Thai Orchid

 

Lee (Unverified), 15/02/12

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Went for the Buffet all you can eat Sunday lunch in a party of 2 adults and 2 children. It was wonderful: well-presented, tasty, varied; with soup, starters, a huge variety of mains and some dessert. Our children (6 and 9) who are usually quite fussy, filled up with the rice and chicken satay and proclaimed it to be the best restaurant ever! Of course the adults made pigs of themselves with several trips to try out all the dishes. (I would especially recommend the duck with ginger and the lamb with chili). We'll definitely be going again (and again!)

fillies (Unverified), 15/01/12

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I've been to the Thai Orchid more than ten times over the last few years and it's been excellent on every occasion - so I'm surprised that your experience wasn't good, Arrow. It's beautiful, the staff are polite and friendly, the wait for food is short, the prices aren't too steep...etc. My usual dining companion has lived and worked in Thailand and is pretty good at Thai cooking - he says that the food at the Thai Orchid is the closest to authentic Thai food you'll find in Oxford apart from Bangkok House on Hythe Bridge Street. The Thai Orchid's weekend, all-you-can-eat, fixed price banquet is massive and pretty decent too (given the normal lowish standard of such arrangements). I'm guessing you must have been on an off day - statistically, every restaurant's going to have one one at some point! I'm also a bit confused by your surprise at your food tasting like spicy old fish, as that's exactly what Nam Pla - the fish sauce which is an essential ingredient in almost all Thai dishes - is (a mixture of fish and salt that has been allowed to ferment for 1 year to 18 months)! Better luck next time :)

Roo (Unverified), 02/06/11

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I have been to the Thai Orchid before and been reasonably pleased with the food, so I was surprised when I ordered takeaway there recently and it was dreadful. I ordered a Seafood Pad Ped, which was billed as "Mixed seafood stir fried with aubergines, fresh chilli, basil leaves and Thai herbs", and was in fact mostly green and red bell peppers with a few tiny slivers of aubergine, deep fried fish, gritty mussels and two prawns floating in a greasy liquid that tasted like spicy old fish. We also had a Som Tam salad which was quite nice, but unexceptional. Still, I don't think I'll be going back any time soon.

Arrow (Unverified), 25/05/11

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Stepping inside Thai Orchid is a disorientating and exhilarating experience. The dark windows (mostly blocked by pieces of Oriental statuary) isolate you from dreary St. Clements and the interior transports you to a kinder, tastier world. The atmosphere of the restaurant is brilliant, and the décor fantastic, consisting mostly of beautifully carved wood on every available surface- including under glass on your table, and, spectacularly, in a huge water tank right next to the door. The service is polite and unpretentious, neither obsequious nor over-friendly, and we never had trouble attracting a waiter- we just turned around, and there they were, offering another beer or holding a delicious dish. There’s also a range of tables, from the pleasantly intimate two-seaters tucked into the lowlit front section, to large family-sized ones in the (still more beautifully decorated) conservatory at the back.

The food is, in a word, excellent. There are, admittedly, no revelations here. Anyone familiar with Thailand (or, for that matter, the interior of a decent Thai restaurant) will immediately recognise the familiar dishes- Pad Thai, yellow, red and green curry, Tom Yum soup and lots of excellent seafood. But they’ll also recognise that these old favourites are, without exception, perfectly prepared and presented, tasting much more “authentic” than something you might buy from a dodgy street kitchen on Khaosan Road- and a good deal less likely to give you food poisoning. Refreshingly, the Thai Orchid is also happy to stick mainly to Thai dishes (with a few Cambodian and Vietnamese specials) rather than the pan-Asian smorgasbord some eating places feel compelled to present.

The Spicy Banquet Meal B seemed a good way to try a selection of the chef’s best. A selection of starters to share was a nice mix of original treats (like the beautifully cooked chicken wrapped in banana leaves) a well-done classics like prawn rolls. The chicken satay (a Malaysian dish originally, but now fully naturalised into the Thai menu) was particularly excellent, with tender chicken that tasted good even before the peanut sauce.

Likewise, the Chicken Tom Yum soup hit just the right note between spicy and creamy, and was ideal for a cold winter’s night. If I had to quibble, it would have been with the large chunks of stem ginger that covered the bottom of the bowl, making it quite hard to siphon out every drop of precious tamarind, lemongrass and tomato-flavoured goodness.

The mains were not quite so excellent, and settled for being merely very tasty (and gut-bustingly generous). A nice touch was that the clay dishes were placed over candles, to keep them warm throughout the meal. The pork with ginger and lemongrass and the vegetable selection were both good, but the red chicken curry and the seafood selection were really spectacular. The latter had a delicious mix of well-cooked seafood, and the former was, simply put, perfect- the ideal blend of spiciness, creaminess and sweet, delicious ingredients.

Although we had a pair of set meals, the main dishes are pretty reasonably priced for Thai food, mostly in the £5 range, and are generous enough that you can feel perfectly satisfied with a smaller selection than we ordered. Total bill for two people was just over sixty pounds, including four beers apiece- purely to assuage the heat of the curry, you understand. Avoiding swinish alcoholism would give you an excellent meal for two for around fifty pounds.

At a time when Thai food seems almost terminally overexposed by pubs offering a “chic” alternative to pie, fish, sausage and/or chips, it’s refreshing to visit somewhere that doesn’t compromise on either taste or authenticity. If you’re a fan of quality Thai food in beautiful, atmospheric surroundings, you couldn’t choose better than Thai Orchid.

Alwyn Collinson (DI Staff), 15/02/10

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Very polite, serene, and attentive service. The vegetarian buffet had yummy crisp vegetables in a light batter to start. The mains were all quite distinct, well flavoured and good portions. We enjoyed seeing the tempting desert trolley, although two of the dishes were quite similar. Again, good portions with the puddings. Nice, authentic-style jasmine tea too.

Reasonably priced. Some Japanese influences. I'd like to see a few more of the more obvious Thai flavours and dishes, for example I couldn't see a green curry on the menu, and I couldn't taste much coriander, coconut or kaffir lime leaves. But that's not necessarily a bad thing, since the dishes we had there were great. Interesting, calming atmosphere with wooden engravings and refreshing vegetation. We'll definitely visit again soon to try some of the other dishes.

No regrets, and a joyful, peaceful, satisfying meal. Still, it doesn't quite trump my favourite Thai restaurant in Oxfordshire...

X (Unverified), 23/01/10

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Paid a visit with my wife for the Sunday buffet (£10.96 p. head) and it was well worth it. So many dishes to try out, each tasted good with no complaints whatsoever. It was a full buffet with a soup, starters, salads, main and last but not least desserts.

The interior was wonderful with lots of wooden carvings and beautiful authentic wall hangings.

Coming from Sri Lanka the amount of spices was a good mach for us, but could be a little too much for a western tongue if not careful with the selection. There were so many items in the starters by the time you completed the first round you were almost with a full stomach. It was a wonderful meal and I would recommend it to anyone who would go for Asian taste.

summa (Unverified), 10/11/08

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I absolutly love the Thai Orchid.

Try their sunday buffet and you will be amazed at the choise of starters, mains and deserts, ranging from sushi, whole dressed salmon, to various Thai and Chinese dishes and a range deserts all for a £10 all you can eat. I'm going today for the 3rd time.

Brilliant

joejoe (Unverified), 28/09/08

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I am happy to say that the Thai is back up to standard, Food, drink & service all very good; will be back soon.

BigGav (Unverified), 20/01/08

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We went to the Thai Orchid on New Years Eve in a party of 4 and came out very disappointed. We had to wait half an hour before the waiter took our order - it felt like the service was so laid back that they had forgotten about us. If it had been packed we could have understood but there weren't that many people in there and several waiters on duty.

I was really disappointed with my starter - I ordered chicken legs with a sauce and it looked like totally re-constituted meat and there was hardly any sauce with it either. My friend ordered the ribs and found it tasteless and greasy. It wasn't even warm. He said "I'd rather have really nice food using fresh ingredients, than re-heated lukewarm food. It was seriously lacking and I didn't feel that I'd had authentic Thai food".

Although the main meal was slightly better our first impressions were not good and we definitely won't be going back. I'm a great fan of Thai food but not when it tastes like this.

Jo (Unverified), 01/01/08

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Very nice place to eat, the staff were great too, everything was fantastic, they have a lot of starters so you don't know which to choose, and the main courses were brilliant! Tha price was also ok, so I will come back!

Bala (Unverified), 19/12/07

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I went to the Thai Orchid for the very first time after I've heard so many positive reviews about the place. It was a Monday night but despite that it was relatively busy which is always good as I hate being in empty places, the sole attention of the waiters fussing over you.

The three starters that we had, including the spiciest yet the nicest prawn soup known to man, were all quite nice, but the centre pieces were the Prawn King Curry with coconout milk and bamboo shoots and another dish from their specials which consisted of an entire fish covered in spices swimming nicely in spicy sauce. That together with the sticky rice and the house wine made for the nicest meal I had in ages. Nobody was using chopsticks but I had to ask for some when the main courses arrived as it just doesn't feel right attacking all that delicate food with a plain old fork.

The only downside to all this was the rather heavy burn on the pocket: tips included the meal came to £60 for two. Ouch. I parted with £20 as that's all I had, but still I'd wholly recommed the place and will return with the added knowledge of what must be discarded to reduce this thoroughly enjoyable and exquisite meal to a more reasonable price.

Monica (DI User), 30/01/07

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We ordered takeaway for five (collection only, there's no delivery service) at late lunchtime on a Friday and were extremely pleased. The delicate flavours and lack of obvious, gloopy MSG-laden fare was refreshing, and the soups came carefully wrapped in cling film to prevent spillage from their plastic tubs. The duck meat wasn't thrilling, but the Goong Tom Yam (spicy soup with prawns) was enormous and delicious, the hot & spicy chicken & coconut soup was fresh, clean tasting and blew your head off. 

The mixed starters were suitable for one very hungry person who would then be eating a main (but be too full for dessert), and contained fantastic little items not necessarily obvious on the rest of the menu. The bill for five was £65.80 altogether (with no desserts or drinks, but two kinds of crunchy complimentary prawn crackers!), and we couldn't finish it all. All that and only 25 minutes between ordering and collection. Highly recommended.

Roo (DI Reviewer), 05/01/07

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We went for a meal with a reasonable sized party (12 hungry students). I found the food to be of an excellent standard, we were recommended the set menus (designed to be shared) but opted for individual choices.

The food came quickly, we waited only 20 minutes from ordering to the food being delivered (less time than we spent poring over the menu deciding what to have)! Food was all of a very high standard, no complaints from anyone on the table (even the guy who didn't like any food not English). Portion standards were reasonable, not huge but filling enough.

Dessert cart came round promptly after our table was cleared, all looking lovely. Only one of us had dessert but they said it was very nice and they would have it again.

We asked for water to be brought to the table and were given jugs, and they also kept the glasses full when the jugs emptied. We were not charged for this water unlike one of the other reviewers.
i would definitely recommend The Thai Orchid again. A wonderful meal for £10 a head (plus alcohol).

t.green (Unverified), 03/12/06

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Beware of this restaurant with a large party.

We went with a large party (16+) and unfortunately we had booked a table with too few places for our number. They suggested that we have two people on a seperate table. Not a great start.

The food tastes really nice, all well presented, and many different choices.

We had ordered tap water with our meal, and they put all the drinks for our table on the little two man table behind us. Mid way through the meal, one of our party noticed that it was mineral water, so we informed them that we had ordered tap water. They apologised, and said they would bring some out after that bottle was finished. We continued, and then 30 mins later, as we were finishing up and about to pay the bill, we noticed that they hadn't changed from the mineral water. We called the waitress over and informed her that we had ordered tap water, and thus we were unwilling to pay for it. A massive argument, our table of 18 students, with 5 of their staff.

Since the tip was of a similar amount to the water (which was approx £30 at this point) we said that we liked the service, but were unwilling to pay for the water. In the end we didn't pay service, and just paid for the meal and the bottled water.

Just beware - I told several people of this afterwards, and they had said that they had had similar experiences with large parties.

Ben B (Unverified), 28/11/06

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Took some guests to the Thai Orchid as we'd been here before a couple of years ago, and the food was fabulous.

This time I wasn't impressed. I ordered a dish with a zero spicyness rating (can't cope with spicy food), then when the dish arrived, I poured the sauce over my chicken and sticky rice. Imagine my horror when the sauce was not only spicy, but blow-your-head-off hot hot hot!! (I'm not being a coward, i got others to taste it and they agreed). I pointed this out to the staff, who took the sauce away and brought me some sweet sugary spice-free sauce. Not much use when my entire plate of chicken and rice is already contaminated :-(

No apology for the mistake, they didn't offer to bring me something else, and I was charged the full price for a dish I couldn't eat. I'm not even sure the staff understood enough english to understand, and I didn't want to create a scene infront of my guests, so I had to leave it.

On a more positive note, the mixed starter was very nice, as was the Thai beer, but i wouldn't recommend this restaurant to people who aren't a fan of spicy food!

Jess (Unverified), 31/10/06

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We were very grateful for seats next to the radiator when we escaped from the bitter Oxford evening into the cheerful surroundings of the Thai Orchid. It was a busy Saturday night and the restaurant drew a mixed crowd of students and town-dwellers. After discussions on whether the vines trailing the walls were real or not (I voted yes), we got down to the serious business of choosing from the extensive menu. The Thai Orchid boasts a range of special dishes alongside the standard favourites, and ample choice for vegetarians. Over an appetiser of prawn crackers, we made our decisions, myself opting for vegetable spring rolls followed by a king prawn curry, my partner choosing crispy duck pancakes and a chicken dish.

Service was swift and pleasant, if rather business-like, and our starters were soon before us, along with a bottle of good Sauvignon Blanc, not bad value at around £12. The large white plates were perhaps a nod to the minimalist style of nouvelle cuisine, yet didn’t quite pull it off; the spring rolls seemed stranded in the centre, with an apologetic sprinkling of salad and an elaborately carved piece of cucumber, looking on the whole rather sad. But with the first bite my misgivings were forgotten. A satay sauce was delicately flavoured, not overpoweringly sweet or peanut-buttery, and the perfect addition to crisp, fresh-tasting spring rolls. My partner made appreciative noises, so I gathered he enjoyed his too.

Mains were served in kitsch duck-shaped dishes, and proved just as successful as the starters. My prawn curry had a pleasing kick to it, yet the chilli did not dominate the other spices. My partner’s chicken was served as slices of char-grilled fillet, and was significantly more appealing at one end than the other, going from succulent white meat to a less appetising brown colour. Nevertheless the whole thing was declared very tasty, with none of the blandness the bird can sometimes suffer from.

Two courses filled us up, so after coffees it was time to head back into the cold. But not before paying the bill, which, at £50 in total, seemed very reasonable for a memorably enjoyable meal.

Emily Boyce (Unverified), 29/11/05

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Having arrived early to meet my three friends, I was kept amused by the Thai Orchid's interesting décor. As you enter the restaurant you will immediately notice the water fountain; this, and gazing at the oriental statues and intricate wooden carvings, had the necessary calming effect as I waited impatiently. I'm not sure if the crystal chandeliers complimented the Thai scenery, but it definitely added to the overall ornate atmosphere.

Our table was booked for 7.30pm on a Saturday. This seemed an ideal time, as the restaurant began to get quite packed by 9. We were led to one of the conservatory-type rooms filled with hanging plants (which the waiters sometimes have to dodge around, but which prove no obstacle for the diners!).

Choosing our food was a challenge. We were tempted by the banquet menus, which offer a set range of food, typically: a starter, 3 or 4 main courses, rice and a sweet, and costing between £16-£20 per person. One possible problem with these menus is that you need to order them to share between at least 2 people. We decided we'd concoct our own version, and picked several dishes to share amongst the four of us. We spent a total of £70 including a 10% tip.

We chose 2 starters, some Vegetable spring rolls (tasty but small and you only get 3) and Chicken Satay (again we ended splitting 3 of these 4 ways). We had 4 main dishes: Green Thai Chicken Curry (Nic strongly recommended this, as the meat was good and the sauce was nice but not too spicy), Sweet and Sour Pork (this wasn't fatty, which was a plus, but neither was it anything special), Duck marinated in a honey sauce (good but too much!) and finally Pad Thai (one of Mike's favourite Thai dishes, and one I'd now definitely recommend. With it's combination of rice noodles fried with chicken, prawns and bean sprouts coated in a sweet tamarind sauce served with cashew nuts - it was YUMMY!). We found ourselves ordering an extra rice dish during our main course, so had 3 rices in total. During our meal the dessert trolley was constantly passing us and this was enough to encourage us to each try one. The summer fruit pudding should be avoided if you don't like incredibly sweet food. All our meals were delivered quickly and the service was efficient.

This restaurant offers a lot of choice for carnivores, but only has 5 vegetarian main dishes. We didn't opt for wine, but if you choose to do so the cost is generally around £15 a bottle, £12 for house and £26 for the most expensive.

The Thai Orchid caters for all sorts, and everyone there seemed to be enjoying themselves whether they were on the hen night, having a romantic dinner for two, fuelling up with a pre-ball dinner or enjoying their friends' company as I was. Overall I would recommend a trip to this restaurant - and failing that, they do takeaway.

C.Robinson (Unverified), 10/05/03

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