MAD elephant — Restaurant in Appleton

"Food. Service. Atmosphere... To reduce my thoughts on this restaurant to nothing but stars spanning three broad, general criteria would be a far cry from justice," typed the adult male; the sugar from his meal still mixing with a "spooky drink" that reminded him of Mtn Dew and UV Blue. The expectations were unfairyly high, no thanks to the previous establishment, but be careful not to use that as a critical crutch. For starters, the word "fusion" carries more baggage than an ex-wife travelling with her first new boyfriend. It's not often that two very different cultures can find meeting ground, on the table or otherwise, and the most agregious form of this stylization is curating a menu where one of those cultures is relegated to 4-5 dishes in the bottom corner of the back side of the menu. Being their first visit to Mad Elephant Thai & Fusion, the two intrepid diners decided it was best to sample the core of the idea; the Thai food. The appetizer was a plate of chicken curry puffs (which, upon reflection, I am left pondering where any of the curry aspect lies in a triangle shapped chicken egg roll) that were fried in either old oil or brand new car oil. The outside - burnt; had less in common with the word "puff" than P Diddy after 2005. The only flavor came from dipping this Puffy into the sweet sugary soury sauce that often finds company beside a certain rolling shaped egg food. Coincidence? For the main entree, they decide to pick a seat at the popular kids tables. They order pad thai and sesame chicken, and expect nothing but what popularity gives. Touchdowns, high fives, and old fashioneds in the back of a school bus. But much like finding out that these kids were being traumatized by their parents, they soon found out that these dishes being popular was nothing but a thin veneer masking mediocrity and disappointment. The sesame chicken was a lower level of quality than your typical below-average Chinese takeout spot. Tough and overcooked, the chicken was a formidable opponent for our taster of Thai. He gritted and gnashed through the desecrated flesh piece by piece, perhaps holding out hope that the next piece would be better than the last. Alas, each one presented the same tired argument to our forlorn Friday feaster. They screamed, wretchedly, "I HAVE SEEN. I HAVE WITNESSED THE HEAT AND THE HORROR. I HAVE BEEN TO BOTH SIDES AND I KNOW YOUR FATE. YOUR DAYS HAVE BEEN NUMBERED SINCE BEFORE THERE WAS TIME. THE OIL. THE OIL. THE OIL. CHANGE THE OIL". The pad...

The original Taste of Thai was better with EVERYTHING! This new location needs a lot of kinks to sort out. First, don’t bother making a reservation as instructed by their new website because it isn’t even followed or enforced. Patrons are just walking in and grabbing tables and leaves the rest of the other customers high and dry due to limited closed off dining. Second, it’s a chaos as to which wait staff serves which tables. Our group was approached many times with different wait staff not knowing if drink or food order has been put in. Third, they changed out their kitchen staff because the quality and delivery of authentic Thai food is no longer there! Food came out cold to our whole table and when asked for a 4 out of 5 spice level, there was hardly any hint of spiciness. Lines were staking up at the front door as there were many folks that came and left due to the signage haven’t been changed over from Houdini’s to their new new business name yet along with just folks waiting because there is no structure of seating order. Writing this review is not easy to do as I am a big fan and frequent patron of the original Taste of Thai, but this new location and its staff needs to do a lot better if they plan to keep their doors open. My advice, stick to your actual online reservations only, assign waiters to tables, make sure there is quality control in the kitchen to check food dishes to ensure temps are hot and fresh and customers get their requests correct like spice levels, and lastly there is way too much kitchen staff and not enough wait staff. Anyone reading this may want to give this new location several months to air out their kinks before actually...

Feedback on Our Dining Experience – 9/25

Dear Mad Elephant Team,

My wife and I dined at your restaurant in Appleton on September 25. We would like to share our honest feedback, as we believe it may help you improve.

First, regarding service:

The server greeted us without a smile and immediately asked if we were “ready,” without giving us time or a proper welcome.

When taking our order, she did not repeat it back to confirm accuracy.

When delivering dishes, she did not explain what each item was, and instead placed them down loudly without using a tray.

Empty plates were not cleared proactively, and throughout the meal she spent most of her time sitting at the bar on her phone.

At no point did she return to check on us or ask how our meal was.

Second, regarding food quality:

All the meat dishes we ordered appeared to be pre-fried and then covered in sauce. This style felt more like a shortcut than authentic Thai cooking.

The overall presentation and taste fell below the standard we have experienced at many other Thai restaurants.

To be very honest, if no improvements are made in both service training and food preparation, we strongly believe guests will choose other restaurants in the area that offer a much better dining experience.

We hope this feedback is received in the constructive spirit it is intended. With some changes, your restaurant could become...