3 /5
Rating
★
★
★
I’ve been eating at A1 Thai for roughly 34 years. It was by far my family’s favorite restaurant growing up. We used to stand in hour long lines over the weekend to get a table sometimes dining there 2 3 times a week. My family joked that we bought all their new TVs one year because we ate there so much. They were the best and no other Thai restaurant in the area came close to the food that was made in their kitchen. Last night, we visited A1 to find out that the restaurant is under new ownership. The menu has changed, the food has changed and with more changes being inevitable by an owner, everything you love about A1 Thai will be a thing of the past. The perfectly delicious and original A1 spring rolls (6 pieces) have been replaced by regular spring rolls (4 pieces) appetizers that can be found at any and all Thai restaurants and frozen food section at your grocery store. The hot sauce that usually accompanied our meals (when asked) has been replaced with mismatched brand packets of soy sauce, red chili flakes from an Italian restaurant and Mexican hot sauce. It was random and made absolutely no sense. With the exception of the soy sauce (that used to be in bottles) nothing else belonged on the table of a Thai restaurant. Gone are the days of delicious pre meal salads with chips and peanut dressing, the server walking around with white rice to serve you as your meal was brought to the table and five star heat. The once free salad is $2 (more if you don’t purchase a meal) and white rice is now $2 a bowl. The sizzling chicken is completely different than what has been served for 34 years. In short, the new owner has raised prices significantly all while taking away the “perks” that A1 has been known for since I was 9 years old. At the end of the meal, my kids were given Chinese fortune cookies which again (along with the red pepper flakes from the Italian restaurant and the Mexican hot sauce) doesn’t belong in a Thai restaurant. The only saving grace of the night was that it seemed as though the chefs are relatively the same (for now) and are making the staples (shrimp fried rice, pad Thai, curries) the way we are accustomed to. The father/son management duo are amazing and bring light into the restaurant. They are irreplaceable. All in all, we will continue to dine at A1 Thai once in a while until the new owner makes it impossible for us to go back. Change is good but in this case it is not. I’m sad to say that after over three decades, this may be the beginning of the end for our beloved A1 Thai.