Rocharin Thai Bistro — Restaurant in Seal Beach

I never thought I could say this, but I am really beginning to like Los Angeles. Los Angeles, after all, has a dynamic food scene that rivals some of the best cities in the world. Of course you might argue that Los Angeles "is" one of the best cities in the world and I am certain you could make a good case for it.

Most of the marvelous discoveries I have made in the LA food scene have come via recommendations from my friends in the area. But when I am left to fend for myself, I have consistently turned to Yelp for help discovering some of these amazing food experiences.

There's just one problem - I am finding myself disappointing time and again while relying on Yelp's rating system to steer me in the right direction.

After searching Yelp for the highest ranked Thai restaurants in the LA area, I came across Rocharin. Other than a Vegan Thai place and Thai coffee house, this place ranked highest on Yelp's list.

Just so it's clear, in Vegas the Yelp rankings are so amazingly accurate, you could impress Anthony Bourdain with your restaurant picking skills.

I am finding that is not the case in LA.

Perhaps that is harsh to my brothers and sisters in the LA Yelp community, but I have been burned so many times i am starting to have doubts.

(Please forgive me, oh mighty Yelp, but I have serious doubts.)

I have sat down to write several reviews of my LA food adventures, though almost all of them have been left on the cutting room floor. I simply cannot find it in my heart to tear apart some place I have only been to once and quite honestly may never visit again. Even if that place came highly recommended by Yelpers in the LA community (or perhaps they ended up getting thrown out "because" of the them). :-)

Rocharin was just one example of disappointment, but I am only slightly disappointed , so I will continue.

We ordered the Crispy Spring Rolls as an appetizer and I had the Tom Yum, which is my favorite Thai dish and one of the basis (besides Pad Thai) for judging good Thai food.

The spring rolls were okay but very sweet, even without the sauce. The Tom Yum was sweet as well, way too sweet in fact. I ordered a 5 in the spice level, but it was barely spicy at all. Their version of the Tom Yum has noodles, which i have seen before. I guess I could take it either way, but the broth was just too sweet.

My girl ordered the drunken noodles, her favorite, and guess what? You got it - too damn sweet.

Maybe I am being a little too harsh, after all, I do have the privilege of living in a city that is home to one of this country's best Thai restaurants, and maybe, just perhaps, I have become spoiled by that fact.

Honestly, the food was so close to being pretty good, it almost gets 3 stars.

IT WAS JUST...

We had an eventful day in Seal Beach and decided to stop by here for lunch.

Parking: Free parking lot. They’re located in a small plaza, so parking can be a bit tricky. We got lucky with parking in front of the restaurant.

Ambiance/Environment: Really nice and clean inside! Great for large groups. They have a small bar in the back left corner. We came in around @12:30, and noticed it started getting busy in the late afternoon. You can do a walk up or make reservations online.

Service: Shout out to our server Jeremy! Not only was he waiting tables by himself, but he also took great care of us! Very courteous and efficient. Throughput was approximately 15 min for our orders.

What we ordered:

1. Royal Thai Appetizer (lunch special), Sake Paloma, Sake Moscow Mule - This royal appetizer came in a 3 tier stand filled with all Thai classics such as egg rolls, chicken skewers, cheese puffs, coconut shrimps, fried dumplings, Thai money bags, and shrimp wrappers. All the sauces came on top. My favorite was the peanut sauce. Everything was cooked well and absolutely delicious! We decided to go with the 2 cocktails. The Moscow mule was strong, and the Paloma was sweet & fruity.

2. Seal Beach Noodles - stir fry yakisoba noodles with shrimp, chicken, onions, dry chili, cashew nuts, & water chestnuts in their special house sauce. The noodles had a lot of flavor and wasn’t too salty. The chicken and shrimp were also cooked well, though I wish it had more of it.

3. Mongolian Beef with Jasmine brown rice (lunch special) - Mongolian beef was mouth watering! The jasmine brown rice wasn’t too sticky. The dressing on the salad really pulled the flavors together. This also came with a small soup and crispy wonton; both had a plain taste but made the entire dish fulfilling.

4. Mango Lemonade & Thai Tea Lemonade - These were so refreshing! We loved both our drinks!

Pricing: It is a bit on the pricier end. Can’t blame them for operating in this inflation. I’d say it’s worth it because their food tastes authentic, great service, and...

The food here is top notch. No issues with the food. 4/5

The service however is absolutely horrible.

This restaurant closes at 10 pm. We called in at 9.15 pm informing them that we are on our way there and asked if we could dine in.

The person who answered the call told us that we could come in as long as we place our order before 9.30 as the kitchen would close. He was courteous and we obliged. We informed him what we would like.

We reached the restaurant at 9.31 pm. We were rudely seated by waitress who totally lost her mind when we merely walked past the table she was pointing at.

While I was away at the restroom, she had the audacity to inform my wife "This time I am giving you the food. Next time come in before 9.30 if you want to dine in" despite us having called in.

My wife who was shocked walked to the other waitress and informed her to pack our dinner to go. I think that's when the first waitress realized she screwed up and asked the others working there to do damage control. But it was too late.

The other patrons who were seated next to us was applauded by the treatment and started munching down their food faster.

If the owner of this establishment is reading this- how on earth can you employ such an obnoxious person ? This is just such a poor experience that it offsets the wonderful food you serve. Please fix this attitude. If she did not want us to dine in she could've politely informed us to take out or dinner. There was no need to speak to us the way she did.

I'm utterly disappointed by the service. It's a real pity considering how good...