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| - "I don't think I've ever paid $21 for Pad Thai before."
Those were the exact words out of my mouth after glancing at the price for Dee's Pad Thai during a recent trip to the eponymous eatery. But was it worth it?
Not really, unfortunately.
We arrived at around 6:00 on a Thursday and the place was sparsely populated. The restaurant had just opened the week before, so our waiter wasn't exactly super polished but he did seem to be trying his best. (I'd be very surprised if this wasn't his first gig waiting tables.)
We decided to start with the Popiah Tod ("Vegetable Spring Rolls served with sweet chili sauce"). They arrived to the table piping hot and they're fine. There were no bold flavors here that really stood out, but I enjoyed eating it and the accompanying sweet chili sauce is pretty tasty.
For my main, I obviously went with Dee's Pad Thai ("Signature Pad Thai noodles with lightly battered prawns, crispy wontons, shrimp chips, cashew nuts, green mango, bean sprouts, dried shrimps, crispy shallots and chopped omelette.")
I've eaten a *lot* of Pad Thai in my days and this one would rank somewhere squarely in the middle. It's far from the worst I've ever had, but it also doesn't hold a candle to the offerings at Pai and Khao San Road or even Salad King, for example. It is, at least, not as sweet as certain variations of Pad Thai tend to get, but there's just nothing here that blew me away. And the decision to place the various accompaniments on the side didn't really work, as far as I'm concerned. And the whole cashews are just weird, since you can't pierce them with your fork. I kind of just ate them separately with my hands as a snack.
(Adding insult to injury, the dish arrived to the table practically room temperature. I guess it was just sitting around while my dining companion's dish was being prepared.)
(As a second side note, I want to mention that my dining companion's curry dish cost $24. $24! These prices are out of control, especially given the quality of the food.)
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