Talay — Restaurant in Orlando

If I’m being blunt, this place does not live up to expectations. From reviews and promotional videos, i expected much more but that might’ve been a mistake on my end. From the moment we walked in, we waited for a good 5 minutes before anyone even attended to us and she asked people who came in after how they needed help before us. Not unreasonable if she had not seen who walked in the door first but she had escorted two parties to their table when we were standing there waiting for her to come back. Not even addressed with a “ Oh, I’ll be right with you “. Felt awkward and distant from the beginning. The ambiance was nice but the lack of care had already started to leave a bad taste in our mouths. Once sat, another 20 mins had passed without a waiter. As we’re deliberating from the menu options, our waitress came to ask about the drink options and scurried away right after as if she was too busy attending other tables. We looked past it because maybe the food was good. We ordered the Keaw Wan Roti which, portion wise was relatively small for price but the curry was decent, a little sweet personally but the roti was more like a warm tortilla than what a typically flaky roti would be like. The second dish we ordered was the Goong Chae Nam Pla, which was a raw shrimp dish in a cilantro chili-lime sauce/dressing was the only redeemable dish of the night. It was actually quite good and flavorful. The sauce complimented the shrimp beautifully. Which i can’t say about the next dish, the Tom Yum Nam Kon and we opted for the seafood option. The creamy Tom Yum soup is actually the most distasteful dish of the night, no aspect of it reminded me of a normal Tom yum soup. The soup gave off an overly sweet tomatoey flavor that wasn’t too pleasant nor expected for your typical Tom yum soup with coconut cream. It also had a pugent fish flavor even though we ordered it with seafood, it shouldn’t mainly taste fishy. The next one was the Sua Rong Hai was the grilled Picanha. I can’t fathom how anyone could chew through it without exhausting their jaw. We asked for medium rare and clearly, was not done to our liking. It was bland, and sauce did not compliment it. The last dish that came out was the salad which had cellophane noodles and seafood. Bland is all i can say about it even with the sauce provided. Nothing exciting but maybe the blue glass noodles that looked intriguing. There was no flavor, a dish that just was slightly pleasing to look at and disappointing to the taste. The waitress never came back after the initial time when she took our order to see how we were doing or even how the food was. Employees lacked training and professionalism. Not to mention the parking situation was also such an inconvience but what do you expect when you’re in the middle of downtown. Overall, extremely poor customer service, food was so mediocre which is an overstatment on my part. Don’t have any high expectations when coming here is my...

I really wanted to love this place, but unfortunately, the experience left a lot to be desired.

We came as a group of six to celebrate a birthday. When we arrived, the hostess told us there would be a 15-minute wait — but didn’t take our name or any contact info. We waited right in front of the host stand, fully visible the entire time. After about 30 minutes, we watched a group of three who arrived after us get seated at a table that had six chairs. When I asked for an update, the hostess seemed flustered and admitted she had forgotten about our group.

After finally being seated (over an hour later), we let the host know it was someone’s birthday. It then took another 30 minutes just to take our order. We even asked for the birthday dessert to come out first, since we correctly assumed the food would take a while. The dessert eventually came — but with no acknowledgment that it was a birthday, even though the staff celebrated a birthday for the party that was previously at our table

We reminded our server three separate times that we were celebrating a birthday. The third time, she told us they wouldn’t do anything unless we paid for another dessert. (???) Meanwhile, we watched the staff go all-out celebrating birthdays at four nearby tables — singing, candles, the works.

We ended up spending nearly $300 on food and drinks, only to be overlooked repeatedly. And yes — gratuity was automatically added.

The space is beautiful, but the service was chaotic, disorganized, and dismissive. The way our celebration was handled made the whole night feel more frustrating than festive. Definitely...

We visited Talay Thai Restaurant in early May for an early dinner around 5 PM, just before the evening rush, and it was an outstanding experience from start to finish. The restaurant has a modern, upscale ambiance—easily one of the nicest Thai dining spots in Central Florida with stylish décor and a relaxing vibe.

We started with drinks and tried two of their signature cocktails: Nothin But Coconut and Mango Sticky Rice. Both were  refreshing, and perfectly balanced, but the Mango Sticky Rice cocktail was definitely the standout.  We also enjoyed a classic Thai Iced Tea which was rich and creamy—just as expected.

For appetizers, we had the Por Pia Tod (crispy vegetable spring rolls with sweet Thai chili sauce) and the Gai Satay (Thai chicken skewers with curry powder, cucumber salad, and peanut sauce). Both were excellent choices, bursting with flavor and nicely presented.

For our entrées, the Pineapple Fried Rice was fragrant, colorful, and generously portioned, but the star dish was the Pa Nang Scallops (Seared scallops in Pa Nang curry, kaffir lime, Thai chili, coconut milk), —seared to perfection in a velvety Pa Nang curry sauce. The flavors were bold and authentic without being overpowering.

Overall, we were impressed by the quality, presentation, and thoughtful service. Talay Thai is a must-visit for unique Thai cuisine lovers and anyone looking for an elevated dining experience in Orlando. Highly...