Anyone who claims to enjoy hot food but has never eaten Thai is a culinary idiot. However, a selection of Thailand’s best isn’t exactly plentiful in little old Ames. Thai Kitchen is one of the few options for spice lovers when it comes to pad Thai and curry.

But is Thai Kitchen’s new hotness enough to satisfy the masses? The Daily’s hetero lifemates decided to check it out.

Atmosphere:

AL:I’ve been a huge fan of Thai Kitchen for quite a while, but there’s one element of the restaurant I’ve never cared for — the environment. Instead of going with a more traditional feel, the restaurant looks a bit too much like a cafeteria. Sure, there are a few clever items hanging up, but the curve-backed booths and mostly barren walls make me think the school bully will walk by and give me a wedgie at any moment.

ER: The inside of Thai Kitchen features a very standard Taiwanese motif, but gives patrons a very monotonous dining experience. But is that much of a surprise? Where in Campustown can you go that has unique dining experience? The problem is no one takes the extra step to make their restaurant any different than anyone else’s. One minute I could be in Es Tas, another minute I could be in Pizza Pit. There’s nothing that unique. Stomping Grounds, although not the best place to dine for dinner, has taken the steps to make there place different than the rest of drab Campustown. Why can’t restaurants follow suit?

Service:

AL: Ordering from Thai kitchen is quick, easy and efficient — unless you’re with Eric the day after he’s pulled an all-nighter working on a paper. I swear, it took him 10 minutes to decide he wanted rice. Next time, I’m going to slip a little caffeine in his water before we go out to eat.

But you can’t really blame the restaurant for Eric’s pokiness. After ordering from the counter, I had my meal within five minutes, which was perfect for a quick lunch. The server was very courteous, although I did have to get up and fill my water glass once when she stopped paying attention to our table. Then again, I guess I wouldn’t want to give refills either if I knew it would take Eric an hour to decide if he wanted more water.

ER: For a place offering a wide range of menu items, I was very pleased at the clarity of the menu. Much different than Le’s, Thai Kitchen actually told you what was in the entree you were ordering. Staying up most of the night, drinking large amounts of coffee to finish a law paper, all I wanted was to get my food fast, and that was just the case. Our food came in five minutes, which couldn’t have made me happier.

Quantity/Value

AL: My meal may have been in the upper half of the Dirt Poor Dining price limit, but it was totally worth it. My plate was overflowing with white rice and seafood, some of which I couldn’t even identify. However, I’ve always felt like most Thai restaurants give a pretty sizable amount of food, and in comparison, Thai Kitchen falls just a little short. It was still enough to make me full, but I didn’t feel like I needed to be rolled out of the restaurant. But maybe that’s a good thing.

ER: Any more rice on my plate and I might have lost track of Aaron. I’m not even sure who can eat such a massive amount. You can’t get a better deal on rice, which was part of the problem — I wanted other things than rice. I ordered beef with my Thai fried rice, but was unsure where it was. I would have been happier if there was more of an equal amount of beef per rice. Actually, if there was more of anything else, as long as it wasn’t rice, I would have been satisfied. However, there was a large amount of food for a relatively cheap price of $4.95.

Quality/Taste:

AL: “Tasty seafood” is the perfect name for what I ate. Soaked in its own special yellow sauce that looks incredibly similar to yellow curry — but isn’t yellow curry, according to our server — my meal was spicy enough to justify its Thai title. In fact, a mild dish would probably have made me question its authenticity, since lighting my mouth on fire is part of my enjoyment of eating Thai food.

All of the items in my dish, whether I could identify them or not, were really good. The shrimp and clams were chewy, the squid was perfectly stringy and the rice was, well, ricey. Overall, this was a very satisfying meal. Perhaps not the best Thai I’ve ever had, but certainly in the top 10.

ER: A very fresh and unique taste hit my mouth once I finally found some beef. I’ve never had cucumber sauce with fried rice before. At first apprehensive, I quickly came to enjoy the different flavor. It was the first time I actually enjoyed cucumber sauce that wasn’t on a gyro at 2:30 a.m.

Besides the different taste with the cucumber, the rest of the flavor of the meal was at par. Frankly, the sauce saved the meal. If it hadn’t been there, my meal would have sucked more than getting tear gassed over the weekend. I wasn’t all that impressed with my fried rice. Although the large menu kept me from completely writing off the place, I would just stay away from the Thai fried rice.

Final Say:

AL: 3 and 1/2 of 5 forks

ER: 3 of 5 forks