Samui Thai Cuisine is an upscale Thai restaurant located in the heart of the Shops at Legacy. With a dim, but cozy atmosphere featuring diverse elements and articles of Thai culture, this restaurant makes for a perfect night out with family or friends.
Upon entry, patrons are greeted and promptly seated by a friendly waiter. Service at Samui Thai is swift with drinks being served soon after diners were seated and dishes arriving not shortly after ordering. From there, the waiters paid particular attention to detail, making sure to clarify the ingredients and spice levels of each dish ordered.
Samui Thai Cuisine offers a wide array of soups, salads, pan noodles, curries, seafood, and other traditional Thai entrees. By no means inexpensive, most dishes average in the $15 – $25 range, with some even making it past $30. But apart from their expense, quite a few of the dishes managed to hit the mark.
The Tom Kha Coconut Soup was a lemony and coconutty soup, with a wide variety of fresh and crunchy vegetables. Served in small white bowls with delicate, white soup spoons, this soup was tangy, as is expected by the predominant ingredient of lemongrass, and walked the fine line between being too salty or having just enough salt. Patrons who aren’t big fans of zesty and tart flavors should be warned, as this soup made liberal use of just that.
The Yellow Curry was a light, yellow (obviously), and slightly sweet curry. Despite having such a rich and creamy flavor, this curry unfortunately didn’t have much variety when it came to vegetables, with only a few chunks of potatoes, strips of tofu, and an errant slice of red bell pepper here and there. Yet another problem with this curry was the portion size of the rice served alongside it. One bowl of Yellow Curry came with only one complimentary bowl of rice, the size of which was similar to the size of the soup bowls that came with the Tom Kha Coconut Soup. But overall, the Yellow Curry is definitely the perfect dish for every kind of diner, not too spicy, not too sweet, and not too salty.
The Pad Thai Noodles were a heaping bowl of rice noodles, mixed with a variety of vegetables including broccoli, baby corn, carrots, and tofu and with a side of crushed peanuts, which provided a sharp contrast to the Yellow Curry. However, this dish was a sore disappointment. Despite its appetizing appearance, the noodles were sweet, almost as if they had been marinated in a sugar syrup, and the spicy condiments provided did little to nothing to improve the taste. While patrons expecting salty or tangy flavors, similar to that of the Tom Kha Coconut soup, will be sorely disappointed, those with a sweet tooth will instantly love this dish.
Last but not least was the Thai Basil “Grapow” Fried Rice, a heaping bowl of flavorful rice. As the name suggests, this entree had a really strong basil flavor, and was also chock-full of vegetables, though not as many as the Pad Thai Noodles. However, quite a few of these vegetables, the broccoli among them, were tough and chewy, which may put off quite a few diners.
All in all, Samui Thai Cuisine is a wonderful eatery for those looking to explore and enjoy mild Thai flavors. From the comforting ambience that tied together many pieces of Oriental culture, to the flavorful dishes, this restaurant, despite its rather steep prices, is a must for Frisco families.
