Review Thai Chef's Restaurant Napier - Napier

This is our first time back since the reopening. Fabulous place. Our meals were beautiful and service was great.

Thai Chefs I one of our favorite Thai Restaurants. Great food, friendly staff. 😋

I wanted to take a moment to express my utmost satisfaction with the dining experience my group and I had at your establishment recently. From the moment we walked in, we were greeted by your lovely staff who provided excellent service throughout the evening. Not only was the food exceptional, but we were also pleasantly surprised when we asked for a discount and were granted one. It's truly refreshing to see a restaurant that values its customers and is willing to go the extra mile to ensure their satisfaction. I want to give a special shout-out to the amazing server who took care of us. Their friendly nature, attentiveness, and knowledge of the menu made our dining experience even more enjoyable. It's no wonder that your establishment has gained such popularity among diners. The overall ambiance and quality of service truly make it an awesome place to dine. Once again, thank you for providing us with an incredible dining experience. We look forward to returning soon!

We were visiting Napier for the weekend and staying at the Kennedy Park resort. This restaurant is 2 minutes drive away and we were pleasantly surprised. Busy, but we got a table, staff were very attentive despite how busy it was, food very very good. Best Thai I've had in NZ. Reasonable price and we did BYO.

Loved the food here, awesome restaurant. Especially love the quirky names for dishes on the menu. The menu is exhaustive and all sounds so good it's hard to choose. Because of our booking size we had to be seated in the outdoor area, was notified the day before by phone, It was warm and clean and not a problem. The waitresses were a little short with us when we asked for extra napkins but they were very busy. The food was top notch and all came out together and in a very timely manner even with a large table. Will definitely be going back again.

This is a regular place for family gathering When back home in Hawkes bay. Great for groups /children. Great prices / great staff/ authentic atmosphere. Very relaxed feeling .

Though the people at the next table were a bit loud, there’s nothing the restaurant could do about that, but the food and service were excellent. My fiancee is Thai and she said the food is “traditional Thai” and not “Kiwi Thai”, and the price was very reasonable. We’d happily go back again.

Really nice little place, great vibe and lovely staff. Food is very yummy

Really nice place. Good was delicious and the cocktails are amazing too. It's in a great location and the mainstream are reasonable priced

Part of a group of ten who dined in for dinner on Saturday 12 August. We all enjoyed the service and food. Definite turnaround as there were mixed reactions before heading there. One of our group even returned after we had left as they wanted to leave a tip with one of the team who looked after us for most of the evening. My entree and main were so tasty. I look forward to going back again. Thank you.

This place is amazing! Love the food, love the staff. As soon as you walk in the delicious smells hit you! My go to favourites are the spring rolls & crispy pork belly fried rice! MMMMMMmmmmmm getting hungry just writing this. 😍

Went to pick up food ordered online, arrived said im here for pick up under my name, they didnt have me in their system, I showed receipt and they noticed we ordered for WGTN branch. They resolved this by not making a fuss about it with us, or didn't even blame us for making this mistake by acknowledging it was fault of us the customer. They called wgtn branch and sorted it out and started cooking the order here in Napier. My partner ordered the food online so I can't say for certain whether the website made it clear or not where she was ordering from - but she's pregnant so I'm chalking it down to pregnancy brain and she hungry and tired so not thinking straight when ordering. I started writing this review as I waited for the food, the food was cooked before finishing this. Seriously impressed 👏

Fantastic Thai experience. Had the Massaman Beef (5 hours slow cooked) and Royal Chicken Panang, both excellent. Fantastic ambience. Staff were very helpful and freindly when we rang to book and in person. Tables well spaced apart. All round was a great night out. Great Food does not get any better. Highly recommended.

We came here for dinner last night . Didn’t book but we’re still able to fit us in . Atmosphere was lovely and very friendly staff . Had an absolutely beautiful pad Thai and partner had a lovely sweet and sour chicken. Dish . Couldn’t finish it , huge portions and extremely tasty .

Really good to be back. Decor is brilliant. The places has really opened up and much more modern. Food is still good quality.

That coconut rice was amazing!!! And staff are great. It's a bit dark though I had to use my torch on my phone to read the menu I must of looked so silly lol but no worries food was amazing thanks guys!!

Visited last night as a family group with 5 young children.<br/>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. 😡😡😡

We waited for food quite long like almost 45mins-1hr. Food were good but not that wow. We had variety of food and comments from the table is spicy level here is pretty spicy compared to other restaurants in the area which I think it’s a good point. I had stir-fried noodle with crispy pork and the quantity was HUGE but the taste was not that great. Lots of BIG chunk of crispy porks but they seems to be too thick for one bite, not many vegetable in the dish as I expected. The decoration was too much with elephants everywhere. Service was alright.

Absolutely love the food from here, the venue is clean and tidy and presents a chilled dining vibe. This is where I feel in love with the Naughty Pig in Green Thai Curry with roti and coconut rice. The Wellington store delivers consistent quality with Napier which is just awesome!!!

put in a phone order at 6.10 pm. Advised it would be ready at approx 6.30 pm. Arrived and paid at 6.30 pm. At 6.55 pm asked what was happening and were told that we had phones at 6.30 and meal would be ready at 7pm.<br/>They then said look at your receipt that said 6.30 which was time I paid. And if you want to dine in then be prepared to be treated like a sardine and get packed in. GO SOMEWHERE ELSE

Have eaten Thai all around NZ and still this place is unbeatable! The food is delicious. The decor is so beautiful and service is very quick and friendly. Absolutely love this place

We’re big fans of Thai Chef’s Restaurant in Wellington and so were keen to see what its Napier counterpart was like. The menu is huge and features colourful descriptions, making it a fun challenge to narrow down the many choices. Most dishes can either be made vegetarian or cone with your choice of meat. I ordered yellow pad Thai with pork belly slices, a slight variation on a classic. I was presented with a huge plate of delicious food, some of which was packed up to take home and finish later. The roti was the only disappointing part of our meal; the texture resembled cardboard. The service was very good: pleasant and attentive. A lovely BYO dinner.

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 Monday night - maybe a different chef? <br/><br/>---<br/><br/>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.

Food here was really awesome. This is probably the best Thai food we had in years. We were here from Auckland and will try the Auckland branch again.

tonights dinner restaurant was always going to be up against it after last nights 5 rating meal. we didnt book and they where heavily booked but they cheerfully found a table for us. the service was very good no complaints. we had 2 entrees 3 mains 1 jasmine rice 1 coconut rice 1 glass of wine and 3 soft drinks between the 4 of us for $108 so very reasonable. overall the meal was very good hence the high rating. one of the best thai i have been to.

Had a nice and spicy Thai dinner with friends. Food is quite expensive but it's worth the money. Good ambience and good service. The unique names given to the dishes make it tough to identify the dish you are looking for.

This is my first restaurant review.<br/><br/>I went to this restaurant and read all about this chain around NZ and how successful it had been. The restaurant looked clean and the menu looked professional. <br/><br/>I sat down and ordered a Chicken Pad Thai and a glass of wine. The food came out without exaggeration within 5 mins, maybe even 4 which made me worry a little considering it was chicken. Anyway it tasted good enough but after about my 3rd mouthful I found a whole cooked fly in it.<br/><br/>I haven't come across this before and naturally it made me feel a little ill. I called the waitress over and I have to say she didn't appear all that shocked as she took the dish away. At this stage I had no idea what was going on and whether she was planning on taking the fly out and giving me the dish back so I called her back and said I will go for Squid Pad Thai instead. <br/><br/>I was getting pretty irate by this stage having had no apology or explanation so I informed her that I wouldn't be paying for the main (silly me in hindsight). The waiter after going away and consulting with the manager told me that she would give me the price of the squid for the price of the chicken (which is $3 cheaper and still no apology). I pointed at my computer and told her I would post on the internet. I ate the squid when it came albeit suspicious of what may have happened to it.<br/><br/>I left and didn't get billed for it but I still did not receive an apology as I left for this unacceptable negligence.

I was hoping to relieve my Thai food craving and was expecting something fantastically tasty and authentic after reading the reviews. Unfortunately my take out meal was neither. I had the mixed entree which was mass produced, tasteless and deep fried to an oily crisp. My Tom Kah Gai was tasteless - not a piece of galangal or lemon grass or kaffir lime in sight and no zing of fish sauce or lime - garnished with what I believe was frozen coriander. Very disappointing. The only positive was it was priced very well.

My wife and I had a beautiful evening at the Thai Chef in Onekawa - our first visit there.<br/>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.<br/>We will definitely be taking our overseas visitors there to enjoy a super night out.<br/><br/>(We did have one very slight problem in reading the beautiful colourful menu, due to the writing being white &amp; small against a fancy background and with our ageing eyesight it was quite difficult to read in some parts).<br/><br/>Looking forward to many more such evenings! :-)

A group of us went for a birthday meal, midweek, and just lovely. Super tasty meal. Have been before and love the range of spicy meals, covers all tastes, which is great. Grandchildren arrived with a birthday cake and staff couldn't have been more helpful in providing candles plates etc........made one Poppa very happy! <br/>Highly recommended

Ordered takeaway dinner. Order taken and meal ready easily within 10 minutes. Mildly spicy was right on the mark and very pleasent. A very enjoyable and fresh meal for a fairly reasonable price.

My husband and I had a large group of friends had heard of this place and really wanted to go. We requested to be picked up (a service available to large groups) the young man driving was very friendly I must comment! A true delight. Slim young man with a beautiful aburn beard. <br/><br/>Anyhow, the food was amazing! Such a vast array of flavours, heats, colours and tastes. Very very nice.<br/><br/>The decor was a bit aged, needing some upkeep.<br/><br/>Staff very friendly, however, the owner decided to greet us as we were eating our meals, asking how everything was going, etc, etc. He went on and on and on and put us right off our meals. He stayed for the entire duration of our meals, even pulled up a chair! Ruined our evening!<br/><br/>However, we had the pleasure of having the same young man deliver us home which made up for it ha ha.

Wait staff pleasant but could be more onto it with service - One diner out of our party of six not happy with meal (duck fatty only two pieces of meat edible-would not come back) THAI CHEF'S at MANGONUI RULES !!! <br/>So in comparison our experience in Napier was, unfortunately, somewhat disappointing.

My wife and I visited here for a meal before Christmas, we had only ever had Thai food once and to be honest it was awful. Anyway we had heard good things about Thai Chef and we though we would give it a try for something different.<br/>We had the mixed Appitisers to start. we both enjoyed this although we should have bough 0ne each. For the main course I had the Naughty Pig and my wife had the Black Pepper Beef, we each sampled both dishes. The food was ok but not really something we would go for again. The service was acceptable without being friendly, it was busy at the time. I will say that it was much better then the last time I had Thai Food

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" night out. 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.

We had the same problem before the place burned down in the recent fire. everyone of our party received their meal except me and nearly and hour later and I still hadn't received my meal. the staff didn't appear to give a stuff and I left refusing to wait for my main - they got angry but I did not want to have to eat my meal on my own, it was embarrassing. Disgusting service, just a different culture.

Entree was nice, waited 1hour for our mains, everyone around us had there drinks, entree and mains, and still we waited, must i note we were there 20min before the people around us. We didn't hang around for long. Disgusting service. My partner and i will not be returning.

Great restaurant - food was good, service outstanding and the deco is really authentic. Would recommend this restaurant for dine in take aways or even bigger functions.