Thai Pepper — Restaurant in Bloomington

I should have read the reviews more closely, but I was quickly searching for dinner on my way home, and I figured a 4.4 rated restaurant would be fine. I'm new to the state and loved the Thai place back home, but I have to say this restaurant kinda sucks.

Abysmal wait times; I stood around waiting for an online pickup for almost 30 minutes after the promised time, and I wasn't the only one. Seems like they don't even start the order until you walk in. Food was okay, nothing special or especially flavorful, luckily I had some hot sauce at home to jazz it up.

What I hated about the food is how overpriced it is for both quantity and quality. I spent nearly $50 and came out with a handful of grizzled dumplings and some freezer section-esque egg rolls the size of my thumb, and 2 only mostly-full, mostly-rice entrées at $15 apiece.

I'm not expecting fast food prices, but just charge what you need to charge for adequate portions and quality ingredients. I expected enough to get a dinner and some leftovers for lunch, instead I got a heap of rice and basically a side of protein/vegetables. I will probably not be back, and I would caution everyone else to lower their expectations if you choose to eat here.

On top of that, I overheard the hostess telling some potential diners the restaurant was closed, despite several of us waiting around for pickup orders, and the hours posted on Google indicated they were open. Not sure what the confusion was there, but it seems like a common issue according to...

Ordered for 3 and ended up eating alone tonight - which I am neither ashamed nor mad about.

Apps: I ordered the chicken satay & pork belly. They were out of the pork belly, which is a bummer…but that means they sold out (a good sign). I ended up getting the sausage in its place. Satay was tasty despite missing a skewer - but the sausage is killer. Super snappy casing and bursting with flavor. Second best thing I ordered.

Entrees: I got the Pad Thai & Tom Yam soup (explicitly asking for “Thai level hot”). The rice noodles were cooked perfectly. There should definitely be more chicken for $14 but it was good. The Tom Yam on the other hand…legitimately in the top 5 best soups I’ve ever had in my life. I love food so spicy that it’s basically molten lava. While it was not nearly that hot, I was pleased with the heat level and almost could feel a bit of sweat on my forehead. If you do not like spicy - do not order Thai Hot. However, whatever you do…order the Tom Yam!! It’s complex, fragrant and out of this world.

Giving a 5 star for a few reasons:

They are brand new and I know how difficult it is opening a new restaurant location. When I did it, I wasn’t dealing with a pandemic or severe labor shortage either.

It’s a Friday night at dinner time.

They we’re extremely friendly.

Im going to be craving the Tom Yam until I order it again 🤤

All in all, a very solid meal. They are understandably working out a few kinks but I recommend Thai Pepper and will...

We stopped in after craving some Thai food and felt a little uncomfortable. We arrived around 5:30PM and we were the only customers in the restaurant. You are only given a fork, my wife asked for a spoon for her rice, and my son and I who had Pad Thai both thought of it too late. No knife or spoon. Not a huge thing, but I like to spin up my noodle on a spoon, and sometimes cut the chicken with a knife and fork. I just want two utensils sometimes. There was no music or background noise, the door to the kitchen was closed and we only saw our server a few times. They never offered drinks or desert. If was just very awkward. A couple people stopped in to pick up takeout, but it was twilight zone like in this place. The food was not terrible, but I think I being generous with the three stars there. Overall, I did not want to give it less than two stars because I am sure they are trying to deliver a good experience, I just...