode for Charlton. The band is led by local musician and composer Chris Harrison, and they play a mixture of jazz, South African Kwela, folk music, and many other genres. They also often bring along guest singers as a bonus. Being so close to the Charlton football ground, I would not try to get in on a match day, prior to or just after a match, as it is so popular that you have to book in advance. I highly...

Only come here if you want to wait HOURS for your food!

We booked a table at 7:30pm. However, they must have a poor booking system, since we had to wait for a table and then had to remind them we were a group of 6, not 4.

We waited a total of 2 hours and a half for the mains! I have never waited so long for food before. To add insult to injury, a party of 5 were served food long before we were, even though they had arrived and ordered a lot later than us. It got to the point where we had all lost our appetites from waiting for the food for so long. To top it off the Num Tok was not worth the extended wait (or any wait for that matter). I couldn’t finish it and was very disappointed. I had to go to the Chinese takeaway next door after...

Granted the rest of the food is very good here. I would recommend the Tom Kar and the soft shell crab. Such a shame our experience was marred by the long service and the lack of compensation from waiting...

Has improved since my last visit five years back but it still feels like a second rate Thai restaurant. When we arrived there was no one in the restaurant (including staff, which was odd). A few minutes later the waitress arrived and turned on the music. There may be a reason this place is usually empty.

The complimentary prawn crackers were parsimonious and had no accompanying chilli sauce which wasn’t an overly welcoming start. The starters we ordered were tasty enough without being mind blowing. Chicken gyoza were crispy, the salted squid was ok. The main dishes were mixed. The fried chicken was pretty average, whereas the aubergine and chicken was tasty.

There is a drinks menu with a happy hour 5-7pm but doing dry January we hoped for some mocktails…no can do apparently…sigh.

Overall it was fine and at £25 a head was affordable but it’s not somewhere I can...