The Boat - restaurant review

We were in Diamond Plaza in Rowland Heights a couple weeks ago to run an errand, and since it was around lunchtime, we decided to try one of the places in the plaza. One building had a food court, but I was interested to note that it was a table-service food court. They had divided the seating among the four different restaurants, each of which served their customers as opposed to being cafeteria style. I'd never seen that before. We decided to pass on the food court and look around some more and on the other end of the plaza, we noticed a restaurant called The Boat, and there was a smaller tag line that said "Fine Noodles and Exotic Cuisine", but there was no indication of what kind of food they actually served. We went inside and looked at the menu, and I saw a review framed on the wall, and we figured out that it's basically a Thai restaurant. The menu looked good, so we decided to give it a try.

A quick glance at the menu showed that there were 142 different items listed, and that didn't include beverages or desserts. Sometimes, having too many things on the menu can be a bad indicator that the food will be all over the place, but it's just different variations on different Thai dishes. The only problem it created for me was deciding what to have for lunch. We eventually decided that instead of just getting our own dishes, we'd get a couple dishes to share.

I am a huge fan of tom yum kai (hot and sour soup with chicken, mushroom, lemon grass, lime and fresh chili), and I wanted to try that there, but the husband rejected the idea because it was incredibly hot out that day, and he said it was too hot for soup. Since we were sharing, I didn't feel I should get something he didn't want, but I'm definitely going back another time to try it.

We decided on three different dishes to order and share.

We had the pad thai (classic Thai rice noodle stir fried with egg, chicken, shrimp, bean sprout, green onion and crushed peanut), which had good flavor to the dish and was pretty yummy all around.

We also had the garlic and pepper spare rib (marinated spare ribs with garlic and pepper then deep fried, served with steamed rice), which unfortunately wasn't as good as it sounded. The pieces weren't very big, and the deep frying was actually more than I expected, so the meat was kind of dry, and the flavor was just ok. I wouldn't order this dish again nor could I recommend it.

We also had the green beans (stir fried green beans with garlic sauce), which was a good portion and very tasty, and the green beans were cooked perfectly - not overcooked but still crunchy.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal there, and there are quite a number of items on the menu that I'd love to try, so I can see going back there often.

The decor is ok, fairly casual, and there are TV screens up in one section that you can see from most of the restaurant. It reminds me of a nice family restaurant. There's lots of parking outside in the plaza, though with all the businesses there, I could see where parking could be an issue if it's really crowded. The restaurant is open until 1am Sunday through Thursday and until 2am on Friday and Saturday, so definitely a good spot for late-night dining.


The Boat
(inside Diamond Plaza)
1390 Fullerton Road, #105
Rowland Heights, CA 91748
626-913-5573