Review Sawadee Thai Cuisine - Auckland Central

The entrance to De Grand is interesting as you go through an ice cream parlour. We made a booking which was a good idea since the place was packed. They have a digital menu which you order from. It was also interesting that they had free corkage if you spent $25 per person. We grabbed some entrees and mains to share. The food came as they were ready. Both the pad Thai and pad see ew had a nice flavour. The curry puff was nice albeit a bit oily. The curries were also not bad. I wasn't a fan of the summer rolls though. The food here was quite nice and they were quite efficient considering how busy the place was. As we left they were taking the tables from the ice cream parlour and cafe in the front to seat more people. Booking is recommended if you are wanting to try the place.

We had our Marriage reception here and had our own room in the restaurant without extra fees. The manager was very in detail on what we want, told us everything we need to do prior to our reservation. They only have a BYO drinks for only $1 per person. Their food were delicious. Definitely one of the best Thai food in Auckland City. Definitely will recommend to my friends and will come back here.

One of my faforite places I visit very often. Friendly staff and a great vibe. I will go back again and again and never get bored of the place. If you go there and you meet the friendly owner David, tell him Shaun says hi, and you might just get a good discount

The food was nice! Did not like that we were sitting in the Boozy Gelato part of the restaurant, not a great place to eat while people are pouring in and out!

We ended up here without a reservation, but they were very accommodation. Food was great, really enjoyed it. Note, when they spicy, they mean Thai spicy!

Friendly staff, cozy, authentic Thai food. The price balance with the taste. 4 stars because the flies keep coming to our food.

Great Thai restaurant, delicious food, we were with a big group and everyone enjoyed their food, service was nice, beautiful place too!

Went on a Saturday night, and the food is pretty good just a bit pricey. Waitresses are hit and miss but the woman in charge is very lovely :) Just a bit toooooo busy and can get a bit loud but it's a nice spot.

The food was pretty good, but the service is average at best. Very festive as long as you don't mind most of your fellow diners making use of the $3 per person BYO offer.

Good food, great service, heaps of gelato ice cream for a reasonable price. An average thai restaurant that you can come to every weekend.

Really good food. We did the lunch deal and I had a Thai beef salad cooked to perfection. Will go again.

Formerly Sawadee now De Grand this restaurant offers great Thai fusion food amazing atmosphere and friendly staff. Highly recommend.

We always loved sawadee, great flavour and good portion but today’s visit is a bit disappointing. Flavour is still nice however the size is a lot smaller. Especially ‘large’ Tom yum soup. It’s like half of the size compare to the past. Two of us had less than half rice bowl of soup each and more than half of the soup is gone, not sure how it suppose to share between 3-4 people. Chat with the manager got told new owner, hope the new menu is worth the $.

Upon entering this place through the main entrance it is a tad bit confusing. I think the cashier use to be there but now it’s at the bar area which is further in. The interior was pretty nice with the wooden theme and nice plate presentation. However, seemed a bit tacky having the white paper cut out sheets to line the table. I get that it’ll be easier to clean but didn’t match with the overall presentation of the place. Window sills were quite dusty too. <br/><br/>We ordered 2 curries which had good flavour and standard pricing, however it was very watery. I know Thai curries aren’t suppose to be really creamy but this was more like a soup consistency.<br/>Edit: didn’t know there was unlimited rice, I thought they charge per scoop so would’ve been nice if they told us <br/><br/>I used my gold membership here so good value. The workers seemed annoyed that I presented it at the end of the dinner. I know that in the terms and conditions it says to show it beforehand but all other places I’ve been to always say to show it at the end. This place also requested ID and questioned me as my zomato name isn’t the same as the one on my license... lol but they still accepted it so my bad I guess I should’ve just followed the zomato rules.

Sawadee is the best zomato gold experience we've had so far.<br/>We ordered the green chicken curry and prawn pad Thai, both came with generous portions. The chicken in the curry is so thick!<br/>Great food and service.<br/>

5/5 Taste<br/>4.5/5 Display <br/>5/5 Quantity <br/>4.5/5 Customer Service<br/><br/>My Favourite Thai Restaurant in Auckland.<br/><br/>I’ve been visiting this restaurant for more than 6 years now. Great location and ambience with amazing food. <br/>I always order the same menus tho, yellow curry and deep fried snapper fillets. <br/>Its a combination that no one can hate, even for kids with picky taste. <br/>I also love how they charge u only $3 for like unlimited rice.<br/>

Used zomato gold for dinner at Sawadee. Because all my friends highly recommend here. Environment was pretty nice and makes me relax. Service pretty quick. Food was all delicious, especially the fried chicken, it's super tasty！

Delicious chicken wings! Everyone recommended their wings and I ordered 12 today. Very nice indeed. Hot and crispy. The snapper fillets were massive! I did not expect them to be so big! <br/><br/>The staff were nice and friendly. Food was served quickly and efficiently. <br/><br/>Zomato gold accepted here too so great value and experience! <br/><br/>Service: 4/5<br/>Presentation: 3.5/5<br/>Environment: 4/5<br/>Food Quality: 4.5/5<br/>Food Quantity: 5/5<br/>Price per person: $25-$50

My partner and I decided to visit after paying for our gold membership. Overall it was a great experience. Food was delicious, we ordered Thai fried rice, massaman curry and Tom yum. Portion was just nice. Large portion of rice was given. Waitress came and check on us regularly. I really like the vibe of the restaurant, a small waterfall in the middle of restaurant.

Food and staff were nice. Very odd that in such a big restaurant there was only one other group here. We didn’t finish our meals and without even being asked they packaged it all up into containers to take home. Nice touch.

Great and quick service! The ambience was pleasant and the food was flavourful. The Pad Thai and Panang Curry were particularly delicious. However the Chicken Satay needed to be more tender and more tasty. In saying that, all in all, a good Thai resto.

We went here for our work Christmas dinner. Out of all the Thai places I have been, this definitely has to be the best experience.<br/>We had a big group booking with a set menu, the food came out all together. I really enjoyed that they cooked everything on the set menu, oppose to just select one of the three options from a entree, main or dessert. It was great trying all the meals, I particularly enjoyed this prawn curry and chicken curry. Absolutely delicious, will definitely come back here again 😊

Taste: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑<br/>Interior Deco: 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑<br/>Customer service: 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌑<br/>Recommend: 🌕🌕🌕🌗🌑<br/>Very nice themed interior decoration. Staff was friendly and the food were served very quickly! The portion is very large and quite fillings! Overall quite a good experience!

We came here about two months ago, some dishes we never saw in other Thai restaurants in Auckland. It is a surprise so we can order something new, like the deep fried fish I got in the picture. Food there is nice and a little bit pricey compared to other thai restaurants, but considered the location and nice ambiance, it is still worth it.

Came here a little while ago with my family and some friends. Staff were really nice, food was quite good. Can't really complain. Lovely restaurant

The taste of the food is mesmerising especially their staters, have a very welcoming staff and always have an waiting it’s advisable to book in advance.

They were good at something’s, but they awkwardly kept on staring at me and the service was not that good. The food was ok and ice cream was just chocolate

Frustrating experience:<br/>Confirmed booking during week for birthday, upon arrival staff denied the booking existed.<br/>Realised the booking existed and offered to waive corkage fee.<br/>Staff then tried to charge corkage fee at payment. Then fee was waived upon being challenged to recall waiving fee, only hours earlier.<br/>Staff then imposed a $30 cake-age fee (?) for the birthday cake. <br/>Superb food spoiled by frustrating manager

We order the Tom Yum Soup, Green Curry and garlic Prawns. Tastes are good. Good services. Definitely will return and try the Tai Pork for next time.

I am a massive Thai fan in general but this place is divine. Authentic restaurant as well as food and service. The chicken wings, green curry are def favs!

Sawadees offers fantastic food, authentic, flavoursome and always consistent.  I have been coming here for years and have never had a bad meal.  Even when moved across the bridge to the Shore, I still come across for my Thai fix.  No other Thai restaurant I've been to compares to Sawadees.

This is such a great restaurant..... great food and service.... in 20 years of going to this restaurant I have never had a bad experience..... <br/><br/>I look forward to many more wonderful meals!!!

The fish was over doused with sauce - it was lunch and I think they were just eager to get ready for dinner at 5pm. If we weren’t starving I would’ve gone somewhere else, but being wed been busy all day, and this late lunch was our first meal of the day, it was disappointing. The fish for the price of it was gloried take away fish , was over priced. The $11 platter for starters was luke warm - it wasn’t a great experience- I’ve been here twice before and it was great - this was disappointing.

This was fine. Not exceptional but pleasant none the less. It's been around for years and for a long time set the standard for Thai food in Auckland. However with so many more competitors having opened in the time since then, you feel that Sawadee has been left behind. The decor is quite nice, as was the service. I found the food though to be heavy handed and lacking the finesse that separates excellent Thai food from average Thai food. Jungle curry was good but didn't have much balance. The larb could have benefitted from a punch of fresh herbs. Overall it was good but not great.

Came here with a big group of about 15 people which they accommodated very well. Byow too which was very cool! Good prices and massive dishes. Food came out fast, was pretty good I've had better cashew nut chicken and I prefer saucer and a hell of a lot more veges, a good chunk of the dish was just chicken. I tried a bit of the macadamia chicken too which was quite sweet, yummy! But sweet. Sweet chilli sauce kinda sweet. Good spot to come with a big group but I wouldn't come out of my way to come with just a friend.

This place is great to go with friends and family. Great ambience and service is super fast! Parking is the real pain point of going to a restaurant in this area.<br/><br/>In terms of food, we ordered the Prawn Patties as entree, Chicken Pad Thai, Chicken & Cashew Nuts stir-fry and Red Chicken Curry. The entree was great, delicious and a quick nibble. I was not a fan of the pad thai, it felt too wet and lacked that taste factor. My favourite was the stir fry as it added a good punch to the overall food that we ordered.<br/><br/>Overall, I was not blown away by the food, but was not leaving the place in a negative manner either, I see a lot of place for improvements when it comes to the quality and taste of food.<br/><br/>Enjoy the pics!

Went with a big group, food was amazing and service was amazing. Would highly recommend. Has both great food and great atmosphere! We got a mix of dishes across the table and everything's was delicious from the starters to the mains.

Came here on a grabone voucher and got two mains with a couple of bowls of jasmine rice. The portions were generous and filling with great flavours. Both the prawns and the beef rendang came with lots of sauce/broth that was delicious soaked by the rice.

So good!  Had the vegetarian green curry and fried rice (no egg).  Lovely service.  Excellent food.  Nice environment.  Found a park close by.  They even sell chips which made feeding my son easy.  Will be back.

I had my 23rd birthday here and the staff were amazing for accommodating to slightly intoxicated people. Food is always fantastic and love the carrot decorations. The staff all wear traditional uniform with adds a bit of magic to your experience

Yummy food, friendly staff and really nice ambience. The chef's special (fried snapper with a special sauce) is really delicious. My favourite is always the duck curry. The Thai dumplings also good. Make sure you make booking online especially for Friday and Saturday nights as they are really busy.

When I crave Thai I instantly think Sawadee... Or so that used to be the case.<br/><br/>Don't get me wrong, still love it but ever since the menu change (which I think was inevitable, there was so much to choose from I can only imagine what storage used to look like) and the disappearance of my fav dish.. My tongue doesn't salivate for this place anymore.<br/><br/>From recent trips here it's been good and the service attentive I purely think it's the food thats missing the magic for me. Only so many times I can come here to only have my friends order Pad Thai and ribs because that's the way the cookie has been crumbling these days.<br/><br/>Saving grace being BYO - please lord don't ever change that.<br/><br/>

We went here to celebrate our friends birthday expecting for really good thai cuisine. The reviews had our hopes high and we were expecting to have some really delicious food. But to our surprise, neither the food nor the service were compelling to what we expected. We did experience a friendly staff, perhaps they were not happy to see us. <br/>We ordered Pad Thai Chicken and Tom Kha soup. The soup was good, nothing exceptional, but the pad thai was cold and it did not taste as pad thai should taste. I am not an expert, but i am a big Thai food lover and have tasted many pad thai before and this one surely did not taste like one. It tasted like normal rice noodles and chicken.  Plus it is really overpriced and the dishes do not include rice. you have to get it for an additional cost.<br/><br/>While leaving the staff on counter was not friendly at all. He did not even thank us after we paid the bill. He was so rude in his tone that it seemed like he was doing a favor on us.<br/><br/>Overall, the experience was bad and shall unfortunately not visit again.

Im a cheap eater lol. Friends organised dinner here and i loved the venue. However, portion for prices werent great. But then again, im a big eater haha. Service was good too.

I was disappointed with my meal here. Very expensive for the amount of food you get, they're small, overpriced portions. Very loud, and I didn't have great service.

The decor is great, friendly staff, but the food is nothing special and overpriced. Was quite surprised that dishes do not include rice - it's an extra cost.

This place is my FAVOURITE Thai place in Auckland, and let me assure you I've tried a fair few. <br/><br/>From their broad menu, to the beautiful furnishings of this restaurant, you're guaranteed an experience that will leave you wanting more. <br/><br/>The friendly staff are attentive and helpful and there's even an area for groups to sit on the floor with a large table to feast from. Almost makes you feel like you're in Phuket, feeling adventurous with no chair and wild taste buds. <br/><br/>A great place to dine in a group or even for the lone wolves out there 👍🏽

Food ok nothing amazing!!<br/> I feel there are a lot better restaurants around for same value of money. The atmosphere was nice inside and it was great to not have a corkage or cakeage fee!! Staff were good but would not let us move tables which was disappointing as the table we wanted was not used the whole night. Seemed they just didnt want to tidy it up after.

Went to Sawadee on a Thursday with a group of 12 from work. We were put in a function room which meant we could chat freely and make some noise without interrupting other diners. The food was superb and some of the best Thai cuisine I've had. The servings were huge and a number of people couldn't get through them. The food was well presented and the service very good. I certainly plan to return.

One of my go to Thai takeaways. Always can count on melt in your mouth quality. Highly recommend the Mikes Special, Macadamian Chicken and Pad Thai. The ambience is great for a date night but not the best choice for BYO. The staff put a lot of pressure on you to leave and is very quiet so not so great for a night with friends.

Came here for my other work christmas function- service was fantastic, food was absolutely beautiful and came quickly. I recommend Sawadee to anyone who wants to eat out in Ponsonby!

Came for a birthday dinner and we had about 16 people. They gave us sufficient time for everyone to arrive before coming by to take orders. The fact they asked for names during ordering made paying a whole lot easier. <br/><br/>The food arrived fairly close together so there wasn't anyone awkwardly waiting. The food was nice. Tasty and had the flavours you would expect. Although we ordered a dish each we were sharing the dishes but they had removed the plates from the people who "didn't need them". Afterwards they started to clear plates as soon as people were finished even though there were still people eating. They would take the plate as soon as cutlery hit the plate. This was a bit annoying since we were finishing off the other dishes as everyone else was getting full. It felt like we were being rushed out even though it wasn't even 7.30pm yet and there was plenty of room in the restaurant.<br/><br/>We then had to find someone to get a menu for desserts. The service wasn't bad since they kept the water bottles full but pretty much left us alone after serving the meals.<br/><br/>As a side note they had a really nice and sweet watermelon ice cream but not much Thai style desserts as I was hoping for.

Me and my wife visited Sawadee for lunch. We ordered spring rolls (Entree), Panang Curry with Beef and Pad Thai with Chicken. The beef was prepared in slow cooked manner. It was really nice :) Noodle was great too . Very pleasant Experience!

I and my friend wanted to have Thai food for lunch and found there were few Thai restaurants opening at lunch time. Sawadee was the best option to give a go. We ordered 4 mixed snack platter, 2 soups, sweet masamman curry with slow cooked beef and stir fried cashew nut with tofu. I had to say all the dishes tasted awesome and I highly recommend this restaurant to the people who love authentic Thai food.

Went for dinner last night.  Around 2000 hrs.  Sawadee always known for its hospitality and service.<br/>Was seated.  Sat and waited.<br/>25 minutes passed.  Couldnt even get the attention of house staff<br/>Walked out.  Pointless.  Seems they have so much business that they dont need us.<br/>Went to Thai House down the road a little further.

My booking time was 5:00pm, and our family experienced huge traffic that day. I called the restaurant twice to inform about the situation, and they insisted if more than 15min late, they would cancel our booking. In the end, we managed to arrive 23 min late, and we explained the situation about traffic again to the guy (not sure he's manager or just waiter). He did not want to listen, and just looked at his watch and said, it's more than 15min late, the booking is cancelled. Well, our whole family all felt piss-off by their attitude, and we would NEVER go back for a meal. Also, I posted this experience on Facebook/Twitter to tell our mates to stay away from that low-rating service place.

Came here for a friends birthday. The food was pretty good however service was not. I brang her a bottle of liquor as a gift and was asked to see inside my bag as soon as I came in. They told me once I had given her the gift I must give it to them to look after for the duration of our meal. Understandable however they hovered and stared at our table until my friend arrived and I have it to her and they came straight over and took it. After this they were no where to be seen to take our order. I felt almost harassed even though we are an older group who was just having a casual wine with a meal and to be asked to search my bag and hover around our table made it extremely unpleasant and I couldn't wait to leave.

Came here for a friend's B'day dinner. Our table was really unusual, as it was sunken. Really glad that I was wearing trousers and flats! The service was pretty good, they have a good system for larger groups. However, the food was average. I found my food pretty bland actually! The macadamia chicken was the star of the show though!

We booked a big table on a busy Saturday night and we had a great time. The atmosphere was good, but I feel they were very understaffed for such a big night. Food came out in a timely manner but to begin ordering drinks was a struggle. We ordered the Sawadee curry and the duck dish. The carry was AMAZING - highly recommend it! It was loaded with flavour and was divine!The duck, however, was very disappointing and for the price we paid, I definitely expected better. There was a lack of flavour and the sauce was too watery.Overall, had a good dinner with a big group of people.

Just wanted to say what a great experience I had here! Lived in NZ my whole life and have always said I wanted to go here. Finally did for my birthday and it lived up to its expectations! Great service, food and atmosphere! Special thanks to Charlie for helping make my birthday a memorable one ☺️

Had a dinner with friends there. We had two entry dishes, three main dishes and three desserts. We were happy with both entry dishes and main dishes, but the dessert dishes were not satisfied.

We came here around 6pm last night and the place was not busy at all (the restaurant started to fill up after 7). We were approached by staff after standing around waiting for a minute or so. <br/><br/>We were seated and shortly after ordered. We ordered the curry puffs as entree - wow so good! I looooved the pastry, it was super lite and the potato and onion stuffing tasted really good. I ordered 'mikes special' but changed it from beef to chicken. After a few bites, I found that my dish was quite average... I think my friends dish was also average but a bit better than mine. <br/><br/>All in all, definitely not my fave Thai restaurant but it didn't hurt giving it a go lol.

Came here on Saturday night for a dinner with my group of friends, nice place with lovely staff and a good location. <br/><br/>The money bags were SOOOO delicious!! Highlight of my night. Must try if you come here :) they were so flavoursome mmmm drooling as I reminisce about them. <br/><br/>Pretty decent pricing. My friend and I shared the Toong Thong, Gai Pad Neau Mai Pang (medium), 2 bowls of rice and we brought 2 bottles of wine ($8 corkage each) and it cost us $24 each and I was full :) <br/><br/>To sum up, great BYO restaurant before a night in the town :) <br/><br/>Gutted I forgot to take photos of the food, sorry guys 🙈

Hands down my favourite Thai Restaurant in Auckland. Whether dining in or ordering a takeout the food is always exquisite. Sawadee appetisers are to die for, I cannot get enough of both Gari Puff and Todman Goong. <br/><br/>On this particular visit I ordered the Tigermilk Curry, (which has been a favourite of mine for over five years and has been consistently amazing!). Creamy and sweet with beautifully cooked banana, its a curry unique in my experience to Sawadee. <br/><br/>Customer service is always exceptionally warm, friendly and down to earth. The restaurant is absolutely gorgeous and a definite asset to the Auckland community. <br/><br/>I would highly recommend both Penang Neau and the Macadamian Chicken.

I came for dinner the other day with my partner on a double date and we had a good time.<br/><br/>The atmosphere is very festive if you go on a weekend night and it can be too noisy, but it's ideal for groups and parties.<br/><br/>The decoration is nice and staff do an overall good job and are very polite. Maybe sometimes waiters run around too fast and can be difficult to catch if you need anything.<br/><br/>The food is good but not amazing, most people will find things they like on the menu.<br/><br/>I will probably be back.

Sawadee is my favourite Thai restaurant in Auckland. It is a combination of their consistent great service and lovely food. I ate there for perhaps the 30th time this week. I am a vegetarian and they have a wonderful vegetarian section. I have even been there for several of my birthday meals. <br/><br/>I love the Tom Kha Gai soup and they make it vegetarian for me without losing any of the great flavour. My other favourite is is the Pad pug satay. It is a vegetarian satay but the peanut flavour is more delicate and filled with fresh and tasty vegetables. You can also add tofu as well if you like. <br/><br/>I have been there on busy and quiet nights and always find the staff amazing! The food is consistently tasty and fabulous and I love the wooden building and the waterfall. Thank you Sawadee!

Heard alot of good things about Sawadee and the food was especially delicious. The place is kept very beautiful inside and the staff were very welcoming and accommodating. This place is definitely quality over quantity- it was worth it. The minimum spend is a bit strange and I don't know how closely it is enforced, but a main will get you over the mark.

Beautiful interior I was really surprised when walking in how beautiful it really was. There was a large group of us with 10 people but we had a good time. The food was enjoyable, I had the chicken pad Thai and my partner had the Thai ribs which were quite small so a bit unexpected. The restaurant was BYO so we took our own wine but corkage was $8 which we found quite expensive. Was a lovely place with good food but would suggest somewhere cheaper if on a budget

My Partner and I did not have a reservation but the staff was more than accommodating. The food was great, fresh, and did not take long to arrive to our table. Overall it was a pleasant dining experience and we will definitely be going back.

this restaurant has a very nice vibe about it. place looks good and lots of people. The dishes are abit over priced for my liking but are quite good. The Thai beef and Beef masuman curry were good but not very many vegetables. Could easily go to moochowchow for nearly the same price

Best Thai restaurant in Auckland by far. I love how Sawadee offer a wide variety of dishes and have a extensive vegetarian and seafood menu that most other Thai places dont. Their evil jungle prince curry has been a long term favourite; coconut cream nicely mixed with fresh herbs and chilli with ample amounts of vegetables and meat. Their spicy scallops are great; spicy but still juicy despite being fried. Well worth a visit if you enjoy Thai food.

they suck and they are wankers and I will never ever try to get a booking there againthey told me when I booked that I didn't need a deposit now are demanding one, and I said no, but then decided that I didn't want to go anywhere else so I rang back to arrange a deposit and then was told that my booking was cancelled and then today they told me I can book for that night as someone else is booked i will also make sure that everyone knows about this in ponsonby.. not happy

Good food - average service - okay pricing. <br/>This restaurant has quite tasty Thai - can recommend the beef panang.<br/>Customer service was pretty bland though so can't say much about it, didn't feel too welcome<br/>But if you're up for a good meal and informal environment and BYO, this be the place to go

Really lovely staff, but dishes are a little overpriced. The quality of food is very good but not overwhelming enough to charge what they do. Corkage is also $8 a bottle which seems pretty hefty. Tom Kha soup was delicious and creamy but could have done with more veges. Black Thai Beef dish was also very good, nicely seasoned and beautifully presented. It is a great Thai restaurant but for the price I'd rather go to Sri Pinang 200m down the road.

Sorry last night was a disappointment after patronising you for many years. Have promoted your restaurant globally and taken overseas visitors there in the past.   The Macadamia chicken was absolutely laced in garlic and changed the dish which we have previously enjoyed.  Where were the macadamia nuts?  The seafood noodles not up to standard, very little seafood and veg and tons of noodles. Service also not up to your usual standard. Sadly don't think we will be back.

Both appetisers and main dishes have beautiful flavours and are not too salty. There is something here for everybody's food palette. The atmosphere is fun and relaxing and the customer service is average the last time I was here. I would definitely come back again and not worry about any dishes that I order.

Really good, fast service, delicious food. Highly recommended. Just had to ask for second serving of rice but other than that good place. Parking was an issue.

I love Thailand and Thai food. Food isnt fabulous as it's very sweet here at Sawadee but an easy/good place for a group who want to do cheap and cheerful set menu with corkage ($25)

One of favorite Thai restaurant in Auckland. once you go into this place, you will feel Thai decoration. The food is good to share with family and friends and the service is good too.

The actual restaurant looks great and is really fun to dine there. Staff are friendly and reasonably attentive but the food let the place down. Our meals came out in well under 10 minutes and weren't particularly hot so that's never a great sign. They also didn't offer rice top ups so that felt a little mean. We ordered 3 dishes between 4, which was enough but mostly because nothing was that spectacular. Their 'most popular' dish was bland but the lamb curry we ordered was good and BYO is a nice option. That was our first visit and unfortunately, might be our last. Sorry Sawadee!

I dined here for dinner last weekend with my family in celebration of my mother's birthday, she had lunch here multiple times before and recommended it and after checking all the positive reviews on Zomato It seemed like a good idea to make a booking here.  Honestly the experience was really weird.  From the outside and the decor together with the low seating sawadee seems very authentically thai but that's far from truth when it came to the food.  <br/><br/>Firstly for beverages I had  one of their Mocktails, don't remember which one but It really wasn't worth it.  For entree we ordered the satay chicken and money bags like we always do at the many thai restaurants we dine at. The chicken on the skewers was ok but the peanut sauce to accompany it was really gross for a  savoury dish, it was super smooth and creamy and terribly sweet, so sweet and creamy that it belonged as frosting on a cake. The money bags had barely any meat in them comparative to any other thai restaurant, they were just loaded with what seemed to  be mix frozen veges. The other appetisers we ordered were new to us, the  Sunshine prawns which were prawns and asparagus rapped in bacon and also coconut prawns. The sunshine prawns were not marinated or anything special and didn't  seem to faintly resemble thai food . The coconut prawns was something a little nice and quirky but nothing to rave about.<br/><br/>One thing I always do at a thai restaurant is order Tom Yum soup, and it was no exception at Sawadee. I made it clear that we want our food to be thai hot but the soup came out mild and really sour. Probably the crappiest tom yum soup I've had because I couldn't taste any of the other flavours and the lemon grass wasn't coming through, all I could taste was lemon juice, I could describe it as sour water with a couple of prawns and mushrooms floating around. Not pleasant at all.<br/><br/>For the mains we ventured of to try some dishes that we don't see at other other establishments. A highly  recommended dish on the menu was the Gai Fai curry, it's supposed to very hot and It was but not in the right way. When taking a mouthful the curry sauce is very creamy and once again, super  super sweet. You only  get  a kick of heat at the back of your mouth but no actual flavour of chilli or spices. I found it very gross to be eating something so sweet then to have a kick of heat a couple of seconds later. The second dish was their grilled chicken, which was accompanied by a couple of nice sauces but the actually chicken tasted fishy, we asked for extra sauce to help make our mains more pleasant to eat. Lastly, we tried Pla Lard Pik which was fried snapper fillets with a sauce drizzled over it, it was probably the best dish of the night, not because it was anything great but just because it was the most enjoyable. <br/><br/>We weren't offered a dessert menu and hence didn't even bother with it.  One weird thing worth mentioning is that the dishes come out extremely fast and I don't think it's a good thing in this case. The dishes come out as fast as your order at Macca's (not even exaggerating), so it really does seem to me that not all the dishes are prepared fresh to order, not good if you want to experience authentic food. <br/><br/>Overall, none of us enjoyed the food and with so many thai restaurants in every suburb there is no need for us to return here again. One thing I will commend is the service and friendly staff, but In all honesty I go to restaurants for the food.

Ate here off a set menu for a birthday party, thought that someof the food was rather pricey for thai food! great decor , would like to try it again #g1

I had heard soo many good things about this place and when a friend suggested takeaway i was well up for it! We collected the food and it was really quick and i went for a pad thai as i always do and it was reasonably priced too. I also shared some chicken satays with my partner as he loves them. I liked the pad thai but i just didnt understamd how soo many people race about this place! It was nice but wouldnt say its the best ive had! There was plenty of chicken in there which was great but the flavour was very very sweet. The chicken satay was really nice and the sauce they used was lovely! I love satay sauce and it was fab! I would eat here again but would be keen to explore more of the menu and change from a pad thai. I would 100% order the satays again as they were and are my favourite so far from this place!

Sawadee Thai was delicious... Always an enjoyable experience.We sat in the little hut as we had a big crew of us was awesome! Staff are friendly and polite. The food was so so fresh and a great place for BYO ! @Sarah Forsyth #g8

Sawadee has long been long been my family's go-to restaurant for birthdays and special occasions and it did not disappoint when we went there for dinner recently. The food was fabulous and the atmosphere great (if not a liiiiiiittle bit crowded). The only thing not to expectations was parsley on top of our icecream.

This place is always good. It's a shame that there are a ridiculous amount of Thai places to eat at now as sawadee used to be the measuring stick or gold standard for a long time. The Gai fai is still an amazing curry but in general everything else becomes a much of the muchness. Overall you could certainly do worse for eating, but there's nothing about this place that has me salivating to be back there.

I tried this place out over the weekend as I had a craving for a Thai curry. I think I’m going to have to say that the curry I ordered from here was the best one I’ve eaten in New Zealand. I had the Panang Neau, and it was delicious. The beef was slow-cooked and falling apart, the curry was creamy and tasty, and the potato was the perfect addition to the dish. I grabbed this as a takeaway order, and it was ready in 15 minutes, although once I was how beautiful the inside of the restaurant was I wished I was staying there to eat. The service (on the phone and in person) was great, with lots of smiles all round.

Food ordered:<br/>Gai Sam Ros<br/>Talay Derd<br/>Thai Jasmine Rice<br/>Mud Cake<br/><br/>Bill: $64<br/><br/>Big tummy: We'd walked past Sawadee a few times and I'd heard good things about it, so we thought we'd check it out. As a huge fan of seafood, I've tried my fair share of seafood soup/chowder around Auckland and I can safely say that Sawadee's Talay Derd would be up there with the very best. Excellent flavour and absolutely chock-full of seafood... prawns, snapper, scallops, squid, shrimp... you couldn't ask for a more complete seafood soup. It was beautifully presented too, in a mini cauldron complete with blue flame. The Gai Sam Ros was delicious as well, though it must be said that I have had remarkably similar dishes from other places with a significantly cheaper price tag. We finished the meal with a mudcake from their dessert selection, which we wouldn't have known about had we not asked the waitress about it. It arrived at the table looking magnificent and tasted even better. Kinda odd that they didn't advertise their dessert selection, when the dessert actually proved to be one of the highlights of the meal.<br/>The only thing I'd mark Sawadee down for was their slightly confusing booking system... not for the customers, but seemingly for themselves. We booked online and received an email confirmation to approve our reservation. But when we got there, our booking was greeted with confused reactions and they had to rush off to check for a table. I noticed in prior reviews that other patrons have had similar issues. Maybe their online booking system needs to be looked at. Not the best way to start a meal, worrying if you actually have a table or not. On a positive note though, Sawadee easily has one of the coolest layouts and designs that I have seen. Walking through to your table, it is like you have been teleported to Thailand. Very cool. <br/><br/>Little tummy: One of my favourite dishes is chicken and cashew nuts, so as soon as I saw the Gai Sam Ros, I knew that was going to be the dish for me. And it certainly didn't disappoint, full of flavour and consisting of a generous portion that I struggled to finish. I tried my boyfriend's seafood soup and although it was tasty and full of an assortment of seafood, the taste just didn't quite cut it for me. We finished the meal with one of Sawadee's chocolate mudcakes. The cake itself was rich and a little bit too sweet for my tastes, but the vanilla ice cream on the side helped balance it out, making it a well-constructed dessert. All of the dishes were impeccably presented as well.

Came here for catch up with friends. Overall service was ok, nothing great. And the food though it was quick from ordering was also only average. Have to give more props to the dessert was delicious.

The staff didn't seem too much with doing their work. It was quiet, maybe only a few other tables in yet you still had to grab their attention to be served. The food was average. Nothing special. Won't be back.

After years of visiting Sawadee, a combination of poor customer service and the online reservation service has put me off this place for good.Made a reservation utilising the online service Tuesday. Followed up with a call to confirm Tuesday evening and was told to wait till Wednesday for a reply and informed that a res for a group over 10 apparently can not be taken over the phone . Called Wednesday again after hearing nothing and was told there was no room for my booking. Useless. Fortunately, Ponsonby is ripe with more competent and more affordable Thai restaurants.

Choose Sawadee after reading reviews but unfortunately not very happy with the food. The 'evil prince' was supposed to be hot but was sweet!! The restaurant was full and very noisy. The decor and platter are nice. The satay starter was the only highlight.

Luke warm chicken satay which tasted like it had been re-heated. Satay sauce sugary and cheap tasting. Soups like Tom Kha Gai are <br/>OK but that's not hard to make..I'm a beginner cook and can make the same. <br/>All-in-all: too expensive and disappointing quality food.

This is one of the best Thai restaurants I been to! Sawadee is amazing. The restaurant itself is beautifull and when you walk in it feels like you've stepped into Thailand. The staff were all very friendly and the food was amazing.

Th inside of th resturant is amazing! So much effort has been put into th design of th restaurant. It is probably one of th best Thai restaurants I've been to in new Zealand, especially looking at th layout. I believe it is worth th price that you pay and you do get a genuine taste of Thai food there

I am a lover of Thai food and the first time we came here was in a big group late last year. We had the set menu which is very well priced for the amount of food you are served. The food Was amazing as well. The waitress was very attentive and for that particular night I would have scored it a 5.<br/><br/>Myself and 12 other friends visited last night. I had the larb which is a favourite of mine. The food was good as always and portion sizes are big, but we were a surprised by the high corkage fee Of $8 per bottle when the meals itself are over $20 each ($3 extra for rice). We also think the minimum spend of $20 per person should be removed, for example if you're in a small group of 2-3 people and only want to share a meal. <br/><br/>Overall, a great place to eat and will be back. I would definitely recommend going in a bigger group and taking advantage of the set menu.

Always try to get to Sawadee when im in NZ for the Gai Fai or the Evil Jungle Prince my personal spicy favorites. Great service and comfy seating,

I have been coming here on and off for years and each time it never fails to please ... Great place to catch up with friends... Food and service ....brilliant

Went here after work with a couple of friends. The atmosphere was really relaxing. Felt like an upmarket Thai hutt. We had mains and a few drinks. The meals were delicious, tasted like authentic Thai, and we really appreciated the generous side of fresh chillies to go with the food! The drinks were also good quality. We had a couple of mocktails and mojito. We considered ordering desert but as there were no Thai deserts on the menu we flagged that idea. It was just basic European-style deserts. They would probably have been tasty though, just not what we were looking for. A great place to go for dinner and a few drinks.

Dining out after a meeting in Ponsonby midweek. Looked like customer base were also those dining directly after work . Was surprised by the amount of meat in the dishes we ordered and it left the meal lacking balance. I was chasing those amazing Thai flavours but I got a takeaway dish made for westerners.<br/>Maybe I ordered the wrong dish for my tastes.

I'm never disappointed when I dine here, it's a great pl for group bookings too. We all have our fave dishes, I prefer the beef dishes with lots of heat. Great customer service with really friendly staff and the prices aren't too pricey, especially for Ponsonby.

Favorite Thai food in Auckland. I have tried everything on the vegetarian menu and have never been disappointed! Really friendly service too.

Very very very good food. The whole family enjoyed a night out here and we would will be back every night if we could! The food was cooked well and served flawlessly! I recommend the house wines as well <br/>03 1514

After being in Auckland for so long and walking/driving past Sawadee so many times I finally was able to go - twice in the space of four weeks!<br/><br/>I first went along as a big group to sample their menu, I love these events but I feel unfair reviewing a restaurant in that situation as I don't deal it's true representation of the whole experience. I was lucky enough to go back to Sawadee with some friends on a weeknight and so this review is very much based on that.<br/><br/>We did a walk in, no reservation, on a Wednesday night about 8. The restaurant is large but really nicely decorated in thai themes. We were given a seat down the back of the restaurant next to the water feature - this is a really nice spot to sit and would recommend asking for this area of you are booking. <br/><br/>We decided to grab an entree of some thai sausage and some drinks to start. Unfortunately they had run out of the sausage but from my previous trip here with the group I can say it is delicious and was a little sad my friends didn't get to try it! It's very flavourful. We opted out of an entree and went for our mains.<br/><br/>I ordered the chicken Pad Thai - delicious, sweet and the perfect amount of saucy. It was a big serving and came with plenty of nuts, veges and chicken. I was impressed!<br/>My hubby ordered the vegetarian Penang curry with Kumara and Potato Dumplings a the dumplings were quite odd in texture and not that great to eat (thick and sticky almost) but the curry itself was my favourite of the night. Hubby said he could've just kept on eating it. Again, lots of veges which is great.<br/>Our third member got the Seafood Curry which I only had a spoonful of, the sauce was really nice and not seafoody tasting at all (I'm not a huge seafood person)<br/><br/>Overall it was a really nice night out, had a great time. The staff were very friendly and attentive - probably the best customer service I've seen in a long time. The atmosphere and decorations of the restaurant are great and give a relaxed vibe which is perfect.<br/><br/>The menu pricing is a bit high for thai food ($20+ for mains) but for their location and serving sizes I definitely think it's worth it.

I finally had a meal at Sawadee, not because of my long-held desire to visit, but because of an invitation to a Zomato event. My first impression was fantastic. I had heard good things about the food, but nobody ever mentioned the restaurant itself- unassuming from the outside but inviting, sophisticated, and covered in silk and plants and fountains on the inside. <br/><br/>We ate from a menu designed for us by the chef, featuring many dishes that do not appear on the restaurant's usual menu. The highlights for me were a deep-fried, crunchy fish pancake, which was eaten as a salad with lettuce and a hot chilli sauce; a bright yellow sausage with a perfect balance of spices and thai herbs, with sweet capsicum relish, and a young coconut, which I'm told may make it onto the menu. With tender coconut meat braised in the tasty juice of a steamed seafood filling, I really hope it does. Such a simple and elegant dish deserves to be universally enjoyed. Our dessert was another specialty, and again one that I hope will becom consistently available as, frankly, I would make a beeline for that on my next visit. We were served, in a beautiful tureen, smoked coconut milk chilled with crushed ice, sweetened with pandan syrup, and filled with delicious treats of coconut meat and water chestnut boiled to a chewy jelly. Sawadee presented one of the most interesting and surprising meals I have ever eaten, in a beautiful setting, and I will certainly be back to see more.

Sawadee was a great venue for the January Zomato foodie meetup, with impeccable and attentive staff who were respectful of the constant conversation whilst looking after everyone there. This would make a perfect place for a fancy dinner in Ponsonby without costing too much (for Ponsonby anyway), and I really loved the decor too for the authentic feel. I don't think there's any question as to what is being served in this restaurant when you look around.<br/><br/>Apologies in advance for the photos. My bridge camera died and so all my reviews recently have been reliant on my smartphone's photography capabilities, if you've noticed a change from my previous reviews in that regard.<br/><br/>I started off the night with some fruit punch. Sawadee has a huge selection of cocktails and mocktails which I highly recommend you try out. There were a lot of boldly coloured confections being consumed around the table, and I was definitely intrigued by their interesting mixes on the menu. The punch was just right, not too sweet, but boldly coloured and really tall. Taller than I expected, anyway. Everyone around the table seemed pretty impressed.<br/><br/>There were three entrees. First up was the Sai Aua, which was a spicy chili-flecked pork sausage. It was minced very nicely and had a great texture, but I personally wouldn't recommend it if you don't like spicy things. It has quite a kick, balanced by the interesting addition of lemongrass and limey leaves, which is accentuated by its accompanying garnish.<br/>My favourite entree though was the Moo Ping, the pork skewers marinated in Thai herbs and then charcoal BBQ'd. They were tender and flavoursome. I would never have guessed there were any herbs involved, because whatever they were brought out the flavour in the pork rather than being the star of the show. This was very good, although perhaps a bit chewy for skewers. That depends on if you like your meat on the well done slipping-off-the-skewer side or on the converse side of things.<br/>Thirdly, the Thai style fresh spring rolls, or Poh Pia Sod, were also quite tasty. They're not like conventional spring rolls in that instead of the deep fried crunchy skin I expected, these used the translucent skin one might find used around Chinese har gow. The chicken and shrimp inside were al dente and perfectly cooked, and I also really liked the tamarind sauce that accompanied the dish. The skin was very sticky though, which is not a major problem as it's tricky to cook right (I know from my own attempts at making a similar skin in my own kitchen) but if this is mastered, diners can spend less time wrestling the spring rolls off the plate. Yes.<br/><br/>The mains are the standouts of the evening for me though.<br/>Firstly, the Yum Pla Foo (crispy snapper flaks salad) was my favourite main. It's like these snapper flakes which are reminiscent of pork cracklings, and all interwoven into a patty, atop a salad of apple and onion julienned. The crunchy crumbly texture is very nice, and mixed with the rice the dish as a whole was aromatic.<br/>The second main was Goong Ob Woonsen. I thought it was really unusual to bake prawns in a casserole, but it worked well here, and the glass noodles had soaked most of the prawn juices. I didn't notice until second helpings of the noodles that they were actually spicy, so good were the prawns.<br/>Thirdly, the seafood curry served in a coconut was also a standout of the evening. Some people are hesitant towards curries because they kind of veer into a very soggy rice situation, and I sometimes feel this way, but this dish was great because the seafood and egg had soaked up all the curry paste and flavour so you're left with a drier curry. It sounds terrible when I put it like that, but the crumbly curry tasting stuff reminded me a lot of mixing my rice with fish roe, where it's all very aromatic and delicious. The scallops were especially delicious here. It's not so spicy that you can't taste everything else, and totally worth it.<br/><br/>Dessert (Tab Tim Grob) was interesting. Perhaps not for everyone, but very authentic Thai style. They had smoked coconut milk using a sort of special candle looking thing, and did so several times. In this milk was a water chestnut or two, lots of chewy tapoica, and young coconut meat. You can sweeten your own bowl to your liking with some of their sugar syrup, which I thought was a great idea. People can vary greatly about dessert preferences. I'm used to eating water chestnuts in a savoury setting, so I wasn't sure if I liked that kind of texture happening here, but the young coconut meat was delicious, and the white tapoica particularly nice, sort of like gummy lollies. It took some explaining, but when I explained that it's pretty much the stuff at the bottom of bubble tea, everyone got what tapoica was. For me, I didn't like the red tapoica so much because I could taste whatever was used to colour it, whereas the translucent white tapoica was relatively better tasting because it had instead soaked more of the coconut milk taste than colouring taste. <br/><br/>Overall, a really lovely dining experience with great service from entry to exit. I highly recommend Sawadee's mains in particular, but you can't go wrong really with a menu full of delicious Thai food. Nom!

I had always heard great things about Sawadee, but sadly had never been, possibly due to the fact that I have only eaten Thai food twice in my life! So, when I was lucky enough to be invited to a degustation at Sawadee, held as part of Zomato’s Foodie Meetup, I was super excited, not only for the food, but also to meet fellow Zomato reviewers! <br/><br/>Upon walking in, I was warmly greeted with ‘Sawadee’ and shown to our table. The table setting was very pretty, with royal blue being the main feature colour. I also loved the overall décor and ambience of the place – from the indoor waterfall and the beautiful flowers on our table, to the various pot plants dotted around the restaurant – it had a great tropical and summery feel to it! <br/><br/>We first started off with a few drinks. Sawadee had compiled a new summer cocktail list, saying that ‘no one else in Auckland has tried yet’ which was quite exciting! I ordered the 'Sunkiss' which consisted of vodka, strawberry liqueur, banana liqueur and orange juice. I asked the waiter if he could please substitute the vodka for tequila (as I really love tequila) – he was very accommodating, which was great. It was a delicious drink, topped with a cherry and curled orange peel – not something you see in most restaurants! Later on I also ordered a Lychee Mojito (which is on their normal menu) and this was very sweet, just how I like my drinks! Would definitely go back just to order this drink again! <br/><br/>Now onto the degustation. We got to try a total of 7 dishes – each of which were completely new to me, but tasted delicious nonetheless. My favourite dishes were two of the entrees, including the Thai Style Fresh Spring Rolls with chicken and shrimp (‘Poh pia sod’) and the Charcoal BBQ Marinated Pork Skewers (‘Moo ping’). The spring rolls were delightfully fresh and were accompanied by two dipping sauces. Perfect way to start a meal! The pork skewers were juicy and I could have eaten more than two! <br/><br/>But the highlight of the night was definitely the Mixed Steamed Seafood in a Fresh Coconut (‘Hormok talay ma praw orn’). The dish consisted of prawns, scallops, snapper and squid in a red curry paste, coconut cream sauce with egg and Thai herbs. This dish took me to a whole ‘nother level in terms of the flavours. I also loved the fact that it was served in a coconut, and ordained with edible carrot flowers – it was the most beautifully presented dish of the night! <br/><br/>Dessert was created especially for us by Sawadee’s head chef. Jelly Rubies in Coconut Milk ('Tup tim grob') was the name of the dish, but it was so much more than that. Along with the coconut milk, we chewed and munched our way through water chestnuts, coconut meat and sago jellies. A sugar syrup was also served separately to pour on top (it was served in a patron shot glass - initially I thought we were all having a tequila shot with our dessert!). It was a lovely dish to end the meal - very refreshing and light. <br/><br/>As well as the amazing food, I thought the service was also top notch. I loved that the staff were enthusiastic and made the effort to explain each dish to us. Having very little knowledge of Thai cuisine, it was great to be able to get a better understanding of the ingredients used and what exactly we would be tasting. <br/><br/>Overall, it was a fabulous night, with great food and great company! A huge thanks to Sarah, Yatchi and Tamara from Zomato for organising the event and to Sawadee for the wonderful food, drinks and service. Will definitely be recommending Sawadee to my friends and family!

On Tuesday I indulged in a night of tasty Thai food, kitschy cocktails, and foodie conversation at a Zomato Meetup. <br/><br/>Sawadee is much larger than you might expect from the street. The decor is inviting, well lit and electric candles and flowers set the scene.<br/><br/>Sawadee’s special summer cocktail menu is all retro tiki-bar. I tried the Crying Tiger (brandy, Cointreau and lemon juice, rimmed with sugar). I picked this because it seemed like the sensible choice out of the very flamboyant list of cocktails. It was perfect. Not too sweet, no crazy colours or frilly garnish. I noticed some of the men at the table ordered Crying Tigers later on. My second cocktail is one of my favourites, a Mai Tai. While this rum based cocktail tasted about right, it was more jazzed up than I remembered. The others had a combination of very purple, very pink, and very red cocktails and the most popular mocktail was a mango number that was topped with foam. It’s nice to see a good selection of cocktails.<br/><br/>Now that I’ve set the scene of the drinks, let me know introduce you to the food.<br/><br/>Here’s a run down on what we ate:<br/><br/>Northern Thai Style pork sausage (Sai aua) filled with lemongrass, shallots, chili and kaffir lime leaves. This reminded me of the deliciously fragrant sausages The Koala and I ate around Chiang Mai and Laos. These are seriously good. A slice wasn’t really enough I could have eaten more. I absolutely adore lemongrass and this flavour-packed bite was my favourite appetiser. <br/><br/>The marinated pork skewer (Moo ping) was mild, if a little safe. An easy one for everyone to get into. Everyone enjoys meat on sticks.<br/><br/>No visit would be complete without some form of spring roll and Sawadee’s chicken and shrimp fresh spring rolls were perfect. They came with 2 types of sauce. Great if you are a sauce fiend.<br/><br/>I have to admit, at this point, I was thinking our chefs were just giving us safe dishes for an easy pass. While everyone had varying levels of Thai food experience, I really wanted to try something new. I’ve travelled to Thailand many times and the common dishes are familiar to me. I needn’t have worried because the next 4 out of 5 dishes I had never tried before.<br/><br/>The crispy snapper flakes salad (Yum pla foo) was an off-menu special whipped up just for us. Crunchy and light, it reminded me a bit of the deep fried fish skin my dad would make as a snack when we had easy access to a big deep fryer. Sawadee’s version came with a large bowl of a sweet sauce that packed quite a punch. Though this item is not yet on the menu, we were happy to be taste testers.<br/><br/>Next up, whole baked prawns in a clay pot of glass noodles (Goong ob woonsen). This dish proved challenging for some, but I happily twisted off the head and sucked out the goods like a pro. To me, this dish was comforting and mild and reminded me of various Chinese clay pot dishes.<br/><br/>Then, my favourite main dish of the evening: Hormok talay ma praw orn: a Thai curry seafood custard. Presented in a young coconut, a mixture of seafood swimming in red curry paste, Thai herbs and steamed egg. The egg was custardy and silky. The whole dish a creamy delicate delight. Paired with jasmine rice, this was right up my alley. I would do this again on my own.<br/><br/>A stir fry prawn dish snuck onto the table, but didn’t cause much fuss due to more interesting dishes. Maybe that was unfair. The prawns were succulent and plump. A classic.<br/><br/>Finally we were served dessert. An experiment in smoke and texture called “Rubies in Coconut Milk” (Tup tim grob). A refreshing chilled dessert of smoked coconut milk with tapioca, young coconut flesh, water chestnuts, sweetened (to our own tastes) with a shot of pandan sugar syrup. The smokiness hits you first and takes just a moment to get used to. The textures: crunchy, chewy, springy, squidgy, milk were fun to eat.<br/><br/>We dined as guests of Sawadee and Zomato. A huge thank you to Sawadee for having us. Theresa, the owner dined with us and the staff were always happy to answer our bewildering and amusing questions. <br/><br/>I'm looking forward to my next visit to Sawadee and also my next Zomato meet up. Kop kun kaaa!

Last night I headed out to Sawadee in Ponsonby for a Zomato meetup.  This place has been running for 25 years and it’s not hard to see why – the food was delicious, the staff were friendly and the decor sets the scene perfectly.  On a humid Auckland summer evening, it did feel a lot like my last trip to Thailand – sitting in a big wooden hut surrounded by plants and with ceiling fans whirring above our heads.<br/><br/>I was seated next to the owner, Theresa, who is enthusiastic about her chefs and was keen for us all to try out all the food and cocktails on offer.  She explained the menu to us and was kind enough to satisfy our questions about how things were cooked by asking staff to clarify where she couldn’t answer.<br/><br/>For the entrees, we enjoyed poh pia sod (Thai style fresh spring roll with vegetables, a boiled strip of chicken and shrimp rolled with rice paper and served with a tamarind sauce and sweet chilli sauce), moo ping (charcoal BBQ marinated pork skewer with Thai herbs – not on their menu) and sai aua (Northern Thai style spicy pork sausage – minced pork seasoned with fresh shallots, fresh lemongrass, dried chilli and fresh kaffir lime leaves).  My favourite was the sai aua as it reminded me of the sausages we ate in Chiang Mai.  I loved the strong taste of herbs and spices.<br/><br/>For the mains, we had yum pla foo (crispy snapper with green apple & red onion salad), goong ob woonsen (baked prawns with glass noodles and fresh ginger served in a clay pot), hormok talay ma praw orn (prawns, squid, scallops and snapper steamed in a young coconut with red curry paste, eggs and Thai herbs) and goong pad pug (stir fried prawns with seasonal vegetables in oyster sauce).<br/><br/>I really loved the hormok talay ma praw orn.  The seafood was fragrant with the red curry paste and it all had a lovely silky texture when combined with the steamed egg and the coconut meat which you could scrape off the sides of the coconut.  The next time I come back, I will definitely order this dish.<br/><br/>Dessert was a special creation by the chef.  It was a different take on the traditional Thai dessert of red rubies in coconut milk.  This one involved smoked coconut milk, water chestnuts, coconut meat and toddy palm seeds.   I really loved this – being Malaysian Chinese, coconut desserts are exactly up my alley, but unfortunately I don't think this is on their usual menu.<br/><br/>Sawadee have a new summer cocktail menu and I tried the red spider cocktail.  This was a fruity and sweet concoction of vodka, peach schnapps, midori, raspberry cordial, orange juice and cranberry juice.  If you like sweet cocktails, then this one is for you.  As well as this, I had a mocktail which unfortunately, I didn’t pick up the name of.  It was lovely though – not too sweet, good mango flavour, creamy and fizzy.  I enjoyed it more than the cocktail.<br/><br/>Overall, I really had a great time thanks to Zomato.  Great food, wonderful company (including seeing someone eat a prawn for the first time in his life!) and a fun atmosphere.  It’s been a long time since I last went to Sawadee, but I will definitely make sure that the next visit isn’t so long overdue!

Sawadee has always been known for sensational food (amazing considering it is 25yrs old) and having come here a few times in my past life and also again tonite, I was once again impressed and taken back to my trips to Thailand...! Theresa and her fine set of chefs put on a formidable banquet that culminated in a truly amazing dessert (one I won't forget for a long while...) made out of chilled smoked coconut milk with water chestnuts marinated in red tapioca and sweetened with Pandan sugar syrup - it was sublime!

As we fancied a Thai we used Zomato and read the reviews and as it was raining hard we ended up here at Sawadee, not too far from hotel we were staying at.<br/><br/>The building is beautifully fitted out and the look is very Thai. It was well staffed and we were looked after.<br/><br/>We started with the Garif Puff and Deep Friend Corn Cakes. Both were good and served in large portion sizes. We could have managed on just one.<br/><br/>For mains we each had different dishes to what we would normally choose.  Mr went for a hot one- the Gai Fai curry, it wasn't hot enough for him but he enjoyed it. I had the Tiger Milk Curry, I couldn't resist because it sounded so strange. It was odd but did work, the bits of banana were nice. I enjoyed the dish but would have liked a few more vegetables in with the chicken.<br/><br/>All up, this was a lovely meal in a lovely location and we would go back.

Went to Sawadee for my birthday. I was glad to have made reservations when we turned up and the place was buzzing and full! I called to move my reservation 30 mins later and they were really understanding about it!<br/><br/>Getting seated (we were lucky? enough to be seated in a more quieter area away from a large group) we were place at a table where we were seated on the 'floor' yet our feet could hang down (hard to explain) which was really innovative. The atmosphere was quite pleasant and appropriately lit. And the interior echoed of authentic decor. <br/><br/>We ordered more than half of the entrees and they were delicious and well portioned; perfect for our group of four. The gari puff and satay chicken were stand out. Our mains came out so fast - really surprising for the fact that it was a full house. One of the waiters asked us if we were ready and within 5-10 mins of ordering, they were out! I had the seafood green curry with really generous portions of scallops and king prawn. It was amazing and all my friends had similar responses to their meals. <br/><br/>Overall, I was really pleased with the service. Staff were attentive and ultra polite. The food was authentic and wonderful - coming from a thai person myself. I finally understand why this place has had such great reviews/popularity. Maybe a downside can be the price - a group of four must spend a minimum of $80- BUT saying so; if this high quality dining experience is offered, then it's totally worth it! Highly recommend!