Teak Wood: The night I tempted the restaurant gods and lost

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Last Saturday night, my girlfriends and I decided to give the two-year-old 14^th Street restaurant Teak Wood a try.  I called about two hours before we wanted to eat to see if we could snag a reservation and was immediately told there was a spot for a table of five at 7:30 pm.  Let’s call this sign #1 that I should have reconsidered this option.  Any nice restaurant that can spare a table for five a few hours before the desired time is questionable, in my opinion.  ‘Why aren’t they booked?’ was the first question that popped into my head.  But, we decided to give it a go anyway.

Upon entering the spot, that features both Thai and Sushi cuisine, with Thai inspired décor— read: huge Buddha statues– and what seemed like 100 empty tables greeted us.  Sign #2 that this was not going to be my night.  We sat down and after a few minutes the waitress approached our table.  Since we were not ready to order we asked her to come back in a few minutes.  As any frequent restaurant-goer knows, this can go either one of two ways: the waitress comes back in a few minutes as requested, or the waitress disappears, seemingly on a trek to Tibet, before you have to frantically wave your arms at her to get her attention.  Not surprisingly, we dealt with the latter option. 

We placed our order, and eventually one plate of food came out.  One plate.  Let me remind you there were five of us dining together.  Finally another two plates came out.  And then one more.  That brings our grand total to four plates of food.  One guess as to whose plate of food was missing?  It’s as if the restaurant gods were laughing at me.  I chose to ignore their signs, and this was my punishment.

After alerting the waitress to the fact that, after the 10 minute serving assembly line jaunt, my food had still not arrived, she gave me a confused look and asked what I had ordered.  Sigh.  I knew at that point that she had forgotten to include my order.  To make up for this oversight, I was comped a free bowl of Miso Soup, which I don’t even like.  Finally, my meal came out.  The food, I will say, was pretty good.  Not the best Thai food I’ve ever had, but solid food at a good price point.  I sampled Liz’s Pad Thai, which was also delicious.  The sushi looked quality, though I did not sample any.  The portions were decent.  Oh, and they did have some really fancy chopsticks. 

Maybe I just had back luck at Teak Wood.  But, to me, service is just as important as food quality when dining out.  I’d likely order take out from them, but will never dine in-house at this restaurant again. 

Price: $$

Ambiance: ★★★☆☆

Service: ★★☆☆☆

Food: ★★★★☆