Quick glance:
+ good portion size
+ courteous staff, but...
- very slow service
- too much salt and sugar
- 10% inclusive tips on bill
I came here for dinner on a Tuesday night. There were about 6 other tables filled that evening which I thought was a promising sign.
The ambience is romantic, with candles dotted on the dining tables and traditional Thai wood carvings and decorations adorning the walls.
I had Thai iced tea which came with whipped cream and candied sprinkles, both of which were novel to me. I didn't know whether to chuckle or frown.
We had the Epsom Thai Starter, which was not elaborated in any details on the menu. It was a sharing platter for two which came with sesame prawn toast, vegetable spring roll, vegetable tempura / bhaji, deep fried prawn, and chicken satay. The food was hot and tasted fresh, especially the prawn, but the chicken satay was too sweet.
For mains, two of us shared a prawn pad Thai (good sized, tasty prawns but again the noodles were too sweet and lacked oomph), a duck dish, and rice with chicken, sausage and mushrooms in a hot pot.
The duck dish was very spicy and salty and the meat hardly tasted of duck. It looked and tasted like it was from a cheap takeaway, unfortunately. The rice dish looked much better, presented in a clay pot and was fragrant. The mixture of chicken, sausage (which looked and tasted like hot dogs), button mushrooms, celery, peas, and rice looked appetising, but again there was so much sugar in the dish that I took it in turn to have duck followed by rice and so on to finish my dinner. I can also assure you that I was extremely dehydrated that evening after all the salt and sugar intake.
The staff was courteous but service very slow. An inclusive service charge of 10% is scrawled onto the menu with a blue biro, which I guess helped highlight the cheeky inclusion. It's a shame that the restaurant has taken to this tactic. The final bill is not itemised so you have to trust the staff has tallied up your food and drinks honestly and correctly.
Although the quality of the ingredients seem average to above average, the end product lacked imagination and the distinctive Thai flavours. The restaurant looks the part but failed to walk the walk. I cannot recommend having Thai food here, as only around the corner is Mae Ping also serving Thai food (albeit more expensive), but at least the walls in Epsom Thai are interesting to look at. read more
