Chilli Box Coogee Thai, Sydney

User Reviews of Chilli Box Coogee Thai

Displaying: 1 - 2 of 2 reviews

2.7 Not Recommended

Food 2 Service 4 Value 2

Take away was very disappointing. Food was really tasteless, which I would think is pretty difficult to do with Thai. Portion size was ok but meat portions small. Menu has good choices but what is the point if the meals are tasteless (chicken chilli lemongrass/lime and chicken teriyaki). I was looking forward to trying this place but I will never return. One to avoid in my opinion.

Feb 07, 2012

gregg59
8

1 of 1 reader found the following review helpful

4.8 Average

Food 3 Ambience 6 Service 6 Value 4

OK, it's a bit odd having to offer the first review of a restaurant that is itself rather odd. I believe this is a relatively new "Thai" restaurant on the scene, so it may be that it's still working out the kinks.

The establishment itself is rather attractive. It is a large space with very high ceilings, painted a bright, but attractive purple. Wooden elephants and elephant heads decorate the wall, along with some other Thai items. While the solid wood furniture is nothing special, it is functional and fits more broadly with the Thai-modern decor. The lack of patrons did make it feel a bit tomb-like while we ate, but were if fuller, I would not have noticed.

The service was reasonably good and the staff was pleasant, if a little distant. Food came out fairly quickly, although as our group was one of three total, this may not have been any great accomplishment. Nevertheless, the waitress was polite and efficient.

And the food...You may have noted that I put the word Thai in quotation marks in the first paragraph. The cuisine, while primarily Thai, has an odd mixture of Japanese food to it. Udon and Teriyaki were on the menu, as well as Indonesian lakhsa. Although we ordered Thai dishes, it included entrees of miso soup and agedashi tofu--hardly things you expect to see in your typical Thai places. Moreover, while there were also traditional Thai entrees (a fish cake, money bag and spring roll), the latter two were spiced oddly and contained unusual ingredients (finely chopped noodles seemed to predominate). To their credit, we did get quite a few entrees with our lunch specials--far more than we would get at comparable restaurants--but the assemblage was unique (to put it kindly).

Perhaps more problematically were our mains. Not only did they fall in the "strictly average" category, but the portions were somewhat on the small side. A better option for the owners to consider is focus less on the 5 or 6 entrees and focus more on the mains. And for goodness sakes, keep the Japanese cuisine out of it. Almost any Japanese place in Sydney does these dishes better and if I wanted that kind of food, I would not go to a Thai restaurant!

So in sum, I can't say that I would recommend Chilli Box Coogee Thai. While I think the place has potential, it is an example of what can happen when you try to execute a bad idea.

Oct 18, 2011