Thai Origin Halal — Restaurant in South Whitehall Township

I’m heartbroken. Thai Origin used to be my favorite Thai food in my area. We ate there many times over the years and never had a bad experience. Tonight, however was a totally different story.

We arrived at 4:30 just as they opened for dinner. I joked about the sign on the door that said “under new management”. It is, and it’s not good. The restaurant was FREEZING. Not just a little chilly, but cold enough we couldn’t take off our coats. Then I watched as they left the back door wide open for a couple minutes bringing stuff in. Seriously? Close the door between trips when your place is 55 degrees inside.

It was overall unsettling and weird. We were the only people there for the 35 minutes we stayed. 15 of which were spent with menus, no offer of drinks until we eventually ordered, while the waiter putzed around with his shirt, tables, stuff in the back, and whatever was behind the desk. Like we, who had come to pay were an afterthought. They didn’t even bother to put on music so it was awkwardly quiet.

It was so miserable and cold we got our food to go and left, hoping the food at least was like the old Thai Origin.

No such luck. The dipping sauce for the appetizer was like water. So diluted it just ran off. Same for the sauce in my cashew stir fry, which had exactly 6 cashews in. The flavor of the sauce water was decent, but I had to eat it like a soup. It was never like that before. A little cornstarch could have thickened that to a proper sauce.

Unfortunately we...

Buyer Beware! I feel it is important to write a review for this restaurant. I called in an order to go and requested mild spice Chu Chi salmon and received the worst spicy over cooked salmon. Upon arrival for pickup I reminded mild spice however employee said "they already prepared the dish" and said "she will add coconut to make it not spicy" Right then I should have refused. Clearly they forgot to tell the cook! Not one customer in the restaurant not sure how they messed up the order. My staff purchased $100 gift card for which I used $26 and had a $77 balance left. I checked out now have $44 balance left. The cashier politely asked if I could use the rest of the balance before the end of the year. Not sure why but I said I'll try. While driving home I received a phone call from the restaurant saying we can not redeem the rest of the balance since there is a new owner. NOT A SMART BUSINESS DECISION. If you buy the business, keep the same name and menu WHY don't you honor the gift certificates? I'm sorry but l will go across the street to Thai Avenue...

Best value Thai food around: Out of the handful of Thai options in the Lehigh/Saucon Valley area, this ranks as one of my favorites. Food quality rivals the high-end places without the high prices. And the quantity is generous for the price. This place is my new go-to for Thai.

Vegan-friendly: While I haven't tried everything yet, so far they've had no problem making the rice and noodle entrees vegan.

Entrees: I’ve tried 7 entrees so far and haven’t been disappointed yet. Some highlights: Sweet & Sour - had bold flavor which was exciting Pineapple fried rice - probably earns 2nd or maybe 3rd place on my best pineapple fried rice list which is high marks. Drunken noodle - delivered the heat I hoped it would. Very tasty and will be getting again. Pad Thai - this was good... I've had so many dry Pad Thais so it was nice this one was moist but some interesting flavors here that might be a bit divisive. Eggplant - wow this was hot and yet so...