Sonya H.
Yelp
Solid Thai food at an affordable price and with phenomenal service! I was desperately craving some Thai food after a few days of trekking around Florida with my parents, and I was immediately drawn in by the rave reviews and stunning photos of this spot. When we first walked in around 1 PM on a Thursday afternoon, we were immediately greeted by a friendly face and the delightful smells of Thai cooking. We were swiftly seated at a booth in the back and quickly got to sifting through their giant menu. It was tough to pick from their wide selection, but eventually, we settled on four dishes that were a mix of classics and items I had never seen before. While each dish was tasty, none of them particularly wowed me.
To kick off the meal, we ordered their Papaya Salad with Salted Crab -- you truly can't go wrong with a good papaya salad. The papaya, cucumber, and radish were perfectly crunchy, and the sweet and sour dressing paired delightfully with the salty, umami flavor from the crab. Then came our main dishes -- the Phad Ke Mow with pork, Phad Se-ew with shrimp, and steamed Triple Flavored Red Snapper Fillet. While the veggies in the Phad Ke Mow were tasty, the pork was overcooked and very tough and chewy. In sharp contrast, the shrimp in the Phad Se-ew was cooked perfectly! It was lightly springy and sweet, and it had a great hint of char from the wok. The broccoli was also perfectly charred and still maintained a good amount of crunch, but the noodles were a touch overcooked and also not nearly as wide as I had hoped for. As for the Triple Flavored Red Snapper Fillet, I think the red snapper was phenomenally steamed; it was perfectly flaky and paired well with the crunch of the vegetables. However, there weren't nearly enough vegetables with the fish! There were one or two pieces of the various vegetables the menu advertised (broccoli, carrot, baby corn, cabbage, snow pea), which was not nearly enough to counterbalance the extremely sweet sauce. The "triple flavored" sauce had minimal spice or tang, but it did have a very heavy-handed amount of sugar that completely overwhelmed the dish. Thankfully, the red snapper (and the Phad Ke Mow) came with a lovely side of white rice to help break up the overpowering taste of the sauce -- and they even shaped the rice into beautiful little hearts!
All in all, Thai House of Orlando was a super cute, affordable spot with friendly, efficient service. It likely won't be my favorite or go-to spot the next time I visit Orlando, but it was a great spot to try!