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| - ALLERGIES
As with all Thai food, their menu is heavy in shrimp. Nice at helping me navigate away from shrimp dishes and for making a dish without shrimp so I could eat it (allergy). That wasn't enough to endear me --- because there were service issues, and I became sick later that night because the crispy duck was clearly fried in the same oil that shrimp is fried in because staff didn't consider that.
FOOD
Crispy Duck:
Since they have some Chinese ingredients like black bean paste and glutinous rice sesame balls, we assumed that the "crispy duck w/ steamed buns" (no other description) would be duck that is roasted until the skin is crispy. WRONG! It was battered like KFC except there is just a hint of Chinese Five Spice in the batter seasoning. She upselled us to get 2 duck legs instead of 1 since it was "just $3 more." BTW - never mind value, 2 people do not need 2 legs; they are too rich. She spent entirely too much time at our tiny table for 2 with forks pulling the meat off the bone. She was nice enough, but meanwhile our other food was getting cold and it ruined the mood for a romantic date.
Despite other positive aspects, this made us DESPISE the restaurant: The duck came w/ 6 tiny moo shu "tortillas" (not steamed buns like described). Yet there is not even enough tiny sticks of cucumber and celery so there is one per tortilla. The celery was dried out. They skimped on the tiny bowl of Hoisin sauce that accompanies it. We asked for a few more tortillas since there was clearly not enough for the 2 legs we were pressured to get. We were told they cost more & we said fine. Then she said "it only comes as a package" so we would have to buy more duck legs to get more tortillas. Say wuh?! Talk about the most stupid policy and horrible customer service! I have to pay another $20+ to get tortillas that cost pennies? No option to get them a la carte?! We had already over stuffed each tortilla w/ duck so that it was embarrassing to eat the mess in a sit down restaurant (no wet naps), but we still needed more tortillas. How much do the tortillas cost? Being cheap and inflexible over a few pennies cost them a customer.
Chicken Pad Thai:
It was wrapped in a paper thin omelet instead of having egg tossed w/ the pasta. Hadn't seen that before. A few tomato and lime slices around the side w/ a sprinkling of peanuts on top. The old limes were dried out & had brown skins! They skimped on the peanuts (maybe 1 teaspoon on top of omelet), which is usually my favourite part. Why are they consistently so stingy & cheap?!!!
Irregular pieces of chicken breast were overcooked and not seasoned.
The linguine rice noodles were above average, and made w/ tasty traditional tamarind instead of the ketchup like most places. It was mushy, though, perhaps because of few crunchy vegetables to balance it out.
The tofu was super greasy, not puffy, and oil oozed out of it when biting it in half. First time I haven't like the fried tofu in pad Thai.
DESSERT
Mango sticky rice:
It looked like 3 large scallops (cylinders) on top of thin fresh mango squares and draped w/ coconut milk & sesame seeds. Seriously two-bite brownie size! 1 teaspoon minced strawberry. Again, why so cheap? Sticky rice is not expensive & all other Thai restaurants give 1 cup+. They are not fine dining enough to not give traditional abundant family size portions.
RESERVATIONS
I could see that they would be required during peak dining times because the space isn't too big. I'm guessing it seats between 75-100. Not much of a waiting area.
When we walked in, they asked if we had reservations. They didn't welcome us first even though there was no one else waiting. That was off putting.
AMBIANCE
Dim lighting. Lots of carved lace-like teak wood. Large gold Buddha in the middle of the room. Photo wallpaper w/ another large gold Buddha and traditional Thai gold dancer's mask. Partitions of sorts don't truly block you from neighbouring seats. Not a great place for business or kid meals.
DRINKS
Good range of alcoholic and non-alcoholic. Though, I didn't order it, I was pleased to see they had Thai tea on the menu. Their Ginger Tea and Lemongrass Tea were tasty, but are WAY too sweet. They make them there, but it is viscous (not refreshing) because they make them with tons of simple syrup. The ginger has big chunks of ginger at the bottom of the glass so it has lots of heat to it if you don't like strong ginger. The first round was lukewarm so I could actually gulp it down because they failed to warm up the tall tea glasses first.
Refill wasn't brought until late in meal (only got another because it was a freezing cold night & not because I liked it so much I wanted more). The restaurant was not busy, so there is no excuse for that tardiness w/ a bored bartender.
HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE? Yes. Bathroom on same floor but narrow seating areas.
FREE MALL PARKING - garage tower, lot, & few adjacent
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