SIMPLY THAI — Restaurant in Nashville-Davidson

(edited below after owner's reply.) This would probably be five stars to me if I hadn't tried it prior to the changes in menu and recipes. We used to get take out once a week, but now dont feel like going out of the way. Well, no, it wouldn't be 5 because the spice levels are no longer meaningful. I have a high tolerance for spicy, but was always pleased with level 2 (of 5) or 3 if i wanted to clear the sinuses. Now 3 is equal to 1 at best. I will try 4 or 5 I guess. I have never needed "Thai hot" even with my love of spicy food. Maybe this is more authentic, I don't know. Maybe other Thai restaurants have always overdone the spice, and the stereotype of "Thai hot" being extreme is wrong, and I should change my expectations. And my favorite dish, chicken panang, isn't good anymore. The thinner sauce is now bland, with at most half the spices, and they eliminated the drizzle of something (coconut cream?) that made it special. On take out, I had thought they were having a bad night. Or two. But after three consistent meals I gave up, and went to drunken noodle, which was different but still good. Dining in, we saw they have blacked out that drizzle ingredient in the description. :-( I will have to ask what it was so I can try to cook it at home and get my fix. So I will order other things now that I don't have expectations for. The coconut soup is very different also. It has green onions now instead of red, which is better for me because I am allergic to red and used to pick them out, and a generous amount of mushrooms. But my daughter and husband thought it was too salty and didn't eat it. I thought maybe it was lime rather than salt. And of course removing the tails from shrimp in hot soup is challenging, but that's nothing new. Dumplings are excellent, and good standard spring rolls. I want this to be successful because it is one of few restaurants in the area. It still seems popular and gets good reviews, so that's good. (Edit:) Thank you for your thorough response. I know it is a challenge to manage inconsistent ingredients such as peppers. Tasting the dishes and adjusting the recipe to account for the variations would be one solution, at least the first batch after new peppers. Consistency is key for restaurant food. Spice level is critical. I wasn't clear about the red onions in the soup. I did not like the previous use of red onions. I prefer your traditional recipe. However, 2 of 3 in my party didn't finish theirs because it was too salty. (Again, tasting each batch can help with consistency.) I hear you about the coconut cream on top of panang being unnecessary. However, it does change the flavor, experience, and presentation. That is like saying whipped cream is unnecessary on a sundae because cream is in the ice cream. It stood out with it. Without it, it is generic, which is a natural effect of authentic dishes, and I respect that choice. I really liked it, and will try adding it to our home cooked version. Thank you for not using MSG. However, I am surprised to hear you call the prior owner a liar, and frankly we don't believe that 99.99% of the dishes contained any significant amount. One of us would have felt it (and not in a good way). And as someone who has been eating and cooking food for decades, I know the difference in lack of artificial enhancement and a reduced amount of actual spices. Note, a larger menu is not always a good thing. I appreciate your suggestion for us to say something if we are unhappy, however no one checked on us after our food came, I fetched my own Sriracha from the nearby condiment shelf. We know to ask for special requests in ordering, but really there aren't many. I prefer to find things in menus that are ideal as the chef normally prepares it. (Shrimp tails is trivial (to me), I shouldn't have mentioned it. I would not ask for that to change. Just a note for others.) And one can't ask to change the thing that fundamentally matters. Which is the flavor of the food. Thanks, and we wish the best for...

This review is focusing on taste and authenticity.

The ambience and service were adequate, if not good.

So let me give you a quick background before I elaborate on the food at this restaurant.

I am from a southeast Asian family and lived in southeast Asia and have eaten Thai food for over 12 years in Thailand. I know what dishes should taste like.

So I came to Nashville to be part of a conference. During my travels, I like to visit restaurants that I did not have in my small rural town. Thus, I wanted to visit this restaurant that had a rating of 4.6. I mean, 4.6!, Has to be good. Well, overall it was OK.

The soup we ordered was supposed to be spicy and sour, but the overall taste was really more sweet and sour. And although I was with my friends who cannot handle spicy food very much, it had a hint of spice. However, I will say that the soup was enjoyed by all. And unfortunately, that was the highlight and the rest of it kind of slowly went downhill.

I ordered three other dishes for my party. And again, all of them did not have a rich, authentic taste. The prevailing taste was sweetness. The stir fry vegetables were cut very large, and so were not easy just to eat in one bite.

So if you see this restaurant rating of 4.6, don't be fooled. For those who do not have or had an authentic experience with Thai food, maybe it is a 4.6 of them. Our group drove out of our way to go to this restaurant, and we were pretty disappointed.

Would I personally go again, no. What I recommend to people who want to try Thai food, maybe. It is about as Thai food as the panda house is Chinese food.

In the end, we paid a lot of money for this. It simply wasn't worth it. Very nice people and a very nice attempt, but missed it completely.

Response to owner 8/30/17

Thank you for your response. MSG is not needed to make the food taste better. My wife cooks some Thai food without MSG and it tastes great - not the same as the dishes I've had in Thailand but better than what I tasted at your restaurant.

I don't expect it to be exactly the same but better than what I experienced. Yes, you have a Thai cook who is native and has been doing that for 30 years, still, it did not translate to anywhere close to the amazing Thai food I've had. Our taste buds can differ and that means every customer can decide for themselves.

I'm happy to see that you care about food quality. Best wishes for...

I was craving some rolls before I had to return to work and this place was 2 miles down the road from where I was so I decided to go here. I was shaded out as soon as I pulled up. Rocky run down parking lot. I walked in the building and I was hit with the most foul smell of I cant even describe what throughout the whole inside of the restaurant that I near dry-heaved while looking at the menu. I was looking at the menu when I asked the young man in the front if they had any rolls and he says “egg rolls?” …no sushi rolls… it was odd. I had to tell the cook/owner/not sure who that they had a customer that sat down and hasnt been waited on for even drinks for a solid 10-15 minutes I said im surprised they havent left. I felt bad. It took forever for 2 rolls to come out that I almost had to ask for my money back because I had to go. As i was eagerly waiting for my food i peaked thru the curtain into the kitchen and i could see the young man who was supposedly a waiter/front desk put the ice cubes into the guests glass with his bare hands. I was disgusted I almost told the people sitting down not to drink it. Not to mention the waiter was at the front desk talking foul language on the phone to what sounded like his friend and even appologized so he knew it was wrong. The food was good but after smelling the resturant and seeing that other people had roaches in their food I will never eat here again. Im now disgusted that I just ate that food. I should be reporting them to the health department. DO...