Visit #1 ·
★★★★★First visit, so I'm still reading the room here. Hollywood Thai on Hollywood Blvd is one of those spots that's been around long enough that the neighborhood changed three times around it and it just kept cooking. Walked in on a Sunday, sat down, ordered probably more than I needed to.
Got the pad see ew, a green curry, and some spring rolls to start. The pad see ew was the right call — wide rice noodles had actual char on them, which tells me someone back there knows what they're doing with wok heat. A lot of places in LA are running equipment that can't get hot enough or they're cooking in batches too large to get that caramelization. This wasn't that. The noodles had texture and the egg was incorporated correctly, not just scrambled on top as an afterthought.
Green curry was solid. Coconut milk base wasn't too thin, which is usually the tell on a watered-down operation. Could've used more heat for my preference but the flavor was layered — kaffir lime was detectable, which I appreciate. Spring rolls were fine. Fried wrapper, standard filling. Not the reason to come here.
Service was fast, maybe too fast — dishes came out kind of stacked on each other timing-wise, which meant I was juggling plates before I finished the spring rolls. Small thing but I notice it.
The dining room feels like it's been the same since at least 2005, which I don't mean as a knock. There's a consistency implied in that. The menu's long, longer than I'd want to commit to on a first visit.
One visit tells me almost nothing. The wok technique on the pad see ew bought them a second trip. Come back to this when I have more data.