Siam Cafe — Restaurant in Cleveland

September 2022: I used to see this building all the time when I was a student as Cleveland State University. However, I never gave it the opportunity to prove itself. Now, years later, I was still curious and had to give them a try.

The restaurant sits on a relatively quiet NW corner of St. Clair and East 40th Street. The outside is decorated with bold hints of Asian influence including the various statues from the Chinese zodiac. Inside, the restaurant is spacious, clean and has plenty of tables to seat maybe a party of 80 people.

I ordered the Vietnamese spring rolls as an appetizer, which came out promptly as 4 thumb sized, peefectly crispy rolls with a sweet, tangy dipping sauce with some chillies in it. The Pad Thai arrived later and was a delicious blend of chicken, shrimp, noodles, green onions, and chopped peanuts on top. It was very good, but not the best that I've tasted. I decided to wash it down with a jackfruit smoothie for dessert, which was good.

Pros: Good food, fast and friendly service. Menu was assembled well and had Asian characters along with English subtitles and photo. There appears to be some sort of indexing system, but I did not use it. Prices are reasonable for the quantity of food that was given. There were many people coming in for pickup and Doordash, which is testament to their service and culinary skill. Some people (diverse crowd) sat inside in groups to seemingly converse over dinner. Very inviting atmosphere.

Cons: I am unable to think of any. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Conclusion: I will return in the near future. This restaurant is like a hidden gem for a date night or group...

Vietnamese, Chinese, Thai. After a couple days of Thanksgiving leftovers, I was all pho it. A blogger I follow on Instagram posted some photos of the food at Siam, which led me to cure my hunger last night. There's basically nothing in sight around this place, but a hidden gem it is. Parking lot full. We were seated very quickly, and our order was taken promptly. Dishes: Vietnamese spring rolls - crispy, tasty, but nothing special. The sweet like clear rice vinegar dipping liquid was super yummy, just sweet tart enough, and much better than your average duck sauce. Seafood Curry - Squash, peppers, shrimp (good sized), mussels, scallops, eggplant, mushrooms, in a spicy Thai curry. $21. Not too spicy, good flavor, happy with the size of the shrimp. Comes with white rice. Peking Duck -While I half expected to actually see a half of a duck, this was already broken down and bao'd up for you with a smidge (could've used a lot more) of sauce and green onion. Crispy skin, and some tender duck pieces, some not. $22 String Bean in Garlic Sauce - Plateful of beans, with a healthy amount of garlic sauce coating. Was not disappointed with this dish. Flavor on point. I could eat this as a snack anytime. :) $10 We also had a couple glasses of wine and two Singhas. Bill came to $97. Seems steep for this kind of place, but we did drink a bit, and we'll have leftovers for another meal! UnFORTUNately no fortune...

Probably the worst chinese food I have ever had in my entire life. Not sure if we ordered the wrong items or it was an off day in the kitchen.

What we ordered: potstickers, beef lo mein, orange beef, general Tsos chicken.

The orange beef was straight up not cooked. I would have to imagine it was frozen beef they tossed into a hot wok and the outside cooked before the inside was even close to being done. Not sure how else you could get a barely blue rare stir fry strip of beef

The general Tsos was also very disappointing. Not crispy at all, the breading was thick and sticky. My first piece of chicken also tasted like a shrimp. The sauce itself was sweet and not spicy at all.

The potstickers were at least cooked and a little crispy on the bottom, the filling though was not seasoned at all and the sauce they came with tasted vaguely of soy and nothing else

Lastly, the beef lo mein. This was the best thing we ordered and it was still a 3/10 at best. The beef was cooked which was a good start, however the sauce again tasted of nothing. It tasted like a little bit of soy and then some black pepper.

Beyond disappointed as we saw this place all over lists of best Chinese in Cleveland or on Instagram for must try places, I don't know if I could ever give them another chance after...