Thai Crystal — Restaurant in London

I had a disappointing meal here on a Friday night in August 2018. In summary: a fairly uninspiring dining experience made worse by poor systems.

We arrived at 7:30pm and, despite not having a reservation, was warmly welcomed and quickly given a table for me and two companions.

We ordered a bottle of wine and our food and the wine was quickly brought out. Unfortunately the food was not forthcoming. Other tables had come in after us and were on their mains by about 8:10pm, at which point we complained. The waiter apologised saying they had a problem with their ticketing system with the kitchen and that food would be out any minute. It would have been better had we been informed of the delay when they found out about the problem.

Ten minutes later we'd still had no food and asked for some prawn crackers before we started chewing on the table. These were given to us quickly. At this point our wine and water had been drunk but no one came to check whether we needed anything.

Starters came out after another ten minutes and mains after that. They were OK but I thought my chicken masaman was overly sweet. Still no one asked if our drinks needed refreshing.

Another server came to clear our plates away but, having taken half of them, failed to come back for the rest. At this point we gave up on coffee or desserts and asked for the bill.

When it came to paying it took about 5-6 attempts for the card machine to work. I ended up losing my patience and walking out to a cash point but the matter had been resolved by the time I got back.

I'm unlikely to ever visit again and I would suggest you try elsewhere on the Triangle if you're...

Very disappointing experience tonight. Food arrived 1h 20min late (after the expected 80 min delivery time so almost 3 hours in total). I called the restaurant when it was 30 min late and was told it was on route and should arrive in 15 min, which turned out wasn’t true at all. By the time it did arrive the food was cold, soggy and inedible. When I requested a refund, the restaurant refused to give more than £15 (£40 bill). When I insisted on a full refund with the food arriving late and cold, and the restaurant effectively lying about being on its way, they said they would in that case send someone to get the food back?! Not sure what on earth they were going to do with the food then? But at that point it was pushing midnight and I couldn’t wait up for another couple of hours for their delivery guy to show up again, so I had to accept the £15 refund and throw the food out. Which I’m sure was their intent with their unreasonable request.

Such a shame they don’t understand the value of customer service. I’ve been a loyal and frequent customer for years and this was my first truly horrible experience with Thai Crystal. I’ve had the occasional issue with wrong food delivered or delays, but always given them the benefit of the doubt. It’s the first time I request a refund, something I feel is reasonable as they failed to deliver the product I intended to purchase. All they had to do was to be honest about delivery expectations when I called, refund the cost and apologise, and they would have kept a loyal and advocating customer. Now they have the opposite, I’m recommending anyone reading this against buying food at...

October 2019 update: Ordered via Uber Eats with £10 off voucher code. Chicken on satay was hard, dry and chewy. Lamb in green curry was also very chewy. Singapore noodles were overcooked and looked like it was scraped from the bottom of a pan because lots of clumps of noodles were stuck together like balls. Tasted like leftovers from the day before. If I paid full price for this I would be even more furious! I wonder if because I used a £10 off code I got the rubbish food? Was very hungry so I ate half. The rest has gone in the bin! I have eaten in Thai Crystal Restaurant several times and have sung it's praises in the past. I would never have believed they would send out such awful food. And yes Thai Crystal owner, I am aware that the experience between takeaway and restaurant meals will be different. Had the owner actually absorbed my comments about the dishes I received the other evening, they would get that I am not complaining because my meal didn't arrive with fancy garnishes. What was delivered was of awful standard for a takeaway, period. I have also emailed Thai Crystal as the owner has advised but a week later I still haven't received a response. I guess their mention of compensating for the awful takeaway food was just to look good on here. They couldn't care less. A place to be avoided now, whether eat in...