We took my dad to Nova Café for Father's Day lunch because he was craving some Thai food and we wanted to try a new place. It is clean and since they just opened, it may feel a bit spartan with so much empty floor space, but the decor is simple and somewhat trendy. It was nice and quiet, with music at a low level and a TV that was showing picturesque scenery.
The location is ideal and has plenty of parking available. Waze (the navigation app), actually has them located in another, smaller strip adjacent to the actual location. It's not difficult to figure out though, because they're literally within eyeshot of the place.
It's currently they're "Grand Opening", but the service was great. They were very attentive and checked on us the correct amount of times. They gave us time to check the menu, got our drink orders quickly, and when I ordered appetizers prior to ordering our meals, they got on those very fast too!
When the waitress came to ask if we had any questions, I said: "Is your lunch menu all-week or is there a limitation like no Sundays?" and she let me know it's an every day thing! Yay! We don't see that very often. Lunch hours are basically from open till 3PM and the lunch prices are between $11-14.
Our order: Dad got Masaman Curry with chicken and fried rice. He was a bit disappointed that they didn't have any brown rice, but he finished that whole plate. He said it was good though. My sister got the Thai Basil Plate with Chicken and fried rice and she really enjoyed it. My stepmom ordered the Thai Basil Plate with Beef and steamed rice. She really enjoyed hers too. I had the Panang Chicken Curry with both steamed rice and fried rice. I wanted to check the flavor with each...and I was hungry.
We also ordered some steamed Chicken Dumplings and some Fried Shrimp Shumai. Originally, I ordered them to be friend dumplings and steamed animal, but the waitress told me that the shumai (in her opinion) was better fried, so I switched them. Later, she brought out 4 extra fried dumplings.
I prefer my dumplings and shuns I fried! She was right- better mouthfeel and more depth of flavor. I would've maybe preferred a ponzu sauce or plain soy sauce rather than their sweet dipping sauce, but it was good too.
All of the dishes were served with some cabbage and shredded carrots that had a fake flower on top. I've seen plenty of places serve flowers with their dishes, but never faux flowers. I think they should drop those because they look OK, but they really don't need them.
My stepmom also ordered some green tea, which they brought in a somewhat fancy (new age-y) teapot.
I also ordered some of the Tom Yum Soup ("for 2"), a Beef Lo Mein, and a Thai Basil Plate with Chicken and fried rice to go. I tried each one after arriving home and found that the Beef Lo Mein and Thai Basil Plate were both lacking flavor for my liking. The tenderness of the chicken and beef was consistent in all the dishes, so that was a plus. The veggies were all cooked correctly and were still crispy-fresh. The noodles in the Beef Lo Mein were appropriately greasy too. The Tom Yum Soup was not very spicy, had 3 shrimp and 3 scallops, about 4 white mushrooms cut into 4ths, some red bell peppers and some onions. The soup was lackluster, not hitting the sour or spicy notes I'm familiar with for the dish, but the seafood within was tasty.
Overall, I have to give this place 4 stars because the Chinese food just didn't quite hit the way it should to be awesome. The service was fantastic and the Thai food hit properly- not too spicy, not to weak, but had great flavor. I love that they offer the shumai and dumplings steamed OR fried and I'm definitely going with fried from now on. I think this place has room to grow, but they're off to a great start and they have beer and wine to make things even better. They've got their stuff together, so give them a shot! read more