I’d suggest that the owner/chef should do a thorough analysis/comparison of his recipes compared to, say, Ta Ra Rin in Eugene.

First of all, he needs to get the “spice rating” issue under control. Simplify it to “mild, medium, or hot”…then actually deliver what the customer requests. (This problem with dishes being the wrong spice level has been mentioned by several reviewers on other sites).

Secondly, he needs to straighten out the odd tastes of important dishes/drinks like Pad Thai, Tom Kha Gai, and Thai Iced Tea. Just buy some take-out from Ta Ra Rin and adjust the Aiyara recipe to match it. Simple.

Finally, the “easy on the eyes” waitress should sit down with the owners and record their pronunciations of the dish names, then go home and practice until she can at least sound SOMETHING like the original.

Looking for a decent lunch one weekday about a year ago, I ventured into Aiyara’s. Noticing the Sprangtucky-ish ambiance, I ordered my green curry with chicken lunch special at the hottest available level of spice. When it arrived, the curry was barely mild. It tasted reasonably good, but was also hardly more than tepid in temperature.

The teensy shreds of chicken interspersed here and there in the dish seemed acceptably fresh, but the bed of raw shredded cabbage and carrots on which it rested suffered from carrots that were dried-out and discolored at the edges. Even before it looks old, aging produce loses most of its nutritional value.

I walked out still hungry, out the price of a hot lunch, and feeling ripped-off. Of course, the real standard-bearer for that ultra-dependable “used” feeling is Kuraya’s, which has set the standard for Thai in Springfield by doling out much tastier, and even more expensive, little scraps of highway robbery in a much nicer atmosphere for the last thirty-odd years.