Taste of Thai

Creepy and dishonest, Taste of Thai serves terrible food at outrageous prices. Formerly the site of a friendly, modest restaurant called Steak Lao, this space has a large outdoor section comprised of metal foldout tables and a dingy inside section that’s often empty. Expecting the sort of spot where large groups gather for beer and shrimp, we find instead one occupied table, and an army of bored beer girls and their overfriendly madam who tends to lean over too close. And ask too many questions, including, on our last visit, whether or not we were flight attendants—a theory she came up with upon remarking on our varied ethnicities. The beer girls swoop into the conversation to refill your mug after every sip, staring from close range the rest of the time. But we can’t help but suspect that the saccharine, Stepford Wife-esque service is a cover for sneaky, insidious profit-making, especially since more than half of the dishes on the menu lack prices. While the madam made a point to bring over three uncooked river prawns to our table to discuss the market price, charmingly giving a discount, she conveniently neglected to do the same for the crab in the poo ob woon sen (baked crab and vermicelli), which the moment of truth at the end of the meal revealed to be a whopping amount. Suppose for a moment that we are super high rollers, mysteriously stranded in this mosquito-ridden hellhole, and can easily drop that kind of cash. We would still be more than miffed at our lovely, nearly fresh seafood cooked into unrecognizable, awful dishes. The poo ob woon sen was doused in sesame oil and little else; the river prawns were hacked up and overcooked with an inedible amount of black pepper. We liked the broth in the herby and spicy Thai mussels, but the mussels themselves were puny and downright gritty with dirt. Oh, and to avoid having a suspicious waiter follow you to the nearest ATM, better have cash or Visa. Or better yet, don’t go here, ever. Corkage B200.