Thai Island (Exchange and TD)

The number 32 at Thai Island, a chicken, springroll and noodle number, is a standby for some of us. It's flavourful and filling, and a nice break from sandwiches. Once in a while the meat is a bit iffy (unidentified hard bits often require the two finger rescue from your mouth) but that's part of the fun.

However the real excitment involves one of the more hostile environments for PATH lunch counter transactions.

The staff (one woman at the Exchange court in particular) have a few things they get a real kick out of:

1. Giving you your lunch in a bag to go when you asked for it on a tray.
2. Sulking when you then ask for it on a tray.
3. Keeping a stack of popular beverages next to the cash registers so they get nice and warm.
4. Ignoring "sauce on the side" requests (they are frequent as the alternative is about 200 mls of thai sugar sauce on your food. They keep a stack of pre-filled sauce containers for sauce on the side requests).
5. Generalized customer-focussed hostility.

Number 3 is the one I hate the most. The fridge is maybe 40 inches from the cash register. They can't be saving that much time. What's the point of a fridge if you return beverages to room temperature before their sale?

I used to quietly fume about this. Now I ask for a diet coke from the fridge. I am secretly hoping that they refuse at some point so I can freak out.

Never a dull moment at TI.

OVERALL RATING: PAT

(the relative value of the meal gets it a third full letter)