Siam-pleased or Siam-teased? Salt and Pepper go for Thai

Name: Siam Classic Thai

Cuisines: Thai

Payment: Cash, Visa, Master Card, Discover

Alcohol: Full Bar

Price: $$ (but most meals are under $20)

Address: 9403 East St., Manassas, VA 20171

Hours of Operation: Mon- Thurs: 11 a.m.- 9:30 p.m.; Fri: 11 a.m.-10 p.m.; 4 p.m.-9:30 p.m.

 Salt Says:

This week I came to the restaurant hungry. I hadn't eaten anything all day. So maybe that's why the first thing I noticed wasn't the surroundings, but the menu. The worn, giant menu. I'm always very skeptical when I go to a restaurant and the menu is the size of a novel, but this was a Thai restaurant, so I assumed that it was filled with pictures of featured dishes. I was wrong. All the nearly 20 pages were filled with lists of food, appetizers, mains, desserts and drinks, and not in any particular order. It looked as if it were updated often and nothing, including old prices, had been taken off. It was the most confusing thing.

I started with the fried crab rolls which, according to the menu, were nothing more than delicate lumps of crab gently pressed with herbs and spices, lightly fried and served with a sweet and sour sauce. That, however was far from what I received. The crab tasted like it was canned, it was fried until it was tough, and seasoned with nothing more than a dash of Old Bay. The sauce was sweet, not sour, and was nothing to brag about.

For mains, I had beef Pad Thai which was pretty average. Aside from the bean sprouts and fresh scallions, it tasted like the packaged Pad Thai you can buy at the grocery store. The noodles were sticky sweet and the dish was very eggy. I'm used to Pad Thai with plenty of crushed peanuts on top and this version didn't have any. In fact, I could barely taste any at all. I think maybe if I had ordered it spicy I wouldn't have been as disappointed because maybe it would have been worth the nine bucks.

Like I said in the beginning, I came to this restaurant hungry. Not the thing to do. After I was seated, it took the waiter nearly 10 minutes to take my order. The food came out in a timely manner, but the size of the dishes were very small. The appetizer was tiny and the main dish was slightly bigger. If you aren't that hungry or you're on a die,t then this would be the place to go. But if you're like me and have a normal appetite, you'd probably want to go somewhere else.

The decor is very simple, if not almost understated. The plain white paneled walls are adorned with simple Asian lantern lights and a few paintings. The restaurant itself is very intimate. Intimate as in not only can you enjoy good conversation with a few friends, but intimate as in you'll also be able to listen in to every conversation around you.

The restaurant is open seven days a week, but if you decide to check it out, I suggest going later in the week. The owner says it's practically empty on Mondays and Tuesdays. When I went for dinner on Monday it was empty. The food was average, but the waitstaff was attentive and the place was clean. I think I would recommend this restaurant to anyone just looking for a run-of-the-mill Thai meal.

Pepper Says:

Siam Classic is a small, almost hidden, Thai restaurant located in Old Towne Manassas that has been open for seven years. When I walked in, I was greeted by the only server in sight, which didn’t seem too bad, considering the size of the restaurant. And to my surprise, I was actually handed a menu without having to request it.

I inquired about the popular dishes of the house and my server informed me it was both the classic pad thai as well as the pad kapow. There is also a sizzling ginger entrée that is both a patron favorite and the signature dish of the owner. The signature drink of the house is the Siam martini, which is a watermelon flavored drink.

While the dishes he mentioned sound good, I decided to get the beef pad see eiw, a flat pan fried noodle dish with Chinese broccoli. Unlike most places, they offered a spicy version.  Patrons choose a spice level on from a scale of 1-10.  I chose a seven. While waiting for my entrée, the owner came out to greet people, and somehow convinced me to order a drink, so I went for a blueberry martini. It tasted like blue curacao.

Soon after, my food arrived, which was quite good. They were generous with the portion of meat, the noodles were not overcooked, as is often the case with this dish, and the vegetables had a good crunch. Despite the warning of the server, I did not find the food to be spicy at all.

Overall, I found the staff to be pleasant, the place appeared clean, and the food was good. I ordered take out a while back and was not pleased with how long it took or how badly it tasted. I was delighted, however with the meal I got on my recent visit. There was one TV on the other side of the room near the bar and all I could hear was the chitter chatter at the table next to me. I can see myself possibly returning there in the future.