DINING OUT: Thai Love NY

Thai Restaurant Dishes Up Feast of Flavors in Mattydale

By Julie McMahon

 

For a hearty meal punctuated by bursts of flavors, Thai Love NY in Mattydale delivers.

We opened our meal at the cozy Thai joint with raspberry milk tea ($4.50) and Thai iced coffee ($4.50), both of which were creamy and smooth with a lot of flavor. The raspberry was very sweet but very delicious, almost like a shortcake in a glass. Layers of raspberry sauce, milk and whipped cream made this a delicious start to the meal.

The Thai iced coffee was also good, with a lot of flavor, warm spices and a good amount of sweetness. For these drinks, you definitely need to have a sweet tooth, but if you do you’re in for a treat.

For our appetizer, we ordered the coconut shrimp ($13). The first thing we noticed was it was nice that the tails were removed to make for an easy eating experience. The texture of the crispy coconut outside a tender and juicy shrimp served with a sweet and tangy dipping sauce all together made for a delectable beginning to the meal. We loved the flavor and texture.

The service was great, quick and attentive with a good environment throughout. Lots of plants and colorful walls and décor brightened up the wooden benches without being distracting. Nearby, as we ate, the kitchen made a dish incorrectly for the table seated next to us. The customers did have to wait quite awhile before the dish came out correctly, but the servers were effusive in their apologies and in trying to make it right for them.

For mains, we had a hard time narrowing things down, especially with such an expansive menu, complete with tempting photos of the dishes offered.

We opted for the classic Pad Thai with tofu ($19), medium spice. This came out with the perfect heat and strong peanut flavor. The texture was sticky and saucy, the tofu was perfectly cooked to a nice crispy texture on the outside. The tofu was not too moist when you bit into each chunk. The whole dish was flavored really well with seasoning and the components of the dish. It was composed for you, meaning this wasn’t a make-your-own dish where the sprouts, lime and chili flakes were all separated. Instead, they were all incorporated into the dish together, each bite chef-curated and lived up to the high expectations we had for the Pad Thai. We even remarked that this would be our go-to spot for the dish in the Central New York area going forward.

We also ordered the yellow curry with chicken ($19), medium spice, served with white rice. The flavors in this dish too were well blended together, yet you were able to get the distinct taste of each of the ingredients: the chicken, the potatoes and the carrots. The taste of each came yet it was a balanced dish with appropriate spice level. This was also very yummy.

We’d be remiss not to mention at this point that the portions are very large, and we were already headed toward taking much of our meal home.

Yet, when ordering we hadn’t been able to resist trying the pineapple fried rice ($23), served, yes, inside half of a pineapple! We ordered ours with vegetables and mild spice, both decisions we later regretted. When the dish was served, it came out in the pineapple, with another large bowl full of the fried rice on the side as well. The rice was absolutely loaded with vegetables, mostly broccoli, bok choy and cabbage. While I appreciated the sentiment of bulking up the dish, the blend of veggies just didn’t really do anything for us. Plus, the seasoning was too mild or even non existent.

Unlike with the other dishes, there wasn’t a pop of flavor blended nicely throughout the dish; instead this was rather bland. Perhaps if we’d ordered more heat, we would have enjoyed the dish more, but it still seemed to be lacking a sauce or other seasoning that would bring the dish to life. The rice did have pops of pineapple and tomato, but they were simply chunks distributed throughout. A pineapple-tomato sweet and sour sauce would have brightened this particular dish.

Still, we ended the meal on a high note, with an order of the limoncello flute ($12), which came out just how it sounds: a champagne flute layered with lemon gelato and lemon curd with whipped cream. This was so good – lemony and delicious. We were very full, but both remarked that we didn’t regret ordering dessert since this was so light and airy.

At $103, the price point was what we expected. We got a lot of food, and Thai Love NY was overall a great experience that felt worth the cost to enjoy a bountiful meal, which also provided us with leftovers for days. We had a good experience dining in, but would also definitely consider this a take-out spot, too. We’ll be back for sure.

 

Thai Love NY

2822 Lemoyne Ave., Syracuse, N.Y. 13211

315-928-5659   |   www.thailoveny.com

Tuesday  – Friday, 11 a.m. – 8 p.m.   |   Saturday – Sunday, 4 – 8 p.m.