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Evening sun warms the atmosphere at Mai Thai Cuisine on Sunset Blvd during the dinner rush at the West Columbia restaurant.
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P.O. Box 1333, Columbia, SC 29202
ADDRESS: 2249 Sunset Blvd., West Columbia
PHONE: (803) 939-4795
HOURS: Monday to Fri. 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., 5 to 9:30 p.m.; Sat. 4:30 to 9:30 p.m.
RESERVATIONS? Accepted, but not required
NONSMOKING? Yes
SERVICE (1-5): 4. Attentive server, timely food even during lunch rush.
AMBIENCE (1-5): 4. Serene interior with tasteful dark wood, and table space makes you almost forget you’re in a strip mall.
ACCESSIBILITY: Yes
COCKTAIL SERVICE: Yes
PAYMENT: Visa, MasterCard, no America Express
AND SOMETHING ELSE: Try the stuffed chicken wings. We promise you haven’t had anything like this in Columbia, even if you can’t throw a rock in this town without hitting a wing joint.
The woman sitting at a nearby table leaned in and asked, “What is that? It looks delicious.”
The panang grouper, a lunch special ($8.95) at the new Mai Thai restaurant in West Columbia, featured two strips of lightly breaded fish arranged on vibrant broccoli, pineapple and red peppers with two spears of fresh asparagus, resting in a thin bed of creamy coconut curry. A triangular mold of jasmine rice and a carved carrot butterfly nested on the other end of the plate.
The elegantly presented dish looked delicious and tasted sublime.
Thai basil and chilies of a moderate heat suffused the coral-colored curry. The complex flavors teased and tempted but never overwhelmed.
Each lunch special is served with a soup of the day and an iceberg lettuce salad. While the vegetable broth soup tasted bright and fresh, I recommend steering your taste buds to the more enticing appetizer and salad listings.
You’ll find standard items like a spring-rolls-and-chicken satay. Yet the stuffed chicken wings surprised me. I hadn’t had this dish since sampling them at a Thai restaurant in Washington, D.C. Boneless chicken wings ($5.95) are stuffed with a mixture of ground pork, vegetables and bean thread noodles, lightly breaded and fried, served with a sweet chili sauce.
The salad menu featured a number of authentic dishes such as beef salad, also known as yam neua, minced chicken larb, silver noodle salad with lemon grass and lime leaves and a cooked seafood salad or fisherman’s salad. I tried the nam-sod ($7.95), a ground pork dish with lime, scallions, onions and tang of fish sauce and ginger. The only downside of the dish was the whole peanuts; I’d prefer them ground slightly or at least separated for easier transport to my mouth.
Soup lovers will find seven separate bowls, including traditional tom yum and a big bowl of rice noodle soup to which your choice of meat can be added.
Mai Thai offers a wide range of entrees for both lunch and dinner. Some surprises on the menu include duck (two ways), salmon and soft-shell crab. Curry lovers, noodle enthusiasts and vegetarians will find plenty from which to choose.
Extra servings of vegetables, meat, and rice are offered for $2 to $3, though the portions were large to begin with.
The dessert menu listed many exotic dishes, from lychee nuts served with homemade coconut ice cream ($4.95) to banana spring rolls ($3.95).
Mai Thai opened in early March in a space formerly occupied by another Thai restaurant. The new owners have transformed the interior, so one is hard-pressed to imagine you are dining in a strip mall, the Sunset Court.
