After seeing the great reviews, I decided to give Toast & Thai a try. Unfortunately, my experience was just okay. I didn't leave disappointed, but I also didn't leave feeling like I'd want to come back.
The restaurant itself is clean, modern, and has a nice atmosphere. It feels like one of those places where you'd meet up with friends, relax, and chat for a while. Visually, it makes a great first impression.
The food, however, was average.
I ordered the Best Avocado Toast, and while it wasn't bad, it's hard to justify the price. At the end of the day, it's avocado on toast, and I've honestly had more flavorful versions elsewhere for less money. The smoked salmon toast was also underwhelming. The salmon surprisingly lacked much of that smoky flavor, and the bread felt thicker than the toppings themselves, making the balance a little off.
The shrimp Tom Yum soup was probably my biggest disappointment. At $14, I expected something with bold, authentic flavors. Instead, it tasted fairly basic. It had the citrusy notes you'd expect, but it was sweeter than I prefer, likely because of the amount of cherry tomatoes used.
The service is where things became frustrating.
We waited around 20 minutes before our order was taken, then roughly another 30 minutes before food started coming out. What made it more frustrating was that everything arrived at completely different times. The matcha latte came first, then the Tom Yum soup, and it was another 20 minutes before the rest of the entrées arrived. We ended up waiting so everyone could eat together instead of one person eating while everyone else watched.
Normally I don't mind waiting if a restaurant is busy, but based on many of the Yelp reviews, this doesn't seem like a one-time occurrence. A common theme is that there's only one server running the dining room. Our waitress was friendly and polite, but she was clearly overwhelmed, juggling six or more tables by herself. I don't blame her--I blame the staffing.
At one point I even watched someone wait over 30 minutes for two specialty drinks because the server was busy with other tables. That really summed up the experience.
If the food had completely blown me away, I could overlook the long wait. Unfortunately, the flavors were simply average, so the overall experience didn't justify the prices or the time spent waiting.
Would I come back? Probably not.
I'm glad I gave it a try because it's a nice-looking café, but with average food, premium prices, and consistently slow service, there just wasn't enough to make me want to return. read more