Chris was back for the holidays so Thu and I met up with him at Charm Modern Thai for lunch. I wasn’t aware that Charm was actually owned by the Thai House chain but I found out when I went to their website to make the reservations.
The lunch specials seemed to be the best value since they also came with Tom Yum soup and fried wontons so the three of us all chose a lunch plate. The Tom Yum soup had a spicy tanginess to it that we all enjoyed very much. The prawn wontons were also quite well done. It was crispy on the outside and stuffed with a lot of minced shrimp, kind of similar to Chinese dim sum shrimp dumplings. 
I was in the mood for noodles so I decided to have the Pad Thai with chicken. Unfortunately, this was not one of the better Pad Thais that I’ve experienced. The chicken was dry and the whole dish itself seemed to be slightly burnt as I could see little charcoal bits from the wok that it was cooked in. There was hardly any fish sauce and tamarind flavour and if I wasn’t told that it was Pad Thai, I probably would have thought these were some type of unnamed fried rice noodles.
Chris’s green curry with chicken fared slightly better but he remarked that the curry flavour was a bit weak and he also would have liked for there to be more chicken. I was quite surprised at this because I actually like the green curry chicken at Thai House, which is also in the same chain as Charm.
Thu’s ginger stir fry was probably the most successful dish in our group but she was also unimpressed with her order.
We all left Charm a bit disappointed with our experience. The service we received was spotty at best and it was a bit difficult trying to get the attention of our server. The food was also not what we expected and I have to say that Thai House is better and cheaper than what we had. I’m not sure if this was a one-off poor experience that we had but it’ll probably be a while before I make a second visit to Charm Modern Thai.
Details:
1269 Hamilton Street, Vancouver
Tel: 604-688-9339
Summary:
Food: 
Service:
Price: $$
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February 1st, 2010 at 1:57 pm
I agree. I had the pad thai too, and was very unimpressed, and it was the first time I’ve ordered it. I was really looking forward to it, but I was disappointed.
Can you recommend a place with good pad thai to me?
. Maybe one of the other thai places on Hamilton?
February 1st, 2010 at 11:02 pm
@Dee – I’m not sure if it’s authentic but I do like the pad thai at Chili Garden on Main Street. Let me know if you like it! As for the other places around Hamilton, Simply Thai is pretty good although I don’t think I’ve tried their pad thai before.
February 2nd, 2010 at 12:29 pm
Is it me or there have been a barrage of posts on Thai restaurants lately?
While Charm Modern Thai was never in my radar, I guess your thoughts pretty “seals” the deal. Thanks, Gigi!
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:04 pm
@KimHo – It’s almost like we coordinated! Great minds think alike
February 8th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
unfortunately I would have to disagree with the comments posted here by dee and gigi as Charm offers probably one of the best pad thai’s in vancouver imo. perhaps its personal tastes but the real tamarind they use is just as authhentic and tastes outside of thailand.
just my thoughts as everyones entitled to their opinion.
February 8th, 2010 at 2:44 pm
@Cindy – what did you have when you went to Charm? Perhaps we either went on an off night or ordered one of their dishes that wasn’t their strength.