Lotus of Siam -- Freakin' Fantastic!

How did I never go to this place before?

I went here for a birthday dinner with my younger brother (birthday boy), and his friend. We were really hungry, and the place was PACKED, so I'm glad we had a reservation. We had to sit at the bar for about 10-15 minutes before being seated. (We were early.) A large Singha beer to split. These fancy foreign lagers all taste the same -- but I dig the "exoticism."

The menu is EXTENSIVE. I am pretty into Thai food, and there was a bunch of stuff on the menu that I hadn't seen anywhere else, and stuff I had never even heard of. I wanted to order everything. We got an appetizer of some chopped pork thing with crispy rice, lime, cilantro, etc. It was sweet -- just a classic expression of Thai cuisine. Also got a Som Tam (papaya salad) and it was SPICY. Pleasure mixed with pain. I always say you gotta hurt a little while eating Thai food. Delicious, though.

For entrees we got some sort of seafood thing, a Masaman curry, and my brother got a Pad See Eew. The seafood thing was just okay; actually, pretty weak compared to the other stuff. Just a stir-fry of some calamari, mussels, etc. Meh. On the other hand, the Masaman curry was AMAZING. We started calling it "liquid gold" and spooning it over everything. The Pad See Eew was the usual but very well done. Nice consistency on the noodles.

For dessert, we told the waitstaff it was my brother's birthday and they brought him a dish of icre cream with a candle in it. We sang happy birthday reallly loud to him and embarrassed the shit out of him. 'Twas funny. We also got a dish of mango sticky rice which is rice with coconut milk, condensed milk, and some nuts together with a sliced fresh mango. This has to be the best dessert ever.

I don't remember the price but it was reasonable. I think $70 for three and we ordered a lot. I am skeptical of these restaurants with a lot of hype on yelp and other places, but this kicks ass. I can see myself going here every trip.

Sorry to disagree with you Teddy, but I think the Lotus of Siam is nothing special. It often makes lists of the best restaurants in Vegas, but I think it just average for Thai food. Maybe I just hit them on a bad night though. I went with MichaelBluejay, and he didn't think it was noteworthy either.

Is this the place in a strip mall about a mile from the north strip? I went there with some Ultimate teammates one time. One of our party ordered his dish 12 out of 10 on the spice scale - aka "Thai spicy." Boy did he regret that one. He could only eat about half of his meal, and as we were leaving, he puked up what he did eat out of the window of the car.

I don't remember much else, but I'm not a huge fan of Thai food anyway :).

Quote: Wizard

Sorry to disagree with you Teddy, but I think the Lotus of Siam is nothing special. It often makes lists of the best restaurants in Vegas, but I think it just average for Thai food. Maybe I just hit them on a bad night though. I went with MichaelBluejay, and he didn't think it was noteworthy either.

So what's better? I'll have a car on future trips (not G2E) and I love Thai food.

Man, I love curries. I love masaman curry, red, yellow, green... our local Thai restaurant, Thai-Thai, is pretty decent. And "hot" there is HOT. I know my heat; Thai-Thai hot is so hot you can't really have your palate and tongue on the food at the same time. If I want hot, I order medium.

I'll try Lotus of Siam. Even "okay" Thai food is pretty good, IMO.

I've been twice with completely different results. First time was for lunch buffet. Place was nearly empty, food was cold with few choices, thoroughly unspectacular. I never would've returned if it hadn't been for all the hype in the Weekly and hadn't garnered Best Thai Food in America by Gourmet magazine. Went back a year later for supper and they redeemed themselves. Huge menu of unusual items served hot and fresh, with speedy and friendly service. Place was packed, whereas only about 1/3 of the restaurant had been open for lunch the time before and it was empty.

Don't let the low-life neighborhood scare you into not trying it for dinner if you like Thai. But, lock your car.

I like Komol a few doors down. Its yummy and not as crowded.

Quote: MathExtremist

So what's better? I'll have a car on future trips (not G2E) and I love Thai food.

My favorite Thai food in Vegas is The King and I. I used to play backgammon there with rudeboyoi, before he stood me up because he was in jail. By the time he got out I had moved further away from there.

Quote: zippyboy

Don't let the low-life neighborhood scare you into not trying it for dinner if you like Thai. But, lock your car.

According to Nick's article Gay Nightlife 101 there are a lot of gay bars in that area.

Quote: Wizard

According to Nick's article Gay Nightlife 101 there are a lot of gay bars in that area.

I was referring to crime. Few blocks east of the Strip seems to be crime-y whether it's Flamingo, Sahara or Fremont.

There ARE bars on the windows in that Lotus of Siam strip center iirc, but I didn't notice if they were gay bars.

Speaking of Thai food ...

Nahm