I feel sorry for these people. Then again, they had to have some clue of what they were getting into. If nothing else, just a look at the area around them should have warned them "Bad place for a restaurant". Never mind the history of Mr. India Palace, or the large number of Thai places already in Austin.
With the count two strikes and a ball already, you had better be serving up ambrosial food. Sadly, with the exception of the quail eggs and the soup, nothing was really remarkable. The phat thai was decent, but not outstanding, while the panang suffered from too much green pepper. Lawrence's larb also failed to impress.
Thai Thai doesn't even rate "pretender" status. Some people shouldn't open restaurants.
(Update: October 2nd, 1999. Thai Thai is now gone.)
There's bad news, good news, and bad news. The bad news is that Mr. India Palace, once one of our favorite Indian places, closed some time ago. The good news is that a new Thai restaurant, Thai Thai, opened up in the same location (and we're always willing to try a new Thai place). The bad news is that, having tried Thai Thai, we must report that it's a pretty mediocre Thai place.
We started with a very flavorful Tom Khai (chicken in coconut milk) soup, which, while not up to Thai Kitchen's standards, was still very good indeed (and I like the cool black tureen). However, things started slipping with the appetizers, which were a very mixed bag. The quail eggs (boiled, then breaded and fried) were quite good, and I'd like to see this dish at other Thai restaurants. However, the Todd Muhn (tiny fried fish fritters) was too dry, and the Thai wings very bland.
But my entree was the biggest disappointment. Despite being marked as the hottest thing on the menu, and despite my asking for it "very, very hot," there was no discernible heat in my Beef Larb--a cardinal sin for a Thai restaurant. Moreover, the only flavor I could taste was mint (and I know larb needs some mint, but not this much).
They also didn't endear themselves to me by charging $1.19 per can of Dr Pepper. (Once again, my iron law: charge $1 or less each for soft drinks and you can charge by the glass; charge more and you damned well better offer free refills.) Service was pretty good once we indicated that no one else would be joining us, but since we were the only customers in the restaurant for the entire time we were there, this isn't exactly worth any points. Nor is it an encouraging sign. I do feel a certain measure of pity for the owner (which is who I'm assuming our waiter was), whose smile couldn't hide the sad-eyed doom deep in his eyes. It's obvious Thai Thai is not long for this world. I just wish they had given me more reasons to morn their passing. (Though I'd love to see this location made into Thai Kitchen North.)
I eat regularly (that is, enough to be recognized on sight) at a fair number of places. It says something to me that, out of all those places, Pao's is the only one that's given me anything for free. (No, they don't know I do these pages. And it takes more than a bowl of soup to buy me: try a BMW Z-3 or better to open.)
This time around, I was impressed at their ability to handle our 15 member party on short notice, especially on the first weekend after a favorable review in XLEnt.
The dumplings are, in my opinion, slightly inferior to Tien Hong. On the other hand, the soups are pretty good (especially if you can get your waiter to bring you the chef's speciality of the day).
It's nice to know there are some constants in the universe.
Since our initial visit back in 1996, Pao's has remained amazingly consistent, and consistently excellent. They even handled our large party (swelled to 15 with members of Don Webb's entourage from his earlier book signing at Adventures in Crime & Space) with only slight discomfort.
The fried dumplings have, I think, surpassed Tien Hong's to become the best in town. The BBQ pork ribs were about twice the size you usually get and very well prepared (if not as fall-off-the-bone tender as the best of native Texas BBQ). The only weak spots among the appetizers were the wonton soup and eggrolls, which were merely good.
The three cup chicken, fragrant and sizzling in its hot iron bowl, continues to live up to its reputation as one of the best Chinese dishes in Austin. However, I was also impressed with Don's "amazing chicken with wonderful sauce" ("How is it?" "Amazing! And the sauce is wonderful!") and with Paco Xander Nathan's pressed duck. Last (and far from least), the prices seem to be lower than competing Chinese fare (your dollar goes a lot further here than at, say, Chinatown), but the entree portions are more generous.
Being in an office building downtown, they do a booming lunch business, but I've never had any problem getting in for dinner. Pao's remains an overlooked gem.
Competent pizza and good salads, in a place that needs to be bigger (and can't really expand: there's not much room at this corner). Milto's also really isn't set up for kids: you can take them and be welcome, but they lack the distractions available at Gatti's, Chuckie Cheese, or other places. (On the other hand, the food at those other places sucks.)
One of these days, I plan to try the non-pizza entrees. And, while I've (mostly) given up this sort of indulgence, Milto's has the best dessert selection of any pizza place I've been to.
The pizza at Milto's, particularly the Lone Star Deep Dish Special, has remained consistent for over a decade. While no longer our favorite pizza place (Mangia's for thick and Reale's for thin getting those nods), it's still a firm fixture in our top five. And this visit proved no exception. The pizza, and the garlic cheese bread, were as good as on previous visits.
However, other aspects of Milto's are more troubling. In particular, their line and order control seemed haphazard at best. Despite two registers and a middling line, several minutes passed while the counter staff hauled out items for customers who had already ordered without taking any new orders. This proved so irksome to the customer in front of me that he cursed out the staff for making him wait to pick up a call-in order that was ready to go. Though an overreaction, there was clearly some organizational impairment here. (The late, lamented G/M Steakhouse used to handle far longer lines far more effectively). That, and the distinct lack of parking, make it hard for me to recommend Milto's wholeheartedly for non-campus area diners.
Pretty good fried seafood (I think), and a fairly nice environment.
I used to eat here more often (before I started cutting back on fried foods): the funny thing is, I don't remember it being this expensive before. For a couple of bucks more than the largest seafood combo, you could get more food (including a salad) at Landry's. Some adjustment is probably in order here.
Feh. Barely adequate fried seafood (of the generic cornmeal batter variety), but little more, and a bit pricey for what you get. Not as good as Red Lobster, or Castaways, or the Catfish Parlor. Actually, it's not even as good as Long John Silver's. Plus they don't have Dr Pepper or Coke, only Pepsi (which is why I made do with water). Avoid.
Bombay Grill has gone from one of the better Indian places in Austin to...an okay place with a decent buffet. The past few times I've been and had non-buffet dishes, they were only so-so: I think the kitchen is mostly concentrating on the buffet, because that's where the money is. Unfortunately, though, Indian food (especially things like tandoori chicken) doesn't benefit much from buffet treatment.
The service is vastly more polite than Taj Palace, though, and the quality of buffet items does seem superior as well: if you just want to fill up cheap on sa'ag paneer and other dishes, this is certainly an acceptable way of doing it. But for quality Indian dining, either Sarovar (despite their other problems) or The Clay Pit would be the way to go.
(No papadums?) The buffet is adequate, and some of the dishes on it (including the mango pudding and the one labeled merely "meatballs") were reasonably tasty. The problem is the selection, or rather the lack thereof: only plain na'an, only five or six meat dishes, and no curries. Unless you're poor, starving, and possessed of a craving for Indian food devoid of particulars, go for something on the menu rather than the buffet.
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