Red Orchid — Restaurant in Ross Township

UPDATE JUNE 2024 more than 1 yr since original review

UPGRADING from 4 TO 5⭐️.

A FOODIE’S TRIED AND TESTED DELIGHTFUL THAI DINING🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩. I very rarely upgrade my rating, but this place has indeed improved significantly.

Despite the minute detail of a cheese wonton aka crab rangoon, a horrid American concoction/ contaminant, this place is very authentic Thai😎.

The chef/cook has become more consistent in the heat levels while packing in those wonderful aromatic Thai spices (ginger, galangal, kafir, garlic, lemongrass, basil)…🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩

Food presentation is outstanding 👏👏👏👏.

They are highlighting more their Chef Specials, a separate menu that is truly the one to explore and indulge one’s senses👏👏👏👏👏.

🤩🤩🤩 A new summer twist is the Summer Roll with Avocados. It’s scrumptious with their house dipping peanut sauce, the oils of the avocado balancing the slight sweetness of the sauce.

🤩🤩🤩 The Spicy Tofu Eggplant is marvelous. The crisp yet soft tofu married well with the eggplant (the long slender Asian/Japanese variety rather than the fat oblong Western aubergine).

🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩 The special Red Orchid Crispy Duck is fantastic. The duck surprisingly remain crispy yet it’s sautéed in mixed vegetables. The basil sauce married them all very splendidly.

Service is outstanding.

The whole ambience is delightful.

ORIGINAL REVIEW 4⭐️

This place has the makings to be an excellent Thai restaurant. It has a very pleasant ambience, the piped in modern Thai music gives a good vibe.

The menu is navigable. While it truly has the great Thai flavors👍👍👍, it’s claim for authenticity is weakened by listings that are not Thai🫤🫤🫤. Cheese (crab rangoon) does NOT exist in Thai cuisine. Tempura and teriyaki are most certainly NOT Thai.

Overall the flavor is good. BUT the heat level is very inconsistent👎👎👎, is that because their cook(s) could not taste? I absolutely like chilies, they’re what makes Thai food unique; I always like medium heat. BUT they have a hit-or-miss; medium, which is pleasant, becomes very intolerable a couple of times…. Oh BTW, spicy does not equate to heat….Thai cuisine (both home cooking and modern urban) is among the best cuisines that use a lot of spices, and judicious use of chilies.

The Thai dumplings and the vegetable stir fries are excellent; a carnivore has a choice of meat/shrimp for inclusion👍👍👍

There’s a selection of “specials”. Perhaps the most notable is Khao Soi (listed as Kay Soy), a gem of Thai cuisine. It has the flavors, BUT the sauce is very watery and rice vermicelli is used🫤🫤🫤. Traditional Khao Soi has a thick sauce and has the flat egg noodles that is used purposefully to soak up the sauce. Rice noodles are glassy with little or no absorption capacity. Also, it needs more fragrant spices (like galangal and lemongrass), I cannot detect even a slight aroma/flavor of kafir lime leaves!!!🫤🫤🫤 It could also use a little more crunchy toppings.

Service...

I went with a rather large group of people who all got several different things. The appetizers were delicious, and I loved the lights. When the entrees came out I was so excited. One of the people in my group ordered her food not spicy at all, but when she took a bite it upset her stomach. The same thing happened to me, except another person at our table ordered the same dish as me but at a heat of 9. I asked for 4. Not only could you barely tell the difference between the two, but I am fairly certain I ended up with the dish that was hotter.

If you go here, you may need to ask the waitstaff (who were not exactly that friendly) to send your food back because it is painfully hot for those who are sensitive to hot spice. I love flavorful food, but I don't appreciate that my order was so hot that I couldn't eat it without being in pain. :/ To me, it's disrespectful towards the customers who can not handle the heat to bring out something like that because it's practically the same as bringing the wrong order.

The one bright side is that /IF/ the food is right, it tastes rather good. But you shouldn't go anywhere wondering if you're going to get the right order. It's just poor business practice to be so inconsistent.

Maybe I just didn't receive good food because I was in a big group. Maybe it was overwhelming for the kitchen. I don't know. It's just not cool to leave a place wondering if your food was made in the same pan, using the same utensils, as somebody who wanted their food way hotter. It bothers me so much that I left thinking maybe they didn't properly clean/sterilize their cooking utensils between dishes. If you're making a lot of the same thing then maybe it works but if it's different heat then that's just horrible for the person who can't handle an intense mouth burn. I'm sorry this is so long I just had high hopes for this restaurant and I ended up leaving upset about the painful nature of the food.

Maybe it's just the way Thai food is, but to me, it's really not a place I want to go back to if they can't be consistent or considerate.

Also, if you're going to serve hot food, why would you not offer milk or sour cream???? That will...

Awful awful! I was so excited to try out this restaurant. I've seen good reviews so My husband and I thought we'd try. We were seated by the server and left there for a long time. She never came back to us to get our drink orders or anything. I finally got up and walked over to the register to the server after waiting for a long time. When I walked up to her, she just started to shake her head at me without saying anything and finally came over to the table. She never asked what we would like to drink. She just gave us water. We ordered an appetizer and when it came out, it was wrong. We waited for the server to come back so we can tell her that it's wrong but of course she was no where to be found. Once again we got up to look for her. We told her that it came out wrong and she looked at me and told me that I said I specifically wanted the wrong item and I've never said that. She was extremely rude and just walked away. The food was very mediocre. We love Thai food and have been to many Thai restaurants in Pittsburgh. I always get the same dish everywhere I go. This was the worst I've tried. My food came out so salty I couldn't believe it. My husband only ate half of his dish. Throughout our meal, the server never once checked on us. We sat around for a while and finally had to wave her down to get our check. She walked over to another table and started cleaning the dishes. We waited and waited.. We couldn't take it any longer so we just got up and walked towards the register by the door. And there was our server on the phone with her friend... She never apologized or said a word to us. She was not tipped. The server needs an attitude adjustment and learn how to serve people at a restaurant if she continues to work as a server. We will never go back. And I recommend other's to avoid this place and try out other Thai restaurants in Pittsburgh instead because there are plenty of amazing Thai...