Atom Thai - The Return! lol

This is my recent review of Atom Thai. I had to use a slightly different name just to post a 2nd comment on the same restaurant. Why they would appear not to allow multiple posts is beyond me. It doesnt seem very logical.

Heres a copy from the Eatability website:

BTW... Toohey's Extra Dry Platinum, by favourite beer with 6.5% alcohol was superb with Thai. The Sparkling Red, Asti Riccodona Ruby was beautiful to start with, and to finish the courses the Penfold's Thomas Hyland Cab Sav seemed to sooth the palate after the spicy foods, it was surprisingly complementing. I tried some about 3/4 way into the courses.

All drink alternatives seemed very appropriate and complementary to the food.

Heres the review:

Its very difficult to give a restaurant a perfect 10 for food, but its bloody close.

Atom made our party of four feel extremely welcomed last Saturday evening. Very attentive service, waiters very friendly and knowledgeable. Its a pleasure to dine at Atom's.

The ambience seemed better the second time around. Perhaps because we sat closer to the front of the restaurant in more light, and it wasnt as dim, or perhaps it was the novelty leather stools :)

Still indecisive about the best wine or beer to complement Thai food, we opted for a sparkling red, premium beer and a Cab Sav. Atom kept our beer in the fridge until we wanted them, chilled our sparkling wine in an ice-bucket, and topped up our drinks all night long. I was most impressed!!!

They even put up with our lengthy decision-making process about what dishes to order lol. Well ok, just MY decision-making, I wont blame my party. Truth is, there are so many great dishes, I wanted to sample them all lol.

Fortunately this time around I didn't go for all the SAFE bets. I went for something more exotic, something I hadnt tried before and boy was i impressed!

We opted for 3 entree's.
Money Bags, which were a hit last time, and once again hot, fresh and crispy. A must!
Ting Tong Beef, served on a betal leaf, with a slightly sweeter sauce than the Miang Goong. And of course the Miang Goong. simply superb. The entrees are fantastic!

The mains we ordered: Tamarind Duck, Pork Belly slow cooked with chilli basil with crackling, Coconut King prawn curry, Barramundi crumbed fillets with a papaya chilli salad, and last but not least my favourite dish, Beef Massaman.

Ive never tried Tamarind before and I will be eating it again soon!!! lovely combination of sweet and sour with a hint of chilli. Tender duck fillets too. Quite a dish! Im glad i took a gamble.

The pork belly was also a stand-out and surprise! with lovely pieces of crackling throughout too. Great textured dish.

Massaman had more beef than last time, lol Thank-you.

I loved the coconut prawns, as well as the hot curry, but some of my party felt it was a little too hot. Still good enough to eat though lol. However I would advise to remove the tails. Only because you cant really see the tails when immersed in the curry. If they were presented on a plate, salad etc, where you could see the tails, it would certainly add to the presentation, but when trying to eat them from a curry filled coconut then, it would have been more practical without the tails on them. :)

The papaya salad was nice, I enjoyed the sweetness and the chilli, but I was a bit disappointed with the crumbs on the Barramundi, but perhaps it was my fault for requesting changing the original special. Originally it was meant to have soft shell crab with the salad, but I requested barramundi fillets. I didnt expect the crumbs. I felt the crumbs were not very crisp or light and took away from the dish. If you served fresh crispy fillets I think it would have been so much more appetising. Much like the Choo Chee with barramundi dish we had the first time.

I dont recall the name of the dessert you served, and we were all so stuffed to the eyeballs, we couldnt really fit it in by that stage, but because you especially prepared some alternate desserts just for us, I had to try one at least. It was a sweet rice pudding with mango. I really liked it! Although im not a big rice pudding fan as a general rule. I really dont like rice that much in desserts at all :) I was kind of hoping for something non rice, but it was certainly delicious.

The fruit platter was a nice complement thank-you.

This time around I felt like the whole experience was so well rounded and slick. I really want to give you a perfect 10 for food lol maybe one day i will. Your Tamarind Duck, Massaman, and Miang Goong are all perfect 10's. The pork belly was about 9.5 lol.

I would still like to try a dish thats non-sweet, and non-curry, which has a nice spicy kick to it. perhaps a salad or stir-fry.

I was wondering if "lamb" is used much in Thai cooking?
Would like to try a lamb massaman :)

We dined more locally Friday evening, and we were very disappointed with the service and the value for money. I think we may have been spoiled with the service and food you provide.

Id be interested to know why this website appears not to allow multiple reviews on a given restaurant? Surely its pertinent to dine at a restaurant subsequent times and get a different feel for it. What if the restaurant picks up after a bad review...?

I think when good changes are made like your restaurant Atom, then it deserves to be praised.

We had such a lovely time Atom, and my parents felt welcome there too. Thank-you!

In terms of my food score criteria:

Entree: 10/10
Mains: 18/20
Dessert: 6/10
Service 5/5
Ambiance: 4/5

Total score: 43/50
Last time I believe it was 44 but it improved this time i felt.
However desserts were weighted to the food last time, and this time it wouldnt have received the 6/10 that it did for desserts this time around. That just goes to show how well they did.

You cannot go past the service at Atom's... second to NONE!!!
The Food is sensational, and well priced, u cannot go wrong.
From tonights evening at Blake's it has now made me re-think my ratings criteria.
I am considering a full 10 marks for service. Its become more apparent how influential it can be with poor service.