Hands On Modern Thai and Sushi Bar

I went here on a Saturday afternoon with my boyfriend and we had the whole restaurant to ourselves almost the whole time we were there (I suspect they do a lot of carry out). We ordered fried calamari as an appetizer and were pleasantly surprised by the large quantity and the accompanying sweet chile sauce. My boyfriend loved his "no mercy" seafood mix and I enjoyed my chicken and noodle stir-fry, which was pretty much the same as at any Thai place. This area of the city does not have many Thai places and Hands On is a welcome addition to the area.

This review is a two parter-  the thai part and the sushi part.

My husband and I went here on Sat night, 7:00.  There were only two other tables occupied besides ours.  We were a little surprized, especially based on the reviews we read.  We love thai and sushi and were overjoyed at the thought of having both in one meal near our house.  We were taken aback by the lack of customers.

First, we ordered the spider roll.  Fantastic!  We loved it.  We could have eaten more, but we wanted to try some of the thai dishes as well.  If we were just rating this place based on the sushi, it would have easily been 5 stars.

We then got our chicken pad thai and chicken panang curry.  The pad thai was nothing special.  In fact, my husband hated it.  It was in a very thick, overly sweet sauce that took over the entire dish.  You did not taste anything else.  I was not impressed either.  We took a couple of bites and left the rest to take home for our daughter.  It was bland enough and sweet enough for her to eat without a problem.  I do have to say that it was a large bowl with a large portion of food.  Saying that, I was SHOCKED when the waitress came back with a small, one cup size take out container with the leftover pad thai in it.  I wanted to question her about it.  How can all that food fit in this container?  I was not happy.  My husband scooted me out and said it wasnt worth the argument.  He is right, because we are not going back anyway.

My curry dish was good.  Funny enough, this panang curry lacked some of the sweetness that it should have.  I would have probably eaten it again.  But I like said, we are not going back.  I feel like I was ripped off.  

Throughout our meal, one other group came in.  Again, I felt this was strange for a Saturday night ...and it was also Valentines Day weekend.  

There is a new sushi bar that opened nearby that we are going to check out as well.  I cant wait to see what that holds.  As for thai, Thai Pastery at Lawrence and Harlem is by far the best.

I really, really wanted to like this place!  Sadly...I was not impressed at all.  Their sushi rolls were super bland and just not good.  Thai food was just okay, I'd go elsewhere for a Thai fix.  Definitely won't be back.