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| - As a long-time fan of the downtown Nicky's, I was so excited to see that a location was opening up literally down the hill from my parents' house. The suburbanites NEED access to delicious non-chain restaurants, and without much or any Thai in the area, I thought this would be perfect.
But it was.... well, one of the most mixed-bags of all the mixed-bags I've ever experienced.
The terrific:
~ The ambiance. It is BEAUTIFULLY decorated, very ornate and yet somehow cozy. The restroom smells of earthy incense that takes me back to my college dorm room. Even the wood on the tables is pleasant: smooth but rustic and just very calming in general. They have a lovely outdoor seating area that is fitted with those tall heat lamp thingies, so you can enjoy your meal outside even when it's chilly.
~ The food. And let's be honest, this is the number one reason you're going to visit Nicky's. We had the Thai toast, which was that lovely mix of crispy and gooey and hearty. The Tiger Cry Beef was fantastic and not as spicy as the name might imply. And the entrees were a good size, where I didn't feel overwhelmed after a round of small plates, but I also had enough leftover to wrap up for lunch the next day. The soup portions are GIGANTIC, and you can certainly make a meal of small plates and appetizers and be very content.
The okay:
~ The alcohol situation. It is both BYOB and full-service bar. Because of this, the corkage fee is $10 per wine bottle, instead of $5, like their Northside location. And as far as we could tell (at least on the night we recently visited), there was not a dedicated bartender, but servers running back and forth to the bar to grab drinks. It was just strange and a little confusing and not the fastest situation.
And now for,
The really not cool:
~ The service. And it's not why you think!! Our server was as pleasant and friendly and accommodating as could be. However, service was..... slow. Painfully slow. First, they lost our reservation. They fixed that up reasonably quickly, but then no one even came to our table to open our wine bottles or bring water for 25 minutes. I think we just got lost in the shuffle, so we didn't 'belong' to any server. I don't think the server we eventually had was 'supposed to' be ours. When we were there, it just seemed chaotic, like no one was dedicated to running the bar, greeting customers at the door, or waiting tables. Everyone was SO DANG NICE but they all seemed panicked and disorganized and stressed well beyond their limits. I wanted to be like, 'hey, while we are waiting, show me what I can do to help, give me some plates to deliver.'
~ The parking. YIKES. I know it's a hot and popular spot right now, but husband had to circle the lot 4-5 times to get a space. They do a lot of takeout business here as well (which was contributing to the staffing confusion it seemed), so the parking lot is full of way more cars than seem to match the capacity of humans inside the building.
I know they are a new restaurant, and I really think that's all it is. They are working out the kinks, getting adjusted to how one deals with a sudden swarm of business. The truth is, they are one of only like 3 sit-down restaurants in the immediate area, and the only one serving Thai food, so I think everyone is rushing in to check it out, and perhaps the management didn't plan for quite such a huge turnout.
The food is excellent, and the servers are sweet as can be, but I think the workflow needs some improvement for this to keep up with the high standard of the other Nicky's. I'm sure we will be back, but I think we will give it a few months for them to get more settled into the flow of traffic. But if you're in the North Hills and not spoiled by having restaurant options all over the place like we cityfolk are, set aside a long block of time and bring a couple of bottles of wine and come on down.
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