All sounds pretty romantic, right? Well, at least until you look toward the hostess stand where they are showing Jeopardy on a randomly-placed television for all customers to see.
"I'll take 'What the F&^%' for $400, Alex."
Maybe it should have been a clue that it was going to be a very up and down evening, one that started well but spiralled down and down and down.
Erawan got off to a good start -- the menu read well and it really is a very nice space. There were a number of interesting options on the menu to choose from that all sounded good -- crispy duck, lots of curry and noodle dishes, traditional pad thai (which the wife is a sucker for). I was frankly not all that excited leading up to the meal, but reading the menu raised my level of intrigue. I was hoping for good things. Good Thai food is hard to find in Philadelphia. There is Tamarind, where I had an awesome meal a few weeks ago, and then not much else. Aqua is sort of thai as well, but they bill themselves as Malaysian, whatever that means.
So Erawan does fill a needed niche. People generally like good thai food and it caters to carnivores, fish lovers, and hard-core vegetarians. A good Thai restaurant in a spot like Erawan should do well. If, of course, they can deliver good food.
The appetizer -- a combination of fried and steamed vegetable dumplings -- was excellent, but it was unfortunately not a harbinger of things to come. My meal was awful -- it was billed as "Holy Basil Supreme" but it should have been called "Holy Crap Does My Stomach Hurt." For starters, I didn't taste a whiff of basil. In addition, the beef in it was fatty and overcooked, and the sauce was caked onto the plate in way too many layers. They even managed to mess up the wife's pad thai, although that wasn't awful. But it wasn't good either. Sigh...
On to the full rundown of Erawan...
THE FOOD: The menu read like a thai diner -- there were probably 100 items on the menu, which is about 60 too many. I can't stress this enough -- make your menu fit your space. If you are going to be serving 50 people a night, you don't need 100 entree choices. Be good at a few things, not average at a lot. Erawan, at least for me, was barely average overall, at least on this night.
THE DRINKS: BYOB. Our waitress couldn't figure out how to open our wine bottle so she had to call for backup. I'll give her some leeway though -- it was a weird cap. Not exactly a twist-off, but not a cork either. Kind of a hybrid. They were good at filling up the water glasses.
THE DECOR: As I said, take away the TV and it's a cute dining area. The weirdest thing is, there isn't a bar or anything where people would be watching the TV. Who exactly is it meant for? Strange days indeed,
THE STAFF: Nothing to complain about. Our waitress was fine, but we didn't tax her too much.
MAD PROPS FOR: The bizzare "customer survey" stuck inside the check. In addition to the customary questions (quality of food, cleanliness of restaurant), they asked "Your kind of music (name the artist)" Name the artist? So if I write down, "Play more Twisted Sister" the next time I come in, they'll be cranking out "We're Not Gonna Take It!"? Awesome.
OVERALL: Another thumbs down unfortunately. C'mon people, you need to do better.
THE CHECK: $40 for 2 of us, with tip. At least the price tag wasn't onerous.
Here's to better times in the next future. On to the "Fs"...
Ineligible restaurants for round 6:
- Fado -- I used to like Fado back in my younger, single days. It's loud but it's a little funky.
- Farmicia -- Only went here once for Restaurant Week but I'd like to go back. Cool vibe.
- Figs -- The best restaurant in my neighborhood (Fairmount). Consistently excellent and the owner is incredibly nice. We go several times each year.
- Finn McCool's -- They have done a great job renovating. It's a cool after work spot for a drink.
- Fox & Hound -- Lots of TVs, fried food, and beer. Philly's best example of an urban sports bar.
- Franklin Fountain -- I love Franklin Fountain. The best ice cream in the city, a great location, and staff who dress in garb from the early 1910s. It's pricey, but it's worth every penny.
- Friday Saturday Sunday -- This is supposed to be a romanticc hotspot, but it's about 15 years past it's prime. It needs to go.
- Friendly's -- The only place I know where you can say to a woman (if she's your waitress) "I'll have a Happy Ending" and you won't get slapped.
Candidates for round 6:
- Fatou and Fama's -- Funky African food in University City. http://www.fatouandfama.com/
- Frederick's -- More high-end Italian in South Philly. http://philadelphia.menupages.com/restaurantdetails?restaurantid=28963
- Fuji Mountain -- I have gotten way too hung up on going to Raw for all of my sushi needs. This is a good place to start branching out. http://www.fujimt.com/
- Four Rivers -- I'm reading a book about an English woman who spent many years in Szechuan China. This Chinatown staple would be right up her alley. http://philadelphia.menupages.com/restaurantdetails?restaurantid=29139
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1 comment:
1) They had a crystal lighting piece in the foyer that was too bright. The light came into the main dining area and took away from the atmosphere. Oh and yes, the TV..not sure what that was about. Maybe to entertain the waitress when nobody comes to their restaurant?
2) I liked the coloring of the walls and the way the seating was set up, but Gordon Ramsey would have prob. gone nuts on them with the food. The menu was HUGE. My eyes hurt after looking at all of the options. I stuck with my usual Pad Thai with shrimp thinking that nothing could go wrong there..boy was I wrong. Although mine was better than the husbands.
3) You know a restaurant is bad when my entree is better,even just slightly, than the husbands. He almost always picks the right dish and it's almost always better than mine.
4)The waitress did spill water on our table when pouring it, but she was very quick to clean it up..so I won't hold it against her.
5) It was a very quick meal..prob. cause hardly anyone else was in there. I like to relax during a dinner out. It's a bad sign when you are thinking about getting home to see a certain TV show (LOST)on time and not focusing on the food. Of course the company is always great though :)
6) Would I recommend it to someone else? No..I would send them to Tamarind.
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