Thai Lanna — Restaurant in Norwich

I went here last night with a large group. The food was lovely and the restaurant has a lovely atmosphere and feels authentic. However the establishment is very old fashioned and it didn't appear that they had a till. Everything was written down on a piece of paper and added up manually with a calculator and we were told we wasn't allowed to pay for our own food and had to split the bill evenly, which was unfair when some guests had multiple courses and alcoholic drinks and some just had one course and a non alcoholic drink.

I'd recommend this place if you're going as a couple as the food was lovely and the atmosphere is too, but I wouldn't recommend for large bookings. We as a group have been to many restaurants all together and there has never been an issue with splitting bills as all other restaurants we have been to have the facilities to supply an itemised receipt. Also naturally with bill being calculated manually, there is increased risk of human error, when the restaurant only have a calculator and paper to calculate...

A rather a small cosy place, located in Bridewell Alley, I had been in once before with a friend and enjoyed it, so I thought I would give it a try on a Wednesday night, which was rather quiet when I arrived, but gradually became busier. It can seat about 20 people downstairs and about the same upstairs. If you're disabled then access is fine but it requires climbing stairs to reach the toilets, which though being small were tidy and clean. I decided on a set meal for one, which was rather tasty, prawns with a sauce, a type of curry and a beef dish with boiled rice, battered pineapple pieces with ice cream and a coffee with a mint chocolate, my drink was a Diet Cola. The lady serving everyone there, it was only her, was patient and more than capable of doing her job. I shall return to this rather quaint little restaurant...

I’m very aware that this review will get a quick response from staff because they respond to all the negative reviews. Good tactic there, the same when they told us that there was nothing wrong when we were paying our bill (in full, through gritted teeth). We should have known this place didn’t deserve the recommendation we had heard when we saw the 40 page menu. The food came out about 3 minutes after we ordered… that’s why Thai restaurants go to Iceland. The tofu satay was 4 sticks of unseasoned Hampshire chalk with no more than 20ml of satay sauce. The pad Thai was a ridiculously small portion… come on! It costs nothing to cook! 20 minutes after walking in we were paying a £27 bill (tofu, pad Thai, two beers - £4 each for 330ml) Can’t knock the business plan though, apparently they get “fully booked” selling...