Hanami Izakaya

The food was pretty good, service was average to...

The food was pretty good, service was average to above average... staff is quick and efficient, sometimes a little too quick... food came out pretty fast... overall an enjoyable experience... highly recommended...

Ordered pad thai, spring rolls, and green curry chicken. Pad thai = lots of noodles, which were tasty (sweet), but very few pieces of shrimp or chicken. Spring rolls = plain. Green curry was the most disappointing--watery and not spicy at all. It was basically several pieces of chicken and shrimp in a bunch of water. Restaurant was ultra-crowded, but service was friendly.

Great food, terrible service .... will only order takeout!

I've been to this location a couple of times, and I cannot say that I've been very impressed. On our first visit, my boyfriend and I had a very absent waitress. She wouldn't let me order the durian shake, (because, she says, it "tastes bad and smells bad"), so I wound up getting a coke instead to avoid an argument. (Since when does a restaurant NOT let you order something on the menu?!) Well, my bf's meal arrived very quickly, but mine took about another 10 minutes to make it to the table, at which time we had to ask the waitress - for the 2nd time- if our drinks were coming. By this time we'd been in the restaurant about 45 mins. My soup finally arrived, (tofu and watercress), and while it wasn't bad, the watercress could have used a little more slicing up. Bf enjoyed his pad thai though. The waitress didn't once come back to follow up, and we ended up having to flag down someone else to get our bill. (The place was not busy at all at this point, so I don't know what our server was so busy doing). Overall, the food was okay, but the service needs tweaking if they want to retain their clientele.

My experience with Red Papaya, ever since it opened, has been inconsistent at best, with dishes ranging from tasty to inedible, depending on the day. My latest experience has caused me to reconsider why I patronize the place. A big fan of red curry, I was highly disappointed by last night's offering, the "house" version. The chicken had the usual over-cooked, rubbery texture (which I have come to expect from Red Papaya), and the sauce was, well, disgusting. Two bites and my $11 went right into the garbage can. I am tired of having low expectations for ethnic restaurants in Guelph. I am tired of having friends who accept low grade versions of Thai, Vietnamese or other foods as "good" because they don't have any better versions to compare them with. Guess I'm off to Toronto again for my next Thai meal.