Tom Yum (Small)
Rao Thai Eatery

Rao Thai Eatery

5650 Whitelock Pkwy, Elk Grove, United States

Thai • Asian • Catering • Delivery Services


"I started watching a Thai cooking movie on one of those streaming services that rhymes with GetMix and it made me Hungry for some Thai food. I tried Thai years ago with my In Laws and I didn 't know much about the cuisine but they liked it so I ordered curry which was the only thing I was familiar with. Unbeknownst to me, Thai curry utilizes coconut which I 'm not a fan of but this Thai cooking movie made want to seek out a gem of a restaurant in my own neck of the woods...Elk Grove. I knew about Pad Thai but never knew about Pad See Ew which to me looks like Cantonese Chow Fun so I wanted to try it because maybe it has a flair of its own. I 'd have to admit, when perusing Yelp for a place to go, the crispy chicken skin appetizer is what caught my eye and that in itself sold me! Chicken cracklins or chicharrones or call it whatever you want but deep fried chicken skins and I 'm there!I decided to go family style and ordered several dishes for all of us to try. Some other Yelper raved about the tofu sticks so we had to try them and to me they were just okay. Next was the spicy eggplant and shrimp salad. The salad was delicious enough that the kid told us he 'd come here next week on his own just for that.Then came the chicken hell and pad see ew. The waiter asked how much heat to put into the wings and good thing the kid told him a 6 on a range between 1 being low heat to 10 being the hottest. 6 left my lips burning and I don 't think I could 've gone any higher. Both dishes were delicious and the noodle dish was indeed much like chow fun. The wings came in a shallow bowl with a soupy sauce with green beans, onions, bell peppers and chili peppers for heat but there must 've been something else to elevate the spice level. I should 've ordered some plain rice to pour some of that sauce over.....next time. The restaurant was very clean and nicely decorated with amateuristic Van Gogh art of people 's faces that could be family, friends of the restaurant or maybe just random folks. My only gripe is the water cups. I like having nice tall cups instead of little metal coffee style ones. I needed water to cool my lips down and got tired of refilling my tiny cup. Overall......Gochisosama!!! Totemo oishiikata! Arigato! Oh! After reading my review you may be thinking all that and just 3 stars? Well, I 'd have to go back to try other things like the beer crispy pork that I over looked and then see if I should add more stars. Yeah.....you wouldn 't like me as your stupidvisor on employee evaluation day!"

Mee Thai

Mee Thai

1200 Lee Rd, 32810-5849, Orlando, United States

Thai • Asian • Vegan • Delivery Services


"I?ve had Mee Thai marked on my ?to try? map for a few years now and finally went today. I?m sorry, Dalis Lao Thai Cafe, but now you?re my 2nd favorite Panang curry. My only complaint was that their AC wasn?t working. That?s it. And they do a crazy amount of takeout so it?s moot, I could just take it to go. We wanted to try a bit of everything (plus leftovers, yay) and got most of our usual favorites to judge by. We started with the appetizer sampler with fresh (summer) rolls, my favorite hot weather snack. Theirs were good, wrappers broke but still good filing ratio and tender shrimp. The peanut sauce was ok, Viet-Nomz is still the king of summer rolls and peanut sauce in my book. The fried spring rolls and cheese rolls (think crab Rangoon as a spring roll) we?re excellently filled and seasoned, fried so crispy. The fried tofu was done well and soaked up all that lovely sweet and sour fish sauce. Coconut shrimp were good, crispy outside but not dry inside. The Tom kha was outstanding with a deep flavor to the broth that wasn?t too strongly coconut, lime, sweet, or fish sauce. The chunks of chicken and veggies were more reasonably sized than a lot of places. Then came the mains. Panang chicken with a savory sauce bordering a bit heavier on the peanut which is absolute perfection in my book. They take their spice levels seriously so if you?re a borderline hot/medium like I am go for medium. The veggies were tender (and yay zucchini! I love zucchini and don?t often see it in curries) and the meat both tender and plentiful while still having enough delicious curry sauce to soak into your rice. Dad had the basil stir fry which was the same quality ingredients with a different symphony of flavors. Service was attentive, portions were generous, and I?d even go back sans AC again!"