10049 - 113 St
Edmonton, AB
(780) 482-2277
The small eatery is located across the street from St. Joseph's Basilica, the place where Wayne Gretzky got married; tucked behind a busy street, it could easily be missed. The place is packed and somewhat noisy. You can only get a table if you have reservations...luckily we had one. At first glance I thought that the decor was sub par. I was drawn to a mirror in the corner of the restaurant. It was more of a distraction then their attempt to make the restaurant larger. The lights hanging over the table were too bright. It was impossible to lean over to converse with my friends.
Thai cuisine is one of my favorites and I'm always out to look for a great Thai restaurant. The more authentic the better. Having been to Thailand, it makes it more grueling to find an eatery in North America that takes me back to my experiences in Thailand. The service was great! Very friendly and our server knew everything on the menu, even the item numbers to each dish. Very impressive. We ordered the Panang Chicken Curry; Chicken, Chillies, and Cashews; Spicy Seafood Combination (had squid, shrimp, mussels, mock crab w/ bamboo shoots); Mixed Vegetable Stirfry, accompanied with Coconut Rice. The wine we chose was a Isabel Sauvignon Blanc. I thought it was light and refreshing, but it didn't compliment the dishes. It did take the heat away and cooled the tongue.
The wine service I thought was terrible, unless they didn't do the typical wine service that most restaurants are accustomed to. The glasses were not polished and it was over poured. The dishes were delicious, great taste, good heat, bold flavours. Definitely Thai. The dishes were presented nicely and good portions. The shrimp was cooked perfectly. The sauces were thick and spicy. They actually had the basil and the lime leaves in the dishes. There are a lot of Thai restaurants that only have the essences or dried versions of the leaves. I found the Coconut Rice was the weak point in the whole experience. There was no coconut taste. It was creamy, but it almost seemed like they just used cow's milk.
Overall the restaurant was great. They had a packed house and did two seatings on a Friday night. They close really early....at 9:30pm. I would definitely go again. The prices were reasonable, between 10-20 dollars per plate.
Peas - OOOO
Carrots - IIII.5
Friday, February 27, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Who are we?
Peas and Carrots is a blog that reviews and rates restaurants. All the restaurant reviews are critiqued by the quality and taste of their dishes and front house service; the two main aspects to a great dining experience. Food is our passion and we would love to share that with you through this avenue. We feel that the people that serve us and cook for us at restaurants should have that same passion and love for food as well...we hope.
Most of the restaurants we go to are what we call "mama papa" places. Their food is "usually" made with real ingredients, with more care, and their dishes are unique to that restaurant alone. We do not like franchise restaurants, but we will discuss them in this blog should we happen to visit one. It's just hard to eat food that comes out of a plastic bag.
All ratings and reviews are based on our own experiences and if they get a bad review, it could just be a bad day of service or something was incorrectly seasoned; or we just don't like the restaurant period. I think it's reasonable to be critical and deserve an enjoyable meal, when I am spending a certain amount of my hard earned money on them. Should a restaurant get a good review, we will praise them and eat there constantly and probably get more reviews on the other dishes that we try.
We are unbiased, yet fair, but very blunt!
Our rating system will be symbolized by peas and carrots. The more peas and carrots, the better the restaurant. If we blacklist it..."take your chances".
Peas (out of 5) - Is our rating towards customer service. We will be looking into friendliness, efficiency and timing of food and drinks, recommendations, questions asked and answered, wine service if applicable, clearing of plates, and most importantly, the conversation and smiles!
Carrots (out of 5) - Is our rating towards the food. We will be looking into the flavours...THE TASTE. We could care less about the plating, unless it's crazy gorgeous that we feel like taking a picture of it.
Blacklist - DO NOT GO THERE
Let the reviews begin!
Most of the restaurants we go to are what we call "mama papa" places. Their food is "usually" made with real ingredients, with more care, and their dishes are unique to that restaurant alone. We do not like franchise restaurants, but we will discuss them in this blog should we happen to visit one. It's just hard to eat food that comes out of a plastic bag.
All ratings and reviews are based on our own experiences and if they get a bad review, it could just be a bad day of service or something was incorrectly seasoned; or we just don't like the restaurant period. I think it's reasonable to be critical and deserve an enjoyable meal, when I am spending a certain amount of my hard earned money on them. Should a restaurant get a good review, we will praise them and eat there constantly and probably get more reviews on the other dishes that we try.
We are unbiased, yet fair, but very blunt!
Our rating system will be symbolized by peas and carrots. The more peas and carrots, the better the restaurant. If we blacklist it..."take your chances".
Peas (out of 5) - Is our rating towards customer service. We will be looking into friendliness, efficiency and timing of food and drinks, recommendations, questions asked and answered, wine service if applicable, clearing of plates, and most importantly, the conversation and smiles!
Carrots (out of 5) - Is our rating towards the food. We will be looking into the flavours...THE TASTE. We could care less about the plating, unless it's crazy gorgeous that we feel like taking a picture of it.
Blacklist - DO NOT GO THERE
Let the reviews begin!
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