While staying at the Montecasino resort, we were advised to go here by a friend that told us it was the No. 1 Thai restaurant in Joburg. Having not had good Thai food in a few months, we were definitely on board for discovering a new place.
Kai Thai is located on the second level in the middle of the Montecasino floor. You enter through a cute decorated downstairs which is outfitted with a tuk tuk and trinkets from Thailand. After making your way through, you’re escorted into a tiny elevator that takes you to the second floor where all the tables are. You’ll notice large red curtains everywhere, Thai memorabilia, and statues of animals. The atmosphere is certainly well thought out, but it isn’t exactly authentic, being in a casino and all.
The menu here is rather extensive and comes in a folder the size of a dictionary. Our waiter had to come back a few times before we ordered as there were so many items to sort through. The wine list is also pretty nice, and we ordered a good bottle of red to go with our meal (I know it doesn’t go together but wanted some red),, while others in our party went with fruity coconut-laden Thai cocktails. We went with several items including a shrimp curry and several kinds of noodles. While the curry had some decent flavor, it was pretty gloopy in consistency. My noodles were completely bland and seemed like the chef just threw together the cheapest spaghetti noodles they could find with some soy sauce and vegetables. I ended up stealing some sauce from somebody else to make it palatable. There really wasn’t anything “Thai” about it, and I’ve eaten in dozens of Thai restaurants. At best it could have been called poorly executed Pan Asian fare. I will say the portions were huge though, but I didn’t even finish half my plate as it just wasn’t any good.
We decided on not ordering dessert given our experience with several of the dishes. My rule of thumb is that if I’m not enthusiastic about the main courses, I don’t want to get burned again on the dessert. Overall this restaurant seems like a cool place to come with a bunch of friends, but the food quality needs some changes if it wants to be called a Thai restaurant.
Expert Review
While staying at the Montecasino resort, we were advised to go here by a friend that told us it was...
While staying at the Montecasino resort, we were advised to go here by a friend that told us it was the No. 1 Thai restaurant in Joburg. Having not had good Thai food in a few months, we were definitely on board for discovering a new place.
Kai Thai is located on the second level in the middle of the Montecasino floor. You enter through a cute decorated downstairs which is outfitted with a tuk tuk and trinkets from Thailand. After making your way through, you’re escorted into a tiny elevator that takes you to the second floor where all the tables are. You’ll notice large red curtains everywhere, Thai memorabilia, and statues of animals. The atmosphere is certainly well thought out, but it isn’t exactly authentic, being in a casino and all.
The menu here is rather extensive and comes in a folder the size of a dictionary. Our waiter had to come back a few times before we ordered as there were so many items to sort through. The wine list is also pretty nice, and we ordered a good bottle of red to go with our meal (I know it doesn’t go together but wanted some red),, while others in our party went with fruity coconut-laden Thai cocktails. We went with several items including a shrimp curry and several kinds of noodles. While the curry had some decent flavor, it was pretty gloopy in consistency. My noodles were completely bland and seemed like the chef just threw together the cheapest spaghetti noodles they could find with some soy sauce and vegetables. I ended up stealing some sauce from somebody else to make it palatable. There really wasn’t anything “Thai” about it, and I’ve eaten in dozens of Thai restaurants. At best it could have been called poorly executed Pan Asian fare. I will say the portions were huge though, but I didn’t even finish half my plate as it just wasn’t any good.
We decided on not ordering dessert given our experience with several of the dishes. My rule of thumb is that if I’m not enthusiastic about the main courses, I don’t want to get burned again on the dessert. Overall this restaurant seems like a cool place to come with a bunch of friends, but the food quality needs some changes if it wants to be called a Thai restaurant.