ORA Restaurant

I"m surprised at so many negative reviews about what is for me the best Thai restaurant in London. I've had the Som Tum, the tofu paneng curry and the sticky rice with mango. The food was gorgeous and service excellent. Downsides are that it costs more than the average Thai restaurant (although with a Tastecard the price becomes more 'average') and we found the restaurant rather noisy (due to back acoustics?). Highly recommended though, especially for a special or romantic occasion.
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9 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 8
Monday, August 22, 2011

Went here for a hen party and had a great meal. Delicious food, quick service, great value, very convenient location for our show afterwards. Will definitely be going again!!
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Jessica
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 10
Sunday, July 10, 2011

After reading some of the reviews on here I was tempted to cancel my reservation, however I thought I should judge for myself. I'm so pleased I ignored the reviews as this place really is a gem. Everything we ordered was fantastic (the Massamun curry and prawn tempura in particular) and the staff were great, both friendly and helpful. For a restaurant only open for 6 months they are doing a really good job and I for one can't wait to return.
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Laura
9 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Friday, July 01, 2011

Very disappointing. We booked the pre-paid voucher menu, about £30 for 2 courses 2 people. We use these kind of menus on a regular basis to find restaurants we like before we book again for other visits and have had some great meals in some really nice restaurants. Based on this time we would not return. Very much style over substance, the restaurant looked very smart but the food was of the quality you would expect from a £6 all you can eat buffet. The dirty cutlery we used to eat the starter was given back to us and left on the table to eat the main course.
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Jason Bridge
4 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 2
Wednesday, June 22, 2011

I visited Ora with high expectations. This was a big mistake.

The service was very slow and my partner and I found the staff very unhelpful. They seemed to only care about how packed they could get the restaurant and not the service. The staff whom took our order was looking around at other tables whilst taking our order, it was as though she had no interest in serving us what so ever. When we asked her what she would recommend to us, she replied ''Everybody is different, i do not know what you like''. I found this plain rude and very unprofessional. The food was not the worst, but it wasn't great either. The starters were bland and the main courses lacked flavour also. We will most definetly not be returning and I really do think they need to teach their staff how to be more helpful.
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Caitriona C
2 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Monday, June 13, 2011

We went to Ora especially as it had a special vegetarian set menu for National vegetarian week. We have mixed views about it though.

The decor, lighting and seating was great, the food ok, but the service was appalling. Not good value for money either. They were quite busy but we went about 8.30-9pm on a mid-week evening. They took a long time to hand us the wine list as requested and most of the time, didn't really acknowledge you! We had to keep re-ordering water and wine as the waitress seemed to have forgotten - my biggest gripe.

My salad starter was the spiciest thing I've ever eaten! Maybe I missed the fact it had chillies in it so couldn't taste (or see) any papaya. My partner's mushrooms were quite nice.

Mains - my thai green curry was quite tasty but the consistency was too watery. Interesting to discover I like thai aubergines as I don't like normal ones. However, my partner's tofu & spinach was bland and uninteresting.

So, Ora looks nice but isn't worth a second visit.
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cheese&winelover
5 Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 2 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 4
Tuesday, June 07, 2011

Having lived in Thailand for some time I was very disappointed with the food. It really isn't Thai food at all, in fact some dishes were poor imitations of the chinese food that is often served throughout the UK. I've eaten far better on the street and the cost of £85 with wine cannot be justified. The service and wine and decor were acceptable.
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reviewing
4 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Sunday, May 29, 2011

The food is totally mediocre and overpriced. The place also looks like some kind of bad 1980s provincial disco. Walk down the street to Busaba instead.
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Sam
4 Overall rating
Food 4 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 4 | Value for money 3
Thursday, May 12, 2011

We had a really good meal here. It's very tucked away and discrete but quite swanky and modern inside. The staff are really atentive and it's well managed.

The food we had was very flavourful and tasty. I had calamari in light batter with a lovely sweet dip. Not overcooked which so many restaurants do. The a green pumpkin curry with lots of interesting veg I'd never heard of or tried before. The portions weren't massive but very tasty and well cooked.

The value for money was better than a lot of other restaurants in this very pricey area but this is not a rustic cheap thai - it's a classy restaurant with a good menu and wine list. All in all they seem to know what they were doing and we had a very pleasant evening.The lighting (which other people complained about in their reviews) seems to have been toned down as I didn't find it too bright or distracting.
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beccy_marie - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 7
Thursday, February 17, 2011

ORA is one of a nice place in London, even not big restaurant, but it provide a great food and warm atmosphere in Thai style. I would recommend a duck dish with tamarind sauce is very nice, drink is not special (quite expensive). I had a bottle of wine, valuable.
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Arron Schneider
8 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 7
Tuesday, January 04, 2011