Posted by Melissa Woycechowsky in restaurant review, thai on May 27, 2007 at 8:46 am

Thai Chef
233 Roncesvalles Avenue
416-915-0095
Dinner for two with all taxes, tip and iced tea: $57

The first thing I thought when I walked into Thai Chef was “Oh dear, this is going to take a long, long time.” It was semi-crowded, and the waitresses were rushing around looking, well, rushed. Vacated tables had not been cleared. We almost went somewhere else, but we were there and we were hungry, and I had noticed a lot of the restaurants we had passed on the way had been closed either for Victoria Day or were closed on Mondays in general. So we stayed.

We were seated quickly, at a table under the gaze of a pretty, yellow and bejewelled statute of a Thai woman, two-thirds life size. With 108 menu items, the choosing took awhile. Despite all the pleasant menu perusing, we still waited a while to have our order taken, and I thought it was going to take forever for our meal to come. Pleasant surprise: our drinks, soup and appetizer came very quickly. Unpleasant surprise: the Shrimp Chips with Peanut Sauce ($3.50) were slightly stale, and oddly thin, yet dense. They were like something that would come from a health food store in the low fat section. My husband said they tasted “partially hydrogenated,” but I really don’t think that is a flavour. The peanut sauce that accompanied them was good, though a bit peanut-buttery.

I ordered Thai Iced Tea ($2.75), which was rather thin and mixed with milk. Usually when I get this it is very strong tea with cream or condensed milk poured on top, but not mixed in, for a layered effect. This was more like the kind of tea I make at home with Chai tea bags, milk and honey. Good, but not wow-I-am-eating-in-a-restaurant good.

My husband had Honeyed Green Tea, iced ($2.75), which had an odd after-taste. I would have sent it back, but he said it felt good on a lingering sore throat. The ice cubes sat at the bottom of our empty glasses and we forgot all about them – at least right then.

Our Lemongrass Soup with Seafood ($7.95) had cooled out nicely while we consumed the lame-o chips. When the soup reached eating temperature, we realized that we did not have any bowls or utensils so we had to wait about five minutes until I could catch the attention of a waitress. The slack was becoming annoying.

After the shrimp chips and tea I was concerned that the meal was veering off in a wrong direction. What a surprise, and pivotal in foreshadowing the good food to come. Our ice continued to melt in our empty ice tea glasses, as I drank in the nicely spiced broth and munched the tender squid rings of the soup. A bountiful catch of seafood was yielded up from the flavourful waters of that broth. Nice!

Nuer Nam Tok Beef Salad ($8.95): slices of grilled beef, cilantro, mint, chili and roasted rice with lime juice was just perfect. The crunchy mild onions and greens nicely balanced the tender beef, and the cool slices of tomatoes and cucumbers gave balance to the heat of the chilies.

We were happy to have the coolness of the cucumbers and tomatoes, because by this time we had finished our drinks and our requested water hadn’t arrived. All through the rest of the evening I was reminded of the line in the poem the Rime of the Ancient Mariner, “Water, water, everywhere nor any drop to drink” because we never did get that water but all around us were uncleared tables with nearly full glasses of water on them. About a minute after the Nuer Nam Tok was gone, when the chilies went into after-burn mode, we realized that the ice cubes were still sitting there in our iced tea glasses. Thank goodness for small miracles.

Next up was the Moo Yang Grilled Pork ($8.95), a generous portion perfectly charred and served with a delicious tangy spicy sauce on the side. Pity it was lukewarm when it arrived, but you can’t have everything. The Panang Chicken Curry ($9.95) was very mild, more like a yellow curry than the usually spicier panang. The chicken was tender and of high quality. These two entrées were about what one would expect for the price, I reckon.

In four words: good food, bad service. When the food was good, it was very, very good and the wait staff did seem to be trying hard and they were friendly. It wasn’t like those truly awful times where they are standing around ignoring you, chatting with their friends. Still, when I try this place again it will be for takeout.