TapAsia Asian Tapas — Restaurant in City of Albany

TapAsia has been on my Albany list for months now.

FANTASTIC spot. The food is, honestly, just entire levels above Thai/Asian inspired Tapas I’ve had other places (including just up the block on Lark…). And I’m an AVID eater of Asian in inspired small plates.

Not fancy. Not large. There are a couple tables outside, but the actual dining room/bar is below street level. Cool, intimate, well lit basement vibes. Also, clearly a neighborhood spot where people know each other and talk to each other. Another thing I really like. Gotta have good food AND good vibes and a neighborhood spot, a small, independent restaurant?? THAT is The Gold Standard my friends. And TapAsia is ALL that.

I started out with fresh, summer rolls and added shrimp. These were, hands down, the best fresh summer rolls I’ve ever had (and I order summer rolls whenever I see them on a menu). These are chock full of perfectly, finely chopped, fresh ingredients, rolled tightly and served in a beautiful, already cut plating with housemade dipping sauce. Speaking of which! TapAsia makes all their sauces in house and it shows. Your sauces will make or break your dishes, ESPECIALLY in a cuisine that has a lot of sauces…like Thai…

The dipping sauce served with the fresh summer rolls was so good I would not let my waiter take it away, because the Avocado Mango Egg Rolls were FANTASTIC when dragged through the summer roll sauce! Also, yes, I said Avocado Mango Egg Rolls. FABULOUS. They are exactly what the name implies: egg roll wrappers filled with perfectly ripe, diced avocado and mango and then deep fried. So you get all the wonderful experience of a hot, fried egg roll and none of the meat (I don’t eat beef, pork or poultry). These are not marked Vegan on the menu, but there are plenty of Vegan options here.

I also ordered their Spicy Garlic Edamame as my third starter. My waiter asked me what heat level I wanted: Mild, Medium, Hot or Thai Hot.

Me: “NOT THAI HOT! NEVER THAI HOT! I’ll take regular Hot.”

As in: “DO I LOOK SUICIDAL RIGHT NOW??”

Let’s be clear. I eat spicy. I eat A LOT of spicy in multiple cuisines. But I KNOW I cannot tolerate Thai spicy. Thai chefs did NOT come to play and whatever it is they use to dial that heat up is, frankly, DEADLY.

Meanwhile, I had no problem with Hot Spicy Garlic Edamame. Which, clearly, lulled me into a false sense of security. And so I ordered the Som Tum (Papaya Salad) and I overlooked (??) the “spicy” icon next to it on the menu.

Can. I. Just. Say.

I was almost killed. By a salad.

That damn salad was the kind of spicy that makes you MAD because it is HURTING you. But also? It was beautiful and delicious and I REALLY WANTED to eat it and kept eating more and then taking mouthfuls of water to sooth my mouth until I, eventually, ran out of water and had to stop eating the salad and order a side of rice to attempt to survive. Entrees are broken out into sections depending on which housemade sauce is the base. You choose your sauce base and then you can kind of “build” your entree by choosing one (or more than one) protein to add. There are a variety of Vegan choices!

I ordered Pad Kra Prow (Thai Basil Sauce) with sautéed string beans, bamboo shoot and basil in chili and garlic sauce and then I added fried chunks of white fish (WHICH WERE AMAZING!!!). I told my waiter that I had almost DIED attempting to eat the Salad and requested that the Pad Kra Prow be “Medium” heat ( it is listed as “Spicy" on the menu...)

My waiter looked at me…for a beat…and said, “How about mild??”

Me: “Okay. Mild!”

Look, I am not afraid to declare DEFEAT in The Spice Wars.

The Pad Draw Prow was DELICIOUS. So incredibly flavorful and full of fresh, wonderful ingredients and I could taste the ENTIRE favor profile because my mouth wasn’t actually on fire.

Next time it’s going to be MILD for me…across the board.

But there WILL be a next time. Because every thing I ate at TapAsia was...

TapAsia has a large menu selection, decent quality food, and okay service. Though it did not wow me, it had a solid green curry and other good food. Medium spicy here is very spicy to me, so be careful when ordering!

Detailed review and criticism:

The ambiance at TapAsia nice, and the service was fine. There seemed to only be one waiter on a weeknight (and maybe only one chef?) so it wasnt the fastest service.

For appetizers, the mushroom bun was not particularly impressive, it didnt have flavor or texture to make it special. The chicken satay could have been more flavorful and I dont like how the sauce was just peanut butter in the dish (it wasnt much of a sauce at all) - for $9 I expect better.

The main dishes of higher quality. The green curry with white fish and green curry with salmon were delicious, though beware medium spicy was quite spicy for me - its a delicious spice, but be careful! They have options for mild, medium, etc. The salmon was well cooked, I like that they included the skin.

The pad thai was flavorful with good quality noodles and peanut flavor. Presentation of all the dishes was quite nice.

The homemade ginger ale was good - I think for $4 they could use a larger glass (wouldnt cost much extra, just more soda water and ginger jam)

If i had a main complaint, I wish there was more of a Tapas feel. It seems like they just renamed a generic asian restaurant’s appetizer section to “tapas”, but considering this restaurant is NAMED after tapas i expect better quality appetizers and a more substantial selection to live up to the concept.

That complaint aside, the main entrees were good. I hope if i come back, there are some better appetizers worthy...

Ordered for delivery every vegan dish on offer, none of them were very good. The best by far was the curry, but it still was lacking flavor and toppings (tofu would’ve been great). The sweet and sour, teriyaki, and kung pao “beef” were pretty much the same sauces (the kung pao having a weird, kind of tangy, gross flavor that set it apart and I can’t identify). The ramen was okay but tasted too much of plain soy sauce. The coconut soup was pretty simple, which can be nice as a comfort dish, but was honestly a bit too simple for someone who enjoys bold flavor. The udon noodles I can only just describe as okay. We were hoping to try the gyoza and salad by ordering the teriyaki lunch special, but instead got the teriyaki dish (which tastes just like the sweet and sour) and received an up charge. If a restaurant isn’t serving a dish that they list, they need to reach out and ask what we’d like to do or just remove it from the order entirely. Don’t just add a charge. We were pleasantly surprised that the “Thai hot” was actually kind of spicy, but with an up charge to get it, I was hoping the spice level would be significant. Dishes that we didn’t order “Thai hot” were not at all spicy (to me at least, still be cautious of course if you have a low spice tolerance). Lastly, since we had literally just moved here from across the country and didn’t come with silverware, we added plasticware to our order and didn’t get it. That was kind of a bummer, not gonna lie. Everything was edible, served hot, and some dishes were better than others, but this whole experience left a sour taste in my mouth — much like the...