King and I Thai — Restaurant in Mendota Heights

Ok food. Ok atmosphere. Ok service. They need a bar.

As a regular customer of the former King located in downtown Minneapolis I feel obligated to mention to those seeking the same experience...while it's menu is similar, it's logo the same, this is NOT the same King. The food, while still good, has been adapted for suburban pallettes. The menu has been pared down to only the basic Thai dishes, and isn't as flavorful, spicy, or wonderful as it used to be. There's nothing special or remarkable on this menu or in this restaurant. The ambiance is also distinctly suburban, dare I say geriatric? Painted with anemic colors, frosted glass, and way too bright lighting - they even have windows! It's just a little too quiet and it's got awkwardness to spare.

Gone are the dark corner tables lit by candle light, awesome music and live dj's, lanterns hanging from the ceiling, paper cocktail napkins with witty doodles. And none of those exotic elixirs and hipster beers waiting for order at a well worn bar staffed with experienced professional servers that can handle seven full tables and bartenders that know a great drink and will laugh you out of the bar got ordering a Cosmo. This King's got no romance no attitude. Sanitized of all the stuff that made it an ultra cool urban eatery, unfortunately this King is only a pale shadow of its former self and it just leaves me sad and missing another time and place.

I've waited to write this review for quite a while hoping that maybe they just needed time to get back on their feet. Unfortunately it seems like time has only brought this restaurant more in line with the mundane; offering even more typical food and flavor, a smaller menu and all delivered with even less...

My wife and I drove out to this restaurant from our home in Loring Park. It was mostly out of nostalgia for the original King and I on LaSalle. It’s just over a 20-minute drive to Mendota Heights. This restaurant IS good. Not as fun as the original and probably not good enough for a 20-minute drive. They just have beer and wine. No big bar area with generous cocktails like the original. I had Pad Thai and my wife had the Tom Kha Soup with shrimp. The Pad Thai was good. They use a 1-4 spiciness scale and I had it at 2. Still pretty spicy and I enjoyed it. My wife’s soup was also at a 2. The size and quality of shrimp was impressive. We split an order of egg rolls. The egg rolls were 4 rather small yet tasty pieces. The thing I noticed was how physically hot they were. Even when I got to my second piece. I don’t know the science of it, but I wonder if they maintained their heat so well because they were tightly wrapped. The workers were all very busy on the Saturday night we went in. There were a few people waiting for takeout orders but not all that many customers seated in the dining area. The workers were all very busy, but my guess is that it was driven by their takeout demand. It took 3-5 minutes for someone to acknowledge us when we came in waiting for a table. Once we were seated, the frequency of waiter visits was less than what I’d expect. As I said at the beginning of this review, I think the restaurant is good, but I don’t know that it’s a “destination” spot. Definitely better than most strip mall offerings and certainly worth it if you’re...

Don't come here if you actually know what thai food tastes like, and don't mind cheap overly sweetened food because they don't do edible food here. We barely touched 2 dishes (tons of sweetness) but only complained about how overly sugary one dish was. The "cook" or owner stated the dish tastes "the way it should taste and the way it always was". The waitress never refilled water until we asked. The waitress stated she had no idea how the dish should taste and couldn't tell us what Southeast asian food should taste like(even though she works in a thai restaurant). This place does not care about authentic taste or opinions, and you're made to feel that way clearly in our interaction today. Poor excuse of a place. We were the only ones eating in with 2 people who came through takeout ordering generic items like fried rice. This is a sign to stay away. No wonder they don't care to be accurate about thai food. Don't go if you actually know what authentic and edible thai food is. Save yourself some disappointment. They ruined my afternoon and didn't care,...