New Thai restaurant looks like a winner in Monroe

MONROE — Rarely do I get to try a restaurant before it opens, but friends told us about this city’s latest restaurant addition and, like them, we dined at Royal Thai Cuisine a couple of times before it officially opened in mid-April.

Royal Thai Cuisine is at the end of the strip mall next to Monroe’s movie theaters. The restaurant’s dining room is elegantly decorated with rich tropical colors, delicate lattices and artwork from Thailand, including an impressive fresco of elephants. It’s a white-tablecloth place with attentive service in a welcoming atmosphere.

The restaurant’s specialties have “Royal Thai” in the name. One that’s making its United States debut is Royal Thai soup ($7.95). This soup simmers cabbage, pork spareribs, garlic and small pickles for a couple of hours in a house-special broth.

For our first visit, my dining companion and I ordered chicken satay as an appetizer ($5.95), tiger steak ($11.95) with brown rice, prawns with asparagus ($12.95), and our test dish for Thai restaurants — pad Thai ($9.95). On a return visit, I picked up Thai noodle soup ($7.95), which is similar to Pho noodle soup, for my friend and another order of prawns with asparagus because I enjoyed it so much the first time.

Our chicken satay was seasoned and grilled to perfection, and the peanut sauce was a little tastier than most. My friend’s New York steak was lightly marinated in soy sauce and black pepper, which accented the steak beautifully, and also was grilled to perfection. It was as delicious as the brown rice was disappointing. Somehow the rice turned into hard kernels on top but a glutinous glob in the center. My dinner companion and I agreed that this isn’t what the kitchen staff had planned.

Our server was attentive but after our appetizers arrived, our other dishes came from the kitchen one at a time with a very long interval between the Tiger steak, my prawn-asparagus entree and the arrival of the pad Thai, which was another dish that was among the best we’ve had because the sauce was a delicious combination of flavors.

Even though Royal Thai Cuisine wasn’t officially open both times we had dinner, my dinner companion and I agreed that this restaurant has the potential to be among the best in Snohomish County.

Herald restaurant reviewers accept no invitations to review, but readers’ suggestions are always welcome. Reviewers arrive unannounced, and The Herald pays their tabs.