Ka Pao Edinburgh Reviews Summary

Spice and Fusion of Southeastern-Asian Cuisine

Pros:

• "Something interesting with Southeastern-Asian spice and herbs, tasted fusion to me."
• "This is the type of Asian food that you get in Asia! Kudos to the chef!"
• "The menu they offer is unique, a clever mix of spices, peanuts is evident in most of their dishes."
• "It’s a amalgamation of many Asian cuisines and personally speaking some dishes can reach the level of authenticity."
• "Imaginative food with the smack of South East Asia."
• "It's small plates and we had about 10 between three of us, and we were consistently impressed."
• "A great addition to the Edinburgh restaurant scene. Food fabulous- service wonderful and the whole experience was more than affordable."
• "Every dish we tasted (and we tasted many) was delicious. 'fresh, flavourful and beautifully presented'."

Cons:

• "I have been to Ka Pao a few times but recently the dishes went quite salty losing the delicate touch before."
• "If you want bland tasteless toned down variations of Thai dishes, look no further."
• "The only thing I can say good things are about the sausage. Everything else was overly sweet, doused In sugar caramel sweet sauce."
• "Our corn was burned, main looked like the smudged dog food, tasted like dirty socks."
• "Both the red curry of coley, burnt tomato and lime leaf and green curry of minced chicken, Thai basil and banana chilli - both were tasteless and bland."
• "Some dishes were amazing, some were pretty good, some were okay, and some were too salty."
• "Rice was hard and like it had been microwaved, no check back from waitress to see how food was."
• "Poisoned. Felt sick after 30 minutes after lunch."

Service and Atmosphere

Pros:

• "Quick service, all of the plates were delicious."
• "Staff are friendly and keen to explain the composition of the dishes and recommend combinations."
• "The inside of the restaurant is beautiful and stylish, and has a really nice atmosphere."
• "The staff are extremely polite and tentative and offer to hang up coats, constantly getting water and offering advice on dishes."
• "The staff are all friendly, knowledgeable and professional, but still manage to make it feel personal."
• "The staff are well-informed and attentive, and the restaurant is airy and spacious."
• "The staff were lovely and very accommodating too."
• "Very knowledgeable and friendly staff, who gave advice if asked."

Cons:

• "The building is in the new St James Quarter, which is a really nice location as it is right in town and everything is very new and exciting round there."
• "Thought the food was a big average. Nice to see lots of vegan options, though!"
• "I work in a customer facing role and would never speak to anyone like that."
• "Service was attentive and relaxed and the space itself was beautiful which made our meal even more enjoyable."
• "I’m really confused about the hype surrounding this restaurant. The food was average at best."
• "The restaurant was empty and apparently the place was fully booked so I couldn't eat with my friend."
• "The only problem is that the food will be served as soon as and when it is prepared which does get a little delayed."
• "Between me finishing my food, asking for my bill and actually paying, I think I waited just over half an hour."
• "Service was ok, initially took a long time to take order. had to flag someone down."

Value and Pricing

Pros:

• "It’s not too pricey."
• "The cocktails were tasty too and not too sweet, so they went great with the meal. I was also super surprised when the bill arrived as it wasn't as expensive as I'd anticipated."
• "The food is of fine dining quality for a reasonable price."
• "First time I visited here with two friends. All foods were very delicious. So when I visited second time, I gathered 4 people and ordered sharing menu set. Super worth price and time."
• "2 bottles of wine, about 10 sharing plates & 2 desserts was £170-ish."
• "We all had a cocktail each and shared 5 dishes plus 2 portions of rice, and it was less than £24 per person."
• "The food menu itself is meant for sharing between a group of people, however can be purchased individually for a single person."
• "A superb dining experience. Amazing quality and tasting food, beautiful and clean restaurant and lovely staff."

Cons:

• "This is very far from what is considered your standard Thai menu in the UK, and as dear as you would expect from a restaurant in one of the posher parts of the city."
• "The food is reasonably priced with some interesting things to try (highly recommend the oyster)."
• "For the price of the curry, I would have expected to get the rice with it, however you had to purchase that separately."
• "The portions are tiny and the rice wasn't even good quality and had a weird consistency compared to every other Thai restaurant I've been to."
• "We got the... oysters (4/5), pandro peppers (5/5), corn ribs (1/5 innovative? It's a single cob, quartered, grilled and doused in some salted caramel sauce. not worth the £6)."
• "I am still very ill now."
• "We spent nearly 70£, and yet we still had to look for another place to eat more, as we were starving."
• "The food was horrendous. Our corn was burned, main looked like the smudged dog food, tasted like dirty socks."