Thai Harmony Closing on 09/17/10

August 19, 2010

Putting this announcement on the main page. The Tutto Gusto/Quinlan Park Grill curse has hit again. I think the final nail in the coffin was Cho Sushi. I never thought this community could support two Asian restaurants. I went to Cho last week for dinner and there was one family in Thai Harmony while Cho was packed. We did go to Thai Harmony for desert and the food was good as usual. Let’s see if a Tex-Mex place will survive.

http://steinerranchinfo.com/forums/topic.php?id=419

Thai Harmony will be closing our doors on 09/17/10. We would like to thank you for your patronage & support. The past few years have been an amazing journey. We wish that we could continue to enjoy your company. Unfortunately, we no longer have the manpower required to run the restaurant up to par. After much consideration, we have decided to hand the torch down to a well-qualified management team to continue our dream of making this restaurant successful. We hope that you will continue to support the new management team in their quest. We believe in their quality of fodd and services. This decision was not made lightly, so we hope you understand the difficulty
of making this transition. Look forward to the future of an authentic Tex-Mex bar & grill. Hope to see you here to celebrate the grand opening of Suelo Nuevo Bar & Grill.

Sincerely,
CK & Susan Viranam
4300 N. Quinlan Park Road
Ste 100
Austin, TX 78732
512-535-7975

http://wayoutwestaustin.com Laura

Sorry to hear this news, but I look forward to seeing what Suelo Nuevo will do – and how they’ll be different from Flores, which is super-popular!
mm57553

That’s sad news. I really wanted to see them do well, but the simple fact was that their food simple wasn’t that good.
Poster Formerly Known As

A Tex-Mex place, assuming it’s not completely awful, will be busy every night in Steiner
Stmbtsprgs

Would love to see something like Maudie’s move in! Anything better than Flores food would do great business.
Poster Formerly Known As

I’ve never understood the attraction to Flores. The food is decidedly unexceptional
Anononon

I’m sad to see them go. They made great improvements to their food this year, but first impressions are everything and they started out mediocre. I think that’s what cost them. They’ve always been friendly and helpful. I wish them all the best.
Reddy

Unfortunately the initial hiccups really hit them hard.
I always thought Thai Harmony’s food was made of fresh ingredients and tasted very good. The few dishes I had were not over the top oily or greasy.

Wish them luck with their next venture.
ResidentEvil

I always liked Thai Harmony, but found I only ate there every couple of months. Sad to see them go.

That said, the obvious choice for some time has been to put a TexMex place in the neighborhood. If they’re any good at all, they will be printing money.

And if they aren’t then perhaps the builder should tear that corner slot down and salt the earth there as a warning to future generations of the cursed nature of the location.
Goldeneye

I don’t know why everyone keeps saying the space is cursed. If someone puts a quality restaurant in there it will do well. If they keep putting subpar crap in there, it will crash and burn. The Oasis can get by with mediocre food, but most restaurants can’t.
Anon

Any reviews on the new place? I drove by last night and saw that they appear to be open for business.
LakeCouple

What a disappointment! We went during opening week, and it seemed like they still had their ‘training wheels’ on.

My wife and I walked in and we noticed there was only 3 or 4 other couples in the whole restaurant – but they commented that it would be a 5 or 10 minute wait. I understand the need to work out issues at first, but then they sat us in the bar area and handed us a paper menu with about 10 menu items total.

I ordered the chicken enchiladas and my wife ordered the chicken chimichanga. Both entrees were worse than if we went to Taco Bell. All ingredients appeared like they had just got off the shelf and put in the microwave. The chicken was heated ‘canned chicken’.

This place does not belong in a community with standards as high as Steiner Ranch.
LakeCouple

What a disappointment! We went during opening week, and it seemed like they still had their ‘training wheels’ on.

My wife and I walked in and we noticed there were only 3 or 4 other couples in the whole restaurant – but they commented that it would be a 5 or 10 minute wait. I understand the need to work out issues at first, but then they sat us in the bar area and handed us a paper menu with about 10 menu items total.

I ordered the chicken enchiladas and my wife ordered the chicken chimichanga. Both entrees were worse than if we went to Taco Bell. All ingredients appeared like they had just got off the shelf and put in the microwave. The chicken was heated ‘canned chicken’.

This place does not belong in a community with standards as high as Steiner Ranch.
susan gibbs

went to eat at the new place last night.Very disappointed,nachos were not good and quite expensive.I have had better Mexican food at fast food places.!!!!
JohnH

I visited the new Tex-Mex bar & grill last night and it is called “Suelo Nuevo”. I had good time in the bar area with Chicken Fajitas and two glasses of frozen margarita. It is a full liquor bar now (instead of just beer & wine) with TV for Long Horn games!

The server told me that it has had no Grand Opening yet … last week, they are on dry-run for training servers and test their environment (computers, menus, credit card billing, kitchen …). They are on refinement mode this week; but it was packed last night. I think they will success and we should provide them some constructive advices. We need a good local Tex-Mex in our neighborhood. I will swing by next week and will post more comments – cheer!
Anon

Had dinner with the family at Suelo Nuevo over the weekend. What a step up from the three restaurants in this location prior. Great family atmosphere, good food, friendly service and reasonable prices. They are still working out some kinks but overall this will be a nice addition to the existing great dining options in the neighborhood. One thing they definitley need to do is upgrade to HD on the flat screens. Other than that, no complaints here.
Betty B

My husband and I ate at Suelo Nuevo tonight and it was awful! It’s a combo Mexican and fast food place. Had mushroom appetizers – they were coated in corn meal as opposed to batter and definitely cooked in the same grease as the catfish! Nasty! We ordered the spicy beef enchiladas and soft chicken tacos – both had a really funky taste and were very dry – left well over half of our food. Way too expensive for such bad food.
Laura

Let’s hope they can work their kinks out. I would love to have a great Tex-Mex restaurant in Steiner!
Anon

I always laugh at the negative reviews that get posted on here. “Lakeside’s pizza is too cheesy”; “the filet at the Steakhouse came wrapped in bacon and it grossed out my husband”; and the references on here to Taco Bell and the menu being overpriced – give me a break.
The so-called paper menu says right on the front “LIMITED MENU” – that means they aren’t up to full speed yet people. The mushrooms do pretty much suck, but they are $2.99 – not a huge hit to the wallet. There are three items on the menu that are over $8.99. I wouldn’t call that “way too expensive”. Especially not for “a community with standards as high as Steiner Ranch”. Seriously?

Give the place a chance to iron out the kinks – it’s going to be fine. It’s my belief that two of the biggest indicators of a good Mexican restaurant are the salsa and the Mex Martinis/Margaritas. Both are outstanding at Suelo Nuevo (new soil) – it’s a refreshing change of pace from the last two tenants.
Poster Formerly Known As

Agree with Anon–everyone needs to calm down. This is not a corporate or chain restaurant or one started by a famous chef. That means it’s going to take some time to get up to speed. Relax, and, hopefully, enjoy.
DN

People in this neighborhood want healthy food. I have only seen the menu but it looks disgusting with chicken fried steak and fried catfish. It looks like the Boathouse junk food from across 620. Hopefully, they will incorporate fresh veggies meals such as poblano, fresh avocadoes, etc. and salads with homeade salad dressings or they won’t make it here.
Anon

ouch
sg

A little patience and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism goes a long way … if locally owned places that keep trying continually get driven out, we’ll end up with a nasty grease pit like Olive Garden.

I’m not saying residents should support anything regardless of quality, but well-intentioned feedback is generally appreciated by business owners, as well as time to get things up and running.
jl

And I wonder why they call us Whiners Ranch? A restaurant should be judged on food, service, value and atmosphere. Unfortunately the residents of Steiner have been extremely hard on any new restaurant attempt. I firmly believe in giving a place a chance and allowing a little ramp up time. I also think giving constructive feedback gives them the opportunity to improve… if they take it and use it shows how invested they are in making the place work.

Any restaurant in Steiner is up against a lot of hurdles. The rent on that space is extremely high, it’s difficult to get good servers in the area because most people waiting table can’t afford to live anywhere near the area and don’t want to spend time and money traveling out this way for low-pay, marginal tips (yes there are a lot of poor tippers in the neighborhood), and often times rude patrons with poorly controlled kids. Have you ever sat back and watched how some of the people in the neighborhood treat “the help” around here. It’s embarrassing. The other problem is everyone seems to want fresh, healthy food but aren’t willing to pay for it. You get what you pay for, do you want quality food or do you want a $7 price point?

I hope the neighborhood will give this place a chance. With the Randall’s about to be built it’s only a matter of time before we end up with a string of generic chain restaurants surrounding the community.
The real Anon

it’s true – same family. I’v spoken with them. I don’t have high hopes.
Anonandonandon

Hey DP – what’s your take on the Steakhouse?
mm57553

I don’t think everyone is too hard on restaurants here. Lakeside and Fion have done really well. I tried Thai Harmony several times over many months, and it just wasn’t that good. If its the same people running Suelo Nuevo , then I have a feeling they won’t be around for long.