Review Rivers Dale Thai - Camberwell

I’m quite surprised at some of the negative reviews regarding service. We have gotten food from here many times for takeaway and have eaten in once. The food here is absolutely delicious - delicious!! Takeaway and eat in - always just delicious. We normally get the clear chicken soup, pepper beef, green chicken curry and the chicken satay. Also the service for our family of four when we dined in was absolutely great! We had 2 rambunctious kiddos (one being a toddler) and it was a very cold night. They kindly sat us in a room with a heater that could blow directly on us and away from diners who probably didn’t want loud kids around. Service was great and they even made a special order for us when we asked if we could just have some plain rice with eggs for the kids. They were really so so nice. The owner even stopped by to let us know there was a statue elephant at the front our toddler could sit on if we liked. Really really kind owner and employees and the food is outstanding!

We drove past this place every day for years and wondered why it was empty but not out of business, so we decided to give it a try. We found out. Good news first: the food is fantastic. I mean, really really good. Astoundingly good. Bad news: restaurant was large and empty. They sat us on a tiny table in a separate room where the waiters could not see us. I had to approach the counter to ask them to take our order, to get a refill of water, to get rice, and so on. Still - service, when we got it, was polite and pleasant. I see the other locals have this place figured out. Don't eat here. Just get the take-away. They deserve to stay in business (the food is that good!) but they seriously need to improve their service.

Went to Riversdale Thai with a large group (about 70 people), which took up both the indoor and outdoor section of the restaurant. Unfortunately the staff forgot about the outdoor area when serving the banquet style meal. After numerous complaints, we finally received the first course two hours after we sat down. The staff seemed confused as to which table had been served and they had to be given input on which table hadn’t been served. The food came out spasmodically at first, which meant we were sharing one plate of Thai salad amongst 10 diners. This went on for half an hour and then we were swamped. Basically a nine course banquet which was to have spread out over three hours was pushed out in 45 minutes. The outdoor area, which would be lovely in warmer weather, is freezing cold in winter. There are no heaters or café blinds to help keep you warm. The food when it eventually came out was very nice.

Really enjoyed our meal. We turned up without a reservation on a Thursday night. They were expecting a large booking but they were happy to accommodate us anyway. Friendly, delicious food, decent portions, nice atmosphere. Will definitely go there again.

We recently dined with 12 others at Riversdale Thai celebrating a special birthday. I was extremely disappointed as the service was non existent. I had to leave the table 3 times to ask for courses to be served after waiting an enormous time after initially going and asking for our order to be taken. Whenever I went out to speak to them, they seemed more interested in their takeaway orders than looking after their in house clientele. Won't ever dine there again.

I'll start with the good first. The food was very nice. Sadly there were some defects which let it down. We came in were seated early and received excellent entrees. To our surprise one of the mains came out very closely during the entree without rice or plates. And it went cold waiting for us to finish the entree. The second main course only came when after around 15 minutes post entree the wait staff asked if we ordered more food than that. Given it was the same wait person who served us it was a surprise to us. Anyway recounting the order again, at some point around ten minutes later, a second main, some plates and hooray! rice arrived. Then we had Goldilock's dinner: hot rice, warm recently arrived main and the earlier main which was now stone cold, even putting it on hot rice failed to revive it. A pity really as the dishes were they served as the gods intended, hot, they would have been enjoyable. But the mediocre service was delivered with a disinterested courteousness which made it difficult for me to lose my temper. Besides I think there were just too few staff for all the take away orders they were getting so restaurant diners tended to be neglected more due to sheer busyness than any serious malice. They did at least thank me and said they look forward to seeing me again. I doubt they will.

The food here was really delicious. The coconut rice is also much better than it is at most Thai restaurants. The main negative of the experience was the time waiting for food to arrive. In the end it was worth the wait though.

Shocking! Took an age to take our order then waited 30minutes for an entree of spring rolls. Two tables came in after us and received food before us. It was over an hour after our entree that we received the first of our main dishes only after complaining. They didn’t apologise just said we are very busy “mate”. 15 minutes later our 2nd main arrived, after another 15 minutes we gave up and told them we weren’t waiting for our 3rd dish. Meanwhile multiple takeaway orders were being picked up. Staff were dreadful, rude and not at all fazed, just kept saying they were very busy. We counted 17 customers dining in, if they can’t deal with that many people they shouldn’t be trying to run a restaurant. Will not return, food was average, service ordinary!

Clean up your act Riversdale Thai! We live very close and have over the years ordered take away and dined in but we have been let down with both in the last month. Firstly they messed up our take away order but tonight we dined in and the restaurant was filthy, the service inconsistent and the food average to say the least. Let’s hope they see the bugs in the window and realise the potential of this lovely family local before it’s too late.

Waited over 30 minutes to order, another 30 for our entree to arrive. We ordered 3 main dishes and they all came out one by one over 20mins apart. We didn’t even get the third dish. After being at the restaurant for over 2.5hours we left. There was 0 service all night and when we questioned where the food was we were given very rude responses. Tables that arrived long after us were served before us too. Will never go back, do yourself a favour and go to any one of the delicious Thai restaurants in Melbourne that will not make you wait 2.5 hours for mediocre food.

Never again. 2 hours from order to getting the food. Hung up on by them when I rang to enquire about order after 1.5 hours. Obviously had not started order. No refund, care or any form of customer service. Food very average and threw 3/4 of it away. Don’t bother.

Went out to Riversdale Thai on a Friday evening with some friends; we always drive past it so thought we'd go in an give it a go. The restaurant has a very homely feel to it, and is rather spacious. We ordered some starters and our mains, I got the red curry. It did take a while for the food to come out, however definitely worth the wait. Large portions and absolutely delicious, we were all very happy and satisfied with our meals. <br/><br/>Following this, it all went a bit downhill. It was unfortunate the card machine was not working, and by the time we had finished, there was a long line waiting to pick up orders. As we had assumed the restaurant would accept card, we did not bring enough cash to cover the costs. The staff were not very helpful, and repeatedly told us that the machine was not working but offered no sort of suggestions as to what to do. Eventually, after around half an hour of waiting after our meals, we suggested leaving card details so they could process a manual transaction; we were finally able to go. I did leave trusting the restaurant would charge the accurate amount to my card, but somehow I was overcharged, and almost three weeks on, I have yet to receive some sort of response to my calls and queries. <br/><br/>The food I would have gone for again, but this fiasco has really put me off. Please sort it out asap.<br/><br/>Re: still have not heard back from the restaurant.

Ordered thru uber eats. Quality of rice is horrible. The coconut rice smells odd. Didn't they put Pandan?<br/>Also curry has no, absolutely no gravy in it. Just dry. <br/>Plus ubereats person messed up the delivery and didn't even call to find out where we are.. so food got cold

I have been to this restaurant over a couple of years and returning today leave a feedback. I have pleasant memories of the place and a very good experience and hence providing a 4.0 rating. It was certainly the occasion, good food and wait times on a very busy day, that all met our expectations well along-with a lively and bustling environment. I got on to a table very close to the kitchen and lots of smoke was coming thru, but we didn't mind much as it was winters.

Worst restaurant experience to date. We called up an placed a takeaway order and were told 30-40 mins so that's when we went down. After waiting almost 2 hours we finally gave up and left. During that time, we were lied to constantly about where our food was. 3 other pickup customers were waiting for the same amount of time as us. We had to ask for a refund multiple times before they gave us our money back. The staff also pretended we didn't exist when we asked the first few times. They would look at the ground and try run past us after us trying to speak to them. Multiple other customers at tables were also complaining. One family had to wait 2 hours just to get entrees. We also watched 2 other tables walk out because they'd waited too long. Not good enough. Will never go back to and will tell everyone about our experience. Rudest staff I've ever met

I WAS a loyal customer for over 7 years and recommended countless people to thos restaurant, never again after tonight's mistreatment.<br/>The customer service is absolutely appalling.<br/><br/>We ordered Thai this evening and my partner drove to collect the meals. Upon returning and opening the dishes we discovered they had given us a beef dish instead of vegetarian, my friend who became vegetarian after becoming violently ill from chicken many years ago had nothing to eat. Not a single vegetable was even in the dish. Understanding that mistakes happen we called to notify the restaurant and instead of the (we thought) customary apology the staff member rudely said "what do you want us to do about it?". We asked for them to remake and deliver the vegetarian dish, she told us they didn't deliver on Sundays. So we hung up, then a friend decided she'd call pretending to place a new order and surprise they COULD deliver. We then told her we'd caught her out and she said they wouldn't deliver for one dish.<br/>We again explained we shouldn't have to drive back again and that it was for a birthday dinner, for which I'd had people over and we'd all sat down to eat together.<br/>She then proceeded to say there was nothing they could do. After countless back and forth they agreed to deliver, we said thank you and hung up thinking that would be the end of it.<br/>She then called back less than a minute later and said they wouldn't because they had other customers and they were too busy and would deliver after 10:00pm (it was 8:15pm, 45mins after we'd picked up the order) I said that wasn't acceptable. Not once was any form of compensation offered the only other alternative was they would deliver the dish the FOLLOWING night. This didn't fix the issue that we had tonight, after all this arguement which could have been easily avoided had they just remade the dish and delivered it which I thought to be a fair resolution.<br/>I asked to speak with another staff member or a manager several times to only be told no.<br/><br/>Their response and handling of this situation was completely unacceptable not once taking responsibility or apologising, or trying to reasonably rectify their mistake, leaving us out of pocket for the meals and ruining a birthday evening.<br/><br/>Do NOT bother going to this restaurant, they weren't just lazy, they were downright rude and belligerent.<br/><br/>

Terrible! I ordered vegetarian massaman curry. I confirmed by repeating the order. After we collected the food I opened up my curry and it was filled with beef and zero vegetables! We then called to let them know and to ask to deliver the vegetarian curry. They said they didn't do deliveries on Sundays. We had another friend call and ask for delivery and they agreed. We then said, you just said that you don't deliver on Sundays! They then agreed to bring the food. They then called back and said that they wouldn't deliver. So I have been given the completely incorrect order, lied to regarding delivery and still don't have my food! They never once apologised.

This was a favourite place of friends of ours that treated it as their local. The food though is not reminiscent of good Thai cooking and left us cold.

A local gem near Riverdale Station, this tasty Thai offers punters the culinary flavours of Bangkok within the leafy confines of Camberwell. Whether dining in or taking away, Riverdale Thai's food is delicious; fragrantly flavoured curries, sweet & spicy meat dishes and freshly mixed vegetarian options cater for all diners. The staff are very friendly and often pop an extra Spring Roll or two into your bag; highlighting the restaurant's value and attention to detail. All in all, Riversdale Thai offers authentic, flavoursome food perfect for midweek takeaway or a cosy dine in evening.

Cracking Thai food. Had the house made dimmies for entree and they were great! Didn't last long enough for a picture of them. For mains Little Chief went the prawn green Thai curry and I went the chicken massaman curry and it couldn't be any better in my opinion. Interior is old and a bit dated but it somehow works and it's a very cool old school vibe. Loved it. All of it. Ate it and rate it.

What a little beauty ...... location, quaint and more importantly their food too.<br/><br/>Stand alone corner building overlooking the park on Riversdale Rd, next to the station, it covered all in terms of location.<br/><br/>On top of that, their food is solid too, from stir fries to curry.<br/><br/>Chicken & Vegetable Basil stir fry wasn't too salty and enough (a little above for most) kicks from those freshly cut chillies.<br/><br/>Massaman curry was balanced; right amount of Cardamon, sweet & sourness from Tamarind and Palm sugar combo, beef just melts too.<br/><br/>Adequately fitted inside, although service can be better, nonetheless they did their best serving all patrons with two staff on the floor.

The food here is top class the  prawn spring rolls are great the duck rolls are fantastic the crispy chicken chilli jam very tasty . The main problem is the noise every diner seems to be talking at once in loud voices

a local joint that we have been to a few times because it's so close. I find the food (particularly the coconut curries) too sweet, and the flavours not quite bright in the lovely way Thai can be. I also prefer more salady, vegetably options on the menu to build a rounded meal. That said, I'm nothing if not critical when it comes to food, and I've had no complaints from my dining companions there!

Good Thai food, would recommend. Only one complaint, PLEASE get rid of that hideous dilapidated waiter statue/figure outside of the restaurant. It may have been a fun decoration a few years ago but now it's missing some of its limbs and its face has been distorted into a creepy unrecognisable mass. It is the stuff of nightmares and it puts me off ordering food from here whenever I walk past.

Doesn't look like much situated on the corner of a main road but it's surprisingly beautifully and authentically decorated! The staff despite quiet were really pleasant and friendly, taking pride in their service and presentation. Best Thai green curry and such good seafood! All the ingredients were fresh and flavoursome- will definitely be back!

The standout is easily the Larb Gai. Bilby and I love Thai salads, and this one does not disappoint, with flavourful chicken and fresh crisp salad heightened by a traditional Thai dressing; the duck is tasty and tender, the sauce creamy with fruity overtones; the lamb is also fine. However, across all dishes there is something missing – the chilli heat has been dialled down a bit too low for my liking, and I am far from being a chilli fiend. Some restaurants offer differing levels of chilli heat on appropriate dishes. Riversdale Thai does not, but if it did I would be choosing a higher level.

Nothing spectacular about the dishes but they're all traditional and cooked well. The interior is nicely decorated and feels classier than some other small local Thai restaurants.

Cheap and cheerful local Thai restaurant. The food is quite consistent however, I wouldn't say there are any stand out dishes. Good takeaway

Our go to local Thai restaurant. We generally get take away but consistently great food every time. They also give you a free entrée when you order over a certain amount. Eating in is good too, atmosphere is peaceful but not particularly vibrant.

We recently revisited Riversdale Thai as it is a popular Thai restaurant for the locals of the Camberwell . We were a bit disappointed that it did not live up to our tastebuds' memories.

Cheerful Thai local. Riversdale Thai has become our go-to for Thai takeaway and the occasional dine-in. We've found it to offer consistently fresh and flavoursome dishes.

Is the chef really Thai. I get that tastes are very much subjective. Having said that, I don't get the rave reviews this place gets. Thai friends don't recommend it, if that's a good yard stick to use. It simply joins a plethora of Thai joints in Melbourne that confirm Sydney really does have much better Thai food, much as it pains me to say that. Melbourne, why do you have so many Thai places that dumb down their flavours?! <br/><br/>Also according to their About Us on the website: "an authentic Thai chef with over 25 years experience, speicalising in authentic Thai cuisine" (their own typo). Well then, we don't need another watered down Thai joint, to be honest, as it's not authentic, and I find it's rather patronising to the customers.<br/><br/>As well, gado gado is not Thai whatsoever. For a place supposedly serving authentic Thai food you're serving an Indonesian dish??? It's one their famous dishes, too! We're not stupid in Australia, you know, we know our foods, and Thailand and Indonesia aren't even next door to each other to get away with that sort of thing. If I want to eat Indonesian food I'll go to an Indonesian restaurant. (A bit like Bangkok Terrace, also claiming to serve authentic Thai food and yet offering a Javanese dish (ayam panggang). Again, we know our geography, and Java isn't part of Thailand. But at least Bangkok Terrace owns up that it's not a Thai dish.) That's as disingenuous as, say, a Dutch restaurant in Melbourne claiming to serve authentic Dutch food and then offering borscht.....like, what the?

May as well have eaten 2 Minute Noodles. My partner and I love our Thai food and just moved into the area so were hunting down a local joint. We had just been to a place the week before while out in Boronia and it was amazing, which made Riversdale Thai look extra bad. I got a Pad Thai meal and my partner got a vegetarian red curry. Both were extremely plain. My meal had about 3 pieces of chicken, 3 pieces of carrot and the rest was pretty much noodles with a very bland flavor. The reviews on this site seem to be pretty good which really suprises me, maybe I got a bad chief or maybe they don't care about takeaway. Either way they have lost people who could have been very regular as we live 2 minutes away. Going to Charntra Thai tonight just down the road, fingers crossed they can deliver!!!

Excellent Value and Great Service. Riversdale Thai is our local restaurant, always king and friendly service, have had numerous birthdays and celebrations there - highly recommended!!!!

Nothing negative to say necessarily, just not the best Thai in town. Flavour is a bit bland.

Authentic spicy Thai cuisine. First time visit for birthday and didn't disappoint. Very much enjoyed the experience. The tastes were strong and authentic, the location is sweet and costs reasonable. We went mid-week which certainly meant that it was less busy. It's small so I'd imagine service might slow down on a busy night, but sometimes you need to chill out and enjoy the night. If you are impatient I'm sure you could find some bucket Thai noodle shops that would be quicker, but if you want a more pleasant experience, both for the mind and the palette, I'd suggest you give it a go.

Ate there a fortnight ago. Great food. Really liked the location & atmosphere. Can't wait to eat there again.

Yum Thai. We were really happy with this place. The banquet offered a great variety and the staff were really nice. A great night out.

Delightful. This place really exceeded my expectations when visiting for the first time. It was much larger than appears from outside, had a great layout which I loved, had a warm, relaxing ambience and the service was fantastic. <br/>I judge Thai restaurants on my meal as I have the same meal every time and this one was delicious. Light and fresh and very spicy, just like I had asked for. <br/>They cleared our plates quietly and quickly, but we never felt rushed, even being given a bit of space between our entree and main and left to talk at the end of our meal. <br/>Only negative was that they made my partners meal very spicy too when he hadn't asked for it. Next time we will need to make it clear that the spicy request is for one dish only, but we will definitely be back.

Great food and ambience. For group bookings, i can highly recommend their set menu which offers a great selection of dishes and generous portions.

Really enjoyed our meal. We turned up without a reservation on a Thursday night. They were expecting a large booking but they were happy to accommodate us anyway. Friendly, delicious food, decent portions, nice atmosphere. Will definitely go there again.

Never disappoints. Been dining here many times and can not find a fault. Great service, great authentic food. Worth the price...

Yum!. Great food, fast takeaway service, polite and friendly staff...pretty solid restaurant all around!

Don't get takeaway. First we rang ahead to place an order they said 15 minutes we arrived accordingly only to find it was another 25 minutes on top of that ,<br/><br/>the wait would of been ok if the food was worth it , small portions and the pad thai smelt like pal dog food <br/>i have eaten from street vendors standing next to sewers and their pad thai smelt and tasted better.

Awesome food and good service. I loved this place, we went there for our EOFY dinner and the food (the prawns ohhh, i miss those prawns) sooo yum. We ordered the banquet and loved the food portions and their service. The green curry chicken was spicy yet so flavoursome. Delicious stuff, so worth going again in summer for the prawns, fishcakes, green curry chicken, service and the kool outdoor area they have.

Fantastic tasting food!. I had a fantastic experience here. Ate takeaway and didn't pick up the food so can't comment on service but the food was delicious. Awesome vegetarian fried rice. Roti was beautiful. Pad thai was average, but not bad. Another stir fried vegies (can't remember which one) was quite tasty. Definitely will come back again.

Satay tofu veg and tofu chilli curry paste and veg are delicious but it's so overpriced I literally cannot afford to eat here anymore :( also wish they made whole meal roti

Went with a group of 6 and had the $40 pp banquet. Everything delicious, especially the duck with bok choi

Slow unapologetic service!

Used to be good but not anymore. My boyfriend and I used to get take-away from Riversdale Thai all of the time. It used to be very reasonable in price but they have recently risen their prices unjustifiably. Being of Thai origin myself, I cannot believe that they're charging an extra $5 on top of the original meal price just to add in vegetables or meat! I mean to say that this is unjustified because Thai food was never meant to be inflated to such means. $21 for a take away curry may not sound like much, but the food just isn't worth it, especially when you can purchase other Thai food of the same or better quality for much less. My boyfriend and I will no longer come to this restaurant as the inflation in price is just ridiculous from a local thai shop.

Just spent my 1st year wedding anniversary here and it was perfect... The food was delicious, service impeccable and I would definitely recommend this place... Can't wait to go back for more!!!

Great food, very expensive.

Bland and/or sweet. Not what true thai food is about

Had takeaway from there last night so can only rate the food. The pad Thai was good, the beef was quite dry in the massaman curry (usually my favourite dish) and the jungle curry just seemed to be missing a few things - it wasn't that hot and was fairly bland. The extras were fine (rice and roti) but for $56 I expected more from the food. Overall it was a little disappointing

Really enjoy dining at this restaurant. The staff are always friendly and are quick to serve the meals. Highly recommend me dick with bok choy. Will return.

Ambient spot started badly (no flavour and bad service) but has since improved. Its a good local Thai with good service.

Unfortunately this place has lost its quality and service. the staff were more interested in chatting with each other than serving us and we were served a sub standard dish which they didn't seem to care about and were still suggesting ee pay for!

Odet. Love this place they use real chicken, not the off-cuts you ussually get from other places. I highly reccomend the Pad Met Himmaphan Chicken, Pad Satay Chicken, Crispy Chicken Chilli Jam, Chicken Pandan, Wonton / Golden Purses, Chicken Satay Sticks, Roti Bread and Vegetarian Fried Rice are my favourites. Still there is an extensive menue to try. Am impressed. AA++ Riversdale Thai

Cheap and cheerful!. Popped in for a light takeaway meal on the way home from work. The tom yum soup with prawns was fresh and zingy, without being too spicy (albeit a little bit light on the tomatoes). The satay on the satay chicken sticks was yummy and chunky and exactly what a simple entree should be.

Unpleasant.... Hope they got new owners/staff, as the first time I went there I was genuinely offended. I expected a lot of stress and pressure to be on the staff because of their big 'grand' opening, but seriously - telling patrons to eat quickly and leave because there are more customers than you can seat is ridiculous if you want to run a proper business. Poor quality of service, food, and general way of managing customers overall. Incredibly disappointed.

Went again last night (5 of us) (4th or 5th visit): very happy with food and service. We did comment it wasn't as busy as we've seen it for a Fri night. All dishes were excellent. We had red and green curries, chilli jam chicken (best), gado gado (had better but couldn't really complain), duck salad (mmmm), entrees: fish cakes and duck rolls. Then usual rice (there was lots) and roti (lots again). Great local Thai. We'll be back :)

Really over it. Used to have delicious intense flavorsome food and now it is bland expensive and serving are small. Has gone down hill and will no longer be our trusty family dinner venue.

Started off as quite a nice restaurant but now after many meals the food has diminished so much that it has become quite unedible

Food was good though I didn't get a chance to try out the more exotic items on the menu. Just red and green curry. Was busy with locals trying the new place out. Interesting that by 8.15 pm the place was nearly empty. Possibly a good movie on TV? more likely the demographic. Dinner at 7. Bed by 9.30. but on Friday night?? No wonder Camberwell gave Barry humphries so much material.

Lots of potential. Being the newest restaurant in our area we popped out to check it out on a Thursday night to find it was filling up fast. After we'd been there for about 15 minutes it was packed - good sign! They don't have a license at this stage so make sure you BYO (corkage was pretty cheap).<br/><br/>The tables can be a bit cramped and overcrowded but the staff whip the plates away as soon as you're done so you don't have to worry too much about where to put the next dish.<br/><br/>The fish cake entrees we had were a bit "rubbery" but didn't lack for flavour and the curry puffs were great!. The mains on the other hand were brilliant - Crispy Fried Chilli Prawns and Penang Lamb Curry that had so much flavour. A single steamed rice and roti finished it off.<br/><br/>I think it was a bit on the pricey side, probably about $15 more than we'd expected it to be (especially when you consider the serving sizes weren't that large). I think 3 - 4 dollars less per main would've been closer to the mark.<br/><br/>Still, we didn't leave hungry, this place hasn't been open long, the food's great and the staff are keen - lots of room to grow.