Thai Bistro II (Pacific Grove)

Went to this restaurant near the marine station today, and it was ok. I'll give it 3 out of 5 stars. I had the $9 lunch special of pad thai, which came with tom kha soup, vegetable dumplings and some salad. It was nice for them to provide tom kha soup, instead of some random liquid like other restaurants, but it was mediocre and had no depth in taste, though there was lots of coconut milk. The vegetable dumplings were the best thing out of the entire lunch, and the pad thai was only slightly sweet but shallow in taste otherwise. The peanuts were soft and stale, bleah. The thai iced tea was not bad though. 
So yeah, next time I would go to the other thai place, Pacific Thai Cuisine at Lighthouse, where I tried the pineapple fried rice on my second night here and was pretty good. 


Update on 21 July: I came here for lunch again, earlier in the week out of convenience, and ordered their lunch special of panang curry with fish. I must say I was pleasantly surprised this time. The tom kha soup tasted much better, with the right sourness and spiciness and just a hint of coconut milk. I liked the curry too, although it was overwhelmingly spicy (note that I grew up eating spicy food in Singapore). I guess they went heavy on the chili (you could see the flakes all over my curry), since I told the waiter I like spicy food (long story). The dumplings and salad were nice too, as was the thai iced tea. The only thing about the restaurant is that it's manned by a single waiter so service can be pretty slow.  

159 Central Ave

Pacific Grove, CA 93950

(831) 372-8700