I gave Thai Harmony a second chance last week and it was amazing. The food issues I had last time were all corrected. We thought the food was a underflavored the first time we went and saw the same comments on the blog. This time there were no such issues. The service issues we had were all corrected. There was a hostess, more waiters, and bus boys. I know a lot of people said that they want to give them a second chance. I say the time is now. I talked to the owner afterwards… he couldn’t be much older than I was and he talked about what sacrifices he made to open the restaurant and how they were humbled at the begining with all the issues they had. From what I see they are solved. This is not like Tutto Gusto/Quinlan Park Grill where some fat cat says in a newspaper article that Steiner residents expect too much and does not take due criticism. CK and staff have and have turned out the better for it. I suggest people to try it out again. I know people (or shampoo commercials) say you never have a second chance to make a first impression, but it doesn’t mean you can get a second impression.
Second Chance: Thai Harmony
October 13th, 2008 · 15 Comments
Tags: Uncategorized
15 responses so far ↓
1 JayCol // Oct 13, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I went to Thai Harmony last night, Sunday-Oct/12, and I was impressed with the improvement found (comparing to my visit on the first week opening, Sep-20). I had the house special chicken Larb (HS1 ?) and it’s really spicy and tasty … I love it.
Couple notice there: (a) I found the comment box next to the door a long with the “Thank You” candy jar. This box tells me that the owner listens to our constructive advice and comments. (b) The general manager came to refill water in our table. Now, The THR is more organized. He told us that he actually is CK’s dad … he looks young though … no belly and no gray hairs … may be CK is a good kid and not giving him hard time. Yes, he told us good story about CK (the owner of THR): He is 28 years old and took 6 years for work and save money for this startup business.
For sure, I will visit this local restaurant often for support CK. I want to see this young man to be successfull here in Steiner Ranch.
2 Mike // Oct 14, 2008 at 7:35 am
I couldn’t agree more with this post. My wife and I have now turned it into one of our regular places to go to on Mondays (or do take out, depending on the time I’m getting home).
The food has gotten better and better (I think they finally have a good grasp on the flavor and spicy levels… I love their 3-star!)
Last time I posted I was writing about the lack of “adult” supervision, but that didn’t seem to be the case anymore with CK’s dad serving as General Manager I am starting to have a good feeling about this place.
Next time I will have to try the Larb, but usually I just love the Pineapple curry too much. That combined with a good bottle of Riesling (goes great with spicy food) make Mondays a good evening for us.
Glad our feedback has been received and acted upon! And am now looking forward to our next visit!
3 SteinerMom // Oct 15, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Okay, after reading this review I got a serious hankerin’ for some Thai food. So, we ordered it To Go tonight from Thai Harmony. They were really fast and it was DELICIOUS. My husband is more of a connoisseur than I am and he thought everything was excellent. It will definitely become a regular thing for us.
I really hope this restaurant does well and sticks around for awhile.
4 Thai Harmony Owner // Oct 22, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Thanks for all the posts. Thai Harmony has great food and Atmosphere. The staff and I are always working on improvements and updates. With everyone’s help our services are now proficient. I will try to meet and greet as often as possible.Thanks “JayCol” That comment really put a smile on Ray (GM). I’ve been good as a youngster and hopefuly remaining so still. Smiles. P.S. Have you tried the Lemon Grass chicken? It is a must try. It is not a spicy dish but if asked for it in two or one star it’ll add that extra kick your looking for. I haven’t had the time to come out lately to meet and greet. I wanted to thank some of our regulars for there support. Special thanks to Nick & Kelly, Christa, Duck & Sheradon, Micky & Doryn, Amy & Robert, Eve,Mike, Jay Col,Carl & Tracy, Ja, Victoria, Steiner Mom, Melissa and everybody. I know I am missing lots of other names my apoligies. Here’s to getting to know everyone. -CK 2008′
5 SJM // Oct 22, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I’ll second these comments. After the first week, I gave the place a couple of weeks to work out kinks. Have eaten there twice now since, with good food and decent service each time. Food is still a bit bland for my taste (even asking for 3 stars); just means I need to ask for 4 next time. The curry was actually better a day or two later at home after the spices had a chance to sit … and kudos to the wait staff for adding rice to my take home box. I believe Thai Harmony will succeed.
6 Drunken Goat // Oct 24, 2008 at 8:29 am
Somebody needs to post up when they get their liquor license.
7 Mike // Oct 24, 2008 at 8:37 am
Godo point Drunken Goat… otherwise i’m going to be a bit embarrased by going in with my own bottle of wine… I actually would really love it if it remained BYOB.
Then again, I might just do more take out when they get their licensea since I have come to love my pinapple curry (had it yesterday for lunch too).
8 Kristen // Oct 24, 2008 at 4:38 pm
CK is awesome. I have a bunch of food allergies and he custom made an entree & dessert I could have (there are only 3 other restaurants in Austin I feel safe eating at). It was delicious, too!
9 Melissa // Oct 24, 2008 at 4:46 pm
It is really nice to see your post, CK. It is so refreshing to see a business owner who actually cares about his customers. You have my support.
Quick question – when will the outside seating be available?
10 Thai Harmony Owner // Oct 24, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Thanks Kristen and Melisa for your encouragement. The patio opens today, Friday Oct-24-2008. Folks can dine outside now. I expect to have the waiter-call-system in place by next week. Then, you can push button for calling for service (one small call-station on each table). I also expect to have liquor license (beer and wine) by next week as well. I have commit ted to make my startup business to be successful here. Again, thanks for your courtesy support.
11 moreyoga // Oct 25, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Do you all have an opinion on the price vs. quantity vs. quality ? I feel $16.00 on some entrees is overpriced. I know atleast 4 families who would do more take outs from Thai Harmony if it was slightly cheaper. Everything together works out to $80 for a 4 person family. That is not affordable by many.
The only reason I am posting my comment is so that CK may need to consider — especially we have 6-7 restaurants even within Steiner.
12 THR Owner // Oct 27, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Moreyoga, thank for enquiry and thought.
My response to “price vs. quanity vs. quality” issue is as following:
(a) Dish price: During my menu creation, I thoroughly analyzed price of Thai food in nationwide (North-East, Central, and West) and other 5 Thai restaurants in Austin area. My food price is very competive (I used the ‘PadThai’ as a reference item). The price bottle-neck is on the increased price of raw materials in the last 3 years (you can notice from gas price and food price in grocery stores).
(b) Dish Quanity: I have not altered the food quanity per dish for beep-up profit or compensating to the price increasing of food sources. The quanity is relatively same as on other Thai restaurants (referring to 3 restaurants that I was trained about Thai foods in New England and 2 restaurants that I worked for in Austin). At the same time, I have not tried to increase the food quanity for attacking our consumers here mainly due to (a) and expensive lease fee in our location.
(c) Dish Quality: As you may aware, each dish is hand-made and customizible. I have focused on kitchen sanity and ording food raw-materials from the reliable wholesale sources (Cisco, AAA, and MyThanh Wholsale). I want to make sure that we are not talking about food taste here since it is a lenghty topic and subject more to personal preference.
I’m myself sympathized with the current expensive cost-of-living here; and I have acknowledged to your concern on dish-price of $16/entrée. Actually, my menu has 36 dinner entrées with this price range:
————————————-
$10.00: 15 dishes (42%, the majority),
$11.00~$12.50: 10 dishes (28%),
$14.00~$15.75: 6 dishes (17%),
$16.00~$17.75: 5 dishes (14%)
————————————-
The mean entrée price is on about $11 (base on statistical bell curve) and I think it is very competitive to the same type (Thai food) and same service level. Using the high-end price for comparing is not fair and good practice scheme. Again, all dishes in THR are manually prepared after consumer ordered and should not compare to other type restaurants which use different food preparing scheme.
Overall, I am not profitable on the first month here and this may mainly due to my poor business management and setup. I will consider on lowing dish price when this restaurant is profitable and I am value your feedback and suggestion.
13 THR Owner // Nov 2, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Greetings, I would like to inform you that liquor license (wine & beer) arrived this week; and the liquor services started on Friday, Oct-31-2008.
The waiter-call-system was installed on Friday as well. This is an exiting wireless equipment. Now, you can press the “Service” button on your table for service calling. The dessert menu was updated as well with color photos. Now, you can see the photo of a “Snow ball” (one of the desert items).
Please stop by THR and enjoy with food and drink.
14 CK // Mar 19, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Just wanted everyone to know that there is
Happy Hour
Monday – Friday
4:30 PM – 6:30 PM
15 Melissa // Apr 3, 2009 at 8:58 pm
Went there tonight for the first time in months. I had been unimpressed with the food the last time I was there. Well, I have to say there was a vast improvement. I got the stir fry dish – something with 2 – that came with a side of peanut sauce. It was very good. My only complaint is that they don’t offer just a chicken with peanut sauce dish or the like. But I’m glad to see they are doing better. And they have regular chicken nuggets/fingers and fries for the kids as opposed to the tempura style chicken they had before, so now my kids will eat there too.
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