Flavors of Mae Kong Thai Restaurant

Such incredible food! The lemonade was huge for $4 and very refreshing! The service was fantastic! Brenda is so hardworking and was very friendly.
I will definitely be going back because the food is delicious.
I ordered the basil chicken (medium spicy is still very spicy for me 🥵) and my mom got the glass noodles with shrimp.

I’ve been looking for a Thai restaurant in the area and happened to find Flame Thai when my husband and I were driving around one evening.
We both wanted to try their food since it’s hard to find Thai establishments out here in El Paso.
I’m from SoCal and there were plenty of options where I lived. Flame Thai is a pretty big restaurant when you walk in.
They have plenty of seating for their customers which is nice.
The decor is very sparse and two out of the 3 tv screens up at the front were not working.
They allowed us to pick where we wanted to sit and we chose one of the booths.
Right away I noticed part of the crown molding on the wall was missing.
The overall visual appeal of the restaurant could use some tlc or a whole new revamp. For the positives: our waiter was friendly and attentive.
He came to check up on us a couple times throughout our meal which was nice.
Their Thai tea came in pretty big glasses and tasted good! Tasted like the bottled Thai tea I used to get from the market.
I did like their crab Rangoon for appetizer, it was fried perfectly and the sauce for dipping was tasty! I also ordered the red curry and requested extra curry sauce.
The portion was huge and enough for two people.
They also got the spice level perfectly. The negatives were the beef bowl my husband ordered.
He said it was very bland and had virtually no flavor.
It also looked more like a salad bowl with how much lettuce they filled it with.
The biggest disappointment was their pad Thai.
That is one of my favorite Thai dishes and they managed to mess it up.
For some reason it tasted more like sweet and sour noodles rather than pad Thai.
I did not taste any fish sauce at all in the dish.
It make me think of orange chicken sauce mixed with rice noodles.
Not very tasty at all and I was left disappointed.
Pad Thai is one of the most common dishes you find at Thai restaurants so I’m not sure how they managed to screw it up so badly. Lastly, the price of everything was over $80.
Which both my husband and I did not think was worth the quality of food we got.
Very expensive for subpar dishes.
Not even the crab Rangoon or red curry could make it worth the price.
We most likely would not return but I’m glad the whole meal wasn’t a busy.
They had a couple decent dishes but the ones they messed up just couldn’t justify the price paid.

Owner response

First, for context, I grew up eating Thai food.
My mom is from Thailand and taught me to cook as well.
I’m not bashing this place by any means but it honestly disappointed me and made me ashamed of my own community that this is what people think Thai food is.
Because it is not.
I ordered the main things most Thai people know how to make and is something you would see on our tables at home.
The pad Thai was unacceptable.
I don’t know why it was sweet but it was, like sweet and sour sauce was used.
Also this is the first pad thai I have seen with broccoli.
The nam tok or “larb” was good.
Not traditional like the ground meat used but it was fine.
The chicken satay wasn’t what chicken satay traditionally is.
It tasted like chicken that was on the grill.
When it should be a curry with coconut milk taste, and then grilled.
The peanut sauce was peanuts and hoisin sauce.
Again, not traditional peanut sauce.
Now on to the viet dish of pho… it was sweet.
Again, not sure why their dishes were so sweet.
I’m not bashing this business because I know it’s hard to run a restaurant but what’s not hard is staying true to Thai culture.
We’re a community and a small one at that, we have to put out the best dishes so people know Thai food.
I hope when I open my food truck people will come and experience true Thai dishes I have grew up with and not ashamed to put in front of people.
I won’t be back but judging from the reviews you get good business.
This is just my personal opinion comparing to what I have grown up eating and cooking for 37 years.
I hope the food gets better.