L'Thai Organic Cuisine and Wine Bar

One of the Scoutmob coupons that came this week offered a 50% discount at L'Thai Organic Cuisine and Wine Bar in Smyrna. The last time I visited L'Thai was in 2009 when Mom and Dad were visiting us. I have faint memories of the place but I remembered that the food was excellent and well-presented, and they had lots of options for vegetarians. So off we went, P and S and P and I... :)

Unfortunately, many others had the same idea, and so when we got to L'Thai around 8:50 pm on a dull Friday evening, there was a wait time of at least 40 minutes, the hostess told us. As per S, she might as well have said, "You guys better find some other place tonight!" We debated on it and decided to wait. A little later, the hostess called to us, "10 minutes more!" before whizzing away. I loved what she was wearing (red sarong, flowered top, sandals) but she looked oh-so harried. Soon after, we were shown to our table. A keyboard player played his solitary melody as the water fountain gurgled on behind his seat, illuminated by a giant red disco-globe.

So much for describing the space! The menu at L'Thai is long and elaborate with a separate section for vegetarians. Proudly inscribed at the top of every page is 'Our ingredients are 95% organic," or something along those lines. S wondered if we should order a plate of Por-Pia-Pak-Sod or Fresh Organic Basil Rolls. But it was past 9 pm already (way past anyone's dinner time, really!) and so we decided to give the appetizers a skip. We ordered a plate of Basil Fried Rice (minus egg) and Mat-Sa-Man Curry (also known as 'yellow curry?'). We also ordered another dish whose name I cannot recall (or find in the online menu) but it mentioned 'Thai Chilli' in the description. Then we waited.

We waited.

It seemed like ages before the food began to arrive. It was a busy night, and our server told us that he wasn't even supposed to be working that evening. The food was fairly tasty. I have a grouse with most (if not, all) Thai restaurants about the lack of vegetables in their dishes. Sure you'll have carrots, daikon radish, cashews, potatoes, snow peas, broccoli, peppers, some baby corn (maybe), mushrooms... spread across all dishes. So if you order 3-4 vegetarian dishes, you would have probably sampled every vegetable from the pantry.

I remember a trip we made to Washington DC a couple of years back. For dinner, a few of us stopped by at a small Thai restaurant. There were very few customers that night and only a couple of servers. But the food was absolutely fabulous. What I remember the most is the abundance of vegetables in the curries. Not your usual carrot-snowpeas-daikon-tofu combination but so many other vegetables too! I wish I could remember the name of this place... :(

Back to L'Thai... the flavors were great even if they seemed to repeat from one dish to another. But the portions were too small. For dinner, the serving size was meager! We realized that we would need to order another dish. We asked for a plate of Pad-See-Ew (flat noodles, carrots and broccoli in a soy sauce) but I think what we got was a plate of Drunken Noodles. It contained basil, peppers and mushrooms (not part of the original dish). When we asked our server about the tiny portions, he remarked that we should have ordered two plates each!

Cheeky waiters and flavorful food aside, this experience has put me off the Scoutmob coupon frenzy. Terrible service and measly portions for overpriced dishes - Why would I want this experience again? Besides, all the Scoutmob coupons cleverly disguise the fact that there is a cap of $15 on the discount amount. You need to read closely to know that there is a cap of $15 on the discount amount. At most of these places, it is infinitely simple to get a bill topping $40. You do the math.

Oddly enough, all I could retrieve from my IPhone was the one picture at the top of this post. I wonder where the others disappeared...

 L'Thai Organic Cuisine and Wine Bar
4500 West Village Place, Suite 1017
Smyrna, GA 30080
770-434-4344
www.lethai.org