flipstah
05-29-2010, 12:22 PM
Chili Club Thai House Restaurant (Downtown Location)
555 11 Avenue Southwest, Calgary, Alberta - (403) 237-8828
Ambiance/Atmosphere: 7/10
Situated in a little complex near Singapore Sam's and a Mac's, Chili Club Thai House is apparently one of the top Thai restaurants in town. Always looking for a challenge (my friend also had a hankering for hotness as if I wasn't enough), we ventured on to this quaint place in downtown Calgary.
There's two locations of Chili Club in Calgary: one in downtown and one along 17th Ave. I did my research and since the downtown one was established first, you have to go to the source (but just to paint you a picture, the 17th Ave. location was FULLY booked for that night.)
We enter to be greeted with dimly-lit, very small dining space which explains why they were fully booked till 8:30PM that night. There was accents of Thai all over the restaurants; gold, presence of Buddha... It's just the little things that add to the authenticity a little bit.
I'm not used to the dimly-lit restaurant deal, but I think I know why; thai food is known for its spiciness and I think the lighting is set-up to balance the prominent redness in their dishes so that you don't freak out with the color. That's just my theory so don't quote me on that.
The place is small, tight but comfortable enough for two people. I can't see hosting a party without closing the whole place down just for me.
Food: 9/10
We looked at the menu and was immediately intimidated by the chili pepper indicators that flooded the entire thing:
http://www.chiliclubthaihouse.ca/dinner.htm
Nevertheless, we ventured on and ordered a soup, a beef dish, fried rice, and pad thai.
The soup (#14) tasted great but nothing to celebrate about. It actually reminded me of those thai ramen noodles you can buy for $0.30/pack; it smelled exactly like that, I swear!
Next up was the Pad Thai (#61), which as my friend called it, "it's sweet, sour, and spicy; it's balanced and it's great!" The noodles were cooked just right and seasoned perfectly. I thought the soup was spicier than the Pad Thai but it was delicious nonetheless.
The Chili Club Fried Rice (#55), was soft, plentiful and blended with our other dishes. One gripe I had was even though they list pineapple as a major ingredient in the menu, I only saw 4. And I love pineapple so this broke my heart a little.
Last but certainly not least, was the Crying Tiger Beef (#22) which was hands down, the greatest thing we had all night. The beef was buttery soft and cooked perfectly. That pink in the middle made me squeal in delight. The sauce was a perfect complement to the fried rice and it was fantastic.
I'll be honest with you; I got #22 purely because of the name. Crying Tiger!? C'MON!
To cap off a great evening, our server surprised us with vanilla ice cream with fruit and a coconut cracker-esque... thing. It's a cylindrical wafer with coconut wrapped around it. You can buy it at T&T. So good.
The ice cream was a great way to smooth out the fireballs in our mouth and whoever thought of that is a genius.
Service: 9/10
Our server was polite, served us quickly and with a smile. The food came out perfectly on time when we finished and the portions were done with ultimate precision; no wasted food = no wasted money. Their staff did not drop the ball on this one and I respect what they did here.
When people mention that this place is the Thai place to go to, they weren't kidding.
Pricing: 8/10
The bill came to ~$59, excluding drinks so for four dishes it was a bit on the pricey side but I've paid more for worse, and we also enjoyed ourselves.
Overall: 8.25/10
Long story short, Chili Club Thai House lives up to the hype. This is probably one of my new faves in Calgary and the feeling I had was like finding a $20 while walking down the street.
Until then folks, eat on!
EDIT: Added in a blog that I normally write in and so, I edited this to add the link so that there's no accusations of plagiarism:
http://timinganddelivery.com/calgary/
555 11 Avenue Southwest, Calgary, Alberta - (403) 237-8828
Ambiance/Atmosphere: 7/10
Situated in a little complex near Singapore Sam's and a Mac's, Chili Club Thai House is apparently one of the top Thai restaurants in town. Always looking for a challenge (my friend also had a hankering for hotness as if I wasn't enough), we ventured on to this quaint place in downtown Calgary.
There's two locations of Chili Club in Calgary: one in downtown and one along 17th Ave. I did my research and since the downtown one was established first, you have to go to the source (but just to paint you a picture, the 17th Ave. location was FULLY booked for that night.)
We enter to be greeted with dimly-lit, very small dining space which explains why they were fully booked till 8:30PM that night. There was accents of Thai all over the restaurants; gold, presence of Buddha... It's just the little things that add to the authenticity a little bit.
I'm not used to the dimly-lit restaurant deal, but I think I know why; thai food is known for its spiciness and I think the lighting is set-up to balance the prominent redness in their dishes so that you don't freak out with the color. That's just my theory so don't quote me on that.
The place is small, tight but comfortable enough for two people. I can't see hosting a party without closing the whole place down just for me.
Food: 9/10
We looked at the menu and was immediately intimidated by the chili pepper indicators that flooded the entire thing:
http://www.chiliclubthaihouse.ca/dinner.htm
Nevertheless, we ventured on and ordered a soup, a beef dish, fried rice, and pad thai.
The soup (#14) tasted great but nothing to celebrate about. It actually reminded me of those thai ramen noodles you can buy for $0.30/pack; it smelled exactly like that, I swear!
Next up was the Pad Thai (#61), which as my friend called it, "it's sweet, sour, and spicy; it's balanced and it's great!" The noodles were cooked just right and seasoned perfectly. I thought the soup was spicier than the Pad Thai but it was delicious nonetheless.
The Chili Club Fried Rice (#55), was soft, plentiful and blended with our other dishes. One gripe I had was even though they list pineapple as a major ingredient in the menu, I only saw 4. And I love pineapple so this broke my heart a little.
Last but certainly not least, was the Crying Tiger Beef (#22) which was hands down, the greatest thing we had all night. The beef was buttery soft and cooked perfectly. That pink in the middle made me squeal in delight. The sauce was a perfect complement to the fried rice and it was fantastic.
I'll be honest with you; I got #22 purely because of the name. Crying Tiger!? C'MON!
To cap off a great evening, our server surprised us with vanilla ice cream with fruit and a coconut cracker-esque... thing. It's a cylindrical wafer with coconut wrapped around it. You can buy it at T&T. So good.
The ice cream was a great way to smooth out the fireballs in our mouth and whoever thought of that is a genius.
Service: 9/10
Our server was polite, served us quickly and with a smile. The food came out perfectly on time when we finished and the portions were done with ultimate precision; no wasted food = no wasted money. Their staff did not drop the ball on this one and I respect what they did here.
When people mention that this place is the Thai place to go to, they weren't kidding.
Pricing: 8/10
The bill came to ~$59, excluding drinks so for four dishes it was a bit on the pricey side but I've paid more for worse, and we also enjoyed ourselves.
Overall: 8.25/10
Long story short, Chili Club Thai House lives up to the hype. This is probably one of my new faves in Calgary and the feeling I had was like finding a $20 while walking down the street.
Until then folks, eat on!
EDIT: Added in a blog that I normally write in and so, I edited this to add the link so that there's no accusations of plagiarism:
http://timinganddelivery.com/calgary/