I've never liked the original WanFu that much. And the idea of opening up a second location in the infamous spot of the doomed on Barton Springs Road seems like a strange business decision to me.
It got stranger once we walked in. They seem to have kept the 50's diner style furnishings from that incarnation (very early in the history of that location). How long have those been there? Were they still there when the former restaurant site became a sporting goods store? (That was the incarnation before they became Maggie Moo's.) The effect in a Chinese restaurant is jarring.
But how's the food? My crispy duck was acceptable, but (even with the dipping sauce) seemed bland. The other dishes I sampled were just average. And the menu is very limited, especially compared with the one at the original WanFu. Service wasn't bad, but it wasn't like the staff had a bunch of tables to work, either: I think there was one other party in the restaurant while we were there.
There are plenty of Chinese places in Austin where the food is just as good and the location is easier to get to. WanFu Too! leaves me wondering one thing: what's going to go in next when it fails?
Wanfu Too! has a few strikes against it going in. Though I can live with the "Too" part, I'm not wild about restaurants that have an exclamation point in their name. Then there's The Hell That Is Barton Springs Road. (They're widening it. Not to add a desperately needed turn lane, mind you, but to put in several center islands for "controlled access." Why? Looking at past decisions maybe by the Austin road planners, I'm guessing it's because they hate people who actually have the nerve to drive cars, or else they spend their entire workday huffing paint fumes.) Then, when we walk in at 6 PM, not only is the place deserted, but all the staff are 20-something white slackers, always a bad sign for a Chinese restaurant.
And once you get past those ill omens, how is it? Pretty good, actually. Though the wings and ribs were slightly subpar, the dumplings were decent and I liked my Chef's Special Beef just fine (in fact, I liked it better than the last dish I had cooked in lotus flour at Tien Hong). Despite being a fellow occidental, our waifish waitress did a pretty good job of keeping up with us, including keeping my bottomless glass of Diet Coke refilled without asking (no Diet Dr Pepper, alas, which is a common problem).
I think I prefer the original Wanfu, mainly for the traffic, but Wanfu Too! is still a pretty decent choice for Chinese south of the river.
My barbecued crabs were quite good, and I thought a resonable portion for $25. (But, guys: when someone orders the twice-baked potato for a buck extra, I really don't think you need to bring the regular new potatos as well.) The crab claws seemed heavy on the fries and light on the crab claws (which didn't seem to have much meat anyway). I'm not as disturbed by the disco as some people at the table were, but Joe's is really loud: don't go there and expect a quiet chat session.
I think Joe's is okay if you're looking for kitchy chain seafood, and if you don't mind a possibly long wait. (We got in pretty much right away: the last time I went to a Joe's, though, we had to wait over an hour for seating. I think we just hit them at the right time: a few minutes on either side of 6 PM would probably have left us screwed.)
OK, we finally bit the bullet and tried Joe's Crab Shack. It was as loud, noisy, and crowded as I expect, with just about every cliche from Making It's classic "Good Taste: You Can't Afford" cartoon on how to make a killing in the restaurant business, including decor from BMTCRSC.
Service was a mixed bag: While attentive and prompt, I have fundamental philosophical objections to a restaurant where the servers are encouraged to sing and dance their way through The Village People's "YMCA." (To callow Generation Y-ers, Disco is instant kitsch. For those of us who lived through it, it's a war crime.)
And the food? The gumbo was on the thin side, and the salad unexceptional. Calamari was OK, but nothing to write home about. I went for the steak, crab, and shrimp combo. Tasty enough. but it's hard to screw up crab legs. My biggest complaint is about the size of the portions. The crab portions were OK, and the side of shrimp, though skimpy for scampi, was still in the acceptable range. But the steak was tiny, as were the portions of crab claws appetizers. (I note that you used to be able to get two-three times as many crab claws from Landry's, but guess what? It's not there anymore! Yes the Landry's that used to be on Lake Austin Boulevard has been replaced with (wait for it) another Joe's Crab Shack! Converting a Landry's into a Joe's Crab Shack is like converting a Bennigan's into a Planet Hollywood. Yeah, there's a difference, but not one that's going to stir any real food lover to the battlements. As to what this says about the taste of the average Austin diner I leave as an exercise for the reader.)
I know such a judgment may not be popular with the Trendoids, but I think Red Lobster offers better food at a better price, and even for loud, noisy seafood barns, the fare at Pappadeaux blows this place away.
Bleh. The queso is okay, but the nachos and fajitas were disappointing. Service is decent, but I could do without The Golf Channel: and, given the quality of the food, I can't think of any reason to go back for dinner.
Perfectly competent TexMex, with average fajitas and above-average service and generous nachos suffering from a not-so-generous allowance of cheese. Not bad, but I think I prefer Curra's North, just a little ways south.
Very good and quite reasonably priced (mostly) Thai food. On the Drag, no less.
My salmon in a sauce with sugar cane and dark soy was quite tasty and well cooked. The hot and sour chicken soup is as good as I've had since the first bowl I ever tasted (in a little Thai place off Beacon Street in Boston). My main dish was only $10: the soup and pad thai ran about $7. On the other hand, some of the appetizers (such as the chicken wings and spring rolls) seem a bit pricy.
Do I like it as much as Thai Kitchen? The race is close: I prefer Thai Kitchen's pad thai to Madam Mam's (Mam's isn't bad: it is just a little sweet to my taste). The parking situation is probably slightly better at Thai Kitchen on Guadalupe than it is near campus. But I think Madam Mam's offers stiff competition: if I spent more time on campus, I'd be a loyal customer.
The good news is that Madam Mam's isn't Thai Noodle House. The bad news is that it isn't Thai Kitchen either.
Madam Mam's serves up cheap, decent Thai food on the drag, albeit with some puzzling pricing. ($2 apiece for hot wings? Gee, guess why we didn't try those?) The Tod Mun was OK, and the Tom Yum Guy soup was pretty good (though not in the same league as the Tom Kai Guy served at Thai Kitchen). I wish I had known that by "curry" they meant "curry soup," but other than that it was reasonably tasty. Service was adequate.
All in all, not bad for what you pay. They need more varied appetizers and a little wider range of dishes. But there's still that problem of being five blocks away from Thai Kitchen. Frankly, the only reason I can think of for eating at Madam Mam's is if you're a UT student without transportation, and only have 50 minutes between classes to grab lunch. Other than that, I'd make the trip over to Thai Kitchen instead.
See the logs for March of 2003.