Blue Orchid Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Jacksonville

We typically order thai take out and Blue Orchid was always just out of our delivery range so we had to find somewhere else. But my husband's grandmother frequents it here and we finally got to go with her last night to put her raving reviews to the test. First off, Blue Orchid's decor and atmosphere is lovely. Their staff is friendly, knowledgeable and attentive. My water glass was never left empty (and I drink water like a fish). We got a few appetizers to start: The Pork Spring Rolls, The "Angels Wing" and a cup (but really big enough to be a bowl) of the Spicy Soup (thai hot on the heat because my husband is a glutton for punishment). All of the starters were delicious, fresh and satisfying. Not too much that you couldn't enjoy your dinner, but enough to give you a moment for your meal to cook without being hangry by the time it arrives. Not that we had to wait long for our entrees. They arrived promptly, and the portions were huge! I got the glass noodles with chicken and it was cooked perfectly. I would have liked to have a sauce of sorts on the side to drizzle over it, but the flavors were wonderful regardless. My husband got the Green Curry with half a duck added to it (and again, thai hot heat). That green curry sauce was some of the best I've ever had. The thai hot was a kicker, but not overpowering to the point that you couldn't experience the other flavors present. I even stole a bit of it to drizzle over my noodles. It was great! And the duck was also cooked well. Finally, for dessert we tried the mango sticky rice. The presentation was adorable. I wasn't sure what to expect, and it was definitely something different. The mango had a sweetened condensed coconut milk (or so it tasted like, don't quote me on that) poured over it and the sticky rice. It was a flavor and texure experience, thats for sure. The coconut was a bit much for me, but one bite of it was good to try. And sticky rice anything is basically heaven. The portion is huge though, so definitely enough to split with a group. Everyone at our table was very happy with the meals, and , like I mentioned, the service was exceptional. We will definitely be back the next time we get a craving to go out...

The food here is amazing. I didn't even know how much I liked Thai food until I ventured through the doors of this restaurant. I personally like the chicken pad Thai.

Unfortunately there is no cell service in the restaurant, at least there isn't for my provider. I sat outside texting my party to find out if they had arrived, they got the text about twenty minutes after we had eaten and left.

They do offer free wifi, but it seems to be a bit hit or miss. It could be a capacity issue. I don't know, I didn't ask what their bandwidth was.

The one downside is that the service has been very hit and miss. One night we were in the Restaurant for two hours, and we only saw our server at our table twice. He made plenty of trips to the table across from us, but only came to our table to apologize for not taking our orders and to ask if we wanted boxes. Both instances, we had already gone to get someone else to assist us. You might think we were impatient (which I admittedly am), but we were there for fifteen to twenty minutes waiting to see our server for the first time. That is unacceptable to me.

The owner came out and apologized over how long we were waiting for our food. He explained that they had thirty tables come in at once and that the kitchen was struggling to keep up with the orders. He also gave us a free appetizer to hold us while our food was being made.

Another trip was much smoother, but I still watched our server (different server from last time) stand at the bar and chat while we waited for refills on our drinks, boxes for our leftovers, and our checks. We did get our food very quickly though, and it was delicious. I just wish the servers were a little...

So I've been to Blue Orchid before, when they had the old menu that included the stuffed chicken wings (THAT WAS MY FAVE, they don't carry that anymore ☹️). I hadn't gone in a while because it was way too far but I was craving Chor Muang. We drove 45+ minutes...

My gosh was I thoroughly disappointed.

The pros ✨️: Our waitress was great. The decor is well done. The flower buds (Chor Muang) were meh/good. Although sweeter than what we prefer the papaya salad was decent.

The cons 🚫: The lychee martini was not for me: Very sour and didn't taste any lychee, mostly alcohol. The food overall was very average. I had Pad See Ew $22 with mixed seafood +$14 ($36)... I had 1 scallop that was cut in 3 thin slices, about 3 shrimp and most of the rest was calamari... and the dish was that small. My mom got the Choo Chee Fish ($34), we were under the impression it was going to be a whole fried fish... It looked like 1 regular fried fish from what you would get from a seafood platter at a much higher price . She wasn't a fan of the sauce and the chef did make a second batch.

While paying a high price for quality dishes is absolutely something I don't mind doing... It has to make sense. For example, the Flower buds were $19, you get 5 - even though they were not mind blowing, originally it sounds expensive but they are hard to find and it's a speciality dish. That makes some sense. However... the rest? No. The pricing just doesn't make sense when the dish doesn't emulate a good reasoning for it.

It's not bad but it's overpriced average food. If you want to try Chor Muang or what they call flower buds, I would recommend you try...