Opium Den

Things you should expect here:
1. Terrible service– not only did we wait 45 minutes for our dishes (and to be clear, no one got anything that required extra cooking time), they also brought the dishes out staggered from the 45 minute to hour mark, meaning half the table had food while the other half sat forlornly looking at their plates.
2. Bad food– you would think after waiting for so long for food anything would taste good. Unfortunately not– everything lacked seasoning and was just off– the «hot» dishes that we ordered had barely more than a sprinkle of pepper on them as an example.
It’s also cash only which I find a bit off for a sit down restaurant.
Avoid as it’s not worth it on any level!

I had Kow Soi Chieng Mai and it was the best dish I had in a while. It was perfect!!!
Service was fantastic and out meals came out in minutes.
All dishes are very reasonably prices and servings are very generous.
I definitely recommend it and will be back soon.

Three little things to beware of: CASH ONLY, PRICES SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE, and a 10% SURCHARGE ON HOLIDAYS
Opium Den is small Thai restaurant with a red walls, black furniture and though I’ve never been to an actual opium den, I wouldn’t think that they’d look like this as the décor and appearance is very much that of a cozy little restaurant. Towards the front the tables are rather crowded together but one step up going towards the back it’s more spacious.
Their menu is rather complete even with a selection of 5 different rice preparations including a turmeric or black sesame infused. They also have 8 Chef Specials and 5 Duck Specials in their listing along with various seafood and curry dishes.
As they seem to handle some take out you’ll find people coming and going and for whatever reason the wait staff seems to get involved, so service tends to rather goofy.
As for the quality of the food and what I had, I’d say basic Thai, rather good but I didn’t have anything that I would consider to be of particular note or exceptional. They note that there food is prepared medium in heat unless you request spicy; however beware of those tiny little red chili peppers.
The prices are reasonable and I found it to be a comfortable place to eat especially as I had a window view of Macleay Street which is really good for a Potts Point people watching.

A friend and I took advantage of the specials menu last night and were both blown away with a top shelf feed. I’ve walked past this restaurant many times but after last night… I will definitely be a return customer. Excellent food, hungry bloke sized servings and very friendly service. This place is a winner!

The food here is good — affordable, fresh & yummy.
They often have a meal deal of an entrée, main & drink for $ 25 which is amazing.
Atmosphere is very nice — big share tables if that’s your style, lots of space & books to hide in if you’d rather a discreet date or romantic dim lit meal.
The service is … Less than awesome. It’s very busy and the staff favour those they like, sometimes leaving tables to wait to order for 15 – 20 minutes.
Other times I’ve been and felt nearly rushed by their abrupt service.
If you’re strong with just hanging at your table and enjoying things at your own pace, this is a delicious, affordable and ambient spot for dates or group dinners.

Great atmosphere. Cosy modern Thai restaurant. The food was succulent and full of flavour and really good value for money. They had a really busy night but the service was still very quick and they genuinely wanted to make sure everything was to our liking. We will be going back for sure.

Loved this thai place, great fun atmosphere on a Sat night, busy and loud but to be expected on the weekends. Great food, quick service.

Probably the only restaurant in Potts that has cheap Thai, intimate lighting, attracts large groups of well dressed, short skirted girls on a Saturday night and allows you to BYO.
This place certainly doesn’t get everything right ie. cramming our group of 15 in the main part of the restaurant when there were empty rooms out back so you couldn’t hear anyone speak. Or serving some shaved carrot, papaya and 3 prawns on a plate and calling it a main meal.
However, my dinner guests had some food envy looking food, it is one of the only places you can get a group of 15 in without having to do a set menu on a Friday/​Saturday night and it has fast, tasty food that doesn’t give you food poisoning. Hooray!
Very lovely layout and design to the place, it is what I would imagine as an Opium Den if I was sitting back on some velvet couches, smoking the good stuff.
Definitely don’t miss out on this one of if you are a crew of trendy young things on a Friday or Saturday night. It’s thai-​riffic (sorry couldn’t help myself).

a good location but overall not top class.

Everyone needs a solid local Thai delivery. A place that when you call they say «Oh, hello Laura. The usual? Ahem, again?» with that perfected vocal blend of friendliness, hustle and judgment. (AKA: you say «again» like it’s a bad thing.) A place where you regularly lie and say «oh yes, I’ll need two sets of chopsticks» so that you can add an extra order of the Pad Thai and roti bread for later. I know it, you know it, and they know it.
Opium Den, dear Unilocalers, fills this void in my life. While it’s (unfortunately) not obscenely cheap, it is mysteriously fast and offers a 10% discount if you pick up the order yourself. Sometimes the dishes contain different «surprise» veggies then they did the time before. Sometimes an extra dish magically appears in my order. And once when I specifically asked for «a chicken dish with the most vegetables possible» I received a dish with only chicken and thai basil. And it was good.
Unlike my other take-​away favourites throughout the years, eating in at The Opium Den is not a dire option. In fact, the restaurant presents a fun, rowdy atmosphere with large communal tables and BYO. Just note that it’s cash only, so plan accordingly.

If I had a dog I would call him Opium Den, Hi my name is Dennis and this is my dog, he is known throughout the land, as Opium Den. It dates back to when he was a pirate sailing the China Seas, he’s different now tho he prefurs a pipe and a bowl of masaman curry whilst reading «Screw that Pooch» magazine.
Infact i wouldn’t mind if people called me Opium Den!
Really reasonably priced, good food quality and fantastic rates on corkage. You can bring a big party here and seat everyone round the huge square tables, don;t bother ordering a main each they feed roughly 1.50 people per main so if you have a crew of say five yuppies with you making it six order four dishes and you’ll be sweet. This is assuming you ordered money bags fresh veggie spring rolls and some roti bread.
You did order roti bread right?
Pro Tip the brown rice serve is adequet for two

Not the best Thai I’ve ever had (I’m admittedly a bit of a Thai snob), but it hits the spot when I’m in the mood. It’s a fun place for groups (first time I went was for a friend’s birthday) and the fact you can BYO just adds to it.
Love that they deliver; on a particularly rainy night, they got me a stir-​fry in under 45 minutes.

Talk about atmosphere, you can’t go wrong with dim lights… as soon as you walk in you get the feeling you’re in for a treat — and you wouldn’t be wrong.
I would rate Opium Den as fancy Thai… the type of place you would go on a date or for a special occasion. The crowds young and über cool, so it might not be the best place to take nana…
With popularity comes a too cool for school attitude meaning you won’t get the nicest service from the staff… but to make up for it the foods good and the vibe is excellent…
It’s also BYO — so if you’re planning on drinking up the night, this may be a good place to combine good food and a few drinks.
I rate this place and would definitely go back.

How cool is Opium Den as the name of a Restaurant, I love that, I want to get a job there just so I can say, I work in an Opium Den. It is also an extremely stylish place with great use of colour and lighting to create mood, from outside it looks like something from a Wong Kar Wei film.
Another great aspect of Opium Den is the effort gone to provide a menu, which stands apart from the average Thai Restaurant, it is still recognizably Thai and there are many of the favourites like Pad Thai or Cashew Nut stir fry; but there are dishes you don’t see all the time such as Mandarin Duck or the dish I had: Heavenly Beef. Now I am not sure the Heavenly Beef will get me safely into heaven, I tend to think I am most likely to burst into flames on arrival to the gates, but it gave me a taste of what food in Heaven could possibly be like. It is a variation on Panang Curry with Snow Peas, Broccoli and Lime Leaves, it was full of flavoursome deliciousness.
Also the dessert deserves a mention, it is worth going there just for the Roti– Banana, which features caramelised banana and comes with coconut ice cream.
Amazing.

Most Thai places are pretty quick at preparing food, but often you end up with a dish not quite meeting your expectations. Not at Opium Den. Here, they will take your order, apparently stop time for a few moments, then bring your meal to you a few seconds later. And they don’t skimp on the portions either!
The dimly lit restaurant is BYO (although you may not have time to get through your whole bottle of wine before you finish your meal), with a pretty funky interior which I’m a fan of, and the food is great — it’s a little more pricey than the usual Thai places, but I’d say it’s superior in quality to a lot of the ones in the area (and there are plenty!). The Sweet Chilli Jam Combo ($ 16.90) is fantastic — tender beef and chicken in a not-​too-​spicy sauce, while I am also a big fan of the Mee Grob ($ 18.90), which is a crispy noodle dish served with chicken, prawns, tofu, shallots and a sweet chilli sauce which is delicious!
There takeaway prices are slightly cheaper, but they don’t do delivery and they only accept cash, which is a little inconvenient, but I’ll let it slide for the quality of the food.

This restaurant is nowhere near as dark and sinister as the name suggests. On the contrary, the friendly staff, keen to seat you as soon as possible (bookings aren’t typically necessary), make for an easy night out.
The food is consistently good and the portion sizes are substantial. No wonder, as this place is run by the same people who manage my beloved Stir Crazy down in Kirribilli, but they’ve made a few additions to the menu. That said, my menu selections are typically pretty much the same — the chicken satay sticks smothered in a chunky, nut-​rich sauce are a good option to start, followed by the yum gob salad with steamed chicken, tomato and red onion wedges, iceberg lettuce and cucumber tossed in a lightly spicy curry sauce and shredded kaffir lime leaves. The sweet chilli jam combo with tender chicken and beef strips is a hearty choice for main, while the massaman beef curry is always thick, rich and full of soft hunks of meat.
When compared to its Thai diner counterparts, Opium Den has a classier, more ‘restaurant’ feel to it, but without any expensive prices.