Sense of Thai, South Riding — Restaurant in South Riding

Atmosphere: love the decor, atmosphere, and the ambience. the dining room is bright thanks to the lights and the windows white and gold color scheme with mirror accents room lighting has a warm tone apart from the center atom-like chandelier. they dim the lights as daylight falls, which highlights the ambient lighting they have. it makes for a great date spot.

Thai iced tea has the signature thai tea taste a bit sugary has finely crushed ice on top the ice melts faster because of how thin they are, and because of that it dilutes the drink over the course of your meal. i actually prefer it this way since i like my drinks a bit on the less sugary side.

Bangkok wings the meat was too dry, unless it's suppose to be this way. no bueno. the batter is thick and is similar to the potato starch batter used in Korean Fried Chicken. its inconsistent, so there were some areas that had a clumps of batter. a bit too salty and tangy for my taste

Cry baby noodles the noodles were cooked very well. very soft, not overcooked/mushy, and has a chewy texture to it flavor is spot on. i would say the flavor is a bit on the milder side, but when combined together you get this subtle umami taste that is just perfect. its a little sweet, a little savory, and a little tangy. the chinese sausage is very juicy and tender. does not taste store bought, which is great. shrimp is cooked very well. not overcooked/mushy loved how hot (temperature wise) the dish came out. i've never wanted to take another bite of my dish whilst not even having finished the food in my mouth yet. it may sound over-exaggerated, but it was honestly that addicting. watch out, or you'll get burned from how hot and steamy the noodles are. just remember to take it easy and slow down. food ain't going anywhere and if you happen to live nearby, well then they are just down the street :)

Yellow chicken curry it tasted great in the beginning, but as the dish cools down it started to taste very salty the chicken thigh was very tender. you could effortlessly tear a piece off with your fork from a gentle pick the roti is different from what i'm used to, but it's still good. it comes out as these triangle-shaped pieces that are crispy on the outside and flaky on the inside. each roti has a hallow center which is able to capture some of that yellow curry as you dip, and just like the tender chicken thigh, the roti breaks and melts in your mouth easily.

Chili-garlic pig with spice level adjusted to just a little under thai spicy it has a strong lingering kick. adjust spice at your own discretion. the meaty part of the pork belly was a bit dry overall dish was a bit too salty the rice pairs well with the dish. it's not very flavorful which is great because it helps blunt some of that saltiness

Stir fried bok choy a pretty simple dish. it contains diced garlic and is a bit savory. bok choy was not overcooked garlic was not burnt no complaints. order this side dish to balance out the carb heavy entres on the menu.

Coconut ice cream & black sticky rice the icecream is decent. the coconut taste is pretty apparent, but it's not a very "creamy" icecream. there's a layer of rice on the bottom of the dessert. i'm not sure if its because there's cold icecream sitting on top or the rice was refrigerated beforehand, but it was very hard. i think i prefer rice that's been warmed up because it makes each grain softer and easier to chew.

Service: excellent service given how crowded it was they forgot to include the roti with the yellow chicken curry, but it was quickly brought out when it was addressed. empty plates were taken from the table pretty frequently server was not that attentive in the beginning, but that's perfectly fine given how crowded and busy it was. attentiveness level gradually increased as the crowd died down. its just an observation, no complaints here.

Parking: no issues finding parking in the back parking lot behind fosters grill. if you're lucky, you may find a spot in the...

It really is unfortunate to give this review considering I’ve been a long time patron of their One Loudoun location. I’ve been to the South Riding one 3 times now and can say my 2 star rating will be upheld.

Atmosphere: The interior is very well done and clean. A slightly different ambiance than One Loudoun but beautiful nonetheless and clean.

Food: Drunken noodles here are wonderful and very flavorful, but that is all the high marks I can give. The Chumphon pad thai is overwhelmingly earthy with its high volume of chives and bean sprouts- tasted like 10% pad thai, 90% grass and for $30 I would expect actual whole pieces of shrimp and more flavor. The pork in the PAT pad thai (owner’s recipe) had an extremely unpleasant smell of old and spoiled meat with a sour aftertaste. Their spice levels are all very inconsistent as well- when ordering the pad thai gai and drunken noodles at spice level 5 for both, drunken noodles were disproportionately more spicy. Granted it could have been because drunken noodles already come spicy, it should have been up to the server to mention the variances of the spice scale between both.

Service: I believe the service here is very misleading. Who seemed to be the manager greeted us very warmly and sat us quickly with small talk, along with our server as well. We ordered the coconut shrimp appetizer which came out after 20 minutes and crispy on the outside, but was completely gray, translucent and raw on the inside. I brought this up to my server and all she said was “well do you want something else or what?” To say I was taken aback would be an understatement. I wasn’t expecting for our whole meal to be comped or even just the appetizer because I just wanted my food made properly and at the very least a word from the manager. I asked if I could just get it remade and there was no one that tried to rectify the issue with us in mind. We waited another 10 minutes for our appetizer which came out dripping in oil, not crispy but thankfully fully cooked the second time around. After dropping our remade food off our server said “things like this happen, you understand” with a big smile. Yes, I understand that things like this DO happen but the way she handled everything left an awful taste in my mouth both figuratively and literally. That was the nail in the coffin and last time I will go there or recommend this sense of...

The food here was very good. We didn’t have to wait long for our appetizers or entrees to come out (10-15 mins at most) and once we got our food we were satisfied. The ginger chicken ($17) was tender and fresh but lacked a little flavor, and the Pad See Ew ($18) was comforting. Noodles cooked perfectly, sauce was just the right amount of sweetness. However, I’ve had the same exact taste at different Thai restaurants for much cheaper (around $13).

The Thai tea was one of the best I’ve had ($6.50), on par with Ocha Thai Kitchen. Additionally the chicken satay ($13) was tender and excellent. The cucumber sauce along with the peanut sauce was wonderful.

The restaurant itself was elegant and felt high end. Service was good and friendly (initially).

We went on a Saturday August 31st around 2 PM, and it was lively but not busy. We were seated right away, and our orders were taken promptly. But for the rest of our time there we were practically ignored. No water refills, no check-ins, and it felt like the wait staff were intentionally trying not to make eye contact. It was a pain to try and get the check at the end too, even when we made eye contact they would ignore us. You really have to vocalize what you want there.

For dessert we got the Coconut Banana ($11). It was an excellent concept and tasted nice, but it left more to be desired. It was really heavy, and was lacking salt. For those of you interested in the Thai tea cocktail (a whopping $15), my friend got it and she had to send it back. No flavor, no Thai tea notes, just straight alcohol. It wasn’t for us, especially for that price point.

Sense of Thai is a good place for a date night, but with so many other excellent Thai places around, you might not be coming...