Cravin Thai — Restaurant in Hamburg

This world class Thai restaurant was recommended by a friend of a friend. The person told me us they were driving an hour and a half to have a taste of truly authentic Thai cuisine. I thought that was a bit excessive, however, after having dined there, all of those thoughts were put to rest.

Cravin Thai is the best Thai restaurant I have ever been to. I worked in New York City for years, and although those Thai restaurants are phenomenal, I believe Cravin Thai holds the crown 👑.

We were a group of four- The ladies had delcious pear martinis, and they thouroghly enjoyed them. The gentlmen had some sort of pineapple cocktail, that was good enough for him to go back for seconds. I had a whiskey, because even though I like to try new things...I just like whiskey.

We started with the sampler platter- which had a nice variety of spring rolls, chicken satay, deep-fried shrimp, and and a curry puff (my favorite).

The ladies had Mild beef Pad Thai and the chili lime ribs- Both dishes looked and smelled great, and they seemed to be very satisfying.

The gentlemen and I had the steak and the duck. The steak looked sweet and savory, and was cooked to perfection. I had the duck and it was crisped to taste while still holding the all important fatty juices. This is not an easy dosh to cool perfectly. This is coming from personal experience.

I love duck, but I was going to stay away from it because it was one of the only non-spicey dishes on the menu. However, our wonderful waitress, Arlene (more on her later) allowed me to request a compliment of extra spicey seasoning on my side vegetables. Overall, it was one of the best dinners I've had all year.

Our waitress, Arlene, was nothing short of amazing. Her knowledge of the menu and fantastic personality has to make her the best waitress I've ever seen. She only works Fridays and sometimes Saturdays, but if you are lucky enough to have her come to your table, you will see exactly what I am talking about.

Overall, we had a 5-star experience and I will definitely...

Skip it. Went on Sunday evening, party of 4. We were seated promptly as it wasn't busy at all. Despite this, it took 15 minutes for our server to appear. We placed our order and it took 30 minutes for our appetizer and another 50 minutes (!) for our entrees. By the time we actually got our entrees I was practically ready to pass out. One of the few times i've actually considered getting up and leaving a restaurant. Our initial server disappeared shortly after taking our order to go "tend bar". The food itself was decent, not great, not terrible, and the portion sizes were "ok". My shrimp pad thai was actually quite mediocre, but the others seemed to enjoy their dishes. The big knock here was the service. TERRIBLE. They were very polite to be sure, but time management is not the strong suit of this place. The two of us facing the bar and the TV were VERY grateful we at least had SOMETHING to watch to pass the time. Other servers pitched in to help clear our table, bring our food (when it finally did show up) and to refill our water, but we saw our main server exactly twice: once to take the order and at the end to deliver our check.

Also, the decor was quite disappointing. Basically it's a glorified bar. Almost no asian decorations of any kind, and we were seated at a table next to the wall with a lovely view of...a brown tarp. I heard plenty of good things about this place, but experienced none of them on this visit. Skip it, there are far better restaurants in the area more than willing to take your money and provide a far more adequate...

So when we first went there, we didn't make a reservation and assumed we could just go there for dinner, but we were told "no," but the person told us in a way that made it seem like we were not worthy of their time if we didn't make a reservation. (I understand having to make a reservation, but, it's also about the way that it comes out and in this case it came out way more rude than it should have)

We didn't think that we would go back, but the next closest thai food was over 10miles away, so we decided to make a reservation, and we went there. And this place was amazing. This time we were greeted warmly, and the food was great =) The appetizers had pretty small portions, but the actual main course was huge!!!! I don't understand those who say they are small portions. And it was amazing!! It was pretty crowded though, so if you want a quiet place, it might not be the best--but if you want a nice place and don't mind having a lot of people and many conversations around--this is the place to go.

I am very happy we went back to this place after our first experience, but MAKE A RESERVATION!! Maybe we got someone who was kind of rude that day, but going to a restaurant, you don't want to feel like you're not important enough to go there. Had it not been for the first experience, it would be without a...