Thai Thani Orlando - don't get your hopes up

[Royaljelly]

We're a family visiting from Toronto where we don't get much good authentic Thai. I've been to Thailand and really miss the great food there. The closest thing to authentic that we've had on our North American travels was Lotus of Siam in Vegas (as a reference for those that have been).

While Thai Thani in Orlando has a very nice and spacious ambiance and good service to match, the food was quite a letdown. We ordered the following (names might be a bit off as I didn't do the ordering).

1) Pad Thai - was too much soy sauce
2) Thai fried rice - nothing special, lots of shrimp though
3) Whole fish deep fried sweet n sour - tasted exactly like the same dish I've had in all the Chinese restos that I frequent in Toronto. A little overly fried and dried out a bit, but come on, is this really a Thai dish?
4) Smoked duck - very crunchy but meat dried out. Decent dipping sauce.
5) Sliced beef w/ spicy dipping sauce. Way dried out beef. Bland sauce.

The last 2 dishes came on top of a bed of boiled and completely bland veggies that I've never had in any thai restos before. I could've been eating at a Chinese resto w/ this kind of food and I wouldn't have known the difference..

Did we just order ALL the wrong dishes, or was my expectations just way too high for a simple AUTHENTIC Thai meal that I'm craving so very much?

[askdrtodd]

sad to hear that, the Thai Thani in Tampa in Channelside is consistently good.

[Sandwich_Sister]

yeah I also was disappointed with thai thani, I only got one shrimp in my pad thai and service was slow and lacking.

[drunkenmonk03]

yeah thai thani has always disappointed me with their service, although the decor inside is beautiful, i just wouldnt make the trek out there to wait around for them etc
i did enjoy their chicken wing stuffed with pork appetizer though, one of the few places that have that dish

http://tastychomps.blogspot.com

[Sandwich_Sister]

I just went back today, went with someone who goes there that is a regular, we got great service, they knew her order, before she ordered, she said to try the green curry.

My servings were huge this time around. So much more than before. The green curry was great, hesitant about exactly how spicy it may be I opted for medium, I would go hot next time. The tom ka gai was also a pleasant surpise filled with plentiful ingredients.

It seemed like a completely different place, I'm not sure if it had to do with me going with a regular, or if it was just the dishes I picked this time around or if perhaps they are listening to reviews.

Their prices are still a little bit higher compared to other places that offer just as good if not better food, and I'm still on the fence about ordering anthiing but dishes contain tofu or chicken since I had skimpy results the last time I ordered anything else.