Thai '99 II Restaurant & Bar — Restaurant in Virginia

Thai 99 II is tucked away in a small strip mall off 29. There was only one other table taken at 5:30 on a Thursday evening in March. They did appear to have quite a few takeout orders. The interior is no frills with plain tables and chairs and a few wall decorations. Service was perfunctory. There was one guy seating, taking orders, delivering food and clearing tables. As we were leaving, another lady came out and started helping with checks and dirty dishes. At this point, it was 6:30 and four tables were taken. We ordered drinks first. The glass of Frei Brothers merlot was a decent size and tasted fine. The Tanqueray and tonic consisted mostly of tonic so I can’t recommend this. When the Jasmine rice is the highlight of the meal, something is amiss. The panang curry pork sauce had an overly peanut butter-y taste. I typically order panang curry and have never had the nut be so prominent. The fairly tough pork came with zucchini and peppers. While the shrimp mango had a nice presentation, it was disappointing. The plate came with sliced tomatoes, cucumbers and broccoli that had a bit of a crunch. The sauce was more on the side or underneath, not on top. The shrimp were awful. They either had a very fishy taste or a distinct watery, flavorless taste, and we could not finish them. All in all, not a good experience for us. We will have to give this...

The restaurant is pretty inside and has a very nice atmosphere. Although I was getting carryout, the service was absolutely absolutely excellent. They have an entire area dedicated to carryout which has utensils, sauces, and almost anything you can think of for that carryout, lol. The person who handles carryout greets you and asks you what sauces and utensils you need.

As for the food, the taste was average and a bit bland - standard stuff. Not really the flavourful tastes that we're used to from other Thai restaurants. Also, the standard round containers that our food was in were not completely full like we are used to from other Thai restaurants. I tried to show that in the pictures; we hadn't eaten any of the food yet; bowls were on filled to what you see in the pictures. The fresh spring rolls were definitely fresh but you must rely on sauce for flavor because there's no seasoning in any of the ingredients, not even tge chicken that's used (would be great if they could marinate the meat in something first).

There's a 50/50 chance as to whether we'll go back because: a) there are other options for Thai that we haven't tried yet; b) we know of other Thai restaurants that we do like better than this one; and c) when convenience is key and we don't want to drive further for Thai from somewhere else, we'd probably get food...

I need to preface this review that this restaurant used to be 5 stars for me and my favorite Thai restaurant in Virginia. However tonight's service was the worst I've experienced in years going there. I don't know if this is temporary staff over the holidays or if there is new management there but the experience fell short in just about every way possible compared to previous visits. I was sat down and had my drink and food order taken. I watched other tables receive their drinks and food until mine finally was brought out. The calamari was cold and hard and the crispy duck was mild when I ordered spicy and most of it just stuck together in fried clumps instead of individual fried pieces of duck like in the past. I had to be asked again for my drink and finally got it after my meal came out. Then when I asked for a refill, what I assume was my first drink came out and it was flat as if it had been sitting out since I first came in and ordered. I hope that this is not a permanent change to this location, but wanted to express how much worse this was compared to previous visits and I would not return again unless I knew the previous wait staff and cooks would be...