O Top Thai BBQ - Review

Yum.. I love Thai Yellow Curry. Something about curry and rice that is probably one of the ultimate comfort foods for me, though I have come to find no two curries are a like.

O Top Thai BBQ, located in a little strip mall in Gardena, on Vermont North of Artesia. This is a little hole in the wall place, clean, minimally decorated and a large menu considering the size of the place.

Normally I frequent 3 Spice which is down the street from work, but in my search for somewhere to eat I decided to search for a new Thai place, I get bored easily. Now I haven't fully explored the menu at 3 Spice and it's not like it's nearly as large as O Top and generally my lunch time options are limited to the lunch time menu or specials.

So entering it looks like a couple of older ladies man the station here taking orders and waiting tables, so I'm not sure who is the cook. They were attentive and brought items to the table without my asking, aside from some chopsticks which is not fault there.  I basically already knew what I wanted before walking in as I'd looked at the menu online, which is a lot smaller than what is in store.

The lunch specials go for $5.50... yes! With that you get a salad, fried rice (I had steamed), a couple of fried wontons and your selection. At first I felt the portion was a bit skimpy but I do not feel empty or left wanting for more. Additionally I had a Thai Iced Tea. All in all it came to $7.49, so I left a $2 tip.

There were some "weird" things with this experience. 1) I think at some point while taking my order she may have gotten the impression that I spoke Thai, which only gave a puzzled and confused response to her possible question. 2) The initial taste seemed, odd. It seemed like my main dish including the rice had a "Asian essence" to it. Sort of like when you walk into someone's house and it has that "cooking aroma" to it, and that aroma depends on the culture of the household. After about 1 minute into it it seemed to disappear, though I know I could eat that curry again. I did feel the internal "gorge" factor want more after I was done and found myself scraping what I could of what was left of the curry sauce.

I have a few items that I need to go back and try, the soups, the Pad Thai & other noodles dishes, the BBQ chicken and the appetizers. This place is dirt cheap even on the main course items, definitely would be worthwhile to bring a larger group.

Key things to know:

Cash Only!
There is a parking lot, though not many spots. Street parking is available.
Cheap lunch!!