I had heard, or read somewhere, that the Royal Thai, which used to occupy other premises, is now in the same building as the Palais Imperial. When I checked it out, I assumed that the Palais Imperial (a Chinese restaurant) was on the lower floor, with Royal Thai upstairs, but, in fact, you can be seated on the lower floor and be given the menu for both establishments. This was a nice bonus, I thought since, in addition to allowing me to sample a couple of appetizers from the Royal Thai menu, I also able to enjoy an item or two of dim sum as well…
The Dishes
Goong Pun Ooy (Crab wrapped sugar cane) - Rating: 5 out of 5
Pu-ja (Crab and Pork Cakes) - Rating: 3 out of 5.
Overall
I quite liked the Thai appetizers I was served and the ability to order from two quite different end extensive menus made this joint establishment an interesting place to dine. The service was very good on this occasion and I would rate the place at a 4 out of 5.
I just had dinner with family at Palais Imperial Restaurant. The place looked busy so we decided to give it a try. It is hard for me to remember the names of plates we ordered, but I loved them. The spices were delightful, the portions large, and the ingredients seemed fresh [no taste of preservatives or packaged flavors]. We had a coconut-mushroom-chicken soup, cold spring rolls w crushed peanuts dip, chicken fried rice [loved it], a coconut curry dish [has beef, eggplant, bell peppers] and a chicken dish [has bell peppers, mushrooms], and plain white rice. The portions were large, so we ended up with left-overs enough for a second meal. The service was prompt and smooth. We paid a reasonable $50. I am happy with this little discovery and would surely visit the place again with friends. There's something warm and cozy about the setting.
live4food: They are moving in with Imperial. They have the same owners. They own the building where Imperial is located and have been wanting to do this for some time but couldn't get out of their lease.
Did a search for Royal Thai Restaurant and it gave me: 272 Dalhousie Street, Ottawa - (613) 562-8818 Then did a search for 311 Dalhousie Street, Ottawa re: the sign and it came up with Palais Imperial Chinese Restaurant. Hmm....
I would have to agree. I used to live in the neighborhood and since moved away, but still go to Royal Thai about once a month with my boyfriend. Its our easy date night place to go. We love the food there. Most times we don't even have to look at the menu. We get pad thai with shrimp, thai coconut tofu curry and spring rolls. While its not the best thai food we have ever had (as we eat thai a lot) its a great place to go, and service is always good. The last time we went we found the food was good, but not up to par and the portion sizes were drastically smaller. I guarantee it won't deter us from going there, as its a place of tradition, but definitely worth noting.
Cheers!
I'm going to have to agree with New User 1674. Royal Thai used to be my absolute favourite thai restaurant and a real treat. The last two times I have gone I was disappointed. The soups don't have the same depth of flavour (too salty - and I LOVE salt) and the pad thai has not been as good the last two times as well.
I don't know what's changed, I was hoping it was just me...
WOW
Where do I start,
My bf and I used to absolutely love this restaurant but now, not so much. EVERYTHING we ordered was different from what they usually make not in a good way.
I don't know what the eff happened here but it's enough that I never want to go back.
Our yellow curry chicken had added carrots and peas (? why?) and tasted totally different.
Our Kee Mow (our absolute favorite) was just off, the nice tasty flat noodles have been replaced with crappy vermicelli like noodles and now is garnished with unidentified shredded greenery (just wrong)
Our deep fried shrimp rolls , well I originally thought they decided to squeeze some pork into the roll, but after more careful observation, realized it was just large masses of uncooked dough. (disgusting) Oh and the super yummy sauce to dip them in? Gone. Its something else now.
And the quality of the soup is much different, where they used to use delicious whole mushrooms and large pieces of chicken or generous servings of shrimp, they are much cheaper with the ingredients now (and the meat)
So if you loved this restaurant, think again before you go back IT IS TOTALLY DIFFERENT. If you don't believe me, see for yourself but you'll be mad when you don't finish your meal and end up going through a drive-thru instead.
I ate here for lunch and was shocked by how salty my meal was! I got one of their lunch specials which included the saltiest veggie soup in the world, a spring roll (quite good, if a little overcooked) and red curry with vegetables. I think I ordered poorly. I have a feeling that I would have been happier had I ordered one of the "non-special" selections on the menu. My lunch companion ordered a delicious red curry chicken with peanuts, which was very nice, if a little salty. The crunchiness of the peanuts was a nice contrast to the creaminess of the red curry sauce.
I think I would eat here again if given the opportunity, but I won't go out of my way to seek it out.
While I find that Royal Thai tends to lack the subtlety and authenticity of restaurants like Sweet Basil, I must say that their spring rolls are by far the very best that I've ever eaten. They're perfectly prepared and served with a sauce that's simply out of this world. If anyone knows the secret of their sauce, please let me know what it is!
I had a platter of “Ki Mau” with pork for lunch last week. The price was around $12 and it was a significantly more generous portion than I've seen at Thai restaurants. The flavour was pretty good and the spice level was okay but on the low end. Unfortunately, the pork had the distinct flavour of rancid oil and the noodles were overly greasy (much like I've experienced at Thai Express).
It was a filling meal and mostly quite enjoyable but I don't think I'd get it again. The lunch special combos (Thai and Chinese) are excellent value but concensus with my lunch group was that the story here is mostly one of quantity over quality.
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