Mango Tree

Disappointed

I took my wife here for our wedding anniversary. We both like Thai food and have been to some of London's best Thai restaurants. We had high expectations because the reviews for Mango Tree were pretty much universally good, so perhaps it's not entirely surprising we were a bit disappointed by the experience.

On arrival we were welcomed warmly and shown to the bar for a drink while our table was prepared. First sign that all was not up to standard: the table we were shown to was dirty, and yet we were shown to it anyway and then had to watch the waiter wipe what was on the table onto us. Not four star service.

Service was pretty slow throughout – for the money, I'd expect everything to be brisk and efficient but we sat for quite a while before they took our drinks order and then we had to wait a meaningful amount of time for the drinks to show up.

After a short wait, we were shown to our table. The tables are pretty close together and it's a fairly buzzy place, so don't go if you're looking for a romantic night out, I guess.

The menu includes a ‘tasting’ option but it's only available for parties of four or more — so why give it to a table for two? The food choices are extensive – both the sort of Thai food you'd expect (e.g. green curry, pad thai) plus some more ‘fancy’ options designed by their chef (eg Wagyu beef with a green curry sauce). We over-ordered slightly, somewhat deliberately so that we would have a chance to try a range of dishes. Some were pretty good, others were really quite disappointing.

For appetizers we ordered the tasting plate, which included the usual suspects: chicken & beef sate, spring rolls and the like. It was nice but not off-the-scale nice – for more than £10 per head I'd expect better, really.

For main courses we had the chef's special pad thai, which was served with tiger prawns; a green chicken curry and a beef jungle curry plus steamed vegetables and jasmine rice. The jungle curry was a huge disappointment: it was advertised as ‘very hot’ and the waiter even warned me about it being hot, but honestly it was extremely bland and the sauce was more like a not-very-spicy hot-and-sour soup than a jungle curry. Definitely one to avoid. The green curry was tasty – the sauce pleasantly rich – though I think there's a general tendency for western chefs to put far too much meat in Thai curries and insufficient vegetable matter – there were maybe half a dozen baby aubergines, for example. The steam vegetables were nicely cooked. The pad thai was really the best dish and even that wasn't “amazing” it was just “good”.

Over-priced, don't bother.

Review of Mango Tree, Grosvenor Place

A truly excellent evening with a wonderful friend. Great atmosphere, friendly staff and low lighting with a great Thai atmosphere. We had a cocktail before dinner and were shown promptly to our table at 6pm. We had a very attentive waitress and wine server too. We opted for the five course £28 menu and food was amazing! We were so busy talking we didnt realise the restaruant had filled up so quickly, every table was taken. We enjoyed a very lovely bottle of rose wine. This venue was 10/10 and I cannot recommend it more highly.
Everything was excellent! Service, good atmosphere, you are missing out if you haven't been here! One of London's best kept Thai gems!

whilst the food was fairly decent, the service was shocking. we were not told at the time of booking that there was a 2 hrs slot only, we were then taken to the table late. The waitress put her food in the meal whilst serving, another waiter dropped food on one of us whilst clearing the table. the 50% off voucher we had all of a sudden wasn't valid. all in all not a pleasant dining experience

Revisiting Mango Tree after a few years now, leaves the same impression which is that it has maintained its stature as a large Thai eatery, probably more typical in size to something you would find in NewYork. The ambience feels “club” & waiters are suitably decked out with mobile speaker/headphones.

Food is just ok to be honest if one is familiar with Thai, though it will probably pass quite well with the fairly diverse crowd that one finds here. We took the 4 course set dinner which comes with the various offers of a typical papaya salad, fried prawns and scallops, chicken “tom ka gai” soup and of course the red duck curry and rice.

Its also a good venue to meet up for a drink before your dinner there, as the bar area is quite decent & well sized. The restaurant caters well for larger groups as they have enormous round tables at the corners of the expansive dining room.

One of few decent, reasonably affordable options in Victoria. That being said, a two course business lunch with soft drinks and water only still came in at £40 a head. It’s a relatively soulless barn of a space under a large hotel / office building, light and bright enough on the sunniest day of the year but little ambience delivered by the large plate glass windows staring out on the traffic choked Grosvenor Place. The decor feels a little scuffed and tired round the edges these days, and the confusing, tatty menu piles three special menus on top of the banqueting options on top of the a la carte. The £17 set lunch needs to be asked for separately however.

I went for two from their seasonal Street Food Festival menu, unsure of what this was linked to but the options looked interesting enough. Kai Nok-krata Tord or Quail egg Wanton was a bit of a one trick pony. Pleasant enough, though a little cloying after a while, the portion containing six of the little orbs, hard boiled and fried in wanton skin, my anaemic chilli sauce had me eying a neighbours satay avariciously. The satay and associated chicken skewers were pronounced quite as good as anything my colleague had eaten recently in Thailand.

My main was more interesting, deep-fried sea bass with a mango salad. The former came a touch over-fried for my taste, the accompanying chewy mouthfeel tasty for sure, but killed the sea bass a little. The green mango salad worked alongside, a cooling mix of crunchy matchsticks contrasting with the heat of the fish. Elsewhere they didn’t seem to compromise on flavour for pedestrian local taste buds either. Other dishes receiving plaudits round the table included a robust Massaman Lamb Shank curry, thick, creamy and almost aggressively spiced with the soft lamb falling off the bone.

Wines are fairly punchy in their ambition. I’m not sure I’d waste a premier Bordeaux on such spicy fare but if you would, then they’re all here and priced as you’d expect. There’s plenty around the £18 – £30 mark too though the professional workers (or those with bosses) weren’t able to imbibe.

Overall, it’s difficult to fault the food that we had, though I might chose differently next time. Big portions of fresh and authentic, well spiced Thai banqueting specialities. But you’ll pay handsomely for the privilege and if not stuck in Victoria with no escape I wouldn’t necessarily travel for it. The ambience, decor and tightly packed tables rule out romantic rendezvous too. If you’re craving expensive Thai in Victoria, Michelin starred Nahm on West Halkin Street is also worth a thought.

The offer is a bit misleading as it says 50% off the food but in fact you only get 25% off chefs specials and a lot of things on the menu are chefs specials. We weren't told this when we ordered so ended up having to query the bill at the end of our meal and argue our case. Beware – you don't get 50% off everything!. Having said that the food was good but we felt it was a bit overpriced for what it was even with the discounts.

This was my first time at the Mango Tree and I was very disappointed. Because it is Thai you are expecting it to be a quiet & gentle type of place. But it is very loud and noisy and lacks any real Thai atmosphere. The waiters are all wired up with headphones etc and it feels very much like a “mass market” experience. We had the Thai Platter which was disappointing – prawns in batter, rubbery fish cakes and chicken on skewers. This was very much the standard platter with nothing that was authentic or interesting about it. The main courses – Green Chick Curry, Phad Thai Noodles and Stir Fried Prawns with Basil were ok but again did not leave you with any “wow” factor. The acid test is always – would I go back? The answer is no, there are far nicer (and definitely quieter) Thai restaurants in London.

I go here very often to eat along with my buisness partners. We have always enjoyed their food and the BUZZ in here is fantastic. Only this one last time I found the service a bit slow, maybe because it was too busy that day.Anyhow a nice place for a nice buzzing meal

DK

After years of avoiding Mango Tree like the plague, I finally succumbed and went there for dinner and I stand corrected! Mango Tree turned out to be surprisingly good! The room is huge and despite our 6pm arrival, it was more than 75% occupied within 20 minutes! The banquette seating is, quite possibly, the most comfortable seats I have ever sat in at any restaurant!

The menu is quite daunting with page after page of Thai dishes, which if you do not know your way around Thai cuisine can be difficult to choose from. I, however, had no problem whizzing through the pages ordering a selection of yummy dishes. The 50% discount is also incredibly helpful, although it does get frustrating when the menu seems to have so many dishes that are exempt from the discount; in fact it is down right cheeky really. But there is still plenty to choose from and we decided to order lots of appetizer dishes to maximise the chance to taste more. Glass noodles with prawns and minced chicken were delicious with a zesty and spicy dressing, Thai beef salad was seared to perfection and fiery to boot. Assorted skewers of satay, grilled pork and classic papaya salad were also fantastic.

I didnt order dessert but my friend ordered a couple of rum and cokes and commented that they were nice and strong, which is rare these days, so at least you get what you pay for! Within an hour, the restaurant is heaving and the noise level escalates to an all time high, not helped by a trio of shrill chavs who clearly had one glass of vino too many and would laugh like hyenas causing the whole restaurant to stare furiously at them as they carried on oblivious to the disturbance they caused. But apart from that, I am pretty impressed and will definitely be going back.

I was going to this restaurant regularly for the last 10 years mainly because of its location and the uber feel of it. The food at times was quite good, especially when you instruct the order in a presise way. The main attraction of the place still is the athmosphere maintained by the owners effort, the regulars and the interior desighn. The athmosphere is of decadance. They have a decent wine list and I had some of the finest red Burgundy in my experience there. Unfortunately, the service alikes to a fast soho chinese place. Rushed and confused, they put wrong orders, put wrong charges on a bill up to four times of original order. The staff organisation is awful. You might be served by five different persons and creates difficulties in tacking the order and the bill. The divisionals perhaps are carried away with the work role attitude and often forget who are they talking to. Quite often that appear pushy, obnoctious, crazed by radio devices sticking out their heads. On the occasion one would like to enjoy the athmosphere of “buzz” with addition of crazed exotica i would recommend this place.