thai chef's restaurant

my wife and i had a beautiful evening at the thai chef in onekawa - our first visit there.
the whole experience reminded us of our holiday in bangkok, it really was an authentic thai restaurant. the staff were friendly yet courteous and the food was excellent. service was quick, no delays and well presented.
we will definitely be taking our overseas visitors there to enjoy a supernightout.

(we did have one very slight problem in reading the beautiful colourful menu, due to the writing being white & small against a fancy background and with our ageing eyesight it was quite difficult to read in some parts).

looking forward to many more such evenings! :-)

visited lastnightas a family group with 5 young children.
ridiculous service. ordered all vegetarian food with no fish or meat and was served with prawns in the salad, still charged for the item. took over an hour for the food to be served and that too half the order arrived, missed out on 2 mains. when asked why the food took so long, the waiter replied rudely because we didn’t mention to get all the food together, they were waiting for the starters to finish which had already finished for more than 20 mins ago. to add to all this there was a group of intoxicated youngsters right behind our table swearing and creating ruckus in the restaurant and none of the staff members bothered to take any action. would never ever visit again or recommend. inspite of all this no apologies whatsoever from any staff or management. 😡😡😡

edited review: recently visited on a wednesday and the experience was far better - the standard was back to what i remembered. upping the review from a 3.5 to 4.5. last visit was on a mondaynight- maybe a different chef?

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previous review: we have been visiting thai chef on and off for several years. it is still very tasty thai food. but it is not the same quality it used to be, despite the higher price bracket for thai food. the dishes have lost their "edge" over time. for example in the stir fries the vegetables are not so balanced with that fresh crunch vs perfectly cooked. we had a dish with "crispy pork" - but it was not crispy but chewy. maybe it is a different chef on a monday night. will try again. but overall still great flavours. and the restaurant has a nice atmosphere.

we had a party of 18 adults who dined at thai chef new plymouth lastnight30.10.2014. would like to say from start to finish we had exceptional service. the wait staff were onto us very quickly to take our drink and food orders and were professional, friendly and efficient. we were all very impressed as all our meals were received by us within about 10 mins of each other when they started coming. would highly recommend to anyone wanting a true authentic thai dining experience.

awesome place. have been there many times and am constantly impressed. great food, service and ambience. always busy which is no mean feat in new plymouth!

went there lastnightwith a group of 9. we had a range of meals - green curry, 3 alcoholics, suicide bomber, satay chicken to name a few. only one flaw was that the waitress was not as clued up on the menu as i would like one to be.. though there are a heck load of meals on the menu so i'm not surprised.

this has to be one of the best restaurants in hawke's bay, if not the best. although any idea of "best" is subjective, i'm sure the thousands of customers that chaang and his wife have had through the doors in the years they've been open, would agree with me. the food is always excellent, with genuine chefs from thailand preparing your meals and marvellous service by beautifully uniformed staff. the maitre d is a colourful character, making your evening a most enjoyable experience for both small and large functions plus adding interest to the evening for those just going for a value for money "couples"nightout. i don't dish out complements or recommendations lightly, but you won't be disappointed if you were to visit here. well done chaang and the gang.