KIIN IMM THAI RESTAURANT - Rockville — Restaurant in Rockville

We have been going to this restaurant since it opened a couple of years ago(?). At the beginning, the "mom", cooked the food that we enjoyed and returned for; but over time, other 3 cooks (?) have taken over the cooking duties and the consistency in the taste has gone DOWN hill. Inconsistency in how food tastes is the DEATH of a restaurant and if they don't fix these issues; they will lose customers just like we will NO LONGER go there. Here is why - when we like certain dishes, we tend to order them again (everyone does this right?), but as our SAME dishes keep tasting differently with our visits, we would ask if "mom" can cook it, and if not then can the other cooks make the food correctly (like how "mom" taught them)? The food tends to be SALTY now, it used to be more complex with sweet and salt mixed in (etc.), now it is mainly salty; and the sauce (thick or too much liquid) makes a big difference if it is NOT consistent. The service is okay with the waitresses there; but the one BALD waiter there is abrupt, unfriendly and argumentative - the worst attitude to be the front interface for customer experience representing this restaurant, this is a huge SHAME and 1 bad apple can make the whole dining experience bitter for customers that may not come back based on dealing with him. We originally dealt with the son (Im) and his mom when they first opened (they are both nice people), so we overlooked this guy but the BALD waiter is the reason that we will NO LONGER support this restaurant along with the now inconsistent cuisine since our dishes don't taste good anymore (like how "mom" made them).

We haven't been back in months, then we tried them last week (1/21) and the food was decent, and we tried them again today, and today was our last visit there and here is why:

1. We once again was hosted by the BALD guy with the bad attitude; and he was abrupt as usual (bad start for us).
2. We ordered our typical 2 dishes that we ordered last week on 1/21 when we had a waitress (no issue with her). Since my "double garlic shrimp" dish tends to vary in how it is cooked, I asked to cook it "drier" just like I did with the waitress from last week and it came out fine; he argued that I want "less sauce" (less flavor?); I said that I like the sauce, just cook it without adding extra water (i.e., "drier"); instead of trying to understand what I want, he was argumentative again; I said I don't want you to add water to the pre-made sauce (to make it less salty?), I want the sauce cooked in with less liquid so that it is drier (hopefully the pre-made sauce is not too salty already for me to eat). Luckily my dish came out okay and not too salty.
3. My wife ordered the "catfish dish" that was perfect last week (1/21) and today it came out (according to her) 10 times saltier and inedible. They got mad at her for returning the dish and asking for it to be less salty. The bald waiter AND the sister(?) in the back rolled their eyes because my wife cannot eat their salty dish that was good last week? Is this how the customer should be treated (ridiculed by the staff) when THEIR cooking is INCONSISTENT, and we just want our food to taste the way we expected it to taste when we return to restaurants to order our FAVORITE dishes? The 2nd version of her dish was edible... so do we NEED to specify HOW a dish should be made to match "mom's" cooking EVERY time we order a dish since any cook in the back may mess up our dish when "mom" is not there? Please make consistent tasting dishes! Adding MORE salt or water is NOT the correct way to mask bad cooking; use the correct amount of ingredients the FIRST time so that you won't need to add extra salt and water and spice to make it taste correctly!

They insisted that we have NOT visited there recently (since we tend to return dishes that are not properly cooked?); see attached receipt as proof of last visit. We suggested to the bald waiter to fix his attitude or he will be written up on the Internet, and he said to go ahead - so here is the BAD review that you and your restaurant deserve, Mr...

Got takeout here once & dined in once.

5/5 stars for takeout experience, food was ready on time (within 20 min of ordering) and young man at the front desk was very kind in getting us some extra sauce that we asked for.

for both takeout & dine-in, food tasted great and had no issues. good quantity for the price, and very tasty. if you are coming just for the food, i would highly recommend.

for dine-in, the experience was a little disappointing. not exactly horrible, but not great either. our table was sticky as if it wasn't cleaned properly. my plate was cracked and chipped in multiple places. the atmosphere was nice, but it was very loud so we had to almost shout to talk to each other across the table. there were also a lot of loud noises coming from the kitchen. no knives were given, so it was hard to cut the large pieces of chicken. plates are also incredibly tiny, making it hard to serve myself and eat comfortably (this was probably my least favorite part). they served 2/3 of our entrees and forgot the 3rd one and we had to remind them. servers weren't outright rude, but weren't exactly polite either; kind of got the feeling like we were being a burden to them, like they were annoyed all the time, and we also felt very rushed by them. they didn't smile or try to be nice and didn't say you're welcome when we said thank you, etc. which isn't objectively wrong i guess, maybe just a cultural difference, but it was just off-putting and felt unwelcoming compared to regular service you would expect. (two or three of the female waitresses made us feel this way, but one older man who came by a few times was a little more friendly and funny.) aside from the few things i mentioned, service was otherwise great - quick and efficient.

despite the cons, i would come back, but probably only if they offered bigger plates. the snack-sized plates was a big negative for me. i like having a big plate so i can serve portions of multiple entrees at once. id rather get takeout from here and just eat it at home with normal...

This is a review for carryout only, although when you pick up the food I will say that the restaurant is as cramped and loud and close quarters as it can possibly be and in these days of resurgent Covid that is certainly not a comfortable environment to be in. We used to eat there a lot before covid and have gotten carry out a lot since then. Like everyone else, their portion sizes have gotten smaller and smaller on carryout, which although annoying, is sort of understandable because everyone is doing it. But the last two times we have ordered the portion sizes have been ridiculously small, and last night was just the topper which has made us declare that we will never go back again. We ordered the brussel sprouts salad which is around $7.95 and used to be a full plate at the restaurant and a relatively full salad bowl at the house. Last night it was basically a small bowl with a handful of lettuce and shredded carrot, three cashew nuts, and about four small chunks of steamed but not even sauteed brussel sprouts and a couple of leaves as well. So literally about 50 cents worth of vegetables and no cooking had gone into it. If they don't want to make it when they are busy they should take it off the menu. I called to let them know how upset I was about the portion size and the fact that even the small amount of Brussel sprouts that were in there weren't cooked fully much less pan-fried the way they were supposed to be and they could not have cared less. I've attached pictures showing how ridiculously small the portion size was and exactly how many pieces of Brussel sprouts we picked out of it before we actually poured it into the bowl. They were maybe another five individual leaves mixed in to the greens and that was it. Plus of course the three cashew nuts.

There is another Thai restaurant, highly rated, less than a mile down the road, so we will be taking our business there...