Restaurant Review: Typhoon

Posted on June 19, 2011 by Kelly

Full Disclosure: I paid for this meal with my own money and I was in no way reimbursed for this blog post. The opinions are completely my own.

For one of our last nights in California, we decided to go for somewhere a little nicer and different. We chose Typhoon which overlooks the Santa Monica Airport. Their menu is very diverse, with mostly Asian influences.

We went with a couple of people that the Husband was working with and they seemed to be more adventurous eaters than he and I usually are. Ok, well at least me – but I guess that isn’t saying much.

For an appetizer, they ordered the SIgnapore-style Scorpions and the Taiwanese Crickets. Yes, you read that right. SCORPIONS and CRICKETS.

If for some reason you guessed that I actually tried these, I apologize, I did not. These most definitely grossed me out. But people ate them! Including the husband! I would not be a good candidate for a Fear Factor or Survivor because you would have to pay me a LOT of money to eat those.

Our dinner selections were definitely more normal. Although there were options of squid, crab legs and lamb on the menu, we didn’t feel the need to branch out. Or, I should say, I didn’t. I guess I can’t speak for what other speak for what others were thinking.

For dinner, I had the Pad Thai with tofu. Yes, I know, again I had Pad Thai. I just really like it and it seems to be different at most every place so I never get bored of it!

It was pretty good! The flavor was actually very mild – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The presentation was very pretty, I liked how all of the different veggies were in separate little piles aside from the noodles. The tofu, however, was not my favorite. It wasn’t bad, but I was definitely not a fan of the texture. It was very soft and kind of mushy – I definitely did not eat all of it, and the dish probably would have been better without it.

The husband had Kung Pao chicken. Which FYI doesn’t come with rice unless you ask specifically for it.

He said it was just alright, nothing special.

Overall the meal was kind of disappointing, considering that it seemed like a nicer, unique, place.

Taste: B+, definitely not my favorite Pad Thai, but it wasn’t bad.
Cost: B-, it was kind of expensive – $12.00 for the Pad Thai – especially considering the quality of the food really wasn’t anything special.

Would I go there again? No, I don’t think so.