Another Monkey

I started this draft and then forgot to finish. Looks like the place closed down but if the owners re-​open or open a new place I’d be willing to check it out. I took my team here for our quarterly lunch (12 people for lunch) everyone was happy with their food. I think that if there had been more people service wouldn’t have been as fast as I like but there weren’t many other tables with people when my group was there.
(Visited 2÷28÷2013)

Birthday dinners are a beast of their own.
Stressful, joyous, thrilling, shitshow-​y, self-​centered, balls of amazingness. You definitely don’t want to mess around with your restaurant choice.
I came to Another Monkey for my 22^nd birthday and it was, in one word, amazing. Friendly service that accommodated our 15-​person party, provided us tasty Thai food of many varieties at an affordable price, and served our drinks with little plastic monkeys (instead of umbrellas). I’m sad that I lost my plastic monkey shortly after, but I’ll still have great memories of that night. [end of cheesiness]

We went here on Sunday for dinner to use a Groupon. Place wasn’t packed but there were several tables occupied. Interior of the restaurant is really inviting and warm — there’s a fireplace right at the front. Dark, intimitate — good place to take a date or take advantage of their happy hour (5−7pm).
Anyways, we were here to try the food (duh) so we got to try 4 appetizers and 4 entrees with our deal. I added the prices just in case anyone is curious:
APPETIZERS
— Crispy calamari ($ 8) — great crunch and texture to the calamari. The chili lime sauce it came with was awesome. Nice heat to it.
— Crispy soft shell crab mango salad ($ 12) — two big pieces of deep fried crab a top a bunch of julienned mango. Dressing had a nice citrus, tangy taste to it.
— Spicy tea leaf salad ($ 10) — first time I’ve tried tea leaf salad. They bring it to the table, squeeze the lemon into the tea leaf and then mix everything together. Pretty good, definitely different from your other salads! Heat gets to you though so make sure you like spicy.
— Lemongrass seafood salad ($ 12) — lots of seafood in it (shrimp, scallops, squid) and also nice sauce to it. Spicy lime, tanginess to it as well.
Appetizers are pretty filling… but we had four more dishes to go.
ENTREES
— Eggplant, prawn and salad ($ 16) — sauce was a bit too sweet but eggplant was tender. Asked for medium spicy but didn’t find it spicy at all.
— Lychee duck ($ 18) — this was our least favourite dish. Duck was overcooked — even with the red curry sauce, it couldn’t save the dish.
— Coconut seafood curry ($ 18) — the curry was great and presentation was great. They serve the curry in the inside of a real coconut.
— Sea bass clay pot ($ 18) — this dish was also great. Glass noodles, a few vegetables and fish was nice and light.
— 4x steamed rice ($ 2 per bowl) — our waiter was great and didn’t even charge us for the rice (wasn’t included in the Groupon).
Long review, my bad. Basically, the food was tasty (most of it) but it’s a bit on the expensive side for Thai food. Waiters were fast but service is a bit weird. We were sat down and then didn’t see them for 20 minutes when we were waiting to order. Worth a try but I’m not sure if I would go there if I had to pay full price. Would give it 3.5 stars.

I was really taken with the décor — these interesting deco-​like buddha statues, the silver pipes, and the hypnotic gas fireplace. The restaurant has an interesting co-​ed bathroom set-​up as well as a private dining room in the back.
But…the food… I had a delicious veggie dish in ginger sauce with some of the best-​tasting tofu I’ve had outside of Japan. I wonder if it’s homemade or is it just how the prepared it? Really good! My partner enjoyed her fish dish as well.
I’ll definitely return.

I came here for lunch on a Wednesday afternoon, right after the lunch hour rush.
Service is pretty slow here. Took a few minutes to get seated despite tons of empty table. The waiter also took his time taking our orders and serving us our food.
Ambiance is romantic with its dim lighting. There are good vibes with their nicely decoration of buddhas. Also, it has a club dance lounge feel to it, especially since there is a co-​ed restroom with ginormous stall-​rooms and a bar.
Food is decent. Mango salad and seafood fried rice were good. There were lots of thinly sliced mangoes in my salad, and the dressing was tangy, yet spicy. The seafood fried rice was sweet and salty. Both could have used a bit more shrimp/​seafood, but at least the pieces were big.
I would avoid the vegetarian samosas though. Even though they had a creamy texture, they were small and somewhat bland. The only good thing about them was that it came with a sweet and sour dipping sauce.
The thai ice tea was yummy. It had a rich orange-​red color to it, much brighter than I have ever seen. However, it was a bit too fragrant. They should have diluted the tea a bit and have given me half the amount of ice. It was literally sip, sip, sip, and gone.
Price is more on the expensive side of thai places. Items are $ 12 – 14 per plate.

Monday, 8:30PM.
Quickie:
+Decent food
+Good service
+Clean venue
+Sleek layout
— Small portions
And then???
This may be more of a happy hour place.
**********
Stuffed my face in:
1. Chicken pad thai
— Digging through noodles, sparse chicken pieces

Happy Hour! $ 5 appetizers, $ 3 beers, and $ 6 cocktails. The seaweed and glass noodle salad is really good. Their calamari is also delicious.
The waitress was really nice and even gave our group 2 rounds of free shooters.

Your Deal Seeker Couple, @JaRue2011 & I, on another foodie adventure with a L*S Deal for some Thai cuisine!
Saturday, 7÷14÷12
Mmm, 6pm-​ish
L*S DEAL: Bought $ 15 voucher for $ 30 value of eats.
LOCATION: Just under 2miles from Hwy 101 exit of Mission St/​Duboce Ave. Located on Valencia St btw Brosnan St & 14^th St. You may need to drive around a few times up to 5 blocks away to find street parking, but it’s not bad. Drivers welcomed!
RESTAURANT: Contemporary Thai inspired theme throughout. An adult scene to gather with friends, out w/​your lover, or go solo & still enjoy the décor & ambiance. Soft (classical/jazz/R&B) plays throughout. Full length window up front, & frosted windows along kitchen area. They really made great use of the space they have & decorated smart! 2seater-​4seater table seatings w/​armless chairs, & bench seating along the walls. Overall friendly for any size of a person, handicap/​disabled, seniors, family w/​young kids, & small to large groups of parties. Not exactly a baby/​toddler «scene», but hey… do what you like. Lots of other eateries in the area too.
BATHROOM: Before you leave, go to their bathroom «area»! Bthrm stalls are closed door space, but your door is frosted. No one can see you, but they know you’re in there ^_​^ The tilted slab as the sink is pretty cool. Just go to their bthrm!
CUST SVC: Friendly smiles immediately greeted us upon walking through the doors. No RSVP, but got seated immediately. Good diverse crowd already dinning inside. Waitress was pretty busy, but managed to be thorough with smiles on her check-​ins with us. Food & drinks brought out in a timely manner. Keep up the great work folks!
FOODIE ADVENTURE: We lucked out with street parking with only 1 loop-​de-​loop around a 2 block radius; ended up on 15^th St & Mission St. I got a «made up cocktail» from the bartender ‘cuz I felt like something sweet. BF-​J opted for their Mankey Tea. Both pretty good. We opened with their Imperial Rolls which was served cut in half & tasted great! I got the Soft Shell Crab which was nice & crunchy on the outside & tender inside, complimented w/​pickled cucumbers (YUMMY), side of greenery (which actually hid the crab) & some pretty damn hot dipping sauce. BF-​J got their Grilled Beef which cut nicely & was complimented by some sticky rice (YOU KNOW!) & pineapples & slaw.
$ 9 Lychee Watermelon Cocktail special by bartender, $ 5 Mankey Tea, $ 8 Imperial Rolls
$ 8 Crispy Imperial Rolls (close up)
$ 8 Crispy Imperial Rolls (full view)
$ 16 Wok Fried Soft Shell Crab
$ 18 Grilled Asian Beef
FINAL TAB: $ 32.39 extra out of pocket by the end of our meal
Yep, we’d come back & they get our recommendation!
HIS 1^st great visit
MY 1^st great visit

Their hella cheap lunch specials are
what’s
uuuuuppp
The swanky interior does not match the grittyness of Valencia Street that is home to Another Monkey. My pineapple pork with spicy chili sauce and brown rice (extra $ 1) was delish. The desserts are crazy expensive though… seriously, $ 10 for a piece of chocolate cake? I’d be better off hitting up Mission Minis afterward.
perhaps the best part is their $ 3 cocktail specials!
Rum and ginger ale for $ 3 makes me a happy girl. Although I’d be happier if I didn’t have to go back to work afterward :/​
I love Another Monkey and my wallet loves it even more.

Came here on a Thursday evening to see my favorite bartender – had heard she’d moved locales and was sure this new spot would be worth the visit.
And yesss it was.
What else to expect from the Svedka’s Mixologist winner, Aom Aphiradee — but some really tasty and carefully crafted cocktails! (and great conversation as well!)
I LOVED the Monkey in the Middle – a ginger vodka with pomegranate juice – but what made it truly special was her ginger-​homemade raspberry-​lime foam that went on top. Gave the drink a wonderful texture and smooth finish – (which I finished altogether way too fast).
Also had a lemongrass vodka martini – very clean and refreshing!
To keep me coherent had to have some food as well of course and decided to try the pork spareribs and much-​yelped-​about tom yum nachos.
Mmmm! The ribs packed just the right amount of punch for flavor and the meat cleanly came off the bone. The Tom Yum Nachos are a clever twist on Thai food smack dab in the Mission – with juicy prawn smothered in spicy tom yum paste on a pita chip.
I can’t wait to head back during happy hour with more friends to try more of the drinks and noshes!

I wish I could’ve given ‘em more stars: I was disappointed with the food.
In all fairness, when you order fried food for delivery, you’re not going to be able to judge fairly as if it had it been piping hot and delivered directly to your table. Still, I wasn’t thrilled with the lime and chili sauce that accompanied my crispy calamari: It tasted sharp and oily.
I also ordered the (fried) Bags of Gold which were stuffed with minced chicken and shrimp, wrapped in wonton skins. Here, the appetizer was relatively crispy but the minced chicken and shrimp, bland.
Next up and finally: I ordered the Thai Basil Sonoma duck. Now, this is where Another Monkey could’ve really shined — but they didn’t. The duck wasn’t savory; it was dry and uninspired.
In saying this, I think Another Monkey is worth a mulligan.
Given what looks like a beautiful interior (judging from their website) and the to-​go menus they obviously put a lot of thought and money into, that I should give them another try.
And it should be said: The food arrived hot and quickly with outstanding and polite service (which upgraded them to 3 stars).

I’ve only had their appetizery stuff, so solid three stars for that side of things.
Favorite items were probably their yam fritters and corn fritters. Hard to go wrong with sticks of yam fried up in some golden batter. Corn fritters could have used a little more seasoning though. Their spring rolls and summer rolls were both meh. Dipping sauces are confusing here. Looked like nuoc cham but with big dollops of peanut satay sauce dropped in.
Interesting fuzzy glass bathrooms that gave me flashbacks to New York’s Splash bar.

(See pics)
Review #1029.
More of 3.75 stars.
$ 10 lunch set for imperial rolls, a curry dish and rice with a drink. For $ 12 you can get an additional BBQ dish as the bento box. And the food was fairly good too!
The imperial rolls were delicious and the curry was rich. Lots of rice but the set lunch size Thai iced tea was on the smaller side.
Another Monkey gets more attractive and interesting if you also make a visit the bathroom. Apparently the previous owner, as I was told by someone who had visited the old spot, had a highly artistic architect designed and executed this visually stimulating and intriguing place.
The bathrooms were separated by sandblasted walls and doors so you can actually see the silhouette movement. Fortunately they do put up some pictures on the sides so that you don’t get your imagination running too wildly.
The space is pretty spacious and can easily accommodate larger parties. Decoration is modern with lots of metal pipes, confusing you with some functional ones, also works of the previous architect. Statutes and paintings with words in them were also fully occupying the space that make you feel like you were in a mini-​museum.
Service was friendly and chilaxing. A great place for lunch when you are not in a big rush and they also have a happy hour.

Another Monkey… is not just any old Monkey. Great option for an inexpensive yet glamorous lunch on the Hipster Highway, formerly known as the «Valencia Corridor». Also the best possible re-​do of that stupid restaurant «Conduit», which was over priced and overly fussy.
Delicious food, very cheap, big portions, great atmo, and if my fellow Unilocaler Marie says they turn out the closest thing to an authentic pad thai, she should know as she’s whiled away many an hour in Thailand.

Arrived here about 9 PM and it was full on a Friday night, but we waited only for 10 minutes before being seated. The ambiance was very nice, it was relaxing and a good place to catch up with friends.
Service: Excellent. the staff was very polite and they came around about every half hour to ask how we were doing and about 10 – 15 minutes to refill any drinks.
Food: On the pricy side for Thai, but part of it is for the restaurant décor and food presentation. The pad see ew was made with flat soy noodles (rather than rice noodles) and the pumpkin curry came in a squash. Both were delicious and the pad see ew was less greasy than some chain restaurant. However, I would skip the thai iced tea here as it was watered down.
I would come back here if I wanted to take friends out to a nice looking thai place to eat or for some occasion. Besides that, I would rather go to my regular spot for some good thai food.

They offer an appealing happy hour menu with inexpensive bites and a wide variety. The thai beer is only $ 2 and their grapefruit mojito is good for just $ 6. The bartender is cool and was able to encourage a couple of my friends to take a shot of alcohol with infused chili peppers!
It’s unfortunate that the food was disappointing :(Taro fries seemed like a good deal until we received all of, what, 8 fries? I could fry up my own taro wedges at home in that case! Good but not great. I liked the lobster tail shrimp balls but only with the sweet and sour sauce. Avoid their asian inspired burrito! It was unpleasantly spicy and i’m pretty sure i shed a tear. They succeeded in getting me to buy another drink though! Eek. There’s too much going on in their appetizers. I love thai food and would only return if someone convinced me they made an amazing pad sew ew.

The cheap happy hour prices here are the biggest draw. Not even the swanky environment and beautiful restroom interior design. There are about 5 – 6 beers on tap. I don’t remember them all, but there was a Duvel, Blue Moon, and Monkey Beer. The Monkey Beer is a housemade pilsner and it was fine, but nothing particularly good. The special thai iced tea cocktail was super sweet and only a hint of alcohol. Some of the cocktails were $ 5 – 6 during happy hour, while beers were $ 2 – 2.50, which is such a good deal. I don’t like the tall thai iced tea glasses though. I wish the beer was just served in regular pint glasses. The fried appetizers were pretty good. I liked the crispiness of the shrimp nachos, but really should not have been called nachos. I also liked the calamari and the baby octopus.
The whole happy hour procedure is awkward and the bar does not leave tabs open. Even drinks ordered at the bar are charged with tax. I avoided being handed a receipt by handing over my money and running away before the bartender had a chance to give me 57 cents. Other people in my group were given nickles and pennies in change back along with a paper reciept for each drink. Also, the bar is super understaffed during the happy hours, which was off-​putting. What was even more off-​putting was the staff’s reluctance to have tables and chairs moved around for our large group.

SWEET JESUS!!! Never in my whole life did I ever think I could fall in love with Thai food. With every new place I try, I get one step closer to heaven. Another Monkey was just that… my heaven on earth. Thank God my Cali BFF had a livingsocial coupon because our bill for 2 was a whopping $ 80!!!
Of course, because it was new we had to try more than what we should have… tee hee hee. As soon as you walk into Another Monkey, you walk into a dimly lit scene. Nice warm décor and low lights makes for great Thai food. Our waiter Ben was the BEST!!! He was so cool and so attentive. He sat next to us and was so friendly. He gave us excellent recommendations and we loved it and him :) Bonus points for him being a young hottie :)
For apps we ordered the Tom Yam Nacho which was EXCELLENT!!! Nothing of what I imagined. It melted in your mouth and was so savory. Of course we had to indulge in some cocktails. I opted for the Monkey In Paris and OMG… soooo good. It should have been called Monkey in Cali because that’s just how I felt. Cali BFF opted for some wine.
Up next was the soft shell crab salad and the imperial rolls. YUMMY!!! The crab salad had just the right amount of mango on there that I swore I bit my lip and tongue a time or two. The imperial rolls were great however, I wish they didn’t cut them in half. No biggie though.
For dinner we had the usual Pad See U. I go no where without having it and there’s was EXCELLENT!!! I must say however, it was more «light skin» then I was used to seeing but it was still remarkable in taste. The shrimp were soooooo good and the tofu was cooked to perfection.
Total damage for two after the livingsocial — $ 36.00 PHEW!!!
MUST TRY!!! I’ll be back!!!

Tips for Dining at Another Monkey:
1) Admire the fabulous unisex bathroom décor.
2) Don’t bother trying to figure out where the pipes go.
The space used to be a restaurant called Conduit so that is why there are pipes all over the place. Another Monkey added Buddha statues in between the pipes and voilà! Not-​so-​Extreme Makeover Thai Restaurant Edition.
3) Go with a friend who needs to use his LivingSocial coupon. (Gracias Scott L.!)
Prices here are reasonable regardless. For lunch, we tried and liked the Veggie Samosas (with mashed potatoes, yams, carrots, and peas) ($ 7). They weren’t greasy and the filling had a nice amount of spice that went well with the vinegary pickled cucumbers on the side.
Then we had a Tofupolooza of Pad Thai ($ 8) and Steamed Spinach with Peanut Sauce ($ 8). The noodles on the Pad Thai were nicely cooked but I wished there were more broccoli and carrots. The Peanut Sauce on the Steamed Spinach was a bit bland but there was plenty of it! The dish might have been better if the two had been cooked together rather than piled on top.
4) Add Another Monkey to the «Places that Deliver» list.
Basil Thai is still my favorite for dine in Thai food in SF but I would definitely like to try some of Another Monkey’s other dishes as well as their great happy hour specials.

My coworkers and I went to the Monkey for a farwell party. Which means we hit the bar at happy hour. I have to say, I truly enjoyed my two well-​ritas (the house margarita that comes in red, green and blue), especially at $ 3.00 a pop. I also loved the pumpkin fries, chicken satay and the lobster/​shrimp balls, which were ony $ 6.00 each. Yeah for happy hour! BTW, don’t be too suprised if the menu is different when you stop in. The happy hour offerings change frequently.
Service was fine. The décor was fun. It included a cool monkey see, monkey do bench, a wall of buddas and the ceiling from former tenant Conduit. The bathroom is also of note because it’s unisex, and not one room style either, dorm style.
We did try one main course, the veggie pad thai, and it was just OK. My litmus test for a new restaurant, especially an ethnic one, tends to be a bais dish. If I only had the pad thai, I probably wouldn’t want to go back. Fortunately, I had the other things first and they were much better. They also don’t serve any Thai beers. Although he enjoyed, I think my coworker was hoping for something more authentic than a blue moon.
Another Monkey seems worth another visit, most likely for dinner.