Thai Diner Gets Three Stars (Business Lunch)

Fayetteville’s fourth Thai restaurant recently opened, so we decided to give it a try. Apparently, you can’t have too many Thai eateries in the Ozarks.

Thai Diner is in a building that has been home to many restaurants, from a Kentucky Fried Chicken to Micki’s Cafe.

The new owners have done a good job decorating the place. It feels much more like a Thai restaurant than a fried chicken eatery, but it’s not really a diner in the strict sense of the definition (that is, resembling a railroad dining car).

We started off with egg rolls and crab angels for appetizers. The egg rolls ($3.25 for three) were described in the menu as “made fresh daily delicately fried vegetarian spring rolls.” We enjoyed every bite.

The crab angels ($3.25 for four) were described in the menu as handmade with “crab, cream cheese and spices in a fried wonton.” They were also good but a bit more cream cheesy than we expected.

For entrees, we ordered three Thai lunch specials.

The chicken noodle bowl ($6) was good and filling. It consists of a boneless chicken breast on a bed of rice noodles in a lemon curry sauce. It is topped with bean sprouts and romaine lettuce. The chicken was tender and tasty. The dish came with more noodles than we could eat. But the curry sauce left the diner who had this entree a bit queazy for the rest of the afternoon.

While generous in portion, the Thai noodle with chicken ($6.50) just wasn’t that good. The noodles are bathed in a generous peanut sauce which lends itself to a greasy taste. It is served with bean sprouts and a type of slaw. The chicken was tasty, though, along with the scallions and egg mixed within the noodles.

The roasted duck with red curry sauce ($6.50), considered one of Thai Diner’s most popular dishes, was ordered by one member of our group. Several pieces of de-boned, marinated duck were smothered in a red curry sauce. Kiffir leaf pineapple and tomato slices were tossed into the mix, too.

“Duck meat is one of my favorites, and this was the first time I had ever had it like this,” said the diner. “The sauce and the tomatoes were especially tasty.”

For dessert, we ordered the sliced mango on a bed of sweet rice ($4) for two of us. One diner (with an admitted sweet tooth) said it was great. The other thought it was too sweet.