Blue Elephant

Its a tough review to call. So let me start with environment and hospitality. I will mark both 10 out of 10. The staff (we had 3 different people serving 2 of us) were all fantastic, kind and had a smile in their face at all times. Environment - fantastic. A theme of "rain-forest" backdrop...tropical plants all over the place, small ponds, flowers...were excellent. If in general, that is what you are after in going to restaurant, I will highly recommend this place...however..........

Some staff are not fully trained - my wife missed a list of fresh juice (though it was available), as the person served her whilst waiting for me to arrive didn't know that real fresh juice exists other than the carton ones. Also, for a restaurant in middle of city for a long presence, I was surprised none of them knew where parking exists for customers who drove there.

Here comes the food part. I cannot give anything more than 3 for the dish that we ordered. I come from an asian background and maybe my expectations having tasted food like Thai from my country (I am not from Thailand) might be high but to be honest, this is below than par. We thought to be adventurous by ordering few items that we have never had before, and except for the bamboo fish, everything else was average. I could have cooked a better Thai from the jar. Maybe this restaurant cooked to cater to the western taste, which defeats the purpose of people going in there...because people may want to taste the real Thai food...I mean even Gordon Ramsay was shocked there was more to Thai Food than Pad Thai during his journey in Thailand. We had 2 vegetarian dishes, 1 lamb and 1 fish with a the Chef Special fried rice. I am no show-off but I can cook this fried rice anytime and would have had salt in it with a kick of spice to cater customer's requirement. The lamb was equally awful. For £20, i would have expected to see at least 6 pieces of lamb chunks in it. And the aubergine costs £11??!! For 2 persons our total bill including service charge was £101. We wouldnt have mind the price, if we thought the food had some speciality in it. If you are up for a good thai food, this is not a place to go....but if you want a great ambience, spend quality time with your family/friends/work colleagues and served by polite waiters and waitresses and not worry about how your food tastes and how much you would pay, then I would recommend this place...Good Luck!
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Hari
6 Overall rating
Food 3 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 2
Friday, June 10, 2011

love, love, love this place :-) dont know how they get all the plants in there without the smell - i think its fabulous!! the food is amaizing and the service is good too! i have been twice and highly recommend to anyone who is looking for a food adventure with amazing decor :-)
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Lauren - View all reviews by this user
8 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 8 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8
Monday, February 07, 2011

I love this restaurant, and have visited it countless times. Food has always tasted fresh and the service has always been outstanding. Never had a complaint. By far my favourite thai restaurant.
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Soniya Hodge
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Visited here with group of friends mid-week, the restaurant wsa busy but due to the abundance of plants still felt like a more intimate restaurant. Served small soup and prawns as amuse bouche which was a nice touch. Starters and mains good, I had scallops which were excellent. People having curry commented it was tasty but on the hot side. Plenty of food. A good meal, overpriced but you are paying for the atmosphere.
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KN
7 Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Thursday, November 18, 2010

I absolutely love this restaurant. Service was amazing and so was the food. Prices are decent too.
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Lorelei
10 Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Went their for my forty birthday with family and friends as had seen lovely pictures of this restaraunt on the internet

Must say the decor is outstanding and the restaraunt is very cozy. As for the food and it's prices i would give it 1 out of 10. The food tastes like it has been reheated and microwaved. Both my guests and myself left the place very unpleases and would not return back again. After spending over 300 pounds on 6 adults and 2 kids we asked if we could cut a cake which we had bought. I was told that there would be an additional cover charge of 5 pound per person including the kids to cut the cake there. This added 40 to the bill on top of the gratuiuty bought the bill to 440 pounds. This was without any alcoholic drinks as this would have taken the bill out of our budget.

We would have rather gone to pizza express or somewhere else for 100 pounds and would have got decent food and some wine bottles.
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jass
2 Overall rating
Food 1 | Service 3 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 0
Thursday, September 09, 2010

I ate there for the third time in July 2010, after not visiting it for 15 years or so. It was awful. Overpriced, lousy food, cramped, unwelcoming. If you want Thai food which is 300% better than this drive to Hastings and go to the Thai Bookshop. For £13 a head you will experience food that makes the Blue Elephant seem like the local chippie.
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Edward
3 Overall rating
Food 2 | Service 4 | Atmosphere 6 | Value for money 0
Wednesday, August 25, 2010

I was really looking forward to my meal as all my friends have been telling me that this is the best Thai food in London.

I went there with work colleagues on the 21/07/10. I must admit I was very disappointed with the food. The food in Blue Elephant is so over rated and does not live to the "whole concept " of Thai cuisine. The sweet element overpowered the rest of the other principles like spicy and sour. I must admit I have eaten at better restaurants in the south of the water.

In saying that of the quality of the food was good- fresh ingredients are definetely used. The venue ,ambience are fantastic and the staff and service was excellent. I couldn't fault that at all.
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Abby Kaur-Forde
8 Overall rating
Food 6 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 9 | Value for money 6
Saturday, July 24, 2010

Superb food, novel design, apalling service.
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andycs
4 Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 0 | Atmosphere 5 | Value for money 3
Saturday, May 29, 2010