We had been asked to visit this restaurant as it was deemed to be of good value. I had previously visited the Lemongrass Restaurant and had enjoyed their meals, I was hoping they were still as good.
Unfortunately I was to be disappointed.
As we neared the restaurant the owner beckoned us to come inside and try them out. This was the first thing that I thought was a little unusual. Spruiking for customers gives one the impression that the restaurant is not doing well.
Upon arrival they wanted us to sit outside, however I asked if we could be seated inside. This seemed to be a bit of a problem for them. They tried several times to get us to sit outside. I was adamant I wanted to sit inside in the air-conditioning with plenty of light. As it turned out they had their family scattered around the inside tables, including one child asleep at a table. They vacated one table for us but didn't bother to clean it, we were seated and our cutlery was brought over. We both felt like we were sitting at a grubby table and at no time did we feel like we could put our cutlery directly onto it.
We began our meal with Mixed Entrees. This consisted of a chicken wing, a spring roll, a curry puff and a money bag, $8. The chicken wing was well cooked but didn't have a lot of meat on it and I felt it was pretty ordinary. The spring roll was fairly tasteless. The curry puff had too many peas in it and the pastry needed to be crisper. The money bag was quite tasty.
I ordered Paw Paw Salad, $12, as I'd never had this before and really wanted to try it. It was made with sliced green paw paw, mixed with garlic, chilli, sugar, lime juice, peanut and fish sauce. It was really delicious and well worth ordering.
Pad Thai, $20, popular Thai fried rice, noodle with egg, chicken, prawns and special seasoning. I wasn't overly keen on this dish, I've had much nicer Pad Thai elsewhere. Possibly too much fish sauce.
The Mongolian Beef, $20, was a real disappointment. It was very ordinary; we couldn't bring our selves to eat the whole meal, I didn't even enjoy the vegetables - I took it home for the dog.
For dessert we had Fried Ice Cream and Thai Sago Pudding with coconut milk, $7 each. Our first disappointment was that they had been served with artificial whipped cream. The fried icecream was not the nicest I've tasted, It was a fairly small serve and they used a low quality ice cream. The Thai sago pudding was presented nicely,( apart from the artificial cream) with green food colouring added. It had a fairly bland taste but was not unpleasant to eat.
We ordered a pot of Chinese tea and were disappointed to find a teabag in it. Our regular readers will remember that we went to the Vietnam Saigon Star recently and had a pot of authentic Chinese tea, which was delicious. If they can do it, why can't the Golden Orchid?
Overall, I was disappointed. This restaurant has had a name change, I'm also wondering if they have changed their chef. The meals were substandard and not worth the money we paid. They need to be more professional in how they accommodate their family members during work time. If customers want to sit inside, they should not have to put up with family members sleeping at tables, noisy family members playing with their toys, or sitting around playing on their computers. This is not their home, not their lounge room. It's a restaurant with paying customers. Clean tables, a pleasant atmosphere, good service and good food is what they should be aiming for.
