Orchid Thai Cuisine Lake Mary — Restaurant in Longwood

I wish I did not have to put a star on here. Being so cultured and knowing good food other than in my own kitchen, let me tell you am disgusted and angry how our first experienced ended. I want a full refund what a waste of money. I would not go back. Management I felt is of greed! Unacceptable. The staff and management how they handled the food and not wanting to replace and fix the issue and if they think by adjusting the bill was anything. Should have sticked with the original plan tht evening, however the staff member saw us viewing the menu we were going to Stonewood, however they were so friendly and welcoming and said to us come on in gave a menu saw a large birthday party there, and few other tables smelled great we had our heart set on Thai. We were at another local favorite of ours but they were so busy we decided to look on google for options local. Saw Stonewood and decided lets call see if we can get in being it was under 5miles from our original Thai choice. Well we get to our stonewood but said let's see a menu for future they pulled our leg thought well you know what we have been going to Stonewood for years saw the big party which was a birthday party well my daughter's 18th. So we went, it began fine, but the food was different than we were use to, especially when you have children that are used to specific foods including myself and husband. His duck was great, the apps were but it was the service and focusing alone on the big party and the staff etc. well long story short our meals came out not to our liking to discuss the issue with management took forever very unprofessional. Then the waitress took like a turn and did a 360 guess she figured though 2 birthday tables to hell with us 4 we weren't drinking alcohol and she had a big table bringing them wine after wine and stuff. The wait to fix then to be refused not to fix dishes and recook that right there shows you suck, well management never came out, the table by us a elder woman who later found out to be the owner. Which for our table she should have come out. So now really upset my 18 year dinner ruined I was like asking another server what we are forgotten here get my bill never again. So staying as calm see there were some charges that shouldn't have been got so upset the manager Richard came out I was not pleased nor impressed with taking what like under $50 dollars off. Then say please give us another chance etc. Whatever, what should have been done management taking care of the issues there and then, also I feel the waitress Crystal is not deservant of my tip but being fair I tipped, her attitude after our complains and not being in sight to do her basic duties to fill water. Yet alone Richard heard me repeat several times about oh no water. I said my daughter 18 ruined we took home some food but tossed it out the same night. I could have done better and cooked better with my money or what I should have done was gone to our Stonewood a long wasted night for this garbage and the staff and management it is pure greed need a lesson how to handle these situation. Very disappointed. Don't have the waitress come out and linger customers in as if you are all so great. Because she said oh give us try we are good and better, well you all sure are not better than Stonewood and you are pretty much a awful restaurant. You all should rename your restaurant because it has no flavors we were used to it was our first time. Crystal raved about all the curries it was disgusting! I honestly want my money fully refunded. I am always about giving a positive review but this...

Pleasant Thai food. Portion sizes for appetizers are small in comparison to other Thai restaurants so be prepared and order accordingly. Ideally, I would give them a 3.5 star rating, but I just can't bring myself to give them 4 stars. It was nice, I'd be willing to order takeout from here again, especially as an alternative to cooking on a busy evening. But, all things considered, food quality, value, portion sizes, etc. it didn't blow me away. Below is a dish-by-dish breakdown of what we ordered:

Chicken Satay - SMALL portion - only 3 skewers. They use a classic Thai marinade which was tasty. The chicken was a bit tough but the flavor was good. Sauces were also nice. My main recommendation would be to allow the chicken to marinate a little more so it becomes more tender.

Crispy Shrimp - Individual shrimp wrapped in a wonton wrapper and fried. Not particularly complex, the sauce is really doing the "heavy lifting" here. It was OK, very unlikely that I would order this again.

Steamed Dumplings - The steamed chicken and mushroom dumplings were tasty and reminiscent of dim sum. I would recommend these.

Crispy Orchid Spring Rolls - As with everything, these are smaller than your typical spring roll. They also incorporate chicken into the spring roll which is different. As far as flavor, it was good. Think, good typical spring roll and you know what it tastes like. They wrap the spring rolls very tightly which gives the roll a different mouth feel (eg vs a Chinese spring roll), but the flavor is nice. I would order this again.

Pad Thai with shrimp - 4 small to medium shrimp came with this dish. Literally 4. If you're charging $16 for Pad Thai, that's a bit skimpy. As far as flavor, it was OK. The balance between salty, sweet, tangy and spice was a bit off. It leaned more towards sweet than anything else (as many Thai restaurants are starting to do, unfortunately). I believe this phenomenon stems from what people consider to be the "American palate". I, personally, prefer a more balanced Pad Thai, but, it wasn't bad. My main complaint with this dish is one that I have had in many Thai restaurants which is that the noodles absorbed the flavor of the packaging. This is a common problem for rice noodles. I've had this happen myself purchasing certain brands of rice noodles and making Pad Thai at home and I've seen this in many restaurants. My suggestion would be to test out a different supplier for...

I love Thai food. I've eaten at numerous Thai restaurants across the US. This is not a good one. It should be noted that I placed a to-go order to eat at home, I was told it would take 30 minutes, I arrived at 25 minutes and my food was cold. I ordered the crispy Spring rolls - not traditional, but they were yummy and crispy which is all you can ask for. They are the reason the restaurant is getting 2 stars instead of 1. I ordered the chicken satay, one of my favorites. The chicken is covered in a gooey white gelatinous thing, has no seasoning and is under-cooked (pink in the middle!). The peanut sauce is very thin with very little flavor other than sugar. The cucumber relish was not good, the cucumbers were translucent (aka not fresh) and the sauce was just sugar water with a little bit of heat. I ordered a cucumber salad (another favorite) that was again not fresh and had very little seasoning with sugar being the main flavor once again. I also ordered and paid for Roti but did not receive it. The service was slow, one person took my order on the phone. The lady behind the bar ignored me for 3 minutes after I arrived before the person who took my order asked if I was there to pick up an order. It took another 5 minutes for them to figure out where my food was (it was right there, I could see it) and what I was supposed to pay. When I handed my money to the person who took my order, he was standing at the cash register. He walked away to find the lady who was tending the bar. She came back several minutes later, again completely ignoring me until she realized I was standing there still waiting for my food and change. My bill was finally cashed out, by the person who had taken my order, who I had handed money to and who walked away, disappearing for several minutes. In the least they were horribly disorganized, but it felt like they just didn't care and were doing the least they could get away with. Ultimately the meal was disappointing and I have no intentions of eating there again. Particularly when there is a decent Thai restaurant about 1 mile away and a really...