Pandan Leaf — Restaurant in London

Disappointed – Will Not Be Returning

I visited this restaurant for my birthday dinner after travelling quite a distance, having enjoyed it years ago when I lived nearby. While the food was okay, the overall experience was extremely disappointing.

After ordering starters, mains, and drinks, and being charged a 12% service fee, we were shocked to be asked for 10p for a plastic bag to take home leftovers — food we had already paid for. I explained that it would be a small gesture of customer care to provide the bag without hassle — especially since this was a birthday dinner I’d flagged in advance. instead of understanding, the man (with tattoos) insisted and said “the government makes us charge customers like you” — which came across with disturbing undertones. In the end he provided the bag stating ‘I will give it to you for free as it’s your birthday’ whilst I have no expectations I have been to restaurants previously on my birthday where they welcomed their guests and were happy they were chosen to dine at on a memorable celebration, good restaurants give deserts or a drink on the house when they are aware it’s a special occasion meal but Pandan Leaf restaurant will demand pennies for a plastic bag from their customer.

We felt watched throughout the meal, seated next to an open door as if we were going to leave without paying — despite dining with two children. We were also the only Black family there, and the way we were treated felt discriminatory. No one thanked us or said goodbye as we left; the man stood by the door, glaring at us — cold and hostile.

To add to that, the 20% Fork discount is misleading. They apply it only to the food, separate from the drinks, and with the high service charge, the discount ends up being pretty meaningless.

The female waitress was pleasant, but overall the customer service was poor and left a bad taste. There are far better Thai restaurants in the area that offer good food and treat customers with dignity and respect. I would not recommend this...

I only award this establishment 1 star because I cannot award zero. Appalling food and zero customer service. We like to support our local businesses, but we felt utterly let down and disrespected, will never return to this restaurant. We ordered the prawn tempura, traditionally a light and fluffy batter, the prawns where coated in a heavy batter, which resembled bread dough, we had to peal most of it off before eating it, it was that bad. The waitress that came to clear the plate did not seem not even notice nor bother to ask. The main course was an absolute disaster, I had the Thai Green Curry, it was so sickly sweet and made with horrible processed moulded rubber chicken! I asked for fish sauce to try and make it more palatable, but that did not even help. I mentioned this to the waitress when she collected the plates and it was clear that neither my husband nor I ate most of the food. My husband had 2 bowls of rice with his Massaman Curry and he left most of his food also, just eating the rice, even the rice was sickly sweetened, it taste like aspartame was added. I regularly cook with palm sugar and it does not leave such a bad taste in your mouth. We asked for the bill with bowls full of food still on the table and my husband did not even finish his beer, we just wanted to get out of there and go and have a decent meal elsewhere. The waitress just proceeded to clear the plates without asking if we enjoyed our meal, when it was pretty obvious that we did not and barely ate the food. When I mentioned to her that the food was really bad, she just asked me, have you not dined here before, what was she trying to say, the we would have then known how terrible the food is. I feel so sick at the moment and feel like I have eaten a whole container of aspartame, which is not something that I wish to consume. Absolutely appalling food and service, won't...

Pandan Leaf is a traditional southern Thai restaurant that seems to be (Thai) family run - and indeed on the evening that we visited was full of families. Good to see that they're family friendly though it got pretty noisy. The food was really enjoyable. We ordered pretty traditional dishes such as fish cakes, phad thai and tom kha. The fish cakes were plump and succulent, the phad thai was tasty and the tom kha was on point. Perhaps the green chicken curry that we ordered was a little disappointing - not quite as good as elsewhere - and once again it contained bamboo shoot - which you don't really find in authentic Thai food. Everything could, however, been a little spicier. We were a little disappointed with the desserts. Though it wasn't on the menu we were excited to learn that they offered mango & sticky rice. Unfortunately the rice wasn't the right rice and wasn't warm enough. The coconut cream/milk added wasn't quite right and they added sesame seeds instead of lentils. The mango wasn't Thai either - so all in all it didn't quite work though it was a brave attempt. Equally, the kluay tod was a brave attempt at a Thai version of toffee bananas that are common in Chinese restaurants. It didn't quite work for me as the batter was a bit mushy, providing no foil to the innate mushiness of the banana inside. Having said all that there were enough good points to warrant a good rating. The service was friendly and efficient and it was surprisingly easy to get...