We've lived in Galway for years now and always wanted to go to the Thai Garden, but never did, so for my boyfriend’s birthday, I bit the bullet and booked a table. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of booking a table for the night before Valentine’s Day. We were going out on the town after the meal, so I booked a table for 6:30pm, even though the usual sittings are 7 and 9pm. We arrived on time and straight away were taken to our tiny table in a room full of tiny tables for two. That was why it was a mistake to go around Valentine’s Day - they'd emptied the room of the larger tables and restocked it with as many small tables as they could. This would have been horrible if we'd come any later, as the tables were only about 40cm apart, so you would literally have been eating your meal with perfect strangers! It was hardly a romantic setting! I've talked with friends that eat there a lot, however, and they reassured me that it’s not normally set up like that. The restaurant was clean and tidy and well decorated in a traditional Thai style. The menu was extensive, to say the least, with loads of choice and many vegetarian options. We both had tiger prawns to start (€5.20 - all the starters were around this price), and although the portion was tiny, they were exquisite and worth the price. For the main course, we both had duck meals with noodles. They were gorgeous too, and this time the portions were huge! The main meals ranged from around €12 to €18, so they were pricey too, but as the portions were so big and the food so tasty, we felt that it was well worth it.
The staff were very friendly and the service was very good and extremely efficient. We got our starter within 5 minutes of ordering and the main meal pretty much straight after the starter, so we were in and out of the restaurant in just under an hour. At the same time, though, we didn’t feel rushed at all. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone that likes Thai and Chinese food.