On a mobile device? Try our mobile site, optimized for faster browsing.

You are here

Tusk Thai Restaurant

3 star rating
20 reviews

Cuisine: Thai, Asian

590 Dominion Rd
Balmoral
Auckland City
09-638 9516

Hours:

  • Sun – Thu 5.30pm – 10.30pm
  • Fri – Sat 5.30pm – 11.00pm
  • Facilities/Features:
    • Private Dining Room
    • Private Functions
  • Payment Types: EFTPOS, Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, Diners
  • Price Range: Moderate, $15 - $25
  • Dress Code: Smart casual
  • Alcohol: Beer, Wine, Spirits, Cocktails
  • Seating for: 120 inside, 4 outside
  • Good For Groups: Yes
  • Takeaways: Yes
  • Takes Reservations: Yes
  • Dietary Restrictions: Vegetarian
  • Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
  • Outdoor Seating: Yes
  • Meals: Dinner

Tusk Restaurant & Bar serves fine Thai cuisine in a stylish contemporary setting. Since 1997, Tusk Thai Restaurant has earned an enviable reputation as one the leading Thai restaurants in Auckland.

Tusk offers an outstanding dining experience by bravely combining the traditions of the past with today’s new dining era, to encapsulate the unique qualities of Thai cuisine.
Tusk Restaurant & Bar offers you the very best in hospitality, with an extensive wine selection to accompany its superb menu.

20 Reviews for Tusk Thai Restaurant

MenuMania Sponsor

One of Tusk Thai Restaurant's Favourite Reviews What's This?

1st July 2011
5 star rating
Went to Tusk Thai using a groupy voucher on Thursday night. The food was fantastic, even at normal price would be great value for money and really tasty. The service was also great, food was served quickly yet hot and fresh.
Would definately consider going again.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

10th May 2012
5 star rating
Four of us went there last night. It was very busy as it was the last day to use the voucher. We tried the lamb curry for the first time. It was delicious – very tender and the curry was perfect. We also had the fresh ginger beef and that was very tasty. The chicken dishes were very nice too. We were also given a $20.00 voucher which is definitely going to be used as the dinner we had hit the right spot. Well done Tusk Thai.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

11th January 2012
3 star rating
The Tom Yum was very good and I would recommend it, outside that every other aspect was just ok. You do get to watch the odd flaming dish leave the kitchen which I am sure kids would enjoy.

Would not walk over hot coals to go back.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

Peter

4

7th October 2011
3 star rating
Food here is always pretty good, friendly service and good atmosphere.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

areena

5

7th October 2011
4 star rating
We bought voucher to try out tusk. Great service, brilliant food, took awhile to get the food and they ran out of beef! over all not bad. :)

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

chloe

20

11th August 2011
2 star rating
Very very western. Doesn’t taste anything like the food you actually get in Thailand. In saying that I’ve given up completely on finding a place in Auckland that does :(

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

sharon

30

8th August 2011
3 star rating
Been here a few times a year or so ago and food and service was consistently good. Went recently with a voucher and while it was busy, staff seemed to be fast with food delivery and continued to fill our water glasses thru the evening. Quality of food was good, as expected. However we had the 4 course banquet and while the main was sufficient I felt the entree could have been a bit more generous. Unfortunately the most disappointing part of the meal was the dessert. For 2 people: 2 small pieces of jelly, 3 slices of apple and 3 of orange + 1 grape. My husband offered to share it by cutting it in half by I respectfully declined leaving him to struggle his way thru the entire plate. I dont know if this was due to the voucher or the economic climate but if this is the dessert offering, it could have been alot better for minimal outlay. Overall a nice evening and thanks to the main we didnt leave hungry. Thank you.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

20th July 2011
3 star rating
Love your snapper as main and for dessert the deep fried ice-cream is yummy…soooo special.
Good value for money too.
On the downside, a bit too tight for space and parking is an issue sometimes.
Decor is lovely.
Value for money.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

Aaron

1

8th July 2011
1 star rating
07/07/11 – We attended Tusk restaurant last night as a group of 18 for a birthday dinner. The birthday girl had long been waiting an occasion to attend this restaurant, which looks so great from outside and is also nice in the inside. To her misfortune and a ruin birthday experience the following was observed/happened.

1. Drinks – We were not asked if we wanted drinks but in saying this they served plenty of water. Wine glasses still left on the table (we only required 5)

2. 4 of the 18 were vegetarian – YES we know how difficult it can be to cater for vegetarians so we made an effort to order their meals first so it was kept separate from the others (we aren’t as fussy as we sound). Instead of vegetarian spring-rolls we received a prawn entree. YUM for a non-veg but being a vegetarian and having prawns for the first time is quite disgusting. Not a good way to start off your meal. The entree was replaced by spring rolls after we made the staff aware of the mix up.

3. Mains took 30-40 minutes after the entrees (thank god for i-phone’s and the great Simpsons game). Yes we should socialize but theirs only so much you can say to the person in front of you (the other option was to yell to the other end of the 6 tables set up side by side).

4. Wooohooo mains are here – “I bet they forget one persons meal”. Not only did they forget one person’s meal or mixed one up with another (god knows which one happened there was no system in taking the order just a white piece of paper with lots of orders on it), but, they forgot the birthday girls meal. Most restaurants would acknowledge your have 18 guests in your restaurant because of the birthday. Restaurant manager – “mm maybe we should pay particular attention to her after all she did bring in the business tonight, nah lets not she’s just another person”.

5. So they forgot her meal – she nicely went and asked the staff if they could make a new one for her – reply “no sorry we are to busy will take 30 minutes”. Birthday girl comes back upset (way to go tusk for spoiling the party). We kindly asked again to make another yummy pad Thai, urgently, as we are here for her birthday and we would appreciate the effort, if required well pay you double just get her the meal. Reply “sure I will make it right away” – why not say that in the first place instead of fluffy around and ruining the birthday dinner.

6. Great! I’m full now lets have the birthday cake! – After asking 3 times the staff finally brought the cake out. By this time mood was ruined and birthday spoilt.

Overall, bit of a pity especially as we changed our option from ZAP down the road to TUSK as per the wish of the birthday girl. They didn’t come close to the service you’d get at ZAP (totally recommend ZAP, its cheap and cheerful with amazing Thai). Food at TUSK was generally okay and although the long wait you get a fairly good portion for the price and it was warm. No other complaints just bit disappointed with the service.

Do try it for yourself this is simply my opinion and experience. If you don’t want to take the risk go to ZAP (no I don’t have anything to do with the place financially or any other way its just my favorite).

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

8th July 2011
3 star rating
went to this place last night, has great ambience and is well setup and overall pretty good service. I had the steamed whole fish with chilli, it was awesome and well worth the money, however I tasted some other dishes and they were pretty average, and my son had the roast pork which was like a large starter, bit tough and very chewy and very dry !! The dishes are pretty small and quite expensive.

Would I go back ?
I suppose if i wanted to go to a place with great ambience with average thai food I would.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

Colin

3

17th June 2011
1 star rating
Worst thai food i have tasted in whole of Auckland. Charged 3 times the price i would have paid for foodcourt, waited 1hr from the time we ordered till the food got to our table. Will never go again. HORRIBLE.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

7th June 2011
4 star rating
My wife and I go here regularly and often take friends and family. the food is great, the service is always on the button. No matter how busy, staff always seem to be able to squeeze us in, even if there is a brief wait. Happy to have a couple of drinks in the small bar area. Favourite dish – hmm salt & pepper squid, but then again the curries are great and so is everything else. Great Thai!

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

18th April 2011
2 star rating
Nice decor with mixture of Thai and the modern element, but the food is quite disappointng us, with the green curry lack of taste and the chicken portion is not enough to share with my wife. But the waitress is quite good when we told her the problem and she apologized to us and made effort, that’s why rate 2 stars.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

Jq

2

10th March 2011
1 star rating
Went to this restaurant a while back, used to go a few times as a student but after the continual lack of service and seeming resentment at taking our order each time, have chosen not to eat at such a place and pay for food you can get for half the price at a food-court. Food has been burnt and undercooked on our last visit and with that have decided to give it a clear miss – there are plenty of other excellent Thai restaurants that provide great service & food to everyone – this is not one of them.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

28th January 2011
4 star rating
Came here on a Thursday evening and restaurant was full. The food for me wasn’t bad but just okay. Staff were friendly and attentive. Atmosphere is very cozy.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

MikeT

1

9th September 2010
2 star rating
Been three times now due to wanting somewhere nice to eat on DomRd, really just your average Thai place, nothing special. Prices need to reflect the food, charging that much for what is only slightly better than a foodcourt.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

9th June 2010
5 star rating
Wonderful food and great service. I am always greeted politely and although this place can get busy, the food and ambience make it a great venue for casual or group dining. I love the open fire!!

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

Donut

2

2nd October 2009
1 star rating
The 6 of us arrived as walk-in at 8:30pm, we got given a table for 4, it was so cramped that our plates and water glasses etc took up 2/3 of the table already. Service was rather quick I must say but staff lack enthusiasm, we received no suggestions or assistance on our orders – luckily we know the menu enough to carry on….. Food was disappointing, Tom Yum Gong was watery and not much ingredients can be seen besides the few mushroom pieces and 3 prawns – no herbs etc…. Scallope on sizzling plate was a disaster, 5 scallopes and the plate was only 2/3 full, not even enough scallopes to share between the six of us? So our soups and the first two dishes arrived and our table is completely filled already, again we got no help from any of the staff so we had to grab the table next us to put our food on….. Definitely not returning.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

29th September 2009
2 star rating
Have been to Tusk a few times – has not been my choice, and in fact, we would have instead gone to Jungle Flavour around the corner if it weren’t for the fact that it was closed on Mondays.

The last time we went, a fellow diner ordered a pot of mussels and when they arrived, the majority of them were uncooked and the shells were not open. We sent them back and when they returned, the next lot were sandy. After a third attempt they were cooked correctly, but were disappointingly bland.

The best things on the menu are the sesame prawns (entree) and the sliced beef, but sadly, everything else is lacking in creativity and authenticity.

We also had to wait a long time for our meals and had a difficult time trying to get the attention of the uninterested staff when asking for drinks, extra pots of rice, etc.

It has a nice comfortable interior, though the food and service is a real let down.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

Tusk

1

20th September 2008
4 star rating
Really nice – have been here a few times now and the food is always very good – had a bit of a wait for our meals last time, but worth the wait.

Bookmark    Send to a Friend

1 to 20 of 20 (2 Filtered)

Did you eat at this restaurant? Have an opinion to share?

Write a Review

Map of Restaurant

Share: