our review
ORA Restaurant is now open on Little Portland Street, bringing authentic Thai food to London's West End. Despite its central location, ORA is tucked away from the chaos of Oxford Street with a modern, design led interior which serves as a backdrop to head chef Tamas Khan's menu of traditional Thai dishes.
November 2010
what the critics say

Guy Dimond - 2/5
your comments review this restaurant and win a bottle of champagne
We had a Groupon Voucher for the value of £69 which included a 2 course meal-the value of the meal we had at the Ora restaurant was definitely not worth £69.
The portion size of the food was also very small and we had to order extra meals. the price of the meals were over-priced for what they were worth. The staff did not take care of us as you would expect with normal restaurant service. I had to remind our waitress 3 times for our drinks. The drinks tasted watered down. The menu that we were offered was significantly poor and very limited compared to the actual restaurant menu. Unfortunately we will never return to this restaurant to eat again.
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sal
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Overall rating ![]()
Food 2 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 3 | Value for money 0
Sunday, October 16, 2011
Reading some of the reviews, I am trying to work out whether the food is really bad or we had just had a very bad night. Starters was veggie rolls, thick like bricks, nothing subtle, and unlike another reviewer, the calamari was heavily coated in batter with an odd tasting black sauce. Mains were awful, we couldn't finish them, heavy handed helpings. Unlike other Thai restaurants, could not share. Beef M. Curry - quality of beef v disappointing, braised, not at all what we were expecting. Big dollops of solid pieces of meat (like it had been lifted from a can) on the plate with a synthetic tasting sauce. Crispy cod with ginger, disappointing. We were on the 50% meal deal, and glad we were because it's been a long time since we had such a disaster of a meal in London. Overpriced bad Thai pub food. Only saving grace was the staff who were nice but perhaps overly attentive. I can fill my own water glass.
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Overall rating ![]()
Food 0 | Service 6 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 1
Friday, September 23, 2011
Great service, shame about the food! Booked a table with a Living Social deal, so a very short menu to choose from. The spring rolls were a bit like eating bricks-very little filling (and unidentifiable veg filling). Pad thai was like none I've ever had either here or in Thailand, smothered in sugary sweet chilli sauce which meant I could only eat about a third (I would have eaten less but didn't want to make it completely obvious that I found the dish inedible). I don't think it was just poor because it was on the deal-I saw the same spring rolls going out to a number of tables. Shame as I thought the chef was supposed to be pretty accomplished, but perhaps they have a new chef. The cocktails we had on top of the deal were great, but at £10 each they were definitely on the steep side for a restaurant, even in central London. There is a great little thai place around the corner at less than half the price of ORA, so despite the best efforts of the staff I won't be going back.
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Overall rating ![]()
Food 1 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 5
Monday, August 29, 2011
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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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
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
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
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
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
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
Overall rating ![]()
Food 2 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Sunday, May 29, 2011



