Toy's Thai, toying with my desires

After the pad thai at Lulu's Asian Bistro, I thought it was about time to try out an actual Thai restaurant. I hadn't heard anything in particular about Toy's Thai, even though it was right next to campus, but since from the outside it sort of looked down-home and similar to the joints I was used to in Jackson Heights or Astoria in NYC, I nurtured secret hopes that the food would be awesome.

I think you know where this is going.

Here's my order of Thai iced tea, pad thai, and pad see ew. Might as well try all the standards at once, no? The odd thing was, I had specified beef for the pad see ew and chicken for the pad thai, but it wasn't until they prepared my order and handed it to me that I was informed, "No beef. Chicken pad see ew." I didn't really mind, but it would have been nice to be told beforehand.

Anyway. You can probably tell from appearance alone that these were imposter noodles. In the pad see ew: broccoli and carrots instead of Chinese broccoli; too much veg; too much sugar; no complex smokiness. In the pad thai: pale, dry noodles without any depth, and where are the bean sprouts, maaan? Since I love noodles no matter what, after squeezing lime all over it I wasn't unhappy eating it, but really this was like ketchup-flavored street fair pad thai than anything else. I ate some from each container, washed it down with the too-sweet iced tea, and then stuck the rest in my refrigerator: I had gotten my fill of disappointment for the day.