Essence of Thai

I was so disappointed with my meal yesterday at Galanga Thai Eatery that I had to try to find some better Thai food today. Prommares is closed on Sundays, so I took a chance with a new Thai restaurant, and I am so glad that I did! This is a Thai restaurant that actually focuses on making people happy. I haven’t had service like this since I stopped eating at Thai Grill! And the food is authentic and good too! The waitress gave me my own fan even!
Anyway, on to what really counts: the food. I ordered a Thai iced tea, which wasn’t as sweet as most places, but was good still. I also ordered the duck curry, and sweet sticky rice with mango for desert.
At $ 14, I initially thought the duck curry was a tad pricey, but when the dish was served I quickly realized that the portion of curry was quite generous, particularly in the duck department. I was completely surprised at how tender the duck was. I’ve never had duck at a Thai place this tender! Yummy! The yellow curry was soupy, just how I like it, with a unique, perhaps less bold than I prefer, taste. I ordered a medium spice level, and it wasn’t spicy enough, but this can always be remedied with Thai food. Overall, a very good dish.
The mango with sweet sticky rice was good to. The waitress made sure I knew that the mango wasn’t ripe and was going to be sour, so no complaints here… it was indeed sour, but the sweet sticky rice was quite nice.
I have no clue why this place only has two reviews. I am tempted to give it five stars, but I can’t yet say that Essence of Thai is on par with the (old) Thai Grill and Prommares. I will definitely be coming back to try some of their other dishes though!

Essence of Thai is pretty decent Thai food despite the fact that they have Crap Rangoon with imitation crap listed as an appetizer.
I brought a coworker here while we were in Las Vegas on a business trip. He had never had Thai food and his first experience he opened the menu and spotted the Crap Rangoon straightaway.
That made for some barely controlled guffawing. Nice. So this is the food you wanted to introduce me to?
Moving on, we shared some chicken satay. It was very good with a mild bite and great yellow curry flavor. I ordered the panang curry and my coworker ordered a beef stir fry sort of thing. He reported it was good with no signs of crap.
The panang curry was nice. I ordered it 5 out of 10 on the spiciness scale since I had never eaten here before. I would go more like 7 or 8 if you like it hot. The dish was very good. The shrimp were tender and juicy, not sproingy and overdone as sometimes happens.
I also had a Thai iced tea which was yummy although not as strongly flavored as most Thai restaurants version.
Overall, I would dine at Essence of Thai again. Skip the crap though.

This place is well lit up with white lights and looked fun from the outside — my friend and I decided to stop on a whim after driving by. It is spacious on the inside and I saw lots of Thai people eating there so I felt it may be relatively authentic. The menu is diverse and there are some nice options.
My friend ordered roasted duck on rice, which came with the skin (yum), cilantro, green onions, and 2 dipping sauces (a gooey soyish one and chili paste). The flavor of the duck in the rice was delicious. I got «Stop Light Curry» — my choice of green, red or yellow with a meat (I asked for tofu not listed on menu and I got it, yum!) I got green curry. Mine had green and red bell peppers, baby Thai eggplant, basil leaves, and tofu. I got a 7 out of 10 on the spicy scale and it was deliciously spicy (I love food that makes my eyes water and my nose run!) It came with a small cup of steamed rice, but our waiter gave us a second one because we needed it to sop up the spicy curry sauce. The Thai iced tea was the icing on the… curry :) The total bill for 2 delicious dishes and 2 drinks was $ 22, a steal. We will be back, even though it is not really near where either of us live! There is plenty on the menu to try too — I am thinking pad kee mao next!