Lotus of Siam - Las Vegas

When first planning our trip to Vegas, my friend that I was coming with asked if we could eat at Lotus of Siam. He had never been but had heard that it was one if the best Thai Restaurants in the world. I looked it up online, and although it was off of the beaten path it did have incredibly good reviews. 
We took a cab there and I was surprised to find that it was located in the back of a desolate strip mall about a 30 minute walk from the Stratosphere (I know this because we walked there afterwards).

I was also surprised to find that there was nothing at all fancy about the interior,  in fact it almost had a cold feeling about it. 
There is a Buffet option, however it seemed pretty basic and so we decided to order from the menu hoping that was where the good stuff was.


We started with the Pork Satay (meat marinated with fresh herbs and spices, grilled on skewers,  served with peanut sauce and cucumber salad $9.95)
This was an awesome appetizer. The Pork skewers were really tender and well seasoned,  and the Peanut Sauce and Cucumber Salad paired perfectly with it.


For my entrée I had the Musaman Curry(the very interesting flavor curry made from musman curry paste with coconut cream, peanuts, onions,
tomatoes, potatoes, carrots and choice of meat or tofu $11.95) I chose Chicken and had it prepared mild, I can't take too much heat.
I enjoyed it very much, the portion was not too large but the flavors were very good.

My only complaint was that both the Potatoes and Carrots were still a little too firm (almost raw). I feel like if they had been cut into smaller pieces this problem would have been eliminated.

My friend (due to our servers recommendation) ordered Chu-Chee Prawns (fresh prawns in red thai curry base $22.95). Their heat scale goes from 1 to 10, and since he likes it hot he ordered a 10. He did enjoy it but confessed that he should have ordered it at 8. I also feel like he should not have listened ti the server in this case and ordered one of the items that he originally looked at because he might have loved it instead of just liked it. He did love the appetizer though and said that was his favorite part.

All in all I did enjoy Lotus of Siam, however I was not "wowed" by it. I have had just as good Thai food at home, with better atmosphere and a cheaper price.