I feel a bit let down by my curry I ate last night... and curry is such a warm dish. You want it to hug your mouth with flavor on a cold day... not remind you of the flavors your taste buds can't find. Like kissing an old boyfriend you thought your feelings would return and then.... Nothing but little shreds of disappointment.
So why three stars? I've eaten at Nicky's other times and the service is excellent also a second dish I'm reviewing here fared a bit better than my lacking Massaman.
Room for improvement: I couldn't taste the hints of tamarind, cinnamon, garlic or nutmeg or mace. Which should be key stars of the paste. My meal was prepped and brought to me fast but also means it probably was in part pre made. The results were more of a generic salt peanut tasting sauce. More of something I've had on satay.
They used dry red pepper in the sauce which is fine for the paste but it lowers the hot spice flavor. Using oil or fresh red pepper will fix that fast. In addition to the dried pepper I ordered it at a 7 spice level but personally it felt like a 4 or 5 tops. I do not eat spicy food often so my tolerance is not high.
The better dish -- my boyfriend's pumpkin tofu curry was a better bet and really I think Nicky's pleases better with its non traditional dishes. The pumpkin was soft and sauce a nice middle between sweet and spicy. Sadly the spice level was missing like a thief in the night..... No sweat beads made an appearance. The tofu was chewy but not underdone which is a tofu fear of mine ( texture fears).
Overall it's gorgeous in here and you get about 4 inches more elbow room than the Western st location. You also can eat without a reservation at 5 if you can be done eating by 630. The prices are decent for portion size... Service is prompt polite and they will offer more rice if you need it. I think I'll try some other dishes and hope for a better outcome next time.