MetLA

When we used to live near Hollywood & Western, Palms Thai was our adjacent kitchen. We'd get takeout from there at least 2x a week. We never dealt with the crowds all that much because we rarely ate in the restaurant. Last night Kyle & I decided to visit the new location on Hollywood & Bronson. The first ominous sign was a big line in the parking garage off of Bronson. We found a spot on the street overlooking the 101. The new spot is one big room with the Elvis stage at one end and a bar at the other. The crowds are still there - at 8:30pm on Friday night we were told we could sit at the bar right away or wait 20 minutes. We sat at the bar. It's chaotic and noisy in there, but that's nothing new. They had a warmup guy on stage singing pretty awful versions of "You Gotta Know When to Hold 'Em" and "Rainbow Connection" (complete with Kermit the Frog hand puppet). Entertaining in a cringe-worthy way. We ordered the shrimp cakes appetizer with plum dipping sauce which was crisp and tasty. I wanted to stray from our normal dishes but just couldn't, so I ended up with the Pepper & Garlic with Tofu and Kyle had the Shrimp Pad Thai. Kyle's dish was just as we remember, very good and flavorful. My tofu seems to have lost a little flavor, but the garlic was as potent as ever. With my lemonade and Kyle's Singha, the bill came to $30, not too bad. The service is spotty, and I wouldn't recommend sitting at the bar - it's not that comfortable. All and all Palms seems to have survived the move west. Oh, and Peter (Thai Elvis) fired up as we were leaving, so we got to hear the good old school Elvis songs!