Designer decor was not a top priority when Siam Rice opened a few years ago. Don't fret; it's clean, spacey and quiet. Go there for their surprisingly yummy food and their reserved and gentle wait staff. But don't expect fancy or you'll be disappointed.
Siam Rice Thai and Sushi Restaurant is wedged in-between two affluent communities, Miami Shores and Belle Meade on either side of Biscayne Blvd. This important, bustling daytime throughway becomes deserted after the sun goes down, except for the occasional bus passenger rushing home and an assortment of bicycle riders who can't seem to avoid just mulling around and checking out the surroundings.
Siam Rice has different tasty specials every night. Most under $10. Push open their front doors and head either towards the center tables or the vinyl covered seats in booths with regular and low sodium soy sauce on the table. Then prepare to encounter a menu that contains well over a hundred different dishes. Lunch specials include Japanese Bento boxes, Teriyaki and rice and Thai lunch specials for $7.99. Also on their four-page, fold-out menu, sushi and roll combinations, sashimi combos, low carb dishes, Makimono rolls, salads, soups and veggie appetizers. There are noodle soup dishes, duck dishes, Thai entrees, fish specialties that include white fish and a variety of interesting spicy or curry combos. Their Wed. crispy lobster roll for $9.99 is mouthwatering, (check their bullentin board for daily specials), but you can order the same dish for the same price mostly all of the time. Soft shell crabs drenched in a lightly spiced sauce, surrounded with veggies are also on the special menu but are available anytime for less than $10. They aim to please and they do. They serve Asian beers including Sapporo in 16 oz.bottles.
The most expensive preparations on the menu are the seafood specials which when compared to other Asian restaurants with the same items aren't really that expensive at all. The lobster Nam Dang (1 piece), is a steamed lobster tail topped with ground shrimp, sweet peas, pineapple, mushrooms, baby corn, cashew nuts in a brown sauce for $20.99. Their seafood teriyaki with broiled shrimps, scallop and half a lobster tail is smothered in a teriyaki sauce with mushrooms, carrots and snow peas and also priced at $20.99.
Our waiter was from Thailand and said, "I really miss my country but I do get to go back from time to time." Then after a pause he added, "I am very glad to be here and have a good job.
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