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Cozy Thai Bistro? More Like Lazy Thai Bistro Friday night came and I was ready to go out and eat. The first thing I did was look u !sian restaurants. I wasn"t e# ecting to find any Thai restaurants here in $tate College %ut to my sur rise& the 'Cozy Thai Bistro( was one of the first on the list. I don"t necessarily trust re)iews& %ut I decided to look at eo le"s o inions on this restaurant. Thai food is my fa)orite !sian food& may%e e)en my fa)orite food o)erall. I didn"t want to risk going to a mediocre lace& or worse& a lace that would make me want to regurgitate my food onto the chef. The re)iews were mainly ositi)e and I was )ery hungry. $o I got my stuff together and was on my merry way to the restaurant. I e# ected it to %e as good& or %etter& than the Thai restaurants I had )isited in the ast. *es& I had )ery high e# ectations. +ere those e# ectations met? ,ot in the least. I")e %een to many Thai restaurants in the ast. -ach time& I ha)e %een satisfied. -ach time& I feel like it"s %etter than the last. That"s how scrum tious it is. .ust the thought of it makes my mouth water. /ne e# erience when I wasn"t as leased& the food was still delicious. 0owe)er& the Cozy Thai left a %ad taste in my mouth. I shouldn"t e)en gi)e it that much credit. It didn"t lea)e any taste in mouth. There was no fla)or. +hat makes Thai food so delicious is the fla)or. ,ow don"t get my wrong& the Cozy Thai wasn"t terri%le& %ut it wasn"t great like it should")e %een. Let me start from where I left off. I was on my merry way to the restaurant. The location of the restaurant is great. It"s close to the middle of downtown& making it easy to go with friends and to get a 1uick deli)ery if you want take2out. The atmos here is welcoming. I can see why they call it 'cozy.( It"s )ery s acious and the decor is )ery calming. The seats are like couches. The ta%les are )ery %ig and wide& almost too %ig& %ut that"s nothing to com lain a%out. Candles are set on e)ery ta%le for a romantic& late night mood. The walls are ainted with an earthy tone.

It"s definitely a good lace to take someone s ecial. But where was the %eautiful Thai art? +here were the authentic Thai dishes and sil)erware? +here was the %eautiful soothing Thai music? -)ery Thai restaurant I had %een too included all of these attri%utes. The restaurant is o%)iously %eautiful %ut there is nothing to signify that it is actually a Thai restaurant. It could easily %e an Italian or Me#ican restaurant. 0owe)er& this isn"t something that should cause you to lea)e& 4ust something to think a%out considering the Cozy Thai claims to %e an 'authentic Thai restaurant.( I was still )ery e#cited to eat what they ser)ed. I almost drooled on the menu as I looked at the ictures. I saw my fa)orite dish& the 5ad Thai& %ut I wanted to try something new. The first thing I searched for was the duck menu. But there was no duck menu. 0ow can you ha)e Thai food without duck? I also noticed they didn"t ha)e a )ariety of meat. There should %e a chicken menu& duck menu& seafood menu& ork menu& %eef menu& and )egeta%le menu. 0ere& there was only a )egetarian section and meat section. That was the first mistake. I didn"t make a %ig deal of it& duck is fattening anyway. But I also noticed that many of the most o ular Thai dishes and meals weren"t on the list. +here was the Tom 6ha 7ai sou ? +here was the sa)ory $weet and $our Chicken? 0owe)er& I looked o)er that as well. I decided to start with an a etizer and sou . I had gone with a friend so I thought we could share. +e ordered the s ring rolls. They tasted like the kind sold at the grocery store that you take out of the freezer and ut in the o)en. They weren"t e)en hot. +hen food isn"t hot when it"s ser)ed to me& I worry. Then came the sou . This wasn"t e)en warm8 it was lukewarm at %est and that"s 4ust %eing nice. It tasted like chicken noodle sou that my mom makes at home& and trust me& that"s nothing to %rag a%out.

I started to worry a%out what the actual meal would taste like. I had settled on the drunken noodles with chicken. The icture made them look %eautiful and delicious& %ut from the e# erience I 4ust had& I didn"t know what to e# ect. !t all the other Thai restaurants I")e %een to& it takes at least twenty minutes to re are the food %ecause they take their time using fresh ingredients. 0ere& it only took a%out ten. I want my food 1uick& %ut not that 1uick. The noodles looked drowned in sauce. I was e# ecting some wetness as indicated %y the name& %ut this was too much. !dditionally& there were %arely any )egeta%les. Thai food& and !sian food in general& uses a large 1uantity and )ariety of )egeta%les in their dishes. The main ones I")e seen used include red& yellow and green e ers& onions& carrots& and %roccoli& at the least. The dishes are usually filled with color from the )egeta%les alone. There was no color on my late. The icture was definitely false ad)ertising. !s soon as the first noodle touched my tongue& I was already disa ointed. First of all& it was lukewarm& it wasn"t hot at all. $econdly& it was too wet& like I sus ected from looking at it. Thirdly& there was no s ice& no s ice at all. The main reason I ordered the drunken noodles was %ecause right %y the name was a small icon stating that this dish would %e )ery s icy. I discussed how the sou had no fla)or earlier. The sou wasn"t su osed to %e s icy& 4ust

fla)orful& so I had no com laints a%out the lack of s iciness. But where was the s iciness in the main dish? -)ery Thai restaurant I")e %een to has had )ery s icy food. -)en when not indicated& there"s usually some kind of s ice in the dish. The main com onent of Thai food is taste and fla)or. They like to enhance the taste senses which include s icy& sweet& sour& salty& and %itter. !ll I tasted at the Cozy Thai was %land& %oring& watery& %land& and %oring. It"s like the cooks got lazy and decided '+e"ll make Thai food& without the Thai.( I"m not %laming the catastro he on the fact that %arely any Thai eo le work there. There are eo le of different

nationalities that are a%le to make Thai food the way it"s su

osed to %e. I"m %laming it on their osed to

laziness in re aring a dish correctly. It"s like they didn"t research what Thai food is su taste like. The name of the restaurant %eing Cozy Thai Bistro should ha)e hinted at the

inauthenticity. +hen has %istro %een connected with Thai food? But they clearly state that they ser)e authentic Thai food& so that"s what I e# ected. I will say that the ser)ice was great. /ur waiter knew e#actly when to refill my water and he didn"t %other us with silly 1uestions a%out how we were doing. The rices were reasona%le& for a good restaurant. !t the 'Thai /rchidee&( my fa)orite Thai restaurant& the rices are definitely much higher. But I"m okay with that. I"d rather ay a lot for an e#tremely delicious& satisfying& mouth2watering& ne)er2want2it2to2end meal& than a reasona%le amount for a lackluster meal. ;eally& the Cozy Thai should only %e charging <= dollars and under for the food they ser)e instead of <> and u . There was no fla)or& there were no fresh )egeta%les& there was no )ariety& there was no authenticity. For lo)ers of Thai food& don"t waste time at the Cozy Thai& unless you"re des erate for !sian food. The Cozy Thai is definitely not the worst lace I")e e)er eaten at& %ut it is the worst Thai lace I")e e)er eaten at.