Esaan Thai McLean — Restaurant in McLean

WARNING: Be very careful about what you order here (Don't trust the waitress' recommendations, and I had a poor customer service experience). I wanted to try this restaurant and walked in at lunch to an empty restaurant. I asked the waitress for a recommendation and she strongly recommended the softshell crab dish and sausage appetizer, without telling me the prices. The crab wasn't on the paper menu but was on the chalkboard as a "special," with no price next to it. The food was okay, but too spicy for me (the salad includes too many chopped up hot peppers). The one softshell crab was small and in a small, simple salad, so it appeared to be an appetizer. The sausage was dry but filling. When I was ready to leave, the waitress dropped off the receipt and went to help a new customer. To my surprise, I was charged $40 for a small softshell crab salad and $12 for the sausage, so the total was more than what I was expecting to pay for a quick lunch. At the time, I didn't question it because I was in a hurry and admittedly didn't ask about the prices beforehand. Later on though, I checked the website and see that they have two softshell crab dishes. One for $20 and an entree dinner version with two softshell crabs for $40, which is one of the most expensive things on the menu. I went back the next week and talked to the waitress and owner to express my concern that they were creating confusion and potentially misleading unwary new customers by recommending the most expensive dishes and/or overcharging for smaller lunch portions with one softshell crab instead of two for the dinner. The owner dismissed my concerns. Seems like he thinks staying in business by overcharging is a better way to keep the lights on than good food and good...

After finishing my work, I quickly called my friend to invite them out for dinner. This marks our third visit to Esaan, a restaurant we both enjoy. The owner kindly offered us a special drink that is not yet on the menu: draft beer mixed with premium grade green tea from Japan.

I requested the owner to recommend a few intriguing dishes for us to try. We started with the crispy fried shrimp salad. If you’ve never tasted shrimp that can be eaten whole, you must try it at this restaurant. Paired with the draft beer, it elevates the flavors, creating a new dimension of taste.

Next, we enjoyed the grilled pork neck, which features tender pork collar with a smoky aroma. It is complemented by a unique dipping sauce made from tamarind and fresh lime, enhanced with the fragrant notes of crispy roasted rice powder.

Finally, we indulged in the New York strip steak served with Thai rice flour noodles. The flavor is reminiscent of dining at a five-star hotel in Bangkok, Thailand, bringing a touch of luxury...

Cozy Thai place amongst plenty of other Thai places Little BMW motorcycle inside the front door- we were the first people there on a Thursday just before noon

All 5 of us ordered different soup noodles, papaya salad, pork belly appetizer and another chicken dish as well as the sausage appetizer.

She didn’t write any of our order down and brought out the wrong papaya salad initially. Not sure why she doesn’t write anything down?!?…. Only person working there that we saw.

Everything was delicious & flavorful. The soup noodles were heavy on star anise & 5-spice but we’re good nonetheless.

The star of the day was the fried pork belly appetizer. We actually ordered another one because it was that good. Is there lemongrass in the batter?!?!

Plus the extra hot sauces they provided and the small dish of fish sauce were helpful to allow us to spice our own food.

We’d be regulars if we lived in the area!! By the time we were done- there were 3 other tables...