US visitors on a trip to Butchart Gardens, was here the evening before with my parents, my wife, and my sister and her husband. First off, I love Thai food but even though I've eaten Thai many times (even cooked some at home time to time) I am still looking to experiment and try new flavors. Unfortunately, this time it did not pan out.
As a table of six they sat us outdoors in the way back corner. It was nice at first, but then a group of 8 or 10 or so arrived and crowded us in this far off corner. They were nice people, no problems there, but it would have been nice to not have to compete with the only other large-crowd table in the restaurant for conversation. I mean, the rest of the restaurant wasn't even that busy.
The wait staff was courteous especially considering my shellfish allergy, and made sure I didn't eat the peanut sauce that came with the chicken shawarma appetizers. Oh was I craving it!
I love Thai meals that are loaded with basil, like pho or any basil-based noodle dish. I thought I'd try something different and order off the stir fry menu. I believe it was Phad Graprow Sup with chicken that I ordered. Perhaps it is my inexperience but I was expecting a plate loaded with meat and veggies. Unfortunately what I got had more of the appearance of a pound of sausage ground up and cooked, with a few small leaves of basil thrown in. There was no variety, no sauce, just a big heaping pile of ground meat. I had about a third of it before I traded with my sister, who had ordered larb. That was mildly better. At least it had more veggies. It was too spicy though, and for her even though the waitress said it came medium spicy it proved to be too much. My wife had ordered the green curry, which is one of my fave Thai dishes that I order often. It was better than the other two dishes, but I have honestly had green curry so much better than this. My brother-in-law had ordered Pad See Ew which is another of my favorite dishes. I didn't try his mainly because he ordered it a #4 spicy which is too much for me. He said it was good, but he was surprised at how thin the wide noodles were. My nearly 80yo parents played it safe and ordered some dish that was heavy on vegetables over rice, with no and low spice.
Overall, I would give this restaurant a second chance if I was up this way again, especially if it was just me, or just me and my wife. I could play it safe and order what I would expect to be of my liking. But what we ordered did not meet our expectations and there are other Thai restaurants in Victoria that are more highly rated. read more