date: 2/15/09
location: minneapolis
grade:a-/b+ (group), c- (mine)

sen yai sen lek ('big noodle, little noodle') is a surprisingly packed thai place in the part of central avenue most of the time you don't get to (i.e. past surdyks/brasa... and hey, it's not like i get out this way either). it's very neighborhoody in a good way- we went on their first anniversary and they were donating part of the proceeds for local charities and giving a free dessert for bringing in food shelf donations. it's also family friendly (how many thai places you know have a kids selection?) and had the most kids we've ever seen in a place during a restaurant club outing.

the decor is fresh and modern and stands out in the more divey places that seem to strech on for many miles of that stretch of road. you may even have a local celeb sighting like we did there (john munson of the new stanards, semisonic. trip shakespeare and whatever he's calling his collaboration with matt wilson now....). they source locally and emphasize freshness and lack of preservatives down to the corn-syrup free sodas.

it's got a lot going for it, and it's very likeable in general. it reminds me of satay 2 go for some reason with a bit of noodles and company thrown in. not your average twin cities thai place. the general consensus (barring me) was that the food was quite good (a, a-). from what i tasted, i think the ped see iew gai ("stir fry wide rice noodles with sweet soy, marinated chicken and chinese broccoli" $9.95) was the most impressively flavored, but i favor a more sweet sauce.

the most impressively scented and best looking was the pad woon sen ("glass bean thread noodle stir fry with chicken and shrimp combination, carrots, peapods, egg and onion, $11.95) that had some nice curry going for it. the person got it with tofu instead of chicken and shrimp (it was still $11.95, which seems odd to me.... does tofu cost as much as chicken and shrimp?) and it still worked. a lot of dishes on their menu work with tofu or mock duck replacing the main protein. they also have gluten-free options, apparently.

i can't speak directly regarding the rest of the dishes (can't/won't eat) mostly but the pad kee mow ("stir fry wide rice noodles with garlic, thai chilies, thai basil, tomato and onion" with pork or chicken $9.95) was reportedly grade a material coming from someone who hates vegetables. the po pia sod ("fresh thai spring rolls with cucumber, chinese sausage, bean sprouts, egg and green onion. served with tamarind sauce" $5.50) was good. i did tasted the rice and a bit of sauce in the yum goong ("spicy shrimp salad with cilantro, mint, lemongrass, and onion in a lime dressing" $10.95) and both were impressive.

oh, and the beverage run through... lion stout ($5), singha ($5), surly furious ($6), loimer rose ($7), ginger ale ($2.50).

and now... yes... you know what's coming. how many people are completely surprised that my dinner wasn't as good as everyone else's? (hmm, i seem to hear crickets out there...)

i went with my usual standard first dish at a thai place... the pad thai, or in this case pad thai goong ("stir fry rice stick noodles with shrimp and tofu, peanuts, bean sprouts, and green onion" $11.95, i got the chicken instead of shrimp, it was $9.95). my theory is that if you can't do that well, you probably can't do other dishes well. which pretty much was the exact opposite in this case- they didn't do this well, they did the rest of the food well.

but it tasted fresh, but the dish was mostly noodles and bean sprouts- i saw nary a green onion, there was a few bits of tofu, a few bits of chicken, and some egg (not mentioned) plus a small pile of peanuts and a tiny bit of lemon. admittedly the dish did not list sauce as an ingredient, which turned out to be fairly accurate. it was still not the worst pad thai i've had, and the quality ingredients did save it from total failure (every get a pad thai that clumps? those are weird...). but after i stole the tamarind sauce leftover from the po pia sod and dumped it in, it was much better. still lacking, but better.

as for service, i do fault it because the overly busy servers seem to be a problem since the opening of the place a year ago (per many reviews). they've had time to fix it by now. it's not like they don't know they won't be busy. i waited 5 minutes at the door (with only one party in front of me) to have someone point me to a table when it wasn't even the busiest it was during the evening. there was a 10 minute wait for a menu after i sat down. i saw other tables with a gap between being seated and having a menu, too.

and for some reason, though they set the rest of the table, we never got the condiment racks on either of our tables (2 pushed together), which is an odd oversight. and the server seemed very surprised when someone asked what was good on the menu and was not entirely helpful with that. and when a plate was ordered to be split, they didn't bring another plate to do it, which was not so thoughtful. though hey, it wasn't just me... most people loved the food and thought the service left something to be desired (and they didn't have to wait as long as i).

we requested a pitcher and got one, so other than taking a long time to fill that again (we still had water), there was no problem with refill. and on the plus side, they didn't charge us the 18% tip for larger groups, which they could have.

is it a destination restaurant? perhaps if you're not laden with bad restaurant karma. and don't get the pad thai. i'd recommend takeout (via the more atmospheric bar) but by the time you get home the food would probably be cold.