Moon Thai & Japanese in Charlotte can be described in one word. Forgettable. Well, not so much the service, the word there is “irritating.” The food and the entire meal were just OK, in the perfect Queen city style. It is classic Charlotte, where the Google reviews are high, but the food is generic. I am not saying I had a bad meal at Moon Thai & Japanese in South Park. Like watching reruns of of Friends isn’t bad. It just is. There are better places to spend your time and money.
My Experience with the Service
Walking into a nearly empty restaurant we are greeted by a confused looking hostess and her partner. It apparently takes two of them to do this job. Once greeted the hostess takes out what seems to be three different menus that looked to be 100 pages thick. I was not sure if I just accidently ordered volume A through E of Britannica or was going to eat some Japanese food.
We are seated directly behind the area where the waitress enters her checks, even though the entire restaurant is empty. This certainly takes away from the experience because we know we are about to talk sh*t about this place. No review of Moon Thai & Japanese in Charlotte would be complete without mentioning the mind numbing ordering process.
Dear reader, when someone asks “have you ever been here before?” say YES!!! I did not. What followed my “no” can only be described as a Ted Talk about their oversized menu. She went on and on about almost every item as if I had never eaten before. Lady, I have never been here before, but I know how restaurants work! Sushi and Pad Thai are not that complicated. Every dish was described in excruciating detail as if they belonged in the Louvre, there was only one problem with this… she forgot to mention nothing had flavor.
Tastes Like Corporate
If you are looking for a totally unimaginative meal after your two-hour lecture on the history of menus, Moon Thai & Japanese in Charlotte has you covered. If you go to their website there are nine different cities listed. This will ensure that the ingredients picked are not from the “chef” but from Misty in the accounting department. Food by board room, that is what gets a 4.5 on Google these days.
The first course was ok, dumplings. I liked them because they were dumplings. Really, they could have gone from the freezer to the air fryer I wouldn’t know the difference. In New York your dumplings are hand rolled, of course sometimes in the back alley with rats running around, but still hand rolled.
Everything was basic, after trying the dumplings I ordered some Miso Soup, a chicken dish, and Sushi. Miso fine, not much they can do there. The chicken tasted like sweet cardboard, that is the only memory I have of it. The Sushi did win an award. On the wall hung the most average and basic sushi in the country. Moon Thai & Japanese in Charlotte made the Sushi at Akahana (read review here) feel like a Michelin star establishment. The entire meal was just kind of there. Of course, it was the same overpriced, pretentious atmosphere that Charlotte seems to attract.
One last pet peeve of mine is when they combined two entirely separate cultures into one restaurant. Thai and Japanese? These are two unique types of food. Yes, they are both in Asia, but so is around 60% of the world’s population so that isn’t narrowing it down. I knew this coming in, but all I can say is pick a lane.
Conclusion: Review of Moon Thai & Japanese in Charlotte
Maybe I am being too hard on this spot. It was fine, I guess. Moon Thai & Japanese in Charlotte reminds me of what the food scene in this city has to offer. A collection of small corporate chains from around the South (and country these days). Most of the Moon Thai & Japanese restaurants are located in Florida and I kind of wish they would have stayed there.
There are better options for Asian food in Charlotte. Hell, there are a lot better options for Asian food in South Park. I did rag on Akahana a lot in my previous review, but I still go back to that place. Moon Thai & Japanese in Charlotte is a restaurant I can’t see myself visiting again. From the song and the dance at the beginning of the meal to the mediocre food, it all seems centrally planned. That is not how I like to eat my meals.