Archa Nine Thai Kitchen | South Elkhorn Village — Restaurant in Lexington

I went to Archa 9 when it first opened on Old Todd's and have not eaten there since. I can't recall anything wrong with my first visit I just didn't care for it... maybe it had to do with vegan options when they first opened??? But again don't remember and who cares because what I had last night is like top 5 for Thai dishes I've eaten.

I don't know where to begin it was so good. We got the mushroom tempura as an appetizer. The tempura was crispy, light, and did not fall apart as you ate it. It was served with a peanut sauce and while I don't typically enjoy peanut sauces (consistency and sweetness) this one was incredibly well balanced (lightly sweet, lightly spicy, distinctly but lightly peanuty) and paired well with the tempura. Which remained crispy after being dipped in the sauce. There was just the right amount of sauce too so no waste which is always nice. My entree was the vegan yakisoba dish at a spice level 5 (I subbed with glass noodles because they were out of yakisoba but all good cause I love me some glass noodles). This dish was incredible. Great ratio of veg to noodles, fresh light taste with crisp veg, and again balanced- super impressive. The level 5 spiciness is exactly what I wanted. I love and can tolerate very spicy foods but there's this edge where spiciness becomes a hat on a hat and stops enhancing a dish and can be a distraction or detract from a meal. This dish's heat was even, a bit tingly, and just high enough to elevate the flavors.

I'm doing a poor job at describing how good everything was... but the food summarized in a sentence is "The chef understood the assignment". You should eat here and find out for yourself.

Additionally our waitress was lovely (perfectly attentive) and so were all the staff we interacted with. Timings were good. I don't normally notice things like ambiance but yeah really nice ambiance, good music and lighting (both levels and kind), lovely space.

I'm really glad I came and I will come back as often as I can...

Great service, great ambiance, and good food.

I came in real quick and got shrimp spring rolls and a big bowl of extra spicy Tom Kha soup. The server told me she likes the shrimp spring rolls the most so I got those. They came out quickly and were really good. The traditional Thai peanut sauce that came with them was pretty much perfect in that it wasn’t too sweet and wasn’t too umami.

The reason I came was the Tom Kha, one of my favorite soups in the world. I asked for it extra spicy to clear out my clogged sinuses and was not disappointed!

Here is a real interaction with my server:

waitress: how is everything? me: looks up while eating and smiles waitress: oh no, you are crying! Is it too spicy? me: nope, it is literally perfect and very spicy, just like I asked for!

So onto the soup… I’m more used to seeing beech or oyster mushrooms in Tom Kha. This appeared to be champignon or maybe straw mushrooms. Still quite delicious. The chili oil and spices were nice. The thing that seemed a bit different was that this was not quite as creamy as I’m used to when I make Tom Kha or have had super traditional ones. Not sure if it was a coconut milk vs coconut cream thing, but it didn’t have that super smooth creaminess I was after. It definitely had the galagal, small bits of lemon grass, and some kefir like leaves. It was still fantastic and I’d have it again. It just was slightly different than I was expecting. It’s possible as well this was just more a regional thing.

Overall still amazing all around with most...

Lunch special menu was sad, no noodles dishes on it. Prices and quantity were obvious that they were punishing you. Ok so lunch special was $10 for a small plate. But the obvious choice I should have gone for was dinner portions, my neighbors plate was huge, then I could have at least been full. Food was lacking, I chose to order a curry, EXTRA CRISPY TOFU, off the lunch menu, figured it would be plenty. I was bored with the sauce, the heat was there, but the curry and sweet was lacking, crispy tofu, no. One more thing, Kayla made me feel extra welcome and dumber then I already am. I love feeling judged. Extra special experience. I have learning disabilities also social anxiety this kind of coldness causes me to feel very nervous and makes things very uncomfortable for me while I was ordering. She seemed to enjoy pointing out my 2 mistakes while I ordered. Embarrassing me in front...