Thai Diner — Restaurant in Lawrence

On this, our second visit, the food was just as good and the prices fair, but the service left something to be desired.

We were not greeted when we arrived, only told to find our own table. It took quite a while for our server to welcome us and bring our water even though the place was virtually empty on a Sunday night with two servers working. We ordered the Mini Steamed Buns ($5.95) with sweet pork sausage and dried shredded pork on wheat flour buns and the Crispy Spring Rolls ($4.25 - Regular/chicken). The server asked me if we wanted the chicken spring rolls even though I ordered the "regular" variety which, according to the menu, come with chicken. I said. "yes, of course".

After taking our order, our server indicated that "everything" would be out shortly, but if you know me, you know I detest entrees arriving before the appetisers have been finished. I asked her to please hold the entrees until we had finished our starters, to which she readily agreed. The steamed buns (3) were OK even though the steamed whole wheat buns were not even baked. They had an odd look and texture (like eating raw bread dough) and were too big for the tiny dipping cups, but the flavor was decent. Not something we would order again. The spring rolls were good and a decent value at $4.25. The dipping sauces came in teeny weeny cups, too small even for the fried spring rolls which were not that big to begin with.

As I mentioned, the entrees did not arrive until we had finished our appetisers, so once we were done with the starters we waited and waited and waited, and more than 10 minutes later our entrees were finally in front of us.

My wife had the Yum-Tum Phad Thai ($9.95) which she raved about, a stir fry of rice noodles, egg, bean sprouts, cabbage and lemon grass with tofu. She cleaned her plate and would have likely licked it clean (I'm joking of course) if we were not in public, stating "that was absolutely delicious". I decided to try the Yellow Curry with beef ($9.25), a good size portion of potato pieces, yellow onion, sliced carrots and thinly sliced beef in a deliciously sweet, savory and spicy curry that dazzled the senses. It was an excellent curry.

The decor is simple and basic, but tasteful, but I would recommend not sitting anywhere near the double front doors on a cold and/or windy night because our napkins flew and the chill was breathtaking every time someone entered or left, some several times, including one couple who did not know the difference between Thai and sushi, having missed their mark by several hundred feet and leaving as quickly as they had entered.

Even though the service was suspect on this occasion, a plus was that I found out that you can "BYOB" (meaning wine I believe), because they advertise "no cork (corkage) fee". The minuses, they insist on "tipping your server appropriately" (better left unsaid as common sense tells you that if they provide the glasses and uncork the wine, then you should tip accordingly) and that you must leave any unconsumed alcohol behind (which is likely state law).

CombatCritic Gives Thai Diner 8 Bombs Out Of 10 ... More...

Wanting to try something new we ventured out of our regular comfort zone of offerings around the Lawrence area. Unfortunately the last 18 months has been excruciating for the culinary industry and we have lost so many wonderful restaurants. We popped in this evening and tried our best to keep our expectations low. The atmosphere while attractive and peaceful was horribly lit with cool temperature LED bulbs that make it nearly impossible to read the miniscule font on the simple one page paper printed menu. In fact I had to use my flashlight on my phone just so I could see it. These cool temperature low wattage LED bulbs should never ever be utilized in a dining space they are so unwelcoming cold and dark. We eat with our eyes first the lighting should be warm bright and inviting. The music definitely didn't seem to fit the atmosphere of the space. I definitely did not appreciate the strange modern dance music that seemed oddly out of place. To say I was disappointed that they didn't have my very favorite Thai dish, Khao soi on the menu would be a little bit of an understatement but I settled on Mama's crispy chicken. The dish was presented beautifully and had an excellent flavor. The only negative thing I can say about the dish was that the chicken most certainly must have been prepare ahead of time and reheated to order with the remaining fresh ingredients and sauce. More chewy than crispy and certainly dry all the way through I couldn't help but think to myself this dish would be exquisite had this been prepared to order in its entirety. My wife's dish a combination of stir fry cashew and chicken was very much the same. Well prepared lovely presentation horribly overcooked dry chicken. The starters we ordered steamed shrimp dumplings and crab rangoon were nice the dumplings were presented beautifully and had an excellent flavor. The crab rangoon however came out barely much more above room temperature and were served with an obviously refrigerated saucethat was still cold. Dipping the crab rangoon into this cold sauce was less than appealing. Typically crab rangoon is served piping hot so much so that the cream cheese inside is nearly molten lava hot. The service seemed inexperienced at best, we were never actually greeted sitting at the table she simply appeared with water, neglected to actually take a drink order and only followed up with us one time. An opportunity to upsell drinks or dessert was never taken advantage of. Overall the experience was lackluster not that any one thing with glaringly bad but nothing about the place seemed to really stand out and catch our interest. I can tolerate mediocre service and even a weird atmosphere if the food is exquisite, I will even tolerate mediocre food if the atmosphere is fantastic and the service is outstanding. Sadly this place didn't fit the bill in any of these facets. Mediocre at best and it's sad to say this because I know with a little bit more effort this place could probably be something very special. You have the tools and you have the ingredients it's execution is where you are lacking....

They have the best pad thai I’ve had in Lawrence, everywhere else just isn’t good enough. I sometimes try something else on the menu, but the pad thai is just too good to not order. The appetizers are delicious, and you are sure to find a favorite. I would recommend the grilled chicken skewers to start.

Order through DoorDash if you want it delivered, but a lot of people also choose pick-up. Oh, and if you’re ordering through DoorDash and want a side of their incredible prik nam pla - thai chilis in fish sauce - it helps to call the restaurant and let them know you’ve requested it in the order.

The restaurant itself is quite nice, and the staff are very good people, I love them. You can also bring your own alcoholic beverages, free of charge, and they’ll provide ice buckets or whatever you need.

They do have strange hours. Usually closed Mondays, closing 2:30-5:00 during the week, and open most of day after 12:00 on weekends. Double check the times to be sure. I’ve once come in just before they closed for the afternoon, but they were able to prepare my noodles for takeout in about 10 minutes.

Honestly, I cannot praise them enough. Be sure to check out their specials board if you go, I’m still working through it. DELICIOUS food, you’ll...