The ra of rabo went to Muse Thai Bistro (Siam Orchid). Although, we've both been to this restaurant numerous times prior to the beginning of this blog. We'll try to comment on our (multiple) experiences there.
Let's start off with the name of this restaurant. The name of the restaurant is Muse Thai Bistro. However, you would never know it until you got to the door of the restaurant and read the sign that says "Effective July 1, 2010, Siam Orchid is now called Muse Thai Bistro." If you were driving down Second St in Manchester, looking for the sign of "Muse Thai Bistro," you would never find the place because the awning outside (now 8 months later) still says "Siam Orchid." In fact, almost everything inside the restaurant besides the check print-outs and the shirts of the employees also says "Siam Orchid."
Which brings us slightly off-topic into a discussion on why restaurants change their names. If a restaurant goes out of business and another restaurant (different cuisine, etc.) replaces it, then a name change is almost expected. If a restaurant keeps the same cuisine, but changes ownership, then a name change is also understandable. However, to the naked eye,
nothing about Siam Orchid has changed. The waitstaff are the same people. The menus are the same. Even the
business cards are the same - they still say Siam Orchid! The only reasonable explanation to me is if there was some sort of tax benefit to the owner by "closing" Siam Orchid and "opening" a new restaurant (alas in the same location....potentially a loophole...) named "Muse Thai Bistro." Did they get a tax break because the restaurant "went out of business," and then
another tax break because they opened a new business? One can only speculate on this.
Regardless of the name of the restaurant, the Thai food at Muse Thai Bistro is quite good - probably the best Thai food you will find in the Granite State. The restaurant has won numerous "Best of NH - Thai food" and other such local awards for multiple years, and we believe that the awards are well-deserved.
I feel like you can judge the quality of the Thai food at a Thai food restaurant by the quality of the Pad Thai. If they can't get that very basic dish right, then there's no point in going through the rest of the menu. The Pad Thai at Siam Orchid is excellent. In fact, all of the food that we've ordered has always been fresh and well-prepared. In our multiple experiences at Siam Orchid, we've ordered:
- Fresh rolls
- Steamed Mussels
- Gyoza Dumplings (more on these later...)
- Tom Yum Noodle Soup
- Wild Boar Basil
- Gaprow Beef
- Mango Curry
- Pad Thai
- Crispy Chili Soft Shell Crab
- Numerous alcoholic beverages
The fresh rolls are excellent, and we've ordered them on multiple occasions. These rolls are not your typical Chinese-style fried spring roll. They are shrimp, vermicelli noodles, and vegetables wrapped in a soft rice paper, cut into bite-size (sushi-like) pieces, and served with a hoisin/peanut sauce. Fresh rolls are best eaten with chopsticks, yet whenever we order them, chopsticks are not provided. The waitstaff delivers the food, and then quickly turns and moves to whatever other tables they are serving before we even realize that we don't have the proper utensils. So, we sit and wait until we can get their attention again (this can be up to 10 minutes), and then they promptly provide us with chopsticks. On the positive side, fresh rolls are not served warm, so this delay does not hinder the food's quality. While we understand why the restaurant may not provide chopsticks at every place setting (i.e. the majority of their clientle prefer to eat with forks, and they don't want to waste money providing chopsticks and then having to throw them out unused when clearing the table due to health codes), the waitstaff should at least
ask if the customer wants chopsticks before running for the hills.
We've also ordered the steamed mussels and the gyoza dumplings for appetizers. The mussels themselves are large (some of the largest mussels we've ever seen - where do they get these from?) and they are nicely seasoned, but the portion size is somewhat small compared to other mussel appetizers we've had at other restaurants. If you plan to order the mussels thinking that it is a good "sharing" appetizer for two, you may be disappointed. We would suggest that you order a second sharable appetizer, as we did once by also ordering the gyoza (pork) dumplings. However, what arrived at our table was not the gyoza dumplings, but (more likely) the Pearl (chive) dumplings. We're not quite sure where the mistake was made - by the waitstaff or by the kitchen, but we were a little disappointed in the error. Not only were the Pearl dumplings very plain tasting (they only had a mild chive flavoring), but they cost $1 more than the gyoza dumplings. Needless to say, we won't order
any type of dumpling there again.
Onto the main course: as previously discussed, the Pad Thai at Muse Thai Bistro is excellent. There is an almost perfect sauce-to-noodle ratio, a ratio which many other restaurants do not get correct (leaving the noodles flavorless and dry). The portion of noodles is quite substantial, leaving even the hungriest person quite satisfied. One thing to note is that the "Pad Thai" here is served with both shrimp and chicken. However, the menu shows two separate prices - one for "Chicken only" and one for "Chicken and Shrimp." If you just say "Pad Thai," you will most likely get the more expensive "Chicken and Shrimp" version, so be sure to state "Chicken Pad Thai" if that's what you want. Once, a woman at a nearby table ordered a Pad Thai with chicken only. However, when it arrived, it had both chicken and shrimp in it (again, I'm not sure if this was a waitstaff error or a kitchen error). So, the woman called the waitstaff over and made sure that they knew not to charge her for the chicken and shrimp version because that's not what she ordered (she was ok with having shrimp in the dish, but she didn't want to be charged for something that she didn't request). The waitstaff acknowledged the error and (I presume) didn't charge her for the shrimp. However, if you have any type of food allergy....please be extra cautious, as "extras" might show up in your dish, even when you make a special request!
A quick run-down of the other menu items we've had:
- Tom Yum Noodle Soup: Served as expected - not as spicy as expected, but then again, this item does not contain any "spicy stars" on the menu.
- Wild Boar Basil: Too much boar (pork) and not enough vegetables. The dish comes with mushrooms, but that's the only vegetable, and it could benefit from something else - onions? peppers? corn? There's only so much meat and rice you can eat in one sitting.
- Gaprow Beef: The dish was prepared as expected - on the spicier side, but not too hot if you are used to spicy Asian foods.
- Mango Curry: Very nice mango flavor. Not as spicy as expected, considering the "2 spicy stars" shown on the menu, but it contains a nice mixture of meats, vegetables, and mango chunks.
- Crispy Chili Soft Shell Crab: Soft shell crab is a nice option that is not found on many menus these days. This dish was really quite spicy (you have been warned!), but similar to the Wild Boar Basil dish, it would benefit from having some vegetables or other "filler" to go along-side the crab.
Onto the drinks: we've ordered a wide variety of beverages (some alcoholic, some non-alcoholic) at Muse Thai Bistro. The restaurant has a fully-stocked bar, so you should not be afraid to order your favorite beverage. However, you might be afraid of whatever arrives at the table. The waitstaff at the restaurant are also the bartenders, which generally means that any "mix to order" drinks may vary widely in quality depending on who is making it. We have had pretty good luck with the frozen beverages (i.e. strawberry daquiri), but not such good luck with the other mixed drinks (i.e. martinis). If you want to be sure of what you are getting, order something that is bottled, such as a soda or beer - they'll bring the can over to your table so you know it has not been tampered with.
Service at Muse Thai Bistro is generally good and relatively fast. However, there have been some issues in getting what you ordered (discussed above) and in getting the waitstaff's attention when you need something. The restaurant has about a dozen tables plus bar seating, all of which are served by (about) two people. On busy evenings, you can expect that you will not receive any more attention than taking your order, delivering your food to the table, and providing your bill. Keep in mind that the waitstaff is not only taking orders and delivering food, but also busing tables, seating new parties, cashing out bills, answering the phone for take out orders, and making drinks. This generally does not bother us, because we're never really in a rush, but if you're the type of person who wants to easily get the attention of the waitstaff throughout the meal, you might be a little frustrated.
Cleanliness of the front part of the restaurant is generally good. We have had a fork with some leftover food on it once, but we got it replaced without an issue (again, it didn't bother us, but if you're more picky about these sorts of things...). The location of the restroom is strange - customers have to walk down a hallway containing random restaurant things, like 12-packs of soda, milk cartons, etc. before finding the single-serve restroom at the back of the building. Our recommendation: use the restroom at home (or somewhere else) before you eat here. The restroom itself is clean, but the fact that you have to walk down a messy, somewhat dingy hallway before getting there makes us feel a little weird.
Other random comments about Muse Thai Bistro:
- They also offer their full menu for take-out/delivery. When you call, don't be surprised when they ask if you want take-out for the Manchester location. My first thought is "Yes, that's why I called here." But, they actually have a reasonable explanation for this question: they also have a Concord NH location (alas, this restaurant is still called "Siam Orchid"!), so they've probably received calls from people further north, who then never pick up their food because they didn't realize they called the Manchester location.
- The restaurant is in a strip-mall that (like most strip malls) shares its parking with the adjacent businesses. The parking lot is really quite dangerous. I have seen many close-calls with people backing out of parking spots and other cars driving by and not noticing. There's also other "child-friendly" businesses in the strip mall, and when parents let their kids run around like crazy in an already dangerous parking lot, accidents are bound to happen. Just be sure to have your wits about you when trying to park or to leave the lot.
- The restaurant is NOT open on Mondays! We discovered this once, and were quite disappointed.
- Consider going there for lunch - most dishes are $1-3 less in price at lunchtime. We have never been there for lunch, so we can't say whether or not the portions are also smaller.
Overall Rating (Muse Thai Bistro): 7 out of 10
Positive: Excellent food
Negative: Service needs to improve to minimize ordering errors and to increase attention on tables. Consider hiring a bartender to improve mixed drink quality.
