Chiang Rai Thai Kitchen (Northyork) — Restaurant in Toronto

Came in the hopes of seeing some good northern Thai food, especially the khao soi. Ambience is nice, we were three seated in a booth for 4. Street-food mural aesthetic is nice. Service is a mixed bag, they seem a bit preoccupied at times, even when they're not that busy. However, they were super nice. Food: We shared tom yum soup with tofu, khao soi with beef, famous pad thai with shrimp, panang curry with lamb, and a green curry with chicken, along with coconut rice. First the good: the famous pad thai with shrimp--great smoky wok hay flavour, copious, meaty shrimp, great portions. A winner. 5/5 The green curry with chicken--also great flavour, with a good mix of chicken and vegetables, delicious with the rice. 4/5

Panang curry with lamb--not quite as good as the green curry, and could've had more lamb in it, but decent flavour. 3.5 or 4/5

Now the bad: One of my best memories of visiting the Wat Rong Khun White Temple in Chiang Rai was the amazing khao soi we had at a small roadside restaurant--small portion, fresh noodle, deep broth, fresh herbs and nam prik pao on the table. This one was not that. I understand, variations abound, but this broth was beyond gravy-like, more gloopy like it'd been thickened TOO much. The fried noodles that usually top the soup were clumped here, so much that it overwhelmed the rest of the soup. The lime was buried under everything, and no nam prik pao to be seen to add a kick to any of the dishes, if needed. Well yes, maybe we should have asked for it? 2/5

It also appears that they don't have any liquor license, which is too bad. A good Chang, Leo, or Singha (or even a local craft IPA) would've gone well with dinner, and I know you can get Singha in Ontario.

With tax and tip, around $140.

Would maybe return to try...

Okay, where do I start. The food was not as good as it has been in the past and the service was absolutely terrible. My friends and I ordered a large meal that included 2 pad thais, 2 curries, a soup and a mango sticky rice for pick up. When we got back home to dig in, we found 1) a long hair in the soup and 2) they had charged us for braised beef but put regular beef in the curry. When we called to tell them about the issues we were having, we were met with defensiveness. They asked us to come back to the restaurant where they preceeded to tell us that, contrary to what is advertised on their website, the massaman curry is not made with braised beef (even though they still charge you for it). They agreed to remake the soup but, were extremely upset when we asked to also be refunded for the soup- as we had to comeback to the restaurant to resolve the order. At first, we also thought that they forgot to put the rice in the mango sticky rice we ordered. We then realized that the hard mass we thought was mango was actually sticky rice that was so hard, we had trouble cutting it with a knife. Restaurant dining/food is not what it used to be. I asked if they were under new management and the very defensive person who "helped" us said no. I personally will not be ordering from them again. There are too many options out there. I will no longer support subpar food and...

You'll find flavour in their famous pad Thai with shrimp ($23). Sour, savoury, and slightly sweet notes flood my mouth on the first bite, especially a strong tamarind element. It complimented the chewy noodles, which were stir fried to perfection and resisted sogginess despite being slathered in sauce. The finely chopped roasted peanuts also helped to counteract the wetness of the dish.

I would skip the tom yum fried rice with vegetable and tofu ($18) as it's also very tangy and two sour dishes were too much for one meal. Indeed, tom yum's recipe has lemongrass and lime, but these tart elements soaked into the rice it was powerful. Still, I enjoyed all the herbs: galangal (a peppery ginger), basil, and kaffir lime leaves, which added a freshness to the starch. The fried rice was just too wet - Chiang Rai likely uses fresh rather than day old rice – to the point that it tasted better as leftovers.

If you’re a fan of chicken devil, the crispy chicken chilli sauce stir fry ($19) is a stellar version of the dish. I love the big nuggets of battered chicken that’s very lightly covered with the spicy, savoury, and sweet sauce so they remain crunchy. Just get to the chicken quickly as there’s not a lot of pieces amongst...