Siam Lotus Room

01/19/09

Good but not exceptional

by philipchasen at Citysearch

My wife and I ate at Siam Lotus Room late last night, Sunday. It was quiet. We ordered two salads, one mixed satay, pad see ewe and ka pow (a basil dish). The salads were excellent with very fresh ingredients and a delicious ginger dressing. The mixed chicken and beef satay was as ordinary as it gets. The pad see ewe with chicken was quite tasty and rates very good. The ka pow was ok and not better. We ate here last year and remember the food as being a little better. Overall, a solid, decent meal, but not exceptional. If you want exceptional, visit Ayara Thai Cuisine near the airport in LA.

• Pros: Salads
• Cons: A little off the beaten path.

05/03/08

Excellent food, good prices, love the aquarium :-)

by georgelevy at Citysearch

This is one of those places that on first impression from outside may seem a bit iffy. It's a very plain and ordinary green building... Still, once you step inside, sit down and take the first bite of their food... the whole thing changes. My wife and I love this place when we really want to eat some amazing Thai food. I also took several of my co-workers to eat there and their first impression from outside was that I'd taken them to a dive place but once they ate there - they couldn't stop raving about how good the food was. I recommend that you sit by the aquarium in the back, it's simply beautiful and the fish are really friendly :-)

• Pros: Won't break the budget, friendly service, exquisite food
• Cons: Ugly outside of building, not for people who like fancy settings

03/11/08

Authentic Thai? Not So Much!

by saphera at Citysearch

I headed to Siam Lotus for dinner one night after reading the rave reviews posted on City Search, and I was disappointed:

1. The hostess said that the waiting time was around 15-20 minutes, but I didn't get seated until 45 minutes later.

2. The server was far from being attentive. She took the order without writing it down and didn't get the order right. She was too busy attending to the table next to mine that she forgot about me.

3. The food was below average: far from being authentic Thai and bland. The tom yum soup tasted heavily of fish sauce and nothing else, while the eggplant dish was swimming in oil.

4. The cook didn't make the noodle dish spicy as ordered. When the server took the noodle dish back to the kitchen, the cook deliberately made the dish too spicy to eat (it was as if he dumped the entire chili powder on it).

5. Siam Lotus Thai Restaurant is terribly overpriced considering the quality of food and service.

I was, however, pleased with the busboy. He always walked around asking if people needed extra rice and refilling your drink.

• Pros: The busboy / Server Assistant provides better service than the server
• Cons: Bad food, bad service, terrible cook