I-thai  

We are a big fans of Thai food, love it when it is spicy and fresh.

First time tried this restaurant with my husband, the menu looks amazing, all the photos look very good. It took us a while to decide what to eat and we settled with two starter combos and one main course. After the starter, we waited a long time for the main course. We ordered the lamb shank, it took a long time and we checked with the waiter for the food. However, when it started to get busy, the service went downhill too.

The food is ok, so-so, nothing amazing, nothing special. The location is great from CWB, it is romantic to sit outside if you can cope with the heat. The food is just disappointingly normal. I think for a meal, with a glass of wine each, $600 is ok, can be better if they try harder.

A year ago the two of us had this sensational lunch here at I-Thai. Back then through a fabulous papaya salad and shrimp cakes, and great rice noodles and coconut-laden green curry I wondered why this place has been hardly known. And then, a few months later, I knew of Openrice, and meant to revisit this place to put a positive spin on the place (after two sad miserable reviews). I-Thai went through renovation and now, since its reopening I decided to go again, this time the review is in mind. I thought it could be easy...I like the place, it has good food, the review should be easy. Turned out, I thought wrong.

The crowded L-shaped dining room is more than crowded now with squarely cut carrels where there is no leg room and more sofa seats. Staff bustling past your table with hot dishes that don't steam, while ice drinks don't frost the glasses. I wonder, what has changed?!

We, a party of three ordered the prix fixe menu for two ($240) that includes:
Green Papaya Salad
Mixed Platter (Chicken Satay, Spring Rolls, fried oysters)
StirFry Beef with Leeks and chilies
Panfried Tiger Prawns with minced pork and Thai brown sauce
Stirfry greens with shrimp paste.

We added from the a la carte menu:
Pineapple fried rice ($78)
Shrimp Cakes ($55)
Pineapple + Mango frosty x 2 (drinks)

Papaya salad lacked the chill (room temp) but the balance of flavour made up for it-- a perfect balance of lime juice, fish sauce and just the right crunch with toasted peanuts. The platter, you can forget about it. Oysters are very bready while chicken satay suffered from overcooking. Spring Rolls' filling didn't have vermicelli noodles and carrots, instead filled with an unrecognizable thick paste that might have been something starchy (my guess-- ube or yam)-- doesn't seem very spring to me either.

Shrimp cakes are execellent. Crispy on the outside and actually tasted like shrimps, unlike most in other Thai restaurants. Beef is overcooked cubes and doesn't have the texture of sirloin as the menu boasted; The greens are crisp and not too salty. Pineapple fried rice is not very fried and aside from not-plump raisins and some mixed vegetables there is nothing in it that you can call "flavours", and please, the pineapple appearance is all an act. Don't be surprised if they reuse that little shell.

But what's the worst there was, the Tiger prawns. The meat is soft I wished I could've sent it back. You can almost feel the meat decomposing in front of you. Absolutely awful. No wonder they need such a strong sauce to cover it up. (and adding to that, we all had the runs this morning, and we're sticking by it's the shrimp..even if it's just one bite)

One thing though, is the serving tray that the waiters deliver your dishes. Guess where they put it? Right BEHIND the cupboard ON THE FLOOR! (when not in use) At one point we see the manager "kicked" the tray back to where it belonged...speaking of hygiene!

The service here is not as bad as reviewed previously, but it's not good. It took forever to wait for anything at all. Hygiene wise, it's poor. Quality of food needs a big deal of improvement. Certainly looks like the old I-Thai has disappeared with the old renovation, only the now crowded and mediocre restaurant remains.