Bangkok Street Foods — Restaurant in Vestavia Hills

Not every restaurant knows how to restaurant.

While driving across country, my husband and I stopped into Birmingham to stay overnight. For dinner, we wanted something Asian. After reading multiple of Birmingham’s Asian restaurants’ menus and reviews, we decided to give Bangkok Street Foods a try. We came in at peek dinner time (7 pm) to an almost deserted restaurant. That should have been a good indicator of the experience to come. One table of 2 was already eating their entrees. That was the ONLY OTHER TABLE in the establishment. We waited by the front doors to be greeted and sat. It was unclear exactly what to expect for seating since you enter and to the right looks like an area where one would wait in line to order cafeteria style… and to the left there’s a long bar that looks like it is set up in size (length) and layout for evening alcohol bar service but is only stocked with meager boba tea and smoothie accoutrement. We were seated directly next to the only other table in the restaurant. How odd to sit a table next to an existing table in a restaurant where noise carries easily. It makes talking/listening more difficult. The person that came to our table eventually was probably the owner. It was clear that English was not the first language but that didn’t bother me, as my mother is from Taiwan and only came to the United States as an adult.

Our order: chicken wing app, red curry soup entree, and khao soi soup entree. What came: chicken satay skewers. I immediately noticed it wasn’t wings and she had some difficulty understanding that we had ordered chicken WINGS not chicken SATAY. So she took the app off the table and returned to the kitchen. About five minutes later, she returned with my husband’s red curry soup entree and side of rice. About 8-9 minutes later, she came back with my khao soi soup entree. And about 10 minutes after that, she returned with the wings. Each item she would put on the table and immediately turn and start walking away without asking if we needed anything. At that point, just cancel the app. I mean, if you can’t bring everything out in the right order and/or together at the same time for the entrees when there’s only two tables in the place, you need to reconsider your order of kitchen operations.

The food: the flavors were nice… just not what one traditionally expects when ordering those things. The wings had about 2/3 of a Korean fried chicken crunch to them but no seasoning. Just a dip of standard thai sweet chili sauce. The curry soup had a lot of coconut milk and broth but not so much curry flavoring- which made sense because of the very light color of the red curry. And the khao soi tasted good but not how it should have tasted. It had the flavor of yellow curry soup mixed with massaman … and chicken stock to thin it out. Traditionally it comes with a chicken leg & thigh on top. She recommended the beef (unheard of for khao soi - but decided to try it). What came was a LOT of chunks of beef. It wasn’t tender. And it wasn’t tough. Just LARGE CHUNKS that should have been about 1/2 or 1/3 of the size that they were. They tasted boiled, too… which is not great. As is traditional, on the side there came the 3 accompaniments: pickled mustard greens, onions and fried wontons (normally some crunch element, many times is fried rice noodles) but the pickled mustard greens were more like candied mustard greens. They were diabeetus sweet and a rather small portion. Again, not bad… but not right either. Overall, it was a miss.

Only after almost all the entrees and the appetizer were finished did she return and ask if everything was okay. I’m not sure why she didn’t let the young lady (who was working the front) take care of us as she was fluent in English and generally could be found/seen in the dining room at all… but okay. Overall, I would NOT return. Too many oddities for a dining experience that should have been much better considering we were one of only two tables in the place .. the other one having already almost finished their dining when we our...

Last night, during discussion if this place was open, there was no web presence, so could not confirm availability, order, or even look at menu. A trip to establishment found no take out menus available, so photos of menu in store required sharing via text for all interested parties. long wait (just under 1 hour) for to go order (4 entrees and 4 appetizers). interior looks like former pizza place. Not sure if they plan to offer beer/wine or cocktails, but would likely help in this area, especially if wait time doesn't improve food (chicken with red curry, vegetable rolls) was very good. I'll likely try it again based on food, with hopes that service has improved (chalk it up to new business, but carryout menus and a more robust web platform are needed at onset IMO). Obviously have improved over past12 hours... at least Google maps verifies the existence and offers photos of menu. Perhaps an under the radar soft opening was the plan, but with current trends favoring to go/delivery over dine in, appears the gun may have been jumped... opening before being fully prepared has doomed many restaurants unable to recover from a shaky opening. 4* at least for food, a generous 2* on service (speed, extended promised times, and at least 1 error on appetizer) based on newness (all encountered were polite and apologetic); as very little time was spent in dining room, no assessment of atmosphere or ambience. it is good to have another option...

Was hoping for something more. Thai is a very competitive cuisine in the area, and I say this only because anyone who has been to the other outstanding Thai places in town will have similar expectations. Our sushi was very basic- nothing new or exciting going on there. Dumplings were quite good/more of a shumai style. Thom Kha Gai (chicken coconut soup) was flavorful and on the sweeter side. My husband had Chicken LoMein which was ok- however it came out so fast the vegetables were not fully cooked. Feels more like a lunch or take out spot in terms of ambiance & taste. I love to try a new place so giving it three stars for new restaurant effort, but as an earlier review mentioned- no liquor license yet, which a glass of wine would have helped make it feel more elevated. Discerning palates of Liberty Park, I look forward to seeing how your...