I went to this restaurant based on the rave revues of Leslie Brenner, Dallas Morning News restaurant critic, who asserted that "... Bambu isn't just the best Thai restaurant in North Texas, it's one of the best restaurants in North Texas, period." And she gave it FOUR STARS, almost unheard of!
I noticed when I sat down that there was nothing on the table, except a fork and a silver soup spoon wrapped in a black (cloth) napkin. No tablecloth, no place mat, no salt and pepper, no soy sauce, no hot sauce, no sweet sauce, no sugar or sweeteners, no chopsticks, no flowers, no water glass, no extra napkins. Thought that a bit minimalist (cheap?), as is the decor of the restaurant itself, which is very small, no carpet, kind of a very clean, contemporary, glorified hole-in-the-wall. With a big-screen TV hanging from the ceiling blaring CNN. ("She gave this four stars?" I wondered. "With a one-star ambience??") In some Dallas Thai restaurants, I feel I'm in an elegant restaurant, not a glorified, neighborhood hole-in-the-wall.
But, whatever.
I am a vegetarian and decided to order the most well-known Thai dish, Pad Thai, with tofu. I was excited at the thought of Pad Thai made in a 4-star restaurant. I have eaten this dish a gazillion times in a gazillion different restaurants all over the country. If they did a good job with this, I couldn't wait to come back and order more exotic fare.
The waiter very quickly took my order, then quickly disappeared.
I had to wave him to come back before the dish was served, after he had gallivanted away after taking my order, so I could request of him to make sure the tofu was firm, not mushy (which is how it is occasionally made in other Thai restaurants).
My first impression of what was served was that it had been mistakenly served on a lunch-sized plate, and that the portion didn't even take up most of that plate, that it was way skimpier than what is usually served, and that there were no crushed peanuts on top, which is also standard for this dish. I waved the waiter back and asked whether this was the lunch-sized portion, as he had given me a menu that included lunch, and he assured me that no, it was their dinner-sized. No apology, no offer to add a little more to what looked to me like a child's portion.
Oooo-k.
Well, I thought, if it tastes great, that will make up for the rest.
My request that the tofu be firm was accomplished. However, the tamarind sauce-- which is what makes or breaks the dish-- was tasteless, bland, and not sweet at all. He had asked me how spicy I had wanted it, on a scale of 1 to 5, and I had said 3. It was a -1.
I had to embarrassingly wave him back still another time, this time to request soy sauce and hot sauce. I also requested crushed peanuts, to at least add some flavor.
I was shocked that the soy sauce he brought me not only was in a commercial bottle, but said, "low-salt, low-sodium" on the label. I had to wave him back again and politely request that he bring me full-strength soy sauce, if they had some (!)
I was further shocked when he replied that the soy sauce that was in the bottle he had served me was not really what was on the label, that they "...liked the look of the green color of the plastic top on the low-salt bottle, so we put regular soy sauce in it." I was stunned. I thought he might be joking and asked for clarification: "You mean that what is in this bottle is not what is on the label, that you switched out something else with it, instead??" He acknowledged that, yes, I was correct.
THAT IS PROBABLY ILLEGAL!
Not to mention that someone on a low-sodium diet might inadvertently use what was actually industrial-strength soy sauce, thinking it was "low-salt," as was labeled. I was getting nervous. I asked him to please show me a bottle with the correct label for what he had actually served me. I am allergic to some food additives, especially MSG. He brought out a large bottle. Often times at an Asian restaurant, they may say they don't use MSG because they don't cook with it, but their commercial soy sauce may contain it. I checked the label. There was no MSG, although the sauce did contain PRESERVATIVES, including sodium benzoate.
At a FOUR-STAR restaurant..
I hurriedly finished the meal (didn't take long with the small portion size), paid, and left. read more