Thai Orchard — Restaurant in Port Orchard

I can only start by saing; WOW!

My mother and I went there yesterday for dinner for the first time. Regardless to say, we will DEFINITELY be patronizing them again in the future.

To start, we ordered the crab rangoon. I loved that the pastry (if that’s the right word) the rangoon came in was thin and fried from a darkish brown, getting progressively more golden brown up to the top. The thin pastry, not a thicker, more space and calorie high one like most restaurants use made them so much more enjoyable to eat and get a proper ratio of rangoon to pastry in the bites. The clear orange, spicy, sweet and sour sauce could be spooned into the center of the pastry making one large, but hot, bite! So GOOD!

My mother ordered the ginger duck, #3 on the spicy heat, entree. The meat had just the right mix of saltiness and ginger flavoring (I tried some). Paired with the crispyness of the outer skin/meat it was divine. Overall the portions of meat, noodles, and accompanying vegetables was more than enough for one meal. Took the rest of that goodness home, baby!

I ordered the duck in red curry #4 heat. I could not say I liked her meat/meal more than mine as they were both so delicious! The higher hear of the curry, along with the the overwell cooked outer skin/meat (which I love) was amazing. The curry, again, so good! Large pineapple chunks and the other sundry veggies were perfect for the curry. Portion wise, I ordered extra meat @ $10, but I also took home roughly half of the meal, and had enough duck/curry sauce to add to my own brown rice for 2 more full meals. $10 may sound pricey, however, the amount I received and how flavorful it was, and the whole entree in general…it was more than worth it to me.

Lastly we had the black sticky rice with small, cubed Taro. The flavor reminded me very much of classical “American” rice pudding desert, minus the raisins. If you are a fan of American rice pudding, I believe you will like this very much too.

In summation…so many rich and bold flavors, the overall preperation of the food, and the cost of our meal was definitely money well spent!

As a closing comment to the staff/owner of Thai Orchard; If you could possibly reach out to me on Facebook Messenger with the recipe for your curry, I promise to keep it to only my mother and I. We would also come to your restaurant at least once a month to enjoy your delicious food. I have liver failure and am trying to come up with a red curry, instead of buying a microwave chicken and rice in red curry sauce meal, so that I can add it to my own chicken and rice. Those meals are expensive, high in salt, and people like myself with liver failure have to eat a low salt diet every day (yesterday was a “cheat day for me and my diet). I would eternally be greatful to you, and can prove my liver failure the next time we come to eat there.

My blessings to all of you at...

This seems to be a family run restaurant. The kind where the small children of the family run around or sit and cry while you try to have a nice quiet meal. The kind of place you feel bad you won't be back, because the wait staff was so nice. I waited long enough to be seated though that I could have decided not to try it, due to the whole place smelling like the bathroom. It's not a large place and the door is open and the smell of public restroom cleaner and freshener wafts around the whole place, mingling with the smell of fish sauce. Not pleasant. But, I wanted to get it out of my mind for a place to try. The food is not the best, but not the worst I've had. I got sweet and sour chicken, a few appetizers and Thai iced tea. The entree had almost no sauce or flavor, though the ingredients seemed fresh and it had the spice I wanted, just no other flavor. The appetizers were ok. Didn't care for the curry puff. Couldn't bite into it and had to cut it open. The crab rangoon had far too much cream cheese and little else and was like a blob of hot, bleh. The spring roll filling was mushy and also no flavor, almost like steamed squash. I didn't like the bacon fried shrimp either. Bacon overpowers shellfish, except scallops. I kind of liked the gyoza/dumplings, but still something not pleasant about the filling and it was all a bit too greasy. The tea, omg, was soooo sweet. It's like no tea, but straight palm sugar syrup with coconut milk and half and half. Had to mix water in to be able to taste it even. I wanted to try it because there aren't many choices in Port Orchard and some reviews were very good. I prefer Thai Charlie for my asian fix, as non of the Pho places look worth even trying. Thai Charlie is as close to homemade with still having the flavors you want from eating out. YES, it is a bit strong on the oyster/fish sauces, but only because it's real sauces that taste as they should. I like that they don't over thicken one type of "gravy" that goes in every dish. I felt good and clean inside after and it does not smell bad inside. I think they use better quality fry oil too. Their crab rangoons have half the cream cheese and there's crab you can see and a wonderful garlic flavor...little pockets of joy. Actually the first time I've had them and liked them in my life. It's funny, their menus are almost identical in dishes. Like most other places and reviews, Port Orchard doesn't know what great food is. I've lived all over the US, even Atlanta and Denver, and this is the kind of food you find in more rural, simpler minded areas. The dish of the area seems to be biscuits and gravy or pancakes, neither of which I've had great of. No one here seems to be into eating real food. At least the groceries have nice...

Service is terrible. I waited inside the restraunt for over an hour for a take out order that was called ahead an hour prior to even leaving my house to pick it up.

About 20 mins waiting I was able to grab an a workers attention and they were so rude and said I'll help you in a minute, I was very polite the entire time and waited patiently. I responded with " okay thank you" . 35 minutes later, she came out with a take out order, but it went to the customer that called in an order when I first arrived and I heard the phone call and the name on the order & she came in 35 minutes after me to pick it up and left within 10 minutes of waiting and after she gave that customer her order, The worker asked me " oh what's the name on the order again?" I told them and they walked away and finally 10 minutes go by they came out to tell me it's gonna be about 5 mins. Nope I waited another 20 mins finally got my order.

They obviously forgot about my order. They had like 3 customers inside eating so it wasn't busy. I think it's owner ran so they obviously don't have employees to help but that's ridiculous amount of time waiting. Especially cuz I spent money to buy there food.

What really bothered me was the complete lack of concern that they had known I had been waiting a very long time & nobody cared to come help me & how rude they were was surprising! I was very nice the entire time. Finally when she handed me the order, I said thank you very much & she says yupp here you go. Really rude especially for a customer that was so nice and understanding the entire time! My order was hot BUT was thrown together poorly. There was a very strong gross stench of smell when I entered the restaurant, I'm not sure why but that really is not a good thing when your getting...