Siam Patio Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in California

I had high hopes for Siam Patio after reading all the glowing reviews, but unfortunately, my experience was underwhelming.

Food: We started with the appetizer sampler ($25), which included 2 veggie spring rolls, 2 shrimp tempura, 4 chicken satays, and 4 potstickers. Sadly, everything tasted bland. The shrimp tempura seemed like the premade, frozen kind—tiny and lacking freshness. The spring rolls were filled almost entirely with cabbage and no real seasoning. The potstickers were very basic, and even the chicken satay lacked flavor.

The beef fried rice was probably the best dish of the night—small in portion but decently seasoned. The “tenderloin noodle soup,” which I expected to be a Thai/Lao boat noodle, was really just a soy-sauce–flavored broth with rice noodles and a few pieces of beef. No herbs, no veggies, no depth of flavor. The chicken larb was extremely salty with nothing to balance it out.

Our Tom Yum soup had a piece of hair floating in it. We fished it out since my friend was too hungry to send it back, but that really affected our impression of the meal.

Service: The service started fine but dropped off after the food came. We felt a bit forgotten once the dishes were on the table.

Overall: The food leaned more toward Americanized flavors, lacking the spice, balance, and authenticity I was hoping for. Between the bland sampler, the disappointing soups, and the hair in the Tom Yum, this wasn’t the experience I expected.

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I've driven by Siam Patio Thai Cuisine hundreds of times over the years and never noticed, or payed any attention, that it is there. Fortunately, a friend suggested it as one of their favorite places and I agreed to give it a try. The outside is unassuming and a little bit wethered, giving it a been there a long time charm. The staff were attentive and greeted us as soon as we walked in. The waitress was friendly, helpful and patient as it was my first time eating there. When I finally made up my mind she was back pretty quickly with a cup of soup and small salad that came with the lunch, both were pretty good. The main lunch entress arrived even before we could finish the soup and salad. It looked as good as it tasted and had had nice size portions. I can't recall the actual ne of the dish I selected, but it was good. I was warned that the food can be hot and only ordered mine at a level 3 heat. This was plenty of heat and I'm stone who likes heat, with food flavor. All in all a good meal and experience. I would recommend trying if you...

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Everything on their menu is $17. Even papaya salad is $17. I think it’s insane and a scam. We paid $28 for the “Heavenly Seafood” dish, and it was worth about $10. The serving size was the size of a side dish or a small salad plate. The soup tasted like lazy labor, and the mussels, shrimp, and everything else in it was really tiny. The vegetables were a little over cooked. Too soft. I ordered Pra Ram or something, and their peanut butter sauce wasn’t anything special or unique. It was as if peanut butter was liquified and was called a sauce. The chicken was dry and slightly overcooked, and the veggies seemed like they were steamed for 3 minutes max. Crunchy and unpleasant. I bought papaya salad for $17, and it was the best dish I got from them, and even then the papaya wasn’t authentic and saucey enough. In total I spent $68 for some trash and a quarter-full stomach....