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Spotlight: Scott Joseph Reviews Bangkok Thai Passion

Photo courtesy of Scott Joseph's Orlando Restaurant Guide
Photo courtesy of Scott Joseph's Orlando Restaurant Guide

This review is abridged for broadcast. Find the full version of the review at Scott Joseph’s Orlando Restaurant Guide on this page.

While I sat waiting for my food at Bangkok Thai Passion at one of only two occupied tables, a woman came rushing through the front door. She loudly expressed relief that the restaurant was open — she had tried to call in an order but the restaurant’s phone was not working. She apparently feared the worst.

I guess we all have different things that stir our passion. My experience at the Ocoee restaurant was more frigid. At least that’s what I felt from my server, who seemed desperate to be anywhere doing anything other than where and what she was. Clearly, waiting tables is not her passion. (This was in contrast to the genuinely warm welcome I had from someone I assume to be an owner when I first came through the door.)

And unfortunately none of the food I sampled stirred my loins, either. Spring Rolls were a bit too greasy and didn’t seem to have much more inside the crisp wrappers than chopped bok choy.

Pra Ram, from the list of specialty entrees, was a mildly seasoned dish that featured a peanut and coconut sauce with chicken and broccoli. It was nicely sprinkled with crushed peanuts but it craved for additional seasoning.

So, too, the Pad Thai. There were plenty of rice noodles and bean sprouts, though no sign of eggs that I could detect. But again, the flavor was just bland.

Tables are covered in white cloths and topped with glass, but the dining room has a cluttered and worn appearance. Ceiling tiles sag a bit, and boxes are stacked in the back along the wall leading to the restrooms.

Perhaps there once was passion at Bangkok Thai Passion, but it would seem the flame has gone out.

Nicole came to Central Florida to attend Rollins College and started working for Orlando’s ABC News Radio affiliate shortly after graduation. She joined Central Florida Public Media in 2010. As a field reporter, news anchor and radio show host in the City Beautiful, she has covered everything from local arts to national elections, from extraordinary hurricanes to historic space flights, from the people and procedures of Florida’s justice system to the changing face of the state’s economy.