Bangkok Street Food — Restaurant in Spring Valley

I bet you wouldn't have much to do during the daytime in Las Vegas, just like me. There are several museums and entertainment places like Area 15, but you wouldn't go there every day. I was already feeling bored on the second day of my Las Vegas trip, looking at the map to find some POIs.

There is a Chinatown on the same street as my hotel, but I had to get my car back from valet even though I could see it from my 26th-floor room. No one wants to walk at noon in triple-digit temperatures. I drove there, and across from Chinatown is Shanghai Plaza. I am Shanghainese but still didn't want to step outside my car, it was too hot for sightseeing. I drove past Kura Revolving Sushi Bar, Sharetea, 85°C Bakery Cafe, and MINISO, all familiar restaurants and shops. Also, bb.q Chicken, the Korean fried chicken restaurant shown in Crash Landing on You.

I drove west and then back to the main boulevard, with Chinatown on my right side. Actually, it's not a real town; it's not a Chinese residential area, but more of a restaurant/shopping plaza. The founder of Chinatown Plaza, Las Vegas, James Chih-Cheng Chen, called it "America's first master-planned Chinatown." There aren't too many options, just about a dozen and a half restaurants, most of them bistros. I found a Shoo Loong Kan Hot Pot on the second floor of the main building, which only has two floors. The building seemed to be under renovation, with construction materials everywhere. I walked up the side stairs to the second floor, but the corridor was blocked. I could only reach Capital Seafood, not the hot pot next door. I walked back down to the first floor and then took a tiny elevator up again. It was too hot, I was already sweating. The hot pot was closed at noon; it only opens in the evening and all day on weekends. The bright sunshine was too strong, and I didn't want to take any more steps to look for a restaurant. I stepped into the next-door Bangkok Street Food.

Walking into the restaurant, it was dark, neat, clean, and most importantly--cool with strong air conditioning. The place was cool, but the waitress was warm, welcoming, and cheerful. I know a little Thai, so we greeted each other in Thai before being seated. I ordered a cold Singha beer before even looking at the menu. The waitress brought us two frozen beer mugs—cool! It really made me feel like I was back in Thailand.

The restaurant was well decorated with Thai elements like movie posters, flyers, and beer ads. The inner room had photos of the Thai King.

The menu was nicely designed and printed, with pictures for some dishes. The prices looked neither cheap nor expensive. It's Vegas—everything is pricier than in SoCal.

Let's talk about the food:

Crying Tiger $28 5/5 I ordered Crying Tiger just because the picture looked good. The menu didn't say what kind of meat it was, but I guessed beef from the photo. When it arrived, the portion was smaller than shown. It was grilled beef, high-quality cuts that looked like steak. The beef was tender and juicy with a hint of smokiness. It wasn't all lean meat; there was some fat on the side, which gave it great flavor. The dipping sauce was tamarind-sweet and sour, just the way I like it. Overall delicious, but too small.

Roasted Duck Curry $28 5/5 It seems Thai people really love roasted duck--not only in Jitlada Restaurant in Los Angeles, which makes a fantastic spicy stir-fried tofu with roasted duck. The curry I got here was authentic: roasted duck in red curry with pineapple, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil leaves. The coconut-milk-based red curry was spicy but not overly so. The duck was very tender and boneless. The portion was reasonable—we shared it with two bowls of white rice, but they only charged us for one. So kind.

Overall, the restaurant was great. Both the waitress and the chef were kind and warm-hearted....

Cute cozy resturant. Service was great and waiter was tentative as it was not busy when we were there.

My friends and I got a few different selections. Food was ok but had better flavors etc else where. It is not what I would say good thai food. I know because I am Laotian and we eat similar food fill with sweet, sour, spicy, etc. We grabbed 6 different plates and shared amongst us 4. This was our 1st time eating for the day as we just flew in.

I was disappointed at the seafood salad. I even asked to make it Laos style but it came out thai style with no flavor to it.

The basil pork had a funny taste to it but I can tell it was being covered up by the fish sauce/oyster sauce so it was hard to say (read review below).

The fish cake was ok but super hard/overly cooked but not bad.

The boat noodle was too sweet but I get it. Some people make it super sweet and some people do not. So boat noodles are always a hit/miss at Thai resturants.

The fried eggrolls was ok.

The chicken laap is def not Thai/Lao ways of doing it but it was ok. Not bad but does not give that full aroma of herbs, spices, etc for laap.

The pork belly was ok. I asked for super spicy as I love spicy food but it came out eh.

With the low rating... One of my friend and I shared the basil dish while everyone else did not eat that dish. Within an hour, my friend and I spent all day using the bathroom with bad tummy cramps (similar to labor). I had to use the bathroom 6 times vs my friend more. We both suffered for a few days feeling super sick. Not a pleasant feeling esp being in Vegas. I felt better after a few days vs. My friend who suffered all week in Vegas. Sad this was our experience and I hope others did not eat super sick like my...

We really want to like this place, but we regretted our experience here after tasting our food. I had the Bangkok Pad Thai and Pineapple Fried Rice. My Pad Thai had no flavor, lack balance of all of the usual Thai flavors - sweet, salty, spicy, bitter and sour, and the kick of an umami wok flavor. Mine only tasted sour from an overpowering lime juice, with wet and soggy noodles. The shrimp were nice but I personally would never pay $20 for a pad Thai that tasted like this. The pineapple fried rice tasted ok, also lacked flavor, and it’s the sort of fried rice you can find at any other Chinese take out places, but it costs a whopping $16. Service was fast, but we were the only diners during dinner time on a Sunday night. We did feedback to the wait staff, they apologized and also explained that’s how Bangkok pad Thai should taste, because they use lime juice instead of tamarind sauce. But I thought to myself, even if so, what happened to the other flavors? Anyway, we paid and left, will probably never come back. If the restaurant wants to continue charging prices like these, they have to step up their food or start charging accordingly. I personally am ok paying $20 for a Pad Thai, but it better be good, if not better than the Pad Thai we tasted on the strip. Else, there are plenty of other Thai places with really good Thai food with more...