Thread: Empire Thai

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  1. #27

    Why the Bad Rap?

    I've been living on Reconquista these days and have got to know all the places up and down Recon and San Martin.

    I've been hanging out lately at Empire Thai and I'm surprised at the bad reviews it gets on the board.

    OK, I've never been to Thailand, but I am from New York and I know a good Thai restaurant when I see one. Are there better Thai restaurants than ET? Yes. But the food here is fine and I don't understand the complaints. And as somebody wrote, it's a break from the pasta pizza parilla cuisine.

    It's a little pricey for Buenos Aires, but that just means you pay what you would pay anywhere else.

    Kevin the owner is a great raconteur and having a couple of beers there for happy hour is always pretty funny.

    His partner is Rosanna, a Chilean woman who has a sharp wit. I told the barmaid that I liked her sense of fashion and this got us onto a discussion of clothes and I told her that I really liked the blouse I had seen on a girl earlier in the day (a hooker at Cafe Orleans): it had only one long sleeve, the other arm was bare.

    I said I had never seen that before and she tells me that it was something Carolina Herrera had made popular in the past couple of years.

    Rosanna goes, yeah, but it was Daniel Scioli who invented it.

  2. #26

    Empire Thai. My opinion.

    Hi there Expats. This is my first post in the forums. I hope I do not break any of the forum guidelines and offend anyone because I really enjoy this website. I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion. I frequent Empire Thai at least twice a day every day and intend to spend a small fortune in the restaurant. This is my expat bar and I love it. The owner is a very good friend of mine. I live about 75 feet from the establishment and can always be found at the bar during happy hour drinking my Bloody Marys and dark rum. I do agree the portions are on the small side but the food is delicious. I think the half of the staff is very friendly and some are bitches. If you like constructive conversation and meeting other expats this is a good place to come. Generally the people that come here are pretty cool. To all the people that made negative comments I hope to get a chance to play Poker against you at El Alamo on poker night. I will in a friendly way take your money and make you look like a complete amateur and laugh at your pathetic poker skills. Then with your money I will go spend it in Empire Thai restaurant. I am issuing the challenge now so If you play Texas hold'em poker and read this post please inform me when the poker night. I mean this all in a good way and need to be knocked off my high horse.

    Suerte from the Canadian.

  3. #25
    Only place in Argentina where I have had food poisoning. The meals I have had here were not great, sort of half-spiced and lacking the aroma and piquancy of authentic Thai food. But for a change from parilla, pasta and pizza, it ain't that bad. And it is on the money for equivalent restaurants in that location.

    Argento

  4. #24

    Thumbs Down

    Quote Originally Posted by Artisttyp
    I still stand by my first impression which was "rip off". By all means go and see for yourselves.
    I have to agree with Artisttyp. I thought it was the worst Thai food I had ever had, and when I got the bill I also felt slightly like I had been ripped off. I wasn't angry, mind you, just had a nagging bitter feeling. Trader Joe's curry mix is infinitely better than the red curry panang at Empire, and it didn't weigh very much in my bag.

  5. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by BadMan
    Hi Artist,

    Not to invalidate your POV. But calling this place a rip off joint is a little excessive.

    I have been there on 4 occasions with a few other seasoned mongers and to be honest, I liked it. And I was never once ripped off.

    I am not Thai and have never been, so I can't say if it is " authentic ". But I have been to the restaurant with others who have and they liked the food as well.

    As far as prices, this is Argentina and those are their prices. I would suggest next time, before sitting down for a meal, ask to see the menu and prices and possibly inquire about the portion sizes of the restaurant expressed in grams.

    Again, this place is NOT a rip off joint. The food was pretty good when I ate there. The portions were medium size for my taste. Obviously portion sizes differ depending on size of stomach and appetite, so that is subjective as well. As far as prices, I found it to be pretty cheap.

    I had some sate for $ 20 pesos, a main course for $ 40 pesos and drinks for about $ 20. Including tip I paid about $90 pesos. At today's exchange rate that is about $ 24 USD.

    If anyone wants information on the restaurant, pictures, menu, pricing etc.

    Here is the website.

    http://www.empirethai.net/menu.html

    Regards,

    BM
    I agree with Badman 100% on this. In fact, me and Badman have gone there together on 2~3 occasions and every time the meal was good.

    I have been traveling to Bangkok for last 15 years and have a fair idea of good Thai food and I would say that Empire Thai is not doing a bad job at all.

    I am here in Manhattan for past 3 months on some personal work and have had some real rotten Thai food in some pretty well-known up scale Thai restaurants, right here in Manhattan. Believe me, Empire Thai is NOT doing a bad job, there in BA.

  6. #22
    I agree that it would be very difficult to obtain the ingredients here for authentic thai food. I dealt with something similar in medellin colombia and it was actually decent japanese food. With cream cheese in the sushi rolls.

    My gripe is about the portions. I still stand by my first impression which was "rip off". By all means go and see for yourselves. Maybe the complete package of a trendy restaurant techno music etc. is appealing to some but I like to eat and they gave me rations. I seriously was going to ask what kind of a cubierto salad they gave me until I saw the chicken.

    On a brighter note I've paid alot less for some excellent italian dishes in recoleta of all places.

    I like to give a thumbs up when I can but not for this place. That was a little slice of new york I'd rather forget about while in south america.

  7. #21
    Senior Member


    Posts: 1657

    Hey, I like Empire Thai

    Hi Artist,

    Not to invalidate your POV. But calling this place a rip off joint is a little excessive.

    I have been there on 4 occasions with a few other seasoned mongers and to be honest, I liked it. And I was never once ripped off.

    I am not Thai and have never been, so I can't say if it is " authentic ". But I have been to the restaurant with others who have and they liked the food as well.

    As far as prices, this is Argentina and those are their prices. I would suggest next time, before sitting down for a meal, ask to see the menu and prices and possibly inquire about the portion sizes of the restaurant expressed in grams.

    Again, this place is NOT a rip off joint. The food was pretty good when I ate there. The portions were medium size for my taste. Obviously portion sizes differ depending on size of stomach and appetite, so that is subjective as well. As far as prices, I found it to be pretty cheap.

    I had some sate for $ 20 pesos, a main course for $ 40 pesos and drinks for about $ 20. Including tip I paid about $90 pesos. At today's exchange rate that is about $ 24 USD.

    If anyone wants information on the restaurant, pictures, menu, pricing etc.

    Here is the website.

    http://www.empirethai.net/menu.html

    Regards,

    BM.

    Btw. I would feel comfortable recommending this place to friends and family if they were in the mood to try something a little more exotic.

    Also: Good point Queso, most places ANYWHERE (USA included) can be hit or miss, depending on the day or your just your own luck. It has happened to me on many occasions. I know a pretty good taco place in Palermo, that I go to often. The other day I went and my order took about 30 minutes, when it usually takes about 10, and I am a regular customer that knows the owner well. But these things happen. I could have gotten hysterical or upset, but what good would that have done other than put other people off? These things happen sometimes. They realized their mistake and apologized and even threw in some frijoles charros (yes Queso, they have that as well now) free of charge. I think alot has to do with how you approach a situation what the outcome will be.

  8. #20
    Senior Member


    Posts: 552

    Venues: 8

    Not a Ripoff - It's Argentina

    Just had to put my two cents' worth in here.

    I would agree that what you had at Empire Thai wouldn't be any better than the worst place you could find in New York City, and may even have been worse.

    The sad thing is, for Argentina, it is a upper-middle level for a foreign food place. And for us expats who live here, it's not a bad place, for a decent price, among places that don't do pasta or beef.

    I've never seen a worse lack of ability to fix foreign foods than here in Argentina. You won't find very many places that are even close to what we consider "authentic" in the States (and having been to many places around the world, most foreign food even in the States is "Americanized") In fact, for some things, you will never find anything that approximates what we are used to in either taste, composition, or even presentation.

    Most restaurants here have a hard time even preparing their own style of food competently on a regular basis.

    I like to repeat my attempts to find "genuine" Mexcian food, for example, here. EVERY PLACE I've been to, no matter how good the actual meal, for example, serves the food the same way. "Mexican" food here consists of a few basics, which in Texas we like to call Tex-Mex because it's not really Mexican all the way. Enchiladas are Mexican enough, but then there are tacos and burritos. That is about the norm here for a Mexican meal, those three.

    But let us examine those definitions.

    Here, a taco is a soft taco, a bit of meat (usually only meat, but sometimes with a few other things in it like sauteed onions and a little meaty sauce) folded over in a tortilla. You will never see (or at least I haven't) a fried taco shell in a restaurant, although I have found Old El Paso taco shells in the supermarket. In fact I have three boxes in the kitchen now)

    A burrito is a bit of meat with some extra sauce of some sort inside, and MAYBE refried beans (or something close) folded over in a taco shell.

    An enchilada is a bit of meat, rarely with anything inside it, topped with some extra sauce of some sort.

    In other words, it's basically about re-arranging one set of ingredients.

    There are exceptions to this of course. I have yet to see how the California Burrito Company does their stuff here. There is a small Mexican restaurant out here in Pilar that does a pretty good job of enchiladas (but only have Swiss enchiladas, nothing else)

    Other than that, every place I've been to in Argentina (BA and Cordoba) serve Mexican food like described above. And that's not even talking about the things that are NOT on their menus, like chili rellenos, steaks and chicken cooked with sauces and cheeses, etc (I. E. More authentic Mexican dishes)

    So, Empire Thai would never pass muster in the States, but normally, if you are sick of Pasta and beef, it's not a bad place to go to.

    And like ALL things in Argentina, you can't judge the standards of a place in one visit, usually. It's very likely that the next visit you might swear that they approached mediocrity with one of their meals.

  9. #19

    Rip Off

    How funny I find out now that the owner is from NYC. This place is worse than a NYC rip off thai joint.

    First of all the food is nothing close to being thai food. Asian inspired would be the best way to describe it. The portion size was a complete joke. When the waiter set the main entree in front of me I thought it was one of those cubierto salads that come with the meal.

    After I ate my rations and free shrimp chips I had to buy a 6 peso sandwhich to fill me up.

    Same shit happened to me in Lima. The only rip off I encountered was in a restaurant owned by a new yorker.

    I should have known by the techno music that this place was a scam.

    I've been having great luck at the old fashioned looking bistros. You see them very often. They look like a set in a humphrey bogart movie.

  10. #18
    Hi Guys. This is what I wrote in August about Empire:

    On a sidenote- one of the strangest things happened to me at Empire. I walked into the place, and the owner (An American) turned to me and said " Hi. Don't I know you? " I said there is no F'in way you know me as this is my first time here (BA) and I know nobody here. I told him where I was from, and he really " turned white ", and said " you are goofing on me, who put you up to this? " I proved to him where I live my showing him my driver's license. What are the chances that this guy lived ONE mile from where I grew up. We laughed and talked about many things about the neighborhood.

    He was NYC metro based in his previous business.

    The owner is gay friendly IMHO.

    Best Regards.

    Smuler

  11. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Doggboy
    BTW-the skinny, brunette barkeep is pretty sexy and seems to have a gleam in her eye.
    I've been told she prefers boys - but of course, I'm only repeating what I was told and it may have been by someone spurn by her!

  12. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Aqualung
    The owner of this place used to be and ex-pat but I don't know if he still is. It's also know to be very gay friendly.
    I was told yesterday by an expat who has been here for a long time that a guy from New York owns the place.

    BTW-the skinny, brunette barkeep is pretty sexy and seems to have a gleam in her eye.

  13. #15
    I eat fairly often here and as I mentioned before in another thread. I have never been to Tailand so I don't have a clue as to how authentic it is but I like it so what the...!

    They do ask you (well at least they have asked me) how spicey I wanted my food but I have a feeling that it won't make much difference whatever you tell them!

    As to the service, it's far from good. As Bacchus9 said, they seem to prefer to polish the silverware! A girl I took there last Friday was friendly with one of the waiters and she hires him as DJ at some parties she organizes so I thought we would get good service that night but being friends with a waiter doesn't help. I'm still waiting for them to replace one of the little pots of spices I asked for!

    I have always been disappointed with the shrimps there. You need good eyesight to find them on the plate! For good shrimps go to Tancat the Spanish restaurant on Parguay between Maipu and Florida but they are expensive.

    I also have had the runs once or twice after eating there. I seem to recall that both times I had eaten trout so it's not just the Pad Thai.

    The owner of this place used to be and ex-pat but I don't know if he still is. It's also know to be very gay friendly.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Smuler
    Hey Captain. This is the place I told you about in the Sudestada thread.

    Hey Dogg. Sometimes that happens to me also, but for some reason, I still eat the spicy food?

    Best Regards.

    Smuler
    Hey, mine wasn't spicy, just not right! Like I said, the appetizers were very good. I just think they gave me some Pad Thai that had been gathering dust for a day or two!

  15. #13
    Hey Captain. This is the place I told you about in the Sudestada thread.

    Hey Dogg. Sometimes that happens to me also, but for some reason, I still eat the spicy food?

    Best Regards.

    Smuler

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