May 3, 2015

Of Atmosphere And Ambience

It's certainly a cliché by now, but one of the wonderful things about living in Toronto is the sheer diversity of ethnic foods you can experience. When I first moved downtown in particular, it was a mouth-watering, eye-opening experience.

This is the beauty of multiculturalism. When we sit at each other's dinner tables, the world becomes just a little smaller, making us collectively appreciate that we have more in common than we have differences.

So, last night my lovely wife and I decided to dine at Young Thailand, a decent restaurant located in Cabbagetown that has never disappointed. The food is always fresh and moderately priced, but one thing that keeps us coming back to this particular establishment is the restaurant itself. It is set up as a tranquil oasis, with Thai inspired furnishings and even a little babbling brook. We also like the dimmed dining room which adds to the relaxed atmosphere.

As we entered last night we noticed our favourite table was waiting for us - tucked in the corner and away from the windows, nestled right beside the babbling brook. We approached the table gleefully and as we sat, we both noticed the serene, dream-like Thai music permeating the room - it was the chillaxin' favourite from Motley Crue: Smokin' In The Boys Room. Yes you read that right.

In about a second the entire atmosphere had changed as we realized the nature of this cacophany coming from the sound system. It was very off-putting, but we figured - maybe an anomaly. But we were soon disappointed again - this time it was Huey Lewis And The News. Sorry let me write that again. Huey Fucking Lewis And The Fucking News. In a Thai restaurant. On a Saturday night.

This is where Guns 'n Roses grew up.
It was soon evident that the place had decided to forego traditional Thai music to match the lovely decor and setting. It was some Saturday night classic rock show on a local radio station complete with voice-tracked morning DJ and even better...commercials.

So then we debated - we shouldn't have to and it's a valid request but do we ask the server to change the music? There are probably a dozen other people in the restaurant and we can't help think they aren't wondering the same thing. When our server does come by, in my best Canadian oh-so-polite passive aggressive way, I say "Do you ever play Thai music over the sound system?". She says "oh no, just the radio."

And it's really too bad, because as usual, the food was outstanding. For appetizers we had the veggie rolls. For mains there was the bbq beef, spicy curry noodle with shrimp and to top it off, a generous helping of Thin Lizzy's The Boys Are Back In Town.
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3 comments:

  1. Ya I had a similar experience at a nice italian restaurant recently. It was around 8pm, place is packed full of relaxing adults enjoying the best of Italian cuisine. Low lighting and red wine - Fantastic. And then the DJ started playing 80s/90s tv theme songs. Full house. Growing Pains. WKRP. Now I'm a big fan of terrible tv theme songs, but during dinner time at a relatively upscale Italian restaurant? It was a bit weird. To be honest It didn't bother ME all that much, as I enjoy the bizarre, but I could tell there were a number of people in the restaurant who were wondering what the hell was going on.

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  2. As an addendum to the post, I emailed the restaurant with my note about how the food was excellent, but the atmosphere was lacking. I did get a response, but unbelievably, it was a form response - didn't even mention my name - said "dear sir/madam" and didn't refer to anything i mentioned.

    The writing's on the wall for this particular Young Thailand restaurant.

    **Side note - when I was looking up the contact information for the restaurant, I quickly realized that unless you want a visit from the cops, you better be very careful when googling "young thailand".

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  3. Too many restaurants in Toroto think it's good enough to just have good food....decor, music, service, clean fucking washrooms and staff uniforms seem to not matter.

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