Taste Asian Fusion Bistro — Restaurant in Meridian

Overland is an area i don't frequent very often but if I do, I'm going to make sure I hit all the necessary spots. One of those neccessary spots was Taste Asian Fusion. This joint has been on my to eat list for a hot minute and I finally get to check it out today.

I remember this joint being Pad Thai House a long time ago. They did a great job remodeling and decorating the place. It's very bright and colorful. I have always loved the big windows in this place. It gives such great lighting.

I came in a little after 12:30 for lunch. It was pretty empty so I was able to grab myself a booth. I was greeted with some silverware and a menu. As usual, I did check their menu online to see what they had. I did breeze over the physical menu one more time just in case they updated it. My drink got dropped off and I ordered the fried tofu with vegetables with brown rice for lunch.

I have heard mixed reviews about this joint. Reading them is one thing but being told in person is another. One consistent thing I'm told is their portions. "Eat dinner here cause the portions are bigger". "The lunch portions are really small". How bad can the lunch portions be?

My fried tofu and veggies came out plated in a beautiful white bowl. I got two cute scoops of rice. The rice ended up being white and not brown like I ordered. And the people who told me the portions were small was absolutely right. I can tell you what I exactly got in my bowl. 1 gai lan, 2 pieces of cauliflower, 3 broccoli, 3 mushrooms, 6 pieces of tofu and several pieces of carrots. Mind you, these veggies weren't cut that big. You can eat it in one bite and not be overwhelmed.

The tofu and veggies had great flavor to it. It came with a lot of sauce which I love eating with rice. The veggies were cooked perfectly and had a great bite to all of them. The tofu was fried nicely. Golden on the outside and soft in the middle. It was a lovely dish, I just wish there was more to it. I didn't want to fill up on rice, I wanted to fill up on the tofu and veggies.

It's not very often i can finish my whole lunch and not bring anything home with me. I literally ate all veggies and tofu. And unfortunately I'm still hungry. That's probably the worst, paying for food and still leaving hungry.

The service was fine. The restaurant is very bright and clean. But, 20 bucks for lunch with tip to leave hungry still is not it. I could have drove the same distance to Broadway at the local Vietnamese joint, ordered the same thing and had left overs. This place was decent but there's other local joints that serve the same food for better value. I'm glad I got to mark this joint off to do list but I don't see myself returning...

We went for dinner tonight, Sat night. This is the first restaurant I have been to in the Treasure Valley with Malaysian flavors. We chose to eat at the bar, which has a nice ambiance, though we suggested they add a TV for sports. We started with the Shu Mai appetizer and if you ever tried to have dim sum here, you know its frozen at other places. This is made from scratch. For dinner we shared their take on Mussaman Beef, which was a deconstructed version using a giant short rib over a bed of carrots, potato, onion and peanut curry sauce. We also had pork lovers dish and the pork belly was En Pointe, though i think next time I would get a dish that was only pork belly. The dessert was a warm butter cake with (mango ?) sauce ice cream. They do not have a liquor license (yet), but they make mixed drinks using Sake and they have beer and wine. The drink I chose had sake, berry syrup, seltzer and was garnished with berries and rosemary, recommended by the bartender. It was light, sweet and refreshing. This is a new restaurant and since they are still developing their menu it is not posted online. While we were there, a couple came in, looked at the menu and walked out. This saddens me but also I realize that these are dishes that people here are unfamiliar with. So, I guess this review is mostly for the people commenting on Facebook foodie pages about not having "real" Asian food in treasure valley (as compared to California, etc) but also for people who want to experience something new. These dishes will not continue to be offered if no market exists for them here. So I implore you foodies to try it out! Ensure that the market for food like this exists here! And who knows, someday we could have a Oaxacan restaurant or a Mexican restaurant that serves Enoconcado with slow cooked chicken and not chewy freezer burned disgustingness covered in sauce, but I digress....And, while I am at it, I would like to make some suggestions to the owner of Taste for some other dishes I have been missing. How about some Nasi Lemak with Sambal Prawns, Beef Rangoon or Roti Pratha with Curry sauce as an appetizer? I wish you the best of luck and I hope you will be able to continue to offer dishes unique to...

This was by far the worst experiences we have had at a restaurant. The seated us promptly but then forgot about us. About 20 minutes into it they brought us water. All the staff was rushed and in the end about 3 waitresses waited on us. This entire time we are thinking.. oh this is because they are a new restaurant we will give them some time. We had already paid for a movie we had to be at.. we had scheduled an hour and a half to eat and get to the movie. Normally this is plenty of time. We got to order thirty minutes after we were seated. We attempted to order wine but every selection we asked for was out. We finally settled for one the waitress recommended after trying to order three different selections. I ordered generals chicken and my date ordered the short rib Pho. Another 20 minutes passed when a waitress came to tell us they were out of generals chicken. Which had me wondering if they are making it fresh or just pre making everything. I don’t know. So I ordered the padThai. My date got the Pho right away and it was wonderful worth the 18 dollars for sure. I sat and watched for my food and canceled our tickets to the movie. I got my pad Thai and it was not good. It had a burnt aftertaste and was served without peanuts or lime. It took us another twenty minutes to get the check and pay.. this is not a place I...