Methinks not, indeed. I used to come to Siamese Garden often a long time ago with my wife, before new management, and it started as a quiet intimate place to enjoy authentic Thai food. Last night was our 3rd time giving new management a try, we gave them THREE chances! And every time was a huge disappointment, but last night was the last straw. I'm sorry to say that new management has failed miserably. They've been at it for 7 MONTHS, and nothing has changed. What was once a hidden gem, has now become a desperate act for attention. I used to work in a family owned restaurant for 5 years, so I understand the process and how frustrating it can get. I'm very observant, so here are a couple things I've noticed:
Food - The presentation of the food is gorgeous. The orchid flowers add a really nice touch and gives the food a little personality. But frankly, I think the decoration is just to cover up the actual nightmare that will enter my mouth. I always order Pad Thai with chicken, because how can you mess up Pad Thai !? It's the most basic Thai dish you can order! Three times I've ordered this dish, and three times my taste buds begged for mercy. I'm not usually the type to exaggerate....but it was THAT bad. Every dish seemed rushed and undercooked. The chicken was still squishy from the inside, the noodles were like chewing gummy worms, and the flavor was so bland...I thought I could save it with some soy sauce and chili, but it was a lost cause. The first time this happened, I let one of the servers know. The server insisted they would inform the kitchen immediately. But since nothing has changed since then, I'm assuming the server never told the kitchen OR the cook is just a complete douchebag. My wife ordered Tofu Emerald curry, which arrived 30mins after my dish. We can see an inch of oil floating above the curry! It looked very unappetizing and tasted like a spicy greasy mess! After failed attempts to finish our "Authentic Thai Cuisine", my wife and I were still hungry...and since we are such dare devils, we decided to give dessert a try. We ordered the Sticky Rice with Mango. As we waited, 40 long minutes for our dessert....it was finally brought to us. My wife fell for the cutesy heart-shaped sticky rice and the chopped mango surrounding it. And I admit, it was pretty cute. But what did it taste like? The sticky rice tasted like it had been microwaved 5 times because someone forgot about it....it was no longer rice, it was sweet and salty mush! The mango was nice and sweet, but I am not paying $10 to eat tiny slices of mango!
Service - I wouldn't say the servers were top notch, but at least they were not rude to us or any other tables near us. Our waters were never filled, but luckily, we had water bottles with us. I did notice that the servers would disappear into the kitchen quite often, then I realized....it was because other tables were complaining about the wait on their food. Customer after customer, demanded their food. And server after server, ran back into the kitchen. I used to be a server, so I understand that servers take the blame for every mishap. But based on what I saw with my own eyes, I would not blame the servers because they were doing their job. I would blame whoever that's in charge in the kitchen for not managing things properly. Everything that came out the kitchen was a mess, and a lot of items on the menu "ran out". I hope the owner recognizes all this chaos and has the kitchen manager fired. Because this is a restaurant and people come here to enjoy quality food, not waste 2 hours of their time waiting for mediocre Thai food. There was one gentleman that stopped to talk to my wife and I before leaving, apparently he ordered Egg Rolls and BBQ Chicken. He was told that the BBQ chicken would take a while to cook, so he enjoyed his Egg Rolls as he waited almost an hour for his chicken....then a server came to him, after 45 mins...that the kitchen just informed them that they were all out of BBQ chicken. That is just absurd. They gave him the Egg Rolls for free, but they still wasted an hour of the poor old man's time.
One of my friends made a very good point the other day. He said this restaurant seems like it's trying to be the Starbucks of Thai Food, when it really should just stick to being that good ol' hidden gem down the street that everybody loves. I mean, I get it. Why would anyone open a restaurant and not want to make money? Of course you want to make money and do what you love, but I tasted no love in their food and saw no love in the staff's faces. Therefore, it seems Siamese Garden's sole purpose now, is just to make money. I've seen many friends fail because they were blinded by money. I hope the new owner gets what he paid for.....but if he didn't, then it would explain why he's so desperate for his money back. I wish the best of luck to the new owner of this restaurant, they're gonna need it.
Peterson signing off.... read more