I came here today for a late lunch after reading such positive reviews. Needless to say, I was disappointed with both service and food.
When I walked in, there was just one other customer eating at a table. Being this was my first time eating here, I had to take a minute to stand at the front to review the menu board overhead. There was a gentleman (possibly the owner?) standing at the cashier waiting for my order. I told him it was going to be a minute or two as i had to review the menu. In the meantime, a couple walked in and strolled right up to the till to order. Fine. By the time they were done ordering, I was ready. I decided to try the Cambodian spring rolls & Thai green curry. The gentleman asked me what kind of protein I wanted and what spice level? So I asked for beef and mild. He immediately responded that I could expect the curry to be very spicy at least a 5 on the scale of heat. Alarmed, I second guessed myself. I told him I'd had green curry plenty of times before from authentic Thai restaurants throughout the city, to which he replied if it wasn't spicy then they didn't make it right - "Thai green curry uses green chilies so it's supposed to be spicy and if it isn't then it wasn't made right". He seemed very annoyed he had to explain and educate these things to me. So after he scared me how spicy the curry was I decided to change my mind and instead ordered the Pad Thai noodles. But before I finalized the order, I inquired about the Thai style Chow Mein and asked what exactly it was. He then proceeds to "educate" me that it's just like Chinese style so "If I've ever had Chinese style chow mein it's pretty much the same except with basil" (Um excuse me? What's with the attitude? And you can clearly see that I'm of Asian descent - Chinese actually -so yes I have had Chow Mein many times since I was young, heck i've even made it so please don't speak to me like i'm an idiot). Anyways, I decided to stick with the Pad Thai with Chicken after that explanation. The gentleman felt he needed to warn me once again that the spice level of this dish was a 4 because of the red chili. Fine. I paid and sat down and waited. When the food finally arrived, I was surprised to see must how anemic my Pad Thai looked. The rice noodles were barely coated with sauce - they were sticky and needed a lot more sauce to make these taste good. The ratio of noodles to toppings was large - I basically ate biteful after biteful of noodles and every so often was lucky to get a piece of veggie, egg, or even chicken (I think I counted 8 small bite-size pieces of chicken throughout the whole bowl). Also, the spiciness level was surprisingly so little - what heat?! - that his forewarning made me laugh - I should've ordered the Green Curry after all.
It was disappointing. Also, the Cambodian spring rolls never arrived because the same gentleman thought I wavered on those and so didn't order them for me even though he apologized and said he should've asked - he didn't.
I didn't have enough time to finish eating my Pad Thai so I got a take out box to put the leftovers in.
I'm disappointed in the whole experience. I was wanting someone to welcome me warmly to this new & exciting establishment, to take the time to tell me what the values were for this business - it looks like they believe in sustainable products? But then again i'm not sure. I wanted to know the story behind this place and I got none of that. I feel like the owners think they have a great knowledge of Southeast Asian cuisine - probably because they've travelled there before, and I suspect many a time.
The place itself was too cold with air conditioning and the music being played overhead was Oldies diner music. How strange and mis-matched to the food and surroundings.
The set-up of the establishment is nice with an open-style kitchen, a long wood communal table, some high top tables, and window seats and floor to ceiling windows on 2 sides of the place which brings in lots of natural light.
Overall, I would be very hesitant to return after this very disappointing experience in both service & food. read more