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| - Lotus is legit. You know it's legit when your cabbie perks up immediately when you mention that you want to be taken there from your hotel on the Strip. During my most recent trip to Las Vegas a couple weeks ago, I boarded a cab from the Palazzo and indicated to the cab driver to take me to the Lotus of Siam. He simply said in his Yugoslavian accent: "best Thai food in Las Vegas...hell, best Thai food in the country! I love that place." It seemed like an honest review, but not Yelp Elite caliber.
So here goes mine, hopefully a bit more fleshed out:
Lotus lets people in around 5:30pm for dinner service. Knowing this, if you arrive a little before this time, you will see a group of people standing outside, all wanting to be the first one in. There's no order to the way people congregate outside, but there's an unspoken rule to just keep a mental tab as to who arrives after you, and when the doors swing open, to make it inside the restaurant before them. The sooner you sit, the sooner you eat! No pushing or shoving, though the temptation to invade others' personal space is strong as you try to think of what to order in advance in your head.
As you shuffle inside, you'll be greeted by newspaper snipets featuring Lotus in the local papers. You'll see plenty of photos of famous people (both American and presumably Thai) over the years, enjoying the food at this Las Vegas institution.
According to others in my group, the restaurant was expanded relatively recently to include the empty neighboring space. That effectively allowed the owners to add a wine bar and a wine storage room, as well as more dining space. It doesn't seem like there's much activity going on at the strip mall where Lotus is located, so the whole wing of the building can be converted to more Lotus as far as I'm concerned. It would be way better that way, really.
Service has always been kind and friendly whenever I come here, as per Thai tradition. I've only been a couple of times, but with all the stuff I've ordered and shared with my group (it's an extensive menu), I did not find one thing I did not like.
I recommend the jumbo fried shrimp/prawns to open things up. You can, and should, eat the skin. I don't usually do so with any fried shrimp, but the way it was cooked with the peppering and seasoning, it was almost like having twice as much prawn. Those will disappear in a couple of minutes (because of some secret crack-like substance that the cooks sprinkle into the batter, I'm sure), so I also recommend the yellow curry (though I don't think the color matters...they're all really savory and the spice level can be adjusted to your liking) and the fried, boneless catfish (either with curry paste or garlic pepper sauce). Eat that with a side of salad and some white rice and wash it down with some Singha, and you'll be golden.
As mentioned earlier, you can take a cab here from the Strip if you're visiting from out of town, or drive your own car here. The only problem is getting a cab back to your hotel or next destination. You may want to have the host arrange a ride back for you before you sit down to eat, otherwise, you may have to go out into Sahara Road and flag one down yourself or pray that you find one just emptied of passengers intent on coming here in the parking lot. That would be called "Lotus luck" or, winning the Lotus lottery.
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