The Chicken Thing
Last weekend, I had dinner with a couple of friends at SPIN: Modern Thai Cuisine.
If I hadn't read yelp reviews prior to meeting my group there, I would've had no idea that this small restaurant is located in a strip center, around the corner from a Target. Not something you advertise on your restaurant website, I suppose? I managed to find it, and my friends and I were greeted by our reservation name as soon as we walked in. The restaurant was about 60% full, so I'm sure we were the only 7pm reservation for 3 that Saturday night.
The kitchen was open to the restaurant, and the entire room smelled like Thai tastiness. Luckily, my clothes and hair didn't absorb the fragrance to take home with me at the end of the evening. Our waitress was friendly, and told us she would go ahead and put in an order for the fried sweet corn appetizer: if we didn't like it, she'd pay for it. I love corn, and I'd already been eyeing that item anyway, so we agreed. She also filled us in on the specials, which were a chicken dish, a fish dish (snapper), and something I don't remember.
I ordered an (eight dollar!) Thai Basil Mint Sangria, and it was very tasty: cool and refreshing.
The corn appetizer came out quickly, and it was delicious. By then, we'd decided on our orders. I chose the chicken special, one of my friends chose the snapper, and the other chose an eggplant dish with the sauce on the side. Our waitress told us that she'd realized she hadn't told us the names of the specials, so she rattled off lots of words in another language. All I remember is that the word for "chicken" is "guy," but that doesn't really help me describe my dish. It was fried chicken bits, with mushrooms, and chilantro, slices of radish, and brown sauce.
Shorly after we placed our order, the manager came over to our table. He asked if we liked spicy food. I said yes while my friends side-eyed me. He brought over a dish that he told us the kitchen made extra, and offered it to us "on him." We quickly realized it was the dish one of my friends had ordered, except the sauce wasn't on the side. Still, we sampled it, and it was very good. The sauce wasn't spicy--I'd give it half a pepper on their rating system.
A few minutes later, the manager delivered the snapper. I had to point him in the right direction of the gal who'd ordered it. We expected the rest of our dishes to arrive then, but no. About 10 minutes later, he delivered an eggplant dish, sauce on the side. Our waitress arrived on his heels, and apologized for the screw up of the first dish--so much for the manager acting like it was a free treat for us--as well as the delay on my food. It took almost ten more minutes for my plate to arrive.
My entree was excellent. The waitress had told us it was her new favorite dish, and that it was "slap yo' mamma" good. While it was definitely one of the best Thai dishes I've tried in Austin, I would've enjoyed it more if it had arrived at the same time as my companions' dinner(s). We could see the kitchen from our table (as can most), and I know our plates weren't sitting around waiting to be delivered. This was simply a kitchen time management error. I saw circumstances like this mentioned in other reviews, and was disappointed to experience it myself. We also felt a little rushed to pay our check and leave, although no one was waiting to be seated, but the restaurant was full when we left just before 9pm. The food and service may lure me back to Spin, but if they haven't worked out their kitchen issues by then, I'd think twice before a third trip.
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