No street wokker

Had another bad pad thai experience. Ordered pad thai and thai ice tea at a “Vietnamese” restaurant. All the other vegetarian dishes (which included a barbecued pork appetizer) were labeled spicy and had vegetables I didn’t think I could chew.

The waiter asked “how spicy?” I said “not spicy at all,” doing my usual criss-cross motion with my hands to signal “not spicy.” He started to write it down and then said, “It’s spicy already when I make it. Do you want me to make it without any spices?” Fearing that would leave me with rice noodles in ketchup, I said something to the effect of, “Just go ahead and make it your regular way.”

The ice tea came in a bottle. Not the pink and white concoction that needs to be mixed. I almost decided I didn’t want it, but poured it into my glass with ice and rather liked it. More than the pad thai, which, amazingly enough, was spicier than I like it. It wasn’t like really spicy, but I would call it one star, when what I wanted was zero stars.

I didn’t care for it, but asked for a box after I’d eaten maybe a little less than half. He goes, “Too spicy?” And I of course said “No,” because I didn’t want him mocking me and my sensitive palate.

OK, so I know it’s no “There’s no such thing as half-sweet” barista. But it made for a disappointing lunch.