Ry L.
Yelp
This restaurant is located on Stony Point Road (off of Route 250) in the Riverside Village residential community. You would miss it if you didn't know it was there because it seems to be part of the residential development. Nevertheless, there is adequate parking in the lot, especially because there are designated spaces for patrons frequenting the restaurant. This restaurant has a covered outdoor patio as well as indoor seating with booths, chairs, high tables, and bar seating.
With the restaurant being less than moderately full, we were seated within just a few seconds. We sat there and stared blankly for about 5 minutes before I got up and approached the host stand to request menus.
Despite all the empty tables, we were seated directly beside two people. Like, very close. Uncomfortably close. That type of arrangement only works when restaurants are full, and even then it's not ideal. (Think about those half booth /half chair tiny tables at the Cheesecake Factory.) We requested to be moved to a different table and they happily obliged. (We noticed more people came in later and were seated at the same crammed table, and they eventually moved too.) My guest had to ask for replacement silverware as there was a sizable piece of food on the fork and the spoon contained crusty food bits. They swapped it out with no problem.
We decided to give this place a try for restaurant week. The prix fixe menu offered three courses for $35, but we also ordered an add'l appetizer as well as drinks:
-- Thai Lemon Ice Tea: a combo of Thai tea and fresh limeade. Smooth and refreshing. So good. However, it contained a ridiculous amount of crushed ice.
-- Limeade: it's less sweet than other limeades I've tried, but instead of being overly tart, it simply tastes fruity and refreshing. Again, too much ice.
-- Coconut shrimp: crispy, perfect amount of coconut flavor, complemented nicely by the side of sweet Thai chili sauce. Served on julienned cabbage.
-- Thai samosa: curry potatoes in a deep fried pastry shell served with cucumber relish. The filling was unexpectedly sweet but good. Overall delicious and fried to perfection as the pastry dough was light and flaky. The cucumber relish was sweet and fresh. I thought the sweetness of the samosa filling paired with the sweet relish would be overkill, but it was a good match even though I still dipped mine in the hot sauce that came with the sun-dried beef.
-- Sun-dried beef: not part of the prix fixe menu. The beef, mildly flavored but well-balanced with the right amount of salt and pepper, is served atop a bed of julienned cabbage and with a side of sriracha sauce.
-- Spicy crab curry: delectable, delicious, and divine. Although there is lumped crab in the curry itself, the curry is garnished with a small soft shell fried crab which somehow remained crispy while floating in the broth. My guest did request that they make it less spicy (the server explained that with 3 asterisks beside the dish on the menu, it's one of their spiciest items, so my guest asked for a medium two-asterisk level of spice). I personally would've appreciated the extra spiciness to balance out the sweetness of the curry, but it was amazing as it was. The accompanying cumin rice topped with crispy onions is so flavorful and tasty. I could've eaten that by itself.
-- Beef rib yellow curry: amazing! With only one asterisk beside this dish, I asked for level 2 spice but could've gone even spicier. Again, the broth was sweet but balanced by the other earthy spices and flavors in the thick broth that covered the short rib. The portion was huuuge. As someone who loves having leftovers, I greatly appreciated the big portion size. This dish was also accompanied by that bomb cumin rice.
-- Chocolate lava cake: served lukewarm which is a no no for lava cake. I could've tolerated it if the flavor wasn't so deep and dark. I prefer milk chocolate over dark, and this cake was really intense. Served with coconut ice cream and garnished with grapes and strawberries which were sweet and juicy. I don't want to undermine how good the ice cream was; I'm not sure if it's made in-house, but it was perfect all by itself.
-- Croissant bread pudding: incredible! Temperature-wise, this dessert was served warmer than the lava cake, go figure. This was also served with sweet and juicy grapes and strawberries along with the coconut ice cream which I loved. The bread pudding is less sweet than I've ever tasted but it allows you to appreciate the butteriness of the croissant even more. Because it was so uniquely different from traditional bread pudding (which I do happen to love), this was one of my favorite versions ever tasted. And, no raisins, thank goodness.
Lastly, service was a bit slow, but they're a small establishment with only a few employees serving freshly made-to-order dishes, so this was understandable. I'm so glad they participated in restaurant week this season. Otherwise, I'm not sure I would have ever found them.