620 Congress Avenue
472-1244
Dwight's comments:
The idea of an upscale Thai place is a good one, and Thai Passion certainly looks nice. The decor is a welcome change from generic Oriental restaurant styling, and the location is comfortable.
Thai Passion's service is also efficient and unobtrusive, but...
My biggest problems with Thai Passion are:
For most of my Thai dining needs, though, there are at least two superior - and more affordable - places in Austin.
Lawrence's comments:
I really wanted to like Thai Passion, since it had several things going for it: classy, regal decor, an attractive, attentive waitress, and a fine aquarium stocked with exotic fish (including one with the weirdest eyes I've ever seen). And in fact the meal started out well with good Tod Mun fish fritters (albeit not as good as those at Thai Garden) and Tom Yum soup.
However, when it came to my main entree, I was rather disappointed. The beef in my Num-Tok seemed tough and stringy, and the overall dish was so dry that I had to ask for a condiment/sauce tray. Also, the dish wasn't hot enough for me (despite my request), but this seems to be a common problem at every Thai restaurant I've eaten at except Thai Kitchen.
However, what makes me unable to recommend Thai Passion is something that happens to be one of my pet peeves: they charge for soft drink refills. Now, I know not everyone can afford a CO2 dispenser, and some places have to buy it by the can, so I have no trouble with cheaper restaurants not offering free refills as long as they charge less than a dollar. However, at $1.25 a glass, this amounts to highway robbery. This is an UNACCEPTABLE POLICY, and results in a mandatory one star deduction on my restaurant rating scale.
Thai Kitchen, Thai Garden, and PooThai are all much better choices for Thai food.
7535 E. Hwy 290
926-4441
Men's room rating: 2.5.
Dwight's comments:
Utterly undistinguished plastic TexMex, combined with lousy service.
Never again.
Lawrence's comments:
The food was decent, but somewhat less impressive than the last time we dined here. The salsa is still good (at least for restaurant salsa), but they lose points for using orange cheese (probably cheddar) rather than white for their quesadillas. The fajitas were adequate, but not exceptional. Unfortunately, the service suffered because Melissa, our waitress, was also bussing tables on a planet in another dimension in addition to our own.
What does it take to find a truly great TexMex place in Austin?
Previously visited: February 17, 1996.
800 Brazos St.
482-8100
Men's room rating: 1.5.
Dwight's comments:
I've been visiting Pao's fairly regularly since the Conspiracy's first vist, since they're easy to get to from my office.
However, I've tended to stick to their early bird specials: a good set of entrees, to be sure, but not a great adventure in dining.
So I was quite pleasantly shocked when they brought out Lawrence's Three-Cup Chicken, which combines spectacular presentation and an amazing mix of flavors.
When they bring this dish out, oh boy! You know you're in for something, from the subtle combined smell of pepper, anise, ginger, corriander, and other unidentified spices working in combination.
This is a dish that truly "lights up your mouth": it may indeed be the best single Chinese dish available in Austin.
And, of course, the appetizers are well worth trying, and the service still approaches fawning.
Pao's is the place for Chinese in Austin today.
Lawrence's comments:
Pao's gets my vote both for Best Chinese Restaurant in Austin and Best Chinese Dish, the Three-Cup Chicken, which comes out in a sizzling iron bowl (think of a fajita skillet, but rounder). Delicious! All the appetizers we had (including the pu-pu platter, an order of pan-fried dumplings, and an order of spicy dumplings) were quite tasty, as was the special house soup.
Though a bit hard to find (they're in an office building downtown--if you enter from the Brazos side, they're on the first floor), Pao's is well worth the effort.
12333 N. FM 620
331-6400
Men's room rating: 2.5.
Dwight's comments:
Cause and effect. Cause and effect.
Aldo's has been running 2-for-1 coupons in the local papers for as long as I can remember (12+ years, now), and I have to wonder:
Do the coupons cause the food to be so bland, or do they run the coupons because the food is so bland?
My dish was some sort of alfredo sauce (it would have made a good wallpaper paste) over linguini with chunks of tasteless chicken. (Try grilling, folks. Or even some pepper.) Frankly, I've had better meals at the Olive Garden.
We've eaten at Aldo's before, and I don't remember it being this bad: maybe the kitchen was having an off night.
But judging from this experience, and comments on austin.food, I think the 2-for-1 coupons may be taking their toll.
Lawrence's comments:
Dinner at Aldo's was a pleasant dining experience that inexplicably left me vaguely dissatisfied. Perhaps I wanted to knockout meal (after all, the dish I had was at knockout prices) and received one that was merely adequate.
Our waitress was quite attentive, keeping us well supplied with bread and Dr Pepper. However, the bread and butter are pretty standard fare, good but unexciting, as was the vinegar-drenched salad (The Olive Garden shines much brighter in these areas). Likewise, our appatizers were a mild disappointment, with the escargot being a tab rubbery, and the garlic cheese bread tasting of too much basil (and decidedly inferior to Reale's).
For the main dish, I had the crawfish la lau, which was fairly tasty (and quite cheesy), but I'm not sure it was worth the $16.95 price. Next time I'll try something else. One note for the doggy-bag crowd: None of Aldo's white sauce-based dishes reheat well, as the sauce tends to partially break down into oily constituents in a microwave. I've noticed this on both my crawfish la lau and the fettucine alfredo I had there last time. While this can be a problem with any alfredo-type dish, Aldo's seem to fare worse than most. Not a flaw, per se, but a consideration.
With the demise of Bambino's Cucinia Italiana, Aldo's probably sneaks into the top five Italian restaurants in Austin, behind Carrabbas, Reale's, and Mama Mia's and tied with Stelline Pasteria. Still, I'd like to see more innovation in the salad, bread, and appetizer departments. Right now Aldo's is good, but I think they need a firm nudge to be excellent.
Send e-mail to Dwight Brown (stainles@bga.com).
Return to the main Saturday Dining Conspiracy page.
See the logs for July of 1997.