New Thai in Downtown Minneapolis

[g rote]

I just noticed that the marquee is up for "TASTE OF THAILAND" on 7th Street & Hennepin...next to Chevy's & across the street from where Goodfellows used to be...anyone know about this?

[StPauliGirl]

A friend and I ate at Taste of Thailand for lunch today. The decor is very nice.

Arrived at about 12:30 without a reservation. There were several open tables but no host. Host eventually came and told us it would take him just a minute to clean off a table for us. 15 minutes later we were seated. We also got to witness a couple of men who had been waiting for their take-out order simply walk out because they couldn't wait any longer. Not a good sign.

We sat at our table for about 10 minutes until the host noticed us a sent over a waitress. I ordered the Masaman curry w/ chicken and my friend ordered the pad thai w/ chicken. Entrees were in the $9-12 range. Our food came out pretty quickly but wasn't worth the wait. The pad thai did not look very appealing. There were no colors or textures that popped. My masaman curry was only average.

Since the closure of the Sawatdee on Nicollet Mall there hasn't been a Thai resto within walking distance of downtown, so Taste of Thailand may get by based on that factor alone. Their service is sorely lacking right now, and their food was not exceptional enough to make anyone overlook the poor service.

I'd be happy to hear about others' experiences there.

[Jordan]

So much for the service being better...

[churchka]

The King and I Thai is downtown, 1346 LaSalle. I can't comment on the food, but I have some friends that like it.

[faith]

I really like the pad thai at King and I (wow it even rhymes!) because it's not full
of sugar, huge portion, and they will make it with tofu, plus it tastes great, with the
combination of egg, onion, peanut, lime/lemon, a bit of chili, tons o sprouts& rice
noodles fried up together- major comfort food for the slightly adventurous. I think
they use shrimp paste to flavor it as well.

[StPauliGirl]

You're right, King & I is downtown. When I say "walkable distance from downtown" I'm thinking of places I can walk to, eat, and walk back to my office over lunch hour. For me and my office location King & I is outside that radius.

[snoboardbabe77]

In my own experiences, I am not a fan of the King & I (however, I'm also not a fan of Mai Village either which some people humbly beg to differ with me on) - I have had hit or miss experiences with Taste of Thailand -the most recent visit was 2 weeks ago, and we ordered special spring rolls -keep in mind that we specifically said - "I know there are two spring rolls to an order -could you make one with shrimp and the other one without - because I am allergic." They said okay. They returned - with two spring rolls -she point to one and said - yours no shrimp - she pointed to the other and said - this was is yours - with shrimp (to my friend). I also inspected the halved rolls to look for shrimp (love shellfish just can't eat it) - and saw and smelled nothing.

After a small corner bite, and 1 minute later, the guy returned with another plate with two spring rolls. He said, here we go -special spring rolls- without shrimp. My friend got wide-eyed. I put down the spring roll immediately.

Personally, it sounded like the communication was good -but apparently needed to be better. I realize as someone who is allergic, I always need to be careful and a lot of it is my responsibility - but that didn't get me excited about returning.

I'll stick to True Thai and Tum Rup Thai-even if I have to drive to Uptown from St Paul. And honestly, Sawatdee has been a disappointment for the last several years.

[Nathan_1118]

We used to frequent ToT on Selby when we lived in St. Paul, and now hit the Fridley one weekly. However, because of the ridiculously slow service (then again after eating in the UK for the past week, I can never again complain about slow service, that's just par for the course over there and across Europe) we only get takeaway.

I absolutely love their Masaman Curry and their pad thai. Most pad thai seems to be too sweet for my liking, and theirs is much better. The satay skewers are also very good, as are the fried bananas and spring rolls.

[Mill City Modern]

Haha, I almost could have written that post myself! I used to get takeout from the Selby location, but since moving to NE Minneapolis, we get takeout from the Fridley location weekly. We usually get spring rolls, green papaya salad, peanut curry, and pad thai. I think their food is excellent, but the service definitely dictates that this is food best enjoyed in the comfort of one's own home.

A tip: the Selby location used to mess up my order on the regular. I don't think we've ever gotten a wrong order from the Fridley one, though.

Does anybody know when this downtown location might be opening?

[FishMPLS]

The Sawatdee at 7th and Nicollet is no longer there. And anyway I think it was further up the street a bit. There is a Sawatdee in the Warehouse district and on Washington, but neither are that great. I won't ever go to the Taste of Thailand again because the service is so bad, and I tell others to never go there. I will give this new one one try, however.

[PhilESL]

I hope the (TofThai) service will be better at this address. Will someone please tell them? Now we need a good Vietnamese Pho/Banh Mi place downtown (hint hint).

[katebauer]

I tried to convince Jasmine Deli to open up a downtown spot but they said the rent was too high for basically only being a weekday lunch spot. Sad though, the downtown lunch choices are pretty depressing.

[Loren3]

The only other Thai in the neighborhood (7th and Nicollet, that is) is the serviceably bad Sawatdee. I do hope this new place is better.

[teamkitty]

We've had good experiences there with the food, but we stick to the fish, larb, spinach with peanut sauce and their Tom Gai, which is what I crave when I'm sick. We do mostly take out and thus avoid the service/attitude issues.

TK

[katebauer]

Which one is Taste of Thailand in St. Paul - the one on Grand b/t Victoria and Dale? I haven't been in about 3 years but the food was pretty bad.

[diesel]

No, it's the one on Selby between Snelling and Fairview. Haven't been there in several years, because the service was so stunningly poor. Food's so-so.

[FishMPLS]

Oh my god, can you imagine if the service at this new Taste of Thailand is as terrible as the St. Paul one? Two hour lunch anyone?

[The Dairy Queen]

Sounds intriguing! I can't wait to hear more. I hope it's good, although, then I'd just wish it were in St. Paul.

~TDQ