Crystal Thai Restaurant (Arlington)

Last week, Mr. BW and I made an impromptu decision to stop in at Crystal Thai while we were out in Virginia, running errands.

Mr. BW's boss has heartily recommended Crystal Thai and it gets good zagat ratings (24 for food).

Mr. BW started with a Long Island. It was very festive.

My fresh spring rolls were very different. First, there was no shrimp, just thin chicken. Second, the rolls use mint, instead of the more traditional cilantro. Also, as you can see, they're fatter than the usual "fresh spring roll" that you get at Thai/Vietnamese restaurants. Interesting to see something different, but I prefer the mainstay.
Mr. BW ordered the num tok appetizer - grilled flank steak with lime juice, chili, red onion, cucumber, and mint leaves. Very tasty and in many ways much much better than a similar dish that we order frequently from our favorite thai restaurant - Thai Noy.

For his meal, Mr. BW ordered a special that they had going that night. Pork chops! As you can see, the portion was huge. The taste was very different, reminscent of a lot of hawaiian flavored food that I've sampled in the past.
I ordered the chicken curry as I was interested in something simple that could really help me evaluate the flavors of the restaurant. The chicken chunks were too big, as were the potato (potato?) chunks. The flavor of the curry was excellent, but because the chunks were so large, much of the chicken was tasteless (and getting close to dry) by the time you start eating the individual bits and pieces.
Overall the food was good, but Thai Noy is still probably better.