Hillcrest Thai Restaurant Not the Best Service

Lotus Thai was voted "Best Thai Restaurant" by the San Diego CityBeat in 2004. However, that was three years ago, and although the food is excellent, service is shaky at best.

My friend and I decided to give Lotus Thai one more try. In the past we have experience extremely slow & forgetful service and tonight was no different. It was a Monday night and they were not overly crowded or busy, so that can't be blamed for the problem. No, I just don't think exceptional service is a passion at Lotus Thai.

We were greeted in a timely manner by one of the waitstaff. Although the restaurant has a hostess stand, there was no one dedicated to manning the station, so whoever happened to be closest was the one responsible for seating the guest. We were ushered to the last booth on the left side of the restaurant.

This restaurant is six years old and the owners have recently opened a sister restaurant located in the Gaslamp District. Décor seems to have been recently upgraded, with new fountains and interesting room dividers, and of course the traditional gold Buddha. Although visually lovely, the music piped in didn't fit the décor and style of the restaurant. A selection of "lite rock" was being piped in. I think we would have preferred something more traditional.

As we perused the menu, we discussed what we were going to order, as we were planning on sharing. We settled on the Panang Curry with Chicken, as that is our perennial favorite, but to start we ordered the Lotus Tapas Platter and Jasmine Tea.

When the tea arrived, we asked for sugar. The waiter stopped by with two spoons to stir the tea, but no sugar. After about three minutes my friend spied the sugar on the bar and went and fetched it for us. The tea was very good and definitely needed the sugar.

The Lotus Platter arrived in a timely manner and included Crispy Spring Rolls, Lady Fingers, Chicken Satay and Kra Thong-Tong. The Kra Thong-Tong is a little tart shaped delight with corn, peas and chicken. The Chicken Satay was moist and accompanied with a peanut dipping sauce. Crispy Spring Rolls were very tasty, but hot temperature wise and Lady Fingers were shrimp wrapped in a wonton wrapper and fried. All the items on the Lotus Platter were delicious.

Panang Curry with Chicken is a mandatory when we have Thai food, we always order that dish. And it is always served slightly different. Here at Lotus Thai, the Panang Curry includes kaffir lime leaves, coconut milk, pha-naeng curry paste, palm sugar, fish sauce, Thai basil leaves and a mix of green and red bell peppers with chicken. The rice is ala cart and we ordered brown. The brown rice adds a nice nutty-ness to the flavor of the curry. We were a tad worried as the waiter did not ask us what level of heat we wanted in the curry, fortunately it was the perfect level of heat. The curry did not disappoint, we were very happy with the dish.

In addition to a great Lunch Special, Lotus Thai offers an Early Bird Dinner from 5:00 - 6:30 pm Monday thru Thursday and Sunday. For $10.95 you get a three course meal, including Soup or Salad, Entrée and Ice Cream. That's a deal! Both the Hillcrest and Downtown restaurant feature Chef's Specialties, which look delicious. Will have to try the Roasted Duck Panang Curry sometime. Overall the food at Lotus Thai doesn't disappoint, if you can handle the sometimes-flaky service.