Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Nice soup, but where're my wontons?

Rainy day delivery works out, with a hitch

The rare nondescript Gaslamp restaurant—low overhead and still in business.
The rare nondescript Gaslamp restaurant—low overhead and still in business.
Place

Mint Downtown Thai

732 4th Avenue, San Diego

Rainy days are bad enough, but when it's both a cold and rainy evening I respond like any self-respecting Southern Californian: by ordering Thai soup delivery. This time I opted for the Horton Plaza-adjacent Mint Thai, which takes orders through eat24hrs.com.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The web ordering worked out pretty well, with relatively easy-to-use click-to-order menus and comment boxes available for special requests on each dish. Mint charges two dollars for delivery, which is peanuts compared to some of the other restaurants working through the site, some charging up to five or even eight bucks. The option to add a tip while ordering sort of defeats the incentive behind tipping, but in this case, with the driver willing to brave elements I wasn't, it was a worthy convenience.

Of course there are unforeseen perils to ordering this way. I decided to try the wonton soup — described on the web menu as featuring "stuffed ground pork wontons, bean sprouts, Napa cabbage, onions and carrots." As with many Thai menus, the price of the dish is determined by which ingredients you choose. For a large soup at Mint, including chicken or pork costs you $10; beef, shrimp or calamari goes for $11; a combo for $15.

Figuring the pork wontons would be enough meat, I went for a $9 vegetables, which turned out to include broccoli, zucchini, cabbage, carrots, onions, bean sprouts and mushrooms. However, what the soup did not include were wontons.

A glitch, apparently — when I called the restaurant they sounded surprised, and seemed to think there was some miscommunication taking place between me, the web site and the restaurant. Or that I must have made a special request to leave out wontons (highly unlikely!). Of course, the way the ordering process works is to click on wonton soup, then choose meat or vegetable option from a pull-down menu, so any glitch would have to have required the ineffable human touch.

Here's the thing, though — the soup was pretty good, even without the pork wontons. I would actually eat it again (provided I did order it that way). The clear broth tasted wonderful, the vegetables almost buttery in flavor and texture. I made a good meal of it without having to leave my living room.

However, it's hard to escape the bad taste in my mouth left from adding a middleman to the ordering process.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Trophy truck crushes four at Baja 1000

"Two other racers on quads died too,"
The rare nondescript Gaslamp restaurant—low overhead and still in business.
The rare nondescript Gaslamp restaurant—low overhead and still in business.
Place

Mint Downtown Thai

732 4th Avenue, San Diego

Rainy days are bad enough, but when it's both a cold and rainy evening I respond like any self-respecting Southern Californian: by ordering Thai soup delivery. This time I opted for the Horton Plaza-adjacent Mint Thai, which takes orders through eat24hrs.com.

Sponsored
Sponsored

The web ordering worked out pretty well, with relatively easy-to-use click-to-order menus and comment boxes available for special requests on each dish. Mint charges two dollars for delivery, which is peanuts compared to some of the other restaurants working through the site, some charging up to five or even eight bucks. The option to add a tip while ordering sort of defeats the incentive behind tipping, but in this case, with the driver willing to brave elements I wasn't, it was a worthy convenience.

Of course there are unforeseen perils to ordering this way. I decided to try the wonton soup — described on the web menu as featuring "stuffed ground pork wontons, bean sprouts, Napa cabbage, onions and carrots." As with many Thai menus, the price of the dish is determined by which ingredients you choose. For a large soup at Mint, including chicken or pork costs you $10; beef, shrimp or calamari goes for $11; a combo for $15.

Figuring the pork wontons would be enough meat, I went for a $9 vegetables, which turned out to include broccoli, zucchini, cabbage, carrots, onions, bean sprouts and mushrooms. However, what the soup did not include were wontons.

A glitch, apparently — when I called the restaurant they sounded surprised, and seemed to think there was some miscommunication taking place between me, the web site and the restaurant. Or that I must have made a special request to leave out wontons (highly unlikely!). Of course, the way the ordering process works is to click on wonton soup, then choose meat or vegetable option from a pull-down menu, so any glitch would have to have required the ineffable human touch.

Here's the thing, though — the soup was pretty good, even without the pork wontons. I would actually eat it again (provided I did order it that way). The clear broth tasted wonderful, the vegetables almost buttery in flavor and texture. I made a good meal of it without having to leave my living room.

However, it's hard to escape the bad taste in my mouth left from adding a middleman to the ordering process.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Trump names local supporter new Border Czar

Another Brick (Suit) in the Wall
Next Article

Escondido planners nix office building switch to apartments

Not enough open space, not enough closets for Hickory Street plans
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader