Ta Ra Rin was a very pleasant surprise, especially when it came to portion size, value, food…read morequality and personal service.
We ordered three items: Tom Kha soup with chicken, pineapple curry with chicken, and Pad Thai with pork.
First thing to know--the portions are HUGE. The three dishes could easily have fed four people. The curry was probably 1 1/2 times the size we're normally used to at Thai restaurants, and the Pad Thai looked almost double the size for only about $4 more than what we normally pay elsewhere. Extremely good value.
And the portion-size test? See the leftovers photo. After the two of us ate dinner, there was still enough food left for breakfast or lunch the next day.
The pineapple curry was probably the standout for me, although it was a toss-up between that and the Pad Thai. My wife ranked the curry first, followed by the Pad Thai and then the soup.
The pineapple curry came out in a surprisingly large bowl with plenty of chicken, vegetables and big pieces of pineapple--not a bowl of sauce with a few ingredients floating around in it. Great presentation. The sauce was creamy, slightly sweet and still allowed the curry spices to come through. We ordered it mild and there was still a little bite.
The vegetables were cooked just right--not mushy and not raw. The pineapple was sweet and tasted remarkably fresh. According to our server, the pineapple actually comes from a large can. I wouldn't have guessed it. You'd swear you were eating freshly cut pineapple.
The Pad Thai was another winner. Again, HUGE serving and very flavorful. Unlike some Thai restaurants that put the peanuts and bean sprouts separately on the side, here they're incorporated right into the Pad Thai, with crushed peanuts and green onion across the top.
We ordered the Pad Thai mild. I normally eat Thai food hot or extra hot, so mild obviously wasn't going to give me the heat I normally like. I added about three teaspoons of their Thai hot chili paste. That enhanced the flavor even more and gave me the nice burn I was looking for. That's personal preference, not a criticism of the dish. Their heat choices are mild, medium, hot and extra hot.
The Tom Kha chicken soup was also a VERY large serving. There was plenty of tender chicken and vegetables, and ordering it mild certainly didn't hide the other flavors. For our personal taste, however, it wasn't as creamy or as sweet as the Tom Kha we normally prefer. Again, that's OUR preference, and someone else may prefer it exactly this way. I added about three teaspoons of sweet chili sauce to bring up the heat for me.
Service deserves its own mention. Our waitress was friendly and attentive without hovering. She noticed that I was drinking a lot of water and, instead of making repeated trips to refill my glass, brought a carafe of water to the table. A small thing, maybe, but that's the kind of personal service I notice.
The restaurant itself was another pleasant surprise. It's considerably larger inside than you might initially expect, with the dining room divided into smaller seating areas by wooden partitions. Lots of warm wood, exposed beams and hanging lights give it a comfortable, established atmosphere rather than the feel of one large open dining room.
Even with other conversations going on around us, the sound was more of a muted background noise. We could easily carry on a conversation at our own table without competing with the room. The front waiting area, with carved wooden furniture, plants and decorative woodwork, also gives the restaurant some personality. See the photos.
Bottom line: generous portions, excellent value, attentive service and very good food. For us, the pineapple curry and Pad Thai were the stars. The Tom Kha wasn't quite the creamy style we personally prefer, but it was still flavorful and loaded with tender chicken.
Would we order the pineapple curry again? Absolutely.
And seriously...that pineapple came from a can? You could have fooled me.