Bowl Thai - Gardena

Even for Grubhub’s gutting fees, 4.5 Yelp stars and 1115 reviews was worthy of verification. 

I ordered what I liked and what I knew, and I have never been so unpleasantly surprised by a Pad See Ew. I figured Chinese-broccoli-flat-noodles-soy-sauce-stir-fry couldn’t go wrong but apparently it could. The noodles were mush, and they clumped together in a way that noodles never should. 

The Boat Noodle Soup had me excited - I’d only found in one place outside of Thai Town until now. And sure, shrug, this one is alright, but Ubon did it so much better. A little sweet, a little savory, a smooth beef broth that I could probably get anywhere.

Mediocre it is, 4.5 stars it is not. I don’t know if I just didn’t order the right things, but when a restaurant occupies space in Tozai Plaza amongst the Gardena greats, there’s no room for this kind of error.