Update:
Visited again and eagerly ordered the egg rolls only to bite into them and it was very different. These had a much wetter, cooked soft veggie interior (think Panda Express style). Still obviously homemade, but not at all my personal favorite style.
I ordered the lemongrass soup and was incredibly disappointed to find it had large thick chunks of canned mushrooms in it and mixed freshness of the chicken slices. Some tasted fine and some tasted like "old chicken", when there's only 4 things in a soup, the meat especially needs to be consistently fresh tasting. It was also not in a discernibly lemongrass broth, by flavor profile, but I could see lemongrass bits in it, yet the strongest flavor was very very sour and quite salty. I didn't enjoy it at all. I wished the menu reflected that it would be so sour. I was expecting a clear lemongrass chickeny broth type soup, that's on me, I definitely could have asked more about what I was ordering. This tasted like Tom Yum Gai to me, a soup many people love- but isn't one of my favorites. The rice served with it was almost inedible, super dry and hard, not pleasant to eat and not softened by the hot broth. I stopped trying to eat the dish and set it aside.
I also ordered the crying tiger entree which was described as "grilled steak seasoned with herbs". That's not at all what I received. I received regular, cheaper cuts of sliced Asian style beef, with not much of any seasoning on them, and a classic dipping sauce. I was very unhappy to see that there was zero steak. I've had crying tiger many times before and it's always a sliced steak served with a dipping sauce and sometimes lettuce. I would never ever order a $20+ dish of cheap Asian style sliced beef. That kind of beef often has a chewy and unpleasant texture to me and indeed still did in this dish. So warning to anyone looking for steak, this isn't it.
They got super busy so no one came to ask me how anything was, or I'd have shared that I didn't appreciate the quality of beef labeled as steak and priced more like steak tips.
I also tried the Thai tea and it tasted a little "left open in the refrigerator" taste, to me. Not sure that description will make sense to others, but sometimes open containers of tea or milk will seem to pick up a stale flavor I associate with things sitting in the fridge open or maybe too long. It wasn't too strong, but was noticeable.
Over all, I was really disappointed by this visit but I'd still go again and try other things. They broke my trust by not labeling the menu effectively with the steak and sour soup but I will ask more questions when ordering next time. Also... Eventually any restaurant that consistently serves mixed fresh and older tasting chicken (or any meat), falls out of favor with me fast, so I really hope that was a bit of a fluke.
I still love having Asian offerings on the mountain side and look forward to trying different stir fries and curries next time. read more