Update on Simply Thai

We dined at Simply Thai last (Tuesday) night for the first time in a while and are pleased to see that the quality of the food under the restaurant´s new management is excellent and as good as ever. When we were there, unfortunately, there was only one other customer which is a shame since this place serves up authentic Thai food which is Lakeside´s good fortune.

We shared a pad thai dish and curried chicken and two types of spring rolls all accompanied by icy cold Victoria Beer and a fine, strong margarita on the rocks with fresh lime juice. One of us likes thai food super spicy and the other prefers the food more mildly spiced and we got these dishes spiced to suit both of us with the addition of excellent table spices supplied us by the kitchen to turn up the heat if desired.

The service was flawless. We highly recommend this place as it has evolved under new management. Please support them as great thai food is very hard to find in most of Mexico.

Thank you for the great review.

Well then, since it is fifty steps from my front door I will partake in some of this fine cuisine once again. We had ordered some takeout about a month ago and were not impressed at all.

The longer you live here, the better Simply Thai gets.

We went there on Valentines day, arriving for an early dinner at about 6:00 pm. We were the only table at that hour but five more parties arrived while we were there.
We go there for the Pho and had been the 1st week in Febuary , the Pho that day was seriously good...the broth had been made with oxtail , perfectly seasoned , the garnishes were fresh , noodles delicious. It was heavenly ...a nearly perfect dining experience all the way around. The soup was so good that we decided we could live with the plastic bowls that allow the soup to go cold before you can get half way through. We were a little annoyed that there was no Thai tea ¨because the owner left and didn´t make anymore¨ Sheesh it IS a Thai restaurant and Thai tea is not rocket science but the beer was cold , just the way I like it. We talked about that soup for days.
Our faith had been renewed and we couldn´t wait to go back , we were even willing to risk waiting a while since it was Valentines day but we were seated right away.
Unfortunately the Pho sucked on Valentines day. It was very bland and just missing quite a bit of flavor and aroma, noodles not well cooked. Someone must have figured that out because a LOT of fried garlic had been added to the soup give it some flavor. It tasted like fried garlic and no amount of condiments could save it.
I wish I had taken a picture of the plate of basil and beans prouts they served us. Everything on the plate had shriveled up, turned brown and died at least the day before but there it was , served with a smile. I asked the waiter if he had any fresher sprouts and basil because the stuff on the plate was brown and old. He said ¨oh well, it has too much time in the refrigerator¨ and he runs off to the kitchen. I heard him say something to Kinna about it but couldn´t make out her reply. That waiter never came back but a different one did so again I asked him for some fresh beans prouts and basil , because that on the plate was inedible. He whisked the plate away and never came back, never mentioned it.
We didn´t (couldnt) eat the soup. Asked for our bill and that was that.
This is not the first time we have been served old brown things that are supposed to be green and fresh but geez , it has to be the last I can´t believe I am the only one to have this problem at this restaurant.

For us this restaurant has been a crap shoot...you have luck that day or you don´t. I really wanted to love this place...I just wanted a good bowl of soup.

And seriously, very uncool for the Chef to rave about her own cooking on travelocity.

Is she a friend of your´s John? Every meal you have had there has been great? just asking because you seem to really care about this place. It has amazing potential but she won´t get away with it forever.

Rosa Venus wrote:The longer you live here, the better Simply Thai gets.

The longer you live here,the lower your expectations seem to get when it comes to asian,barbeque,steaks,burgers,italian,etc.
At least you can find pretty good mexican food here although I've had better in California.

Me, too. The one thing I miss about California is the food. Since cooking (of the Down Home or Ethnic variety) is not Advanced Physics, I don't get why we can't have more CONSISTENTLY good meals served in places where we have a good experience one time, and the next time it's gone south. Or somewhere.

viajero wrote:

Rosa Venus wrote:The longer you live here, the better Simply Thai gets.

The longer you live here,the lower your expectations seem to get when it comes to asian,barbeque,steaks,burgers,italian,etc.
At least you can find pretty good mexican food here although I've had better in California.

The next poster that claims they get better Mexican in California goes on my shit list.

ferret wrote:Consistency is THE most important thing in a restaurant. Consistently good food, good service and clean. IMHO.

You know, the food can consistently be other than good because some people have poor taste and like lousy food. But the time they get lucky and improve it, those people will complain.

I can only speak of our experience last night which was truly excellent. Dawg lived in San Francisco for some thirty years and I remember when the Thai food craze first started in that city in the 70s. I was blown away from the first moment I tasted Thai food which could be sublime in that city. We loved Thai food so much that in the 80s we flew 14 hours to Thailand mainly just to eat and spent two weeks there sampling food from Bangkok to Chang Mai. Since I like my Thai food "pet mah" or super spicy, I actually drew crowds of Thai people observing the fat foreigner consuming the spiciest food available locally. They were waiting to see me collapse and beg for a liter of Thai Tea but that never happened although I did drink a lot of Singha Beer. What they didn´t know was that I had broken my hot food cherry at East Indian restaurants in Uganda and in Madras, India during the 60s. If you can eat Madras cooking then you have mastered the art of ingesting spicy food beyond your imagination.

Back in 1969, the Ugandan government under Milton Obote, had decided to expel all of the East Indians who made up a substantial part of the middle class especially in Kampala, unless they agreed to renounce their British citizenship and declare Ugandan citizenship. Almost none were willing to do this and it was a good thing as, after Obote, in came Idi Amin through a coup and the country became a din of killing for many years thereafter. East Indian residents who had not been expelled became cannon fodder and those who were not slaughtered had all of their assets confiscated.

There was this famous East Indian restaurant in Kampala known as the Bat Tree Restaurant and I loved the food there. That is where I ate dinner in Kampala every night I was there and, one night I challenged the all-East Indian wait and kitchen staff to prepare the food so spicy that I would be unable to consume it. Well, I was sitting there eating these concoctions with copious tears running down my cheeks and looked up and saw the entire kitchen staff gleefully observing my, what they assumed was agony. I was enjoying every minute of it but I must admit it was a challenge. Great guys but soon to be expelled from Uganda with only their shirts on their backs. A sad but complex story.

By the way, as best I know, pho is a Vietnamese peasant stew and not of Thai origin. I remember when pho restaurants first started opening in Downtown Oakland´s Chinatown. Great and incredibly cheap places and always delicious.

Take my word for it . the food is very good at Simply Thai and Dawg did not just arrive on the turnip truck. If there is inconsistency, I probably wouldn´t have caught it as I live in Chiapas half the year and rarely go out to eat at restaurants at Lakeside. Maybe I was just lucky but I can tell you this; do not order Thai food in San Cristóbal de Las Casas although there is perhaps one passable place.

seisdedos wrote:The next poster that claims they get better Mexican in California goes on my shit list.

All the Mexican food I ate growing up in California was prepared by Mexicans who didn't leave their cooking skills at the border when they came north.
There are more Mexicans in my home state than there are in the states of Jalisco,Michoacan,Zacatecas,Colima and Nayarit combined.

ferret wrote:Well, yeah, there's no accountin' for taste buds but "old" greens gone brown should never have been served. It's better to say you don't have something than serve an inferior product.

Exactly the point. I don't mind at all if a server says they're out of ......... and I appreciate it when the server says they have something special that day. (Please, not a five minute rundown, just a summary). The trouble with getting the tired old salad served to you once tends to sour you on the restaurant for the future.

Seis, put me on the sh.t list, and get it over with. My biggest disappointment after moving to Mexico was discovering that the Mexican food in CA eateries was better than it is around here. "Around here" means Lakeside, not Guadalajara or Mexico City, where I'm sure you can get excellent food of any variety. Why this is, I do not know, but it's also true that the Spanish settled in California for several hundred years, which would give them plenty of time to perfect the dishes. Maybe I'm saying I don't like "Mexican" food as well as I like "Spanish" food. Guilty as charged.

By the way; I like consistency, that´s why I love my Cheese Whoppers at Burger King on the Andador in San Cristóbal de Las Casas, extra mayo, onions and pickles. You can enjoy this outside at a table at the Revolución Bar across the street with some ice cold suds.

They're not half bad at the Guadalajara Airport if you're hungry enough.

Right, "if you're hungry enough". I had a chicken sandwich and fries on Saturday night there at 11 pm, after the plane came in. I'm pretty sure the fries had been kept under the lights for a goodly long time. Tasteless, greasy, and dried out. I guess that's something they don't have to worry about NOB.

ferret wrote:Consistency is THE most important thing in a restaurant. Consistently good food, good service and clean. IMHO.

Look at Salvadores ...they don't have the best food in town but they do have consistency and that place is packed every time they open the doors. You know what you are going to get and if they give you something awful they will replace it. So will Burger King .
Even so, people will forgive the occasional poorly prepared meal depending on how it is handled. When a restaurant puts obviously old brown crap on your table doesn't it make you wonder what else they might be using that is past it's prime? Bean sprouts , basil, lettuce are all very cheap items and if she can't make herself throw out the old ones and get fresh ones for valentines day (counting on a lot of tables) then I wonder what she does with that fish or chicken or shrimp that is just a tad funkified. I have talked to lots of people that have explained why they were not satisfied at simply thai...heck, I have talked to her about that. If she has ever offered to replace a substandard meal I have never heard about it.
Kinna ran an all u can eat Chinese buffet in the states, that might explain a thing or two.

viajero wrote:

seisdedos wrote:The next poster that claims they get better Mexican in California goes on my shit list.

All the Mexican food I ate growing up in California was prepared by Mexicans who didn't leave their cooking skills at the border when they came north.
There are more Mexicans in my home state than there are in the states of Jalisco,Michoacan,Zacatecas,Colima and Nayarit combined.

I've eaten California Mexican from Shasta to Chico to Stocton to San Pedro and many other places. So according to you, those that took their cooking skills with them are better cooks than those that didn't leave? Yeah, right. Because I never had anything in California worth writing home about.

And how many of your so-called Mexicans are native born Mexicans? Give me precise numbers. You make a claim, back it up.

seisdedos wrote:

And how many of your so-called Mexicans are native born Mexicans? Give me precise numbers. You make a claim, back it up.

4,387,223.

viajero wrote:

seisdedos wrote:

And how many of your so-called Mexicans are native born Mexicans? Give me precise numbers. You make a claim, back it up.

4,387,223.

So in other words, you suck at math!!

[quote="gringal"][quote="ferret"]Well, yeah, there's no accountin' for taste buds but "old" greens gone brown should never have been served. It's better to say you don't have something than serve an inferior product. [/quote]

Exactly the point. I don't mind at all if a server says they're out of ......... and I appreciate it when the server says they have something special that day. (Please, not a five minute rundown, just a summary). The trouble with getting the tired old salad served to you once tends to sour you on the restaurant for the future.

Seis, put me on the sh.t list, and get it over with. My biggest disappointment after moving to Mexico was discovering that the Mexican food in CA eateries was better than it is around here. "Around here" means Lakeside, not Guadalajara or Mexico City, where I'm sure you can get excellent food of any variety. Why this is, I do not know, but it's also true that the Spanish settled in California for several hundred years, which would give them plenty of time to perfect the dishes. Maybe I'm saying I don't like "Mexican" food as well as I like "Spanish" food. Guilty as charged.

[/quote]

Make that two on Seis shit list( already on his list as "mush brains". I lived in San Jose, Watsonville, Aptos and can honestly say I have eaten in "Mom & Pop" Mexican eateries in Calif. that would put Ajijic to shame. No I haven't been to Guadalajara or Mexico and sure I could find similar.

seisdedos wrote:

viajero wrote:

seisdedos wrote:

And how many of your so-called Mexicans are native born Mexicans? Give me precise numbers. You make a claim, back it up.

4,387,223.

So in other words, you suck at math!!

Why do you say that,did you come up with a different number?
BTW:Shasta,Chico and Stockton are not exactly known for their great food,be it Mexican or whatever.
Just out of curiosity,seis,what are some of your favorite Mexican dishes?

[quote="seisdedos"][quote="viajero"][quote="seisdedos"]The next poster that claims they get better Mexican in California goes on my shit list.[/quote]
All the Mexican food I ate growing up in California was prepared by Mexicans who didn't leave their cooking skills at the border when they came north.
There are more Mexicans in my home state than there are in the states of Jalisco,Michoacan,Zacatecas,Colima and Nayarit combined.[/quote]


I've eaten California Mexican from Shasta to Chico to Stocton to San Pedro and many other places. So according to you, those that took their cooking skills with them are better cooks than those that didn't leave? Yeah, right. Because I never had anything in California worth writing home about.

And how many of your so-called Mexicans are native born Mexicans? Give me precise numbers. You make a claim, back it up.[/quote]

Seis you stupid poop, Shasta, chico, Stockton, San Pedro??? Ya all those tex mex places huh?? you would not eat where I have had the best Mexican food in California. :15:

little italy wrote:

gringal wrote:

ferret wrote:Well, yeah, there's no accountin' for taste buds but "old" greens gone brown should never have been served. It's better to say you don't have something than serve an inferior product.

Exactly the point. I don't mind at all if a server says they're out of ......... and I appreciate it when the server says they have something special that day. (Please, not a five minute rundown, just a summary). The trouble with getting the tired old salad served to you once tends to sour you on the restaurant for the future.

Seis, put me on the sh.t list, and get it over with. My biggest disappointment after moving to Mexico was discovering that the Mexican food in CA eateries was better than it is around here. "Around here" means Lakeside, not Guadalajara or Mexico City, where I'm sure you can get excellent food of any variety. Why this is, I do not know, but it's also true that the Spanish settled in California for several hundred years, which would give them plenty of time to perfect the dishes. Maybe I'm saying I don't like "Mexican" food as well as I like "Spanish" food. Guilty as charged.

Make that two on Seis shit list( already on his list as "mush brains". I lived in San Jose, Watsonville, Aptos and can honestly say I have eaten in "Mom & Pop" Mexican eateries in Calif. that would put Ajijic to shame. No I haven't been to Guadalajara or Mexico and sure I could find similar.

We lived in the same general area around Monterey Bay. Do you by chance remember the restaurant in the old Palomar Hotel in downtown Santa Cruz, where there were "sopas" to die for? Plus everything else. Then there were the places in Monterey itself. I'm getting hungry.