I’ve eaten at Bangkok Bistro twice, my first visit more successful than my second overall. I intially dined at Bangkok during lunch and partook in a lunch special sampler plate, which proved to be both an economic and gastronomic delight. A large sectioned plate arrived at my table overflowing with steaming pad thai—fragrant with fish sauce and lime; and sweet, creamy vegetable green churry laden with soft pieces of tofu. I was also pleasantly surprised by a dish of ground chicken and peanuts (larb) with a gingery and garlicky kick.

More recently, my dinner meal revealed that Bangkok is a reliable, above-average Thai standby, but I now jettison my initial love-at-first-bite impulse. Both I and my fellow diners began with gratis salads: I viewed them as the meal’s greatest disappointment. A flavorful peanuty dressing clung to one side of the plate while some cold not-so-fresh iceberg lettuce, fried bits of noodle, and a bird’s nest of fresh carrots sat sadly by it’s side. The salads were almost immediately followed by the garden roll appetizer as I had order, which for me serve a litmus test of solid thai or vietnamese food. Again, a solid showing here, but a very standard summer roll with some refreshing cilantro, a helping of chopped peanuts, and simply too many noodles. The dipping sauce was orange and gooey looking and not the peanuty sauce with a bite of chili that I had imagined, but tasty nonetheless. Finally, I was greeted by a plate of thai barbeque chicken, a far cry from the standard flavorless bits of dry chicken breast that appear so frequently in thai dishes. The chicken was whole, boned, and slightly fatty. It was clear that it had been sufficiently marinated and flavors of coconut milk and yellow curry emanated throughout, but it lacked the true barbequed char that I had expected. The highlight of dinner sat beside the chicken: a papaya salad with stringy bits of the green fruit and peanuts throughout the citrusy and salty dressing and small flecks of red chilis. The salad had both a freshness and a hotness, a welcome addition to the richer flavors of the meal. I happily washed down my meal with some japanese beer. In all likelihood, I will return.