Cheers Thai 612 Metropolitan Ave (between Leonard St & Lorimer St), Brooklyn, NY 11211
Thank god Cheers exists because otherwise there is no other decent thai option by Dan's place. This is not to say that Cheers doesn't have its faults, but at least I know that the food is good. The actual restaurant doesn't have much personality but they do have a nice patio in the back for nice spring/summer days. But the inside of the place is plainly decorated, which doesn't really bother me too much. As for their menu, it's got a pretty decent selection of your basic thai foods and some higher level thai foods. On this day, they had the New Zealand Mussel special, either as an app ($6.50) or as a dinner ($13, I think). Now, I LOVE New Zealand mussels and they are frequently used in thai dishes. The main difference between them and other mussels that are generally used in Belgian mussel dishes is that they are green on the outside and very very plump on the inside. However, I can see how the plumpness and therefore, heightened fishy taste might turn some people off, but I personally really like them. We started with the appetizer size, which came with 6 mussels and they were in a ginger lemon broth base and came with a side of sweet chili dipping sauce. I thought that it was really well done.
Now, my main gripe with this place was that it takes FOREVER for the food to come. I mean, I think I seriously waited about 30-35 mins for my food to come out and the place wasn't even that packed. It was getting to the point where I wanted to say something but our waitress didn't really speak english that well and it didn't seem like other tables were getting their food any faster.
But when the food finally does come out, it's pretty good tasting. I got a basic chicken pad thai ($8.50)and it was very moist and this one came with lots of crushed peanuts on the side. I always find it amusing that people ask for extra peanut sauce for their pad thai because in traditional pad thai there isn't any peanut sauce in it at all. In fact, this one tasted like it had extra fish sauce or tamarind sauce in it. It wasn't too sweet tasting, but I'm ok with fish sauce so I thought it was pretty good. Dan go the pad woon sen ($8.50), which is just glass noodles with chicken and veggies over a bed of lettuce. The "sauce" on there is very light, which is good b/c you don't want it to be too overpowering when there is a lighter noodle involved.
The most interesting thing about our meal is that they had this huge ad for fresh unfiltered ginger ale. We thought it would be fun to give it a try thinking that it probably wasn't going to be a big deal. But it was actually really really good. You could tell that it was fresh grated ginger and soda water mixed in and not the overly sweetened Canada Dry type of ginger ale. It was so good that we even looked it up online when we got home to see where we could buy it (Whole Foods, Fairway, etc).
All in all, it's a good go-to thai place, I just wish the food came out faster.
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