Sala Thong — Restaurant in Stevenage

I came for lunch a few days prior, it was great and so eagerly booked for NYE, but have not been left impressed since.

Our booking was for 8pm, it took some time for us to be addressed at the door to begin with. After 10 or so minutes we were told our table was not ready and were asked if we could wait at the bar.

I had no issue with this (although slightly frustrating that our booked table was not ready) I was happy to wait at the bar for a drink.

But after waiting at the bar for over 25 minutes, we were not acknowledged by the bar man at all.

I understand he had a backlog of drinks orders to get through but there was no acknowledgement of us so we just sat there and waited until we were seated.

It would have been a lot longer but a couple seated just before us got up and left - it appeared the next table available was not ready for another 25 minutes (so we were lucky that they left and it came available)

Feeling like we had finally got somewhere, we eventually ordered our food and drinks at the table

But we waited over an hour and 15 minutes for our drinks- with our food coming before our drinks.

When I asked the waitress if she could chase our drinks up as we sat there with our food without any drinks.

The waitress told us that it is busy but our drinks would be 2 minutes then rushed away.

Another 20 minutes had passed and still no drinks.

I asked another waitress if we could have some water whilst we waited for our drinks she said yes but went to tend to customers walking in and never came back to us.

After 10 minutes I asked another waitress for some water which we were given.

A man from a large table then came back in after leaving and had an issue with payment - in which a waitress admitted there was no management in.

So after discussion the bar man went outside for a good while to deal with the incident.

This again delayed the drinks.

We then we overheard that the restaurant will not be serving cocktails anymore.

The waitresses were visibly stressed and rushing about, which did not create a nice atmosphere

It felt very slap dash.

Although the food was absolutely lovely, the management and overall service was not good at all - which was a real shame.

I wanted to say something in the restaurant but understood there was no management in.

I completely understand that it was New Years Eve and with that, means it will be busy.

But being ‘busy’ is not the fault of the overall running of the restaurant that night.

Although the food was lovely, the service and the atmosphere put a general downer on the night - which was really unfortunate considering it was New Year’s Eve.

It seems it was poorly organised and felt rushed, not the atmosphere/ service you want to get...

14/5/24

This place was recommended to me by a couple I met in a local pub, well, I hope I got to the right place.

The interior was quite basic, but there wee a good number of people inside.

I decided to test with the fish dish on the menu for two reasons@

I like fish, and I like monkfish. Monkfish is a difficult fish to cook.

When I complained at the end of the meal, I said:

The fish was overcooked and rubbery. The rice was very dry and rice on top was hard, I left most of this. The sauce was nice and had a bit of heat.

The meal arrived in less than 12 minutes from ordering.

I also said that I didn't feel it was freshly cooked, but the manager assured me that it had been.

My observations:

The fish was cooked from frozen, as you cannot have it waiting defrosted on the off-chance it will be ordered. Ergo, it must have been frozen. Due to this it was overcooked. I'm still wondering if it was actually monkfish as the pieces were exceptionally thin.

The manager admitted that they cannot cook sticky rice fresh and it had been put in a microwave to heat up. This is what caused the dryness and the crust of hard rice on top.

I'd allege that the fish was put in the pan on a high heat and then the sauce added. The fish hadn't taken on any of the flavour of the sauce.

In all I felt the main course was expensive give what I received.

I did tell them that I would send them a link to my review.

I will not be returning and if I bump into that couple I met, I'll tell them about my experience.

I paid in full except for any service charge.

Pint of Singha Beer - £6.00 Panang Monkfish - £19.50 Sticky...

My husband and I were really looking forward to a nice evening out here. We could only get a table for the opening time as we had booked last minute. When I booked the table online, there was a note to say the table must be cleared by 19:45, not a problem. When we arrived the staff pointed in a vague area toward a table, we presumed it was the table for two in that area and went to sit down. As we sat down and they gave us the menu they said abruptly we must be out by 20:00, again we don't have a problem with this. We ordered our food and started to wait patiently. Within approximately 7 minutes of ordering our food it was on the table. This is an alarm bell for me, if you can make a quality meal in 7 minutes I must be doing something seriously wrong at home. The average time to cook raw chicken should be 30 minutes or so, suggesting this chicken was reheated. When eating in a restaurant we don't expect to pay for reheated chicken. Anyhow we didn't finish the meal, it was just about room temperature on the outside and still cold toward the middle. The staff never came back to check on us, we had to find someone to ask them to clear the table and we were out of the door within 35 minutes. Reading other reviews on here I would presume we had such a bad experience given the time we arrived, I hope if you book a later table it would be cooked fresh, but who knows. We certainly will never go back here there are far better...