The Bottom Line
- Crisp, modern look
- Wasabi Room for bar, sushi and TV lovers
- Lovely, appetiizing presentation of food
- Some selections not different than cheaper competitors
- Service inattentive enough to affect the meal
Description
- Malee's is pronounced "mah-leez" or, if it's easier to remember, just say it like Molly's!
- Malee's Thai Bistro has a pleasant classy interior, with patio seating that faces the mall stores, not the parking lot.
- Malee's Thai Bistro is pricey for a regular everyday mall lunch; a luncheon special, coke, tax and tip is at least $15.
- Diners at Malee's Thai Bistro may order their entrees to any degree of hotness they prefer.
- There are several vegetarian choices at Malee's.
- Instead of the usual crayons, Malee's offers young guests Wikki Stix. They are bendable, self stick, twisty things. Cute!
- Malee's is open for lunch and dinner, but closes for a couple of hours in the aftrenoon before dinner.
Guide Review - Malee's Thai Bistro and Sushi Bar
We stopped at the highly acclaimed Malee's Thai Bistro at Desert Ridge for lunch one day. It is very attractive, and I was happy that the TVs in the Wasabi Room were not visible from the dining room, which was out preference today.
For our appetizers to share, we decided on the Combo, to get the gist of many of the choices, a lettuce wrap selection, and an order of Chicken Satay, just because we can't have Thai food without satay! Our server overestimated the description of the portions on the Combo, so we were each able to half about half an item. All of them were fine, but none stood out as special. I decided on the Dragon Wrap lettuce wrap. I ordered it hot, and hot it was. No sauces accompany. We left the glob of lettuce, and tried the chicken. OK, but we wouldn't order it again. We moved on to the Chicken Satay. It was good, but the chicken wasn't really grilled on those skewers, in my opinion. They were, well, soft.
The salmon sushi and Philly Roll from the sushi bar ($12) were fine, as was the Thai Pasta ($10). I wasn't crazy about my Pad Thai ($14) which I ordered hot but wasn't, and found myself wishing we'd gone to Pei Wei. The Crispy Fish ($10) and the Shrimp Satay (although not butterflied as indicated on the menu) ($15) were the stars of the day for me.
I don't typically comment on service unless it is remarkable in some way. This was, and not in a good way. Of the several little things that bugged us, the one that amazed me was how they never cleaned anything from our table. Drink refills came, and old glasses remained. We had to ask to have our dirty appetizer plates removed, and then had to ask again for fresh plates for our entrees. When we left, those dirty plates were still on the table.
All dates, times, prices and offerings are subject to change without notice. (12/06)
