Nasty ass Pakarang (not Parakang) in Providence, RI
Seriously folks this place was NASTY.
Just remember the name: Parakang, accent on the first A.
Do not go there unless you don't know anything about Thai food or good food in general.
Okay, it wasn't horrible. It was just very very okay. Before I get to the food, here are more reasons why I didn't like the place:
1) The menu was very short
2) They cost more than Sawaddee (My favorite Thai restaurant)
3) service was slow
The only good thing I can say about this place is that it was a large restaurant with hardly any customers...hmmmm, I wonder why.
Here's what I ordered:
Salmon and Ginger-yes, it was Salmon and ginger, but where's the "Thai" in this dish? It was bad, nasty and my stomach hurts now. Maybe I was expecting too much since everyone was raving about it. Plus they got an award for "Best Thai Food" in 2005. Yeah, that's 2005, and it wasn't like they got an award for 2004. Also, who's rating these places anyway? How do I know that this person rating this restaurant knows what s/he is talking about?
M-- got beef basil which was better tasting than my dish, but it was only good because it was yummy cow (dinner table talk was about slaughtering cows and killing chickens and knocking fish on the head).
Tom Yum soup was wack, W-A-C-K wack! It had too much sugar and the fish sauce was too strong. There was a lack of "sour" in the "hot & sour" soup.
The iced coffee wasn't bad, then again it's hard to mess up on iced coffee.
I told M-- that I no longer trusted non-Asian views on Asian food because honestly I don't think they've had enough to really compare what's great or not. Seriously though, I'm not trying to be racist or racial, but don't you think Asians know a lot more about Asian food since we eat it a lot more than American food? See, this is how we Asians see it. If we're trying to see if a restaurant is worth going to we survey the crowd and if we see a bunch of Asians we usually go in, but if we hardly see anything we run.
There was this restaurant in Oakland's Chinatown that served noodles. That place was always busy. 98 percent of their customers were loyal Asians, but 2 percent were loyal Americans (whites/blacks).
So what I'm trying to say is that Sawaddee is hands down better than Parakang. Someone said that she thought Sawaddee have down hill, but no I don't think so lady. Their pad Thai is so much better than Apsara (an Asian restaurant that she claims have better pad Thai). A restaurant that also serves Chinese, Viet and Cambodia food doesn't know that much about Thai food.
Sorry no picture, but don't worry they didn't do a good job on the presentation.
Just remember the name: Parakang, accent on the first A.
Do not go there unless you don't know anything about Thai food or good food in general.
Okay, it wasn't horrible. It was just very very okay. Before I get to the food, here are more reasons why I didn't like the place:
1) The menu was very short
2) They cost more than Sawaddee (My favorite Thai restaurant)
3) service was slow
The only good thing I can say about this place is that it was a large restaurant with hardly any customers...hmmmm, I wonder why.
Here's what I ordered:
Salmon and Ginger-yes, it was Salmon and ginger, but where's the "Thai" in this dish? It was bad, nasty and my stomach hurts now. Maybe I was expecting too much since everyone was raving about it. Plus they got an award for "Best Thai Food" in 2005. Yeah, that's 2005, and it wasn't like they got an award for 2004. Also, who's rating these places anyway? How do I know that this person rating this restaurant knows what s/he is talking about?
M-- got beef basil which was better tasting than my dish, but it was only good because it was yummy cow (dinner table talk was about slaughtering cows and killing chickens and knocking fish on the head).
Tom Yum soup was wack, W-A-C-K wack! It had too much sugar and the fish sauce was too strong. There was a lack of "sour" in the "hot & sour" soup.
The iced coffee wasn't bad, then again it's hard to mess up on iced coffee.
I told M-- that I no longer trusted non-Asian views on Asian food because honestly I don't think they've had enough to really compare what's great or not. Seriously though, I'm not trying to be racist or racial, but don't you think Asians know a lot more about Asian food since we eat it a lot more than American food? See, this is how we Asians see it. If we're trying to see if a restaurant is worth going to we survey the crowd and if we see a bunch of Asians we usually go in, but if we hardly see anything we run.
There was this restaurant in Oakland's Chinatown that served noodles. That place was always busy. 98 percent of their customers were loyal Asians, but 2 percent were loyal Americans (whites/blacks).
So what I'm trying to say is that Sawaddee is hands down better than Parakang. Someone said that she thought Sawaddee have down hill, but no I don't think so lady. Their pad Thai is so much better than Apsara (an Asian restaurant that she claims have better pad Thai). A restaurant that also serves Chinese, Viet and Cambodia food doesn't know that much about Thai food.
Sorry no picture, but don't worry they didn't do a good job on the presentation.
Labels: Restaurant Reviews
posted by thinkingaboutwhattoeatnext at 10:38 PM
3 Comments:
FYI, that's Pakarang. They (weakly) sell themselves as 'Asian Fusion', not so much 'Authentic Thai'. Still, meh.
You gotta watch those 'Best in RI' awards. They are voted by native Rhode Islanders in Rhode Island Monthly magazine.
Native Rhode Islanders do not have the most sophisticated tastes. I find if it's any form of foreign food, RI Monthly awards are signs of inadequacy, not quality.
Don in Prov.
Hey, you have a great blog here! I'm definitely going to bookmark you!
I have a nenas site. It pretty much coversnenasrelated stuff.
Come and check it out if you get time :-)
hey Cronaca thanks for the comment. Sorry I didn't post it until now (May 15th)...I've been mia from this food blog for a long time. Maybe I'll update today.
Sorry to hear about the waiter spilling food on your 3-year-old. I hope it wasn't hot food.
Not having a good Asian restaurant in Providence is SO unwelcoming! I can't wait to be back in California...fresh produce! more selection! May 31, 2007! Cali here I come! I'll miss Providence for other reasons besides their horrible Asian restaurants (Sakura being the worst of the worst).
Post a Comment
<< Home