Located on 1146 Austin Highway Tong’s Thai Restaurant appears to be the perfect escape to Thai food and a relaxing atmosphere. While the ambient atmosphere at Tong’s is quite Zen and exotic, the food is rather disappointing.

Thai food has always been known for its flavor and spice. When craving Thai food, one’s palate waters in anticipation of coconut milk, hot peppers, curry and fresh peanuts.

The main dishes at Tong’s lacked the rich flavor and spice that has made Thai food so popular in the U. S.. The menu was limited in many genres of curry, such as panang curry and massaman curry which are quite common in Thai cuisine.

The food was very bland, lacking any hint of spice. The Pad Ke Mow noodles were literally drowning in their own cooking oils. The Domino tofu – advertised as being crispy – was soft, boring and confused the taste buds in an unsatisfactory way.

Despite the utterly disappointing main courses, the desserts were satisfactory. The ice cream dessert at Tong’s was anything but bland. The coconut ice cream was well presented and gently laced with crunchy peanuts and sweet peanut sauce.

The teas were very agreeable as well. The Thai tea, a very sweet black tea mixed with cream and served chilled, was presented in a unique tall glass and steeped to the desired flavor that most Thai teas command. Tong’s had an impressive collection of tea, which included the growing Taiwanese tea trend called bubble tea.

The service was worthy of five stars. The hostess was warm and inviting, and the servers did everything to please the customers.

Tong’s is located a good 20 minutes away from the main campus. Unless you’re planning on going to Tong’s Thai Restaurant for the dessert and the tea selection, I wouldn’t recommend wasting so much gas for such mediocre Thai food.