My spouse and I dined at White Orchid Thai Cuisine for a
late lunch on a Saturday afternoon in mid-February 2016 (Valentine’s weekend).
You can reserve a table at White Orchid by telephone or via the Open Table
reservation system. White Orchid is open for lunch and dinner daily.
White Orchid is located at the Promenade Shops in Center
Valley. The restaurant opened in fall of 2006; however, the restaurant expanded
into an adjacent storefront in late 2009. The interior space is therefore split
into two: the main dining room, and an adjacent room that offers a few tables
but is dominated by the bar/lounge area. In warmer months, White Orchid also
offers outdoor dining on a dedicated patio space that is located between the
restaurant and the parking lot (this, along with Melt, is probably the best
outdoor dining space at the Promenade). The interior of the main dining space
offers both booth and table seating, and the restaurant features lots of dark
wood with purple and gray accents. Parking is available in nearby surface parking
lots.
Because we dined on Valentine’s weekend, the restaurant
offered a few specials. (However, we seem to remember them offering specials on
other non-holidays when we have dined.) We were surprised by the high menu
prices, more expensive than other Promenade restaurants (like Kome and Melt).
To charge $28 for fried rice and $32 for a noodle dish seemed a bit
unreasonable to us! (We dine out a lot, often in New York City, so we are not
easily shocked by high prices, but these just seemed a bit over-the-top.) We
ordered the spring rolls (Po Pia Tod) to start; probably the most boring choice
on the apps menu, but we thought that they would be tasty and dependable. When
they arrived, they looked good, but in reality were completely flavorless, and
the accompanying dipping sauce (vinegar topped with shredded carrot) did
nothing to enhance their flavor. (The restaurant has a selection of four
additional Thai spices/toppings on each table so that you can further season
items yourself.) For entrees, we ordered the crab fried rice (which was topped
with lump crab and scallops and accented with raw cucumber slices and grape
tomatoes) and one of the specials, the Panang (sweet) curry noodles (which were
topped with a variety of seafood and served medium spicy, which was still too
spicy for us). We ordered the fried rice as advertised with jasmine rice,
although brown rice is available for a $2 upcharge (which seems unnecessary
when you’re already paying $28 for the dish). Even though we have traveled
to/through Thailand at least four times (and eaten there every time, of
course), we admittedly do not have extensive Thai food experience, so perhaps
it is our lack of knowledge that leads us to be “un-wowed” by this menu.
We have dined at White Orchid several times since it opened,
but disappointingly, we have never enjoyed a truly good meal there; however, we
are clearly in the minority because the restaurant was packed to capacity with
happy diners even at the hour when we dined. This restaurant often wins in the
Thai category for the “Best of” Lehigh Valley restaurants, and from an
aesthetic standpoint, we heartily agree.
