Two Thai restaurants, or why I do not trust guidebooks
19 Aug
Our destination was The valley of the Temples, and the traffic from Waikiki to Kaneohe was brutal. It would clear up for a minute, and we’d start rolling slowly, but then it was bumper to bumper again for the next 10 miles. We got there at 6 PM, The Valley, and with it the temples were closed. “We’re closed ya all” said the very friendly girl at the gate with a huge smile, as if she was delivering great news. Really wished it said that the “Valley” closed at 5PM in our guide book.
I am not a fan of guidebooks- I prefer to do my research on line, read a few indie travel blogs, a few restaurant review sites, check out tripadvisor for good measure and call it a day. This book was laying around our hotel room, I picked it up, and got into it- It was a new way to navigate for me, all the info in one place, pretty pictures and maps (which I could not for the life of me figure out). Needless to say I got a bit addicted to the convenience, and got lazy on my research. Today ” Oahu Revealed” by Andrew Doughty 3rd edition has let me down by not providing “hours” for the “Valley”, and we took a very long drive for pretty much nothing. I know it’s the journey and not the destination, but I did want to see the temples!
We were in Kaneohe, it was getting late, and we were starved. We needed something close, quick and good to make up for the disappointment of our journey. Seemed like “good” was pretty much out of the question. The restaurant selections in Kaneohe that suit our taste were pretty slim. But quick, decent and inexpensive was an option- Andrew Doughty recommended Chao Phya Thai, stating that the restaurant had good selection, good service with “good size” portions and very reasonable prices. And so to Chao Phya we went. To say the place did not impress me upon entrance is a huge understatement. Depressing is the word that comes to mind. There were two tables of two occupied in a restaurant with roughly 30 tables. The decor was outdated with faded foam green tableclotes, and faded pink napkins, the staff seemed sleepy. The hostess sat us, and threw the three menus together at the corner of the table. It’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine- why not hand the menues to each of the customers, or at least place them in front of each person? But i tried not to mind- after all we weren’t at an upscale restaurant, we wanted quick and decent, and here we were. My husband returned from the restroom saying “So, this place got a good review in your guide book? Can I see it please?”. Of course I asked why, and he replied that he walked past the kitchen twice and did not like what he saw at all. The place did not look clean to him. “Do we have any other options?” I looked at our friend, who seemed to be in agreement with his sentiments, and we apologised and walked out.
We drove to Kailua, the next town over, and thought we would just look for a restaurant that struck our fancy. Instead we stopped by Fromaggio’s, which got an excellent review from Andrew, and my husband who was really set on eating Thai food seemed to be endlessesly disappointed. “Is there no good Thai place in town?” What about this one?” Incidentally there was a Thai place next door “Saeng’s Thai”. Andrew’s review of Saeng must be quoted here-
“If you are in Kailua, and looking for excellent Thai food, you are outta luck. The food is not exactly good, the service is not exactly good, the restaurant is not exactly good. Guess that about covers it” He goes on to say that as awful as the place is, it’s better than the only other Thai option in town.
I read the review outloud, and all 3 of us chuckled. ” I don’t trust this guy after he recommended this Cho Phuya place” I want to check out Saeng”. Never try to stop a hungry determined man looking for Thai food, and we meekly followed Ruslan to Saeng’s. It was Tuesday night, and the restaurant was pretty full. The decor was nice with a gorgeous carved wood Thai bar, several beautiful statues, traditional tapestry- a nice consistent Thai theme. At this point we knew we were eating here. The waitress was lovely, all smiles, and very attentive. We ordered a Thai coconut soup and summer rolls for appetizers, and I stuck with my motto ” in unknown Thai restaurant- order pad thai”. The Summer rolls were a bit of a disappointment, though they got eaten. The soup was one of the best i’ve had- or maybe I was just really, really hungry. My pad thai was also good, great flavor combination, well cooked noodles, not too sweet. We really enjoyed our dinner- it turned out that : “the restaurant was pretty good, the service was pretty good, and the food was certainly pretty good”
Lesson learned- people have very unique perceptions of places and things, and that is the reason why I like to read MANY reviews before selecting a restaurant/hotel/spa. Also the more blogs and reviews you read the more savvy you get in deciphering which ones are of importance to you personally, and which ones are written by people whom you have very different tastes/perceptions/priorities with. For instance I remember reading great reviews for a hotel, except one traveller who gave it 1 star based on the fact the ‘the elevator was slow”. I just can’t imagine myself paying attention to something as minute as that, and having it change my opinion of the hotel. So get a guide book if you must, but research, read, see, compare… In other words- Be a savvy traveller
