Vong's Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Pittsfield

Regarding the "Thai food...."

The ingredients were fresh. The servings plentiful. The meats in the dishes were juicy and tender without having the rubbery consistency found in some restaurants where everything is prepared in advance. The kitchen is even accommodating of special requests. There is nothing terribly offensive about the food, other than a notable overuse of sugar in every dish. So...why the two stars?

Well, because this isn't really "Thai food" like any I've ever eaten. It's certainly missing most of the traditional Thai spices at any discernible levels: no coriander, ginger, garlic, or cumin. No basil. Not even any fish sauce, which was pretty surprising. We've tried the Pad Thai, some Thom Kha, and two of the curries. We've also had some appetizers. All of the food has been bland and uninteresting, with the only pronounced flavor being the sugar, and hardly any heat (if any). In fact, when we ordered, we were not asked what level of heat we wanted...which was a first for any Thai restaurant for us. I like 3-4 stars, and my wife likes things mild, but this food was a closer to a zero on the heat scale. And yes, although Thai food in the U.S. is often overly sweet...this was a level of sugar that was perhaps double anything I've ever experienced. Every meal was like a desert.

But really, it is the lack of other traditional spices that made this food so disappointing. In fact, I've experienced more authentic Thai flavors in places like Little Rock, Arkansas.

We might try this restaurant again, but next time we'll sample the...

So. Vong's.

When I had to grab a dinner with my son after being in Pittsfield late one afternoon, we were excited to see a highly rated Thai restaurant in town. It was fine when we went in, and they're getting a star for terrific service throughout.

Before I talk about the quality of the food, though, let's talk about the portion sizes. If that's your only criteria for a restaurant, Vong's it's the only restaurant you will ever go to again in your life. I weighed the leftovers from our two entrees when I got home, and I had three and a quarter pounds of food. Which by my estimation, makes each entree two pounds. Thirty-two ounces. About a kilogram. However you want to measure it, the one thing they don't do is short you on food.

Actually, there are two things they don't do, because they don't give you good food. While our dishes had different descriptions, what they both turned out to be was crummy, small town lo mein. It was edible, kind of, while it was warm, but as it congeled into a cold, greasy mess, we both rapidly lost our appetites. It was just bad. You could recreate the experience at any shopping mall food court, if there are still any of those open. I guess if there aren't, and you're feeling nostalgic for the 1980s, and want to feed four people on one entree, get yourself on...

Tonight I purchased an order of my favorite noodle dish, Pad See Ew. What I received contained all of the ingredients typical of pad see ew, but was not. It had a small amount of watery sauce that tasted nothing like the sauce for pad see ew. There were not enough noodles and the noodles were cut too small. The container contained a lot of empty space where noodles should have been. In addition to lacking flavor, it cost $16. No drinks, sides, or anything else. $16 after tax. Now I wouldn't be surprised by this price if I were in NYC, but not anywhere other than NYC/LA/San Francisco. It's actually cheaper in NYC, and much much better. Even with it lacking flavor, I wouldn't be writing this review if it cost $10-12 after tax, or I would be giving it 3 stars instead of 1. There was a good amount of chicken and veggies so that is what would bump it from 2 to 3 if the price was lower. I'd rather have less chicken and a better tasting sauce with more appropriately sized and textured noodles. It would have had the right amount of noodles if the empty space in the container was filled with noodles. Regardless of price, I was extremely disappointed with the...