Awful food and rude staff!
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
I have given this place a number of chances because I live in the area and it's convenient, but each and every time it's always been mediocre at best. However, after my experience there tonight (my boyfriend wanted to give it another go), I REFUSE to ever set foot in Republic again. I ordered my usual pad thai (my favorite Thai dish that I get pretty much at any Thai restaurant I go to) and when I was eating it, I wondered why my mouth was burning... it was so spicy! When is pad thai meant to be SPICY?
I called the waitress over and she told me she would ask the kitchen what happened. She then comes back and informs me that the dish had "chili flakes" thrown in.
Now what restaurant puts chili flakes in PAD THAI?
When I asked that she said, "Sometimes the chefs are inconsistent."
(That has to be true because I've had that dish at Republic before)
She quickly dropped a menu in front of me and asked me what else I wanted or if I was done with the food. I didn't want anything else and the restaurant was near closing time, but I expected she would take it off the bill. I held onto it to try for a few remaining bites.
She didn't take it off the bill.
And when the manager asked if I wanted my meal wrapped and I said no (it was barely eaten) he didn't say anything, so I added, "It was horrible," and he just smiled.
This place is just overly pretentious and the fact that the normal nature of these dishes has to be altered shows that (a) this place is incapable of making a traditional Thai dish that tastes good and (b)they want to be "edgy" and "different" but instead ruin perfectly good staple Thai dishes.
A complete waste of money!
Pros: Union Square location
Cons: mediocre food, rude waitstaff, communal seating, noise