Hong Thai — Restaurant in Manchester

I was slightly disappointed, but that was because my expectations were unreasonably high, as a result of the food I had at the Thai buffet in the Trafford Centre in 2022 (it wasn't as good in 2023) and the reviews for Hong Thai describing the food as "great". I see now it was a bit daft to expect "great" food for the price, which was of course much less than you would pay for a restaurant meal. I had green curry with tofu. I was impressed by the fact that, a few minutes after my order, one of the staff came out to ask me if I was OK with egg fried rice, or would I prefer boiled rice instead. (As I am not vegetarian, let alone vegan, egg was fine.) The main flavours I got from the food was that it was creamy and spicy. I think each meal is probably stir-fried together, and so the flavours of the foods are all mixed to some extent. There was a basil leaf in the buffet I had in the Trafford Centre, which tasted wonderful. There was also a basil leaf in the meal at Hong Thai, but I didn't notice any real difference in the taste of this leaf to the rest of the meal. That isn't a complaint, but rather an illustration of the point I made at the beginning, that it would be unrealistic to expect great food for the price paid. Which brings me on to price. It is 15 years now since I worked in Manchester city centre, and went for a lunchtime curry once or twice per month, but I am pretty confident that the price in Hong Thai is rather more than the price of a lunchtime curry now. You get what you pay for. This meal was certainly healthier than a curry, at least as tasty, and there was more of it. The amount of food was more what I would have expected from an evening takeaway, than a lunchtime meal. After 15 minutes of eating I was still only halfway through the meal, but I had to take the rest with me as my car park ticket was about to expire - conveniently the food is served in a cardboard box, rather than on a plate. I ate half of what was left in the car (after moving it), and that was enough; l finished the rest later, when it was cold (but still fine to eat). Finally, I was a bit resentful of the fact that a cold drink is included in the price - I had some bottled tapwater with me & didn't really really need it - but I have to say it did go very well with the food. If this place existed in, say, Prestwich, I would be a regular evening customer. If I was still working in the city centre I would get a meal there occasionally but it would be a bit on the expensive side, and the size of the meals too large, to eat...

We had mixed experience there. This place is quite famous for food but it's not only about wait time, the service is something we did not like. We were just two people, entered at 7pm on monday and got plenty of tables unoccupied. Within 7.05pm every table got occupied. We placed order two main course for two people at 7.05pm. One dish came at 7.20pm and another dish we got at 7.50pm. The other person was waiting for my food to arrive so that we can eat together and his food got cold. They were serving one dish in each table on a rotation basis. No matter who ordered early. I have seen tables getting all the dishes from starters to multiple main courses one by one before we were served our second dish which was just unacceptable. The seating arrangements was not spacious. One person for takeaway was waiting inside beside the table. Another family was waiting inside to get their table turn which made the place congested for the servers to deliver the food. The road sound was loud inside and was not very comfortable. However, the foods are very tasty and the portion size is quite good. Khao soi was extremely tasty. But in the lamb massaman curry, there was just 4 smallest boneless pieces of lamb. I will prefer home delivery...

We had a 7 PM reservation and arrived on time, but still had to wait for a table, which was understandable given how busy it was. However, we were ignored by the staff for about 15 minutes while trying to place our order. No one acknowledged us despite repeated attempts to get their attention, which felt deliberate.

When the owner eventually came to our table, she scolded us for bringing in outside drinks. We apologized, but she remained visibly cold and unfriendly throughout our visit. Food took a while to arrive, with one dish significantly delayed, though everything was served by 7:38 PM.

Just 17 minutes later, while we were still eating, the owner returned to urge us to finish quickly because others were waiting. We found this surprising, as we noticed other diners who had been seated longer were not asked to leave. This, along with her questions about whether we were students and our nationalities, made us feel singled out and uncomfortable.

To top it off, we were initially charged over £70 instead of our actual bill of £37.50 due to a billing error. While the food was good, the service was unwelcoming and disappointing. Unfortunately, we wouldn’t recommend this restaurant based on...