Thai E-San Restaurant — Restaurant in Myrtle Beach

Had lunch with a foodie friend here today - she's a native, a musician and she and her chef/ musician husband are right there in knowing where THE good food is. From NYC originally, I have been here at the beach long enough to know when to keep my mouth shut.

We were both taken with the decor/ambiance which is non existant. White walls, big heavy tables and chairs -the tables covered with brilliant yellow cloth. Substantial tableware and cloth napkins. ( the latter a biggie for me.)

The lunch menu is prix fixe, with add-ons. Pad thai, of course, and other familiar favorites. First, crispy Spring Rolls with a sweet/tart dipping sauce...and a marvelous clear soup with mini tofu cubes and jullienned veggies tangy with rice wine vinegar. I elected for eggplant and shrimp ( shrimp an extra two bucks - six of them marinated and grilled perfectly) in a puddle of savory sauce with a mound of perfectly steamed rice. We shared a little pot of zingy ginger tea...and a dessert called "roty" ( ackshully "roti" - I looked it up)

Brought the total per person to $11.50-ish. Worth ever penny. Will be...

Maybe I am spoiled from living in NJ, which has amazing thai restaurants, but I did not find this place worthwhile at all. We ordered duck choo chee curry, yellow curry, mango fried rice, and pad kee mao. Promotes itself as an authentic restaurant, but the flavors and preparation of their dishes are severely lacking. Pineapple fried rice came out flavorless, essentially payed full price for a plate of unseasoned white rice. Duck was very tough and overcooked unlike every other Thai place I’ve eaten at in the past. In addition, it wasn’t trimmed properly with large chunks of cartilage still left in the meat. The yellow curry’s flavor was not very pronounced and the pad kee mao was the worst I’ve ever had, with very little flavor at all.

A 20% gratuity was automatically included in our bill for a party of 4, which was not listed anywhere in the restaurant or on the menu. We would’ve tipped the same anyway, but not informing us before is just poor business practice.

Overall, would recommend...

I've never had a bad meal here. No matter what flavor you choose, which meat you pick, you will get delicious, fresh, well-prepared dishes. The beverages are just as good and the restaurant has a great coconut juice drink that they get shipped in from NY. The service is friendly and helpful. There are only 2 negatives and they both are about communication:

1. It's difficult to find a menu online. The restaurant doesn't have the greatest web presence and I suspect I'm missing daily specials. Also, whenever I recommend this place, I inevitably get asked where their menu can be found.
2. They keep the phone off the hook when things get busy and sometimes forget to hang it back up when things slow down. This means if you're like me and you're a half an hour away, you can't call ahead on say a Sunday at lunch time and pick it up when ready. You have to go there, order and wait for it. This means that I unfortunately don't get to order from here as much as I would like, but when I do, it's a...