Angel City Diners On Sukhumvit Soi 11

[carlspencer]

Tried out Angel City Diners on Sukhumvit Soi 11, gotta say they have some great selection of American burgers, not to mention they also have an awesome 1950's styled ambiance. I tried the 200 gram Deluxe Burger with cheese, pickles, mayo and lettuce is a real American burger. In my opinion, it could be a little more seasoned however thats strictly a matter of taste, but definitely in the running for best burger, compared to some of the burger offerings out there. At a reasonable fare of 300 THB, you know you’ve had a good feed.

They also offer some other American delights such as malt and candy milkshakes, a variety of sodas, root beer, pancakes, bagels, meatloaf, meatballs, turkey, chili beef and of course rib-eye steak, are some of those on offer.

All in all I will highly recommend the diner to those who are looking for a good burger joint in Bangkok.

[candypants]

Ive never seen anybody actually eat there, walk by it every day at least once.

[carlspencer]

Its a little upscale, I know, only 2 other people besides myself eating there when I was there.

[Jingthing]

The menu pictures on facebook look good. It's a splurge place for sure. They have bagels from BKK bagels so why not just go to BKK bagels?

Edited April 5, 2013 by Jingthing

[carlspencer]

Aah yes the Bagels, I pondered momentarily over whether I should get those as well but decided against that as I was pretty full by then. I dont think the bagels are where they shine though.

[Jingthing]

The source them from:

http://www.bkkbagelbakery.com/

and sell lox and bagel sandwiches.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

It's kind of interesting... There's a lot of American style hamburger restaurants/outlets cropping up around town lately....

Bangkok Burger Co., Burger Factory, Firehouse, the above mentioned diner on Soi 11, a couple of the burger oriented places around Ekamai, the recent re-arrival of Carl's Jr., and the various other longer-running places that have burgers as part (but not the focus) of their menu.

It seems there's a kind of trend emerging, though hard to say if it will be a sustained/sustaining one -- or just a passing dining fancy in a town where food fads regularly come and go.

I haven't been to Angel City as yet, but from the description above, it almost sounds like they're copying what started out as the original motif of the V8 Diner nearby on Suk Road near Soi 10.

I don't go for the 50's style throwback/nostalgia ambiance. But I do love a good hamburger, as hard as they are to find around these parts.

[pmarlin]

Any place that puts mayo on a hamburger I avoid. Pure criminal or at lest wrong.

[Ulysses G.]

That's up to you, but IMO mayonaise makes a burger taste better and with the lousy beef here, that is a consideration.

[smokie36]

That's up to you, but IMO mayonaise makes a burger taste better and with the lousy beef here, that is a consideration.

Mayo shouldn't be a default in my opinion. By all means add the condiments of your choice but many of us don't like it.

Same goes for big sliced beef tomato or indeed any other sauce except what is described on the menu.

[USNret]

Sounds to me like this is an American diner, and Americans put mayo on their burgers. I'm planning to check this place out.

[Jingthing]

Sounds to me like this is an American diner, and Americans put mayo on their burgers. I'm planning to check this place out.

I actually don't think most Americans put mayo on their burgers, but I can't prove it. I do understand there is mayo in the sauce on Big Macs but I'm talking about decent non-fast food versions of burgers.

[USNret]

I am definitely not talking McDonalds. Nor Carl's Jr. I'm talking good home cooking, backyard BBQ, great American burgers. With over 5 decades enjoying this treat, I'd be hard-pressed to think of anyone who make it that way. Nevertheless, it's your call to say "hold the mayo". To each his own.

[Jingthing]

I am definitely not talking McDonalds. Nor Carl's Jr. I'm talking good home cooking, backyard BBQ, great American burgers. With over 5 decades enjoying this treat, I'd be hard-pressed to think of anyone who make it that way. Nevertheless, it's your call to say "hold the mayo". To each his own.

Not in my experience. Could be a regional thing.

[Ulysses G.]

Most backyard cooks do not put any condiments on at all. They let the person eating it do that. I can take it with or without mayo. I am happy either way. I even like relish sometimes, which is more common on hotdogs.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

One West Coast American: mayo on one bun, and mustard on the other...

For me, mayo adds a quite nice flavor to the basic hamburger, whether cooked at home or in a restaurant.

[pmarlin]

Sounds to me like this is an American diner, and Americans put mayo on their burgers. I'm planning to check this place out.

Just not true,

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Went by ACD for lunch today with the wife, for our first visit, and we had a very good experience.

First, to clarify about their operating hours, they are open from 8 am to 4:30 am (presumably to accommodate the post late night club closing eaters on Soi 11).

The restaurant is located on the ground floor of The Prime 11 condo building about 2/3rds of the way down Suk Soi 11 on the left hand side. It's easy to see, with a big blue highlight sign on the frontage of the condo building. Unfortunately, the sign in the window that says "24 hours" is not correct.

The decor is the 50s style American diner motif, which doesn't do much for me, but the inside is new, clean and comfortable. It's a very wide and deep room with two rows of booths, one each running along each side wall, meaning that the booths are VERY wide, with each able to fit 4 or 5 people on one side of a table, double that for the whole booth.

The menu is a range of American style offerings with sections for breakfast foods, appetizers, salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, dinner dishes, drinks and deserts and even separate Thai food and children's menus. Based on the items we ordered, the portions are pretty good sized and the prices for entrees tend to be in the 180 to 300 baht range, though they automatically add a 10% service charge and 7% VAT to everything ordered.

I had a large sized breakfast burrito for 299b made from ground meat, scrambled eggs, potato, avocado and chilis that was quite tasty, though it doesn't look like much with the exterior sauce treatment. But the filling was delicious. Next time there I'll want to try some of the different pancake and french toast offerings on the menu, including a peanut butter and jelly variety.

The Thai food menu is really modestly priced with most items below 100 baht. The wife had an order of chicken wings and som tam that she liked, and I tried an order of nam tok moo for 85b, which was nicely prepared and tasty, with good portions of mint and lime flavor, as well as a good portion of pork, but no steamed rice included in the order.

One surprise we had was, on a warm day outside, we wanted something really cold and refreshing to drink, so we each ordered one of their milk shakes for 129b, one chocolate and the other chocolate mint. They were really good and arrived with strong flavors. Definitely going to try those again and sample some of the other available flavors.

Here's what the rest of their menu looks like, though I think I missed the first page of their breakfast selections.

Here's the placeholder for their future website:

http://www.angelcitydiner.com/

Here's their Facebook page, though as noted above, the operating hours listed on FB are totally wrong.

https://www.facebook.com/AngelCityDiner

Overall, I'd say a pleasant addition to the Sukhumvit dining offerings, and one of the better farang food options for very late night eating. Just wish they would open earlier in the morning for on the way to work breakfasts.

Edited April 7, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The wife had a holiday today, so we stopped back by ACD for lunch for a second straight day... Mostly good things to report.

1. I hadn't noticed before, but today, they had little cards out on the tables with complimentary wifi ID and passwords for guests. Tried it, and it worked fine.

2. I should have mentioned before, another couple nice touches for ACD are the container on each table stocked with real, good-sized paper napkins for guests to use, and also the wait staff providing complimentary free and refilled glasses of ice water. Both things earn ACD extra credits.

3. After trying their nam tok moo yesterday, tried another dish off their Thai menu today, pad krapow moo, which was really good and came with a quite large bowlful of Thai rice on the side. Another great deal for 85b++.

4. Then for the main entree, I tried their 299b++ Burger Deluxe with high hopes, after the very good Breakfast Burrito the day before. Unfortunately, this time I was in for a disappointment. The burger meat itself was good, both in size, texture and taste. The accompanying french fries were ok. The burger came with fresh lettuce and tomato slices, sliced onion, sliced pickles and mayo on the bun -- but not any other junky sauces or relishes. All of that was to the good.

Unfortunately, the whole dish was let down by a hamburger bun that was dry and starchy, tasting like it had just come out of a supermarket plastic bag after sitting on the shelf for a couple weeks. Were it not for the bun, I would have given their burger high marks (to accompany its relatively high price). But alas, for me, the substandard bun brought down the whole dish.

Still, the cooking at ACD seems to be quite good overall, and the menu has a lot of nice choices, including a real Turkey dinner entree item, something that's rare to see around these parts except at Christmas and Thanksgiving time.

Here, by the way, is the first page of their breakfast menu that I missed the other day:

And in the window, they're advertising a couple of breakfast special items that I'd assume are in fact offered all day/night, since there are no particular hours listed, and the restaurant serves breakfast anytime:

Edited April 8, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[rgs2001uk]

^^^^^^

tried another dish off their Thai menu today, pad krapow moo, which was
really good and came with a quite large bowlful of Thai rice on the
side. Another great deal for 85b++.

What a pleasure this is to read, I never understand why western joints charge so much for Thai food.

Someone put up a link to a place on Suk soi 23, I had a quick perusal, prices as follows,

Yam Wun Sen 250 baht

Lap Gai 180 baht

Som Tam 160baht

Pad Krapao 180 baht

Please get real, just taking the piss, this isnt even a restaurant, its just yet another farang boozer.

Of course they charge these prices because invariably its the farang paying, I never see Thais going to these places to eat on their own.

My mrs refuses to eat in them and pay the prices, its not about the cost, its about being seen as a buffalo.

Never been in this place on Soi 11, but its now on the radar for future reference

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

A lot of the BKK bar places seem to price their Thai food entrees at the same general levels as their western food entrees.

It's probably simply a cost-center issue, in that they're making up for happy hour drink prices and figuring a lot of the bill paying customers are tourists (with lady in tow) who aren't going to object to that kind of pricing.

It's reasonable to pay some premium for accompanying niceties like real napkins, complimentary iced drinking water, air con, comfortable surroundings etc etc... But when the food item is going to the table at a 300 or 400% premium over what Thais pay elsewhere, it gets to be a bit much.

Fortunately, ACD doesn't do that. And oddly, neither does the similarly motifed V8 Diner on the main Suk Road near Soi 10, where the farang food prices have gone up some over the past couple years, but the Thai food entree prices are still quite reasonable and the food itself is decent, without breaking the 200 baht plus per entree mark.

Either place is quite OK for reasonably priced basic Thai food. V8 is really 24 hours. ACD is almost 24 hours. V8 is mostly outdoors dining under a cover when the weather is rainy or hot. ACD is entirely indoors air con dining.

Both times to ACD thus far, I went to try a particular item on the farang entrees menu, but ended up adding on one of their pretty bargain priced Thai entrees each time, and enjoying both thoroughly. Whomever is cooking at ACD is doing a pretty good job thus far.

[up-country_sinclair]

I've gone past this place a couple of times, and for whatever reason I wasn't very interested. However, after seeing the menu (and the recent reviews) I might give it a try the next time I'm in the area.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I still want to try their peanut butter and jelly french toast... Not sure where else in BKK that would be found on a menu!

[smokie36]

I was in there while they were having the soft opening but didn't try the food as it was late.

The "executive chef" is a decent bloke who has a passion for his grub.

I will give the food a try soon on your recommendation John...but I hope they sort the burger buns....everything needs to be right and the competition from round the corner is nothing to worry about.

Just my opinion of course.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

You talking about Firehouse?? If so, I'd agree. I tried there once with the wife, had terrible service and mediocre food on a Sunday early afternoon, and won't be going back.

As for ACD, my experience with their burger bun was a first-time, one-time thing, just to be clear. And I do intend to try another of their burgers next time. But my impression was, that it just wasn't a very good bun they were using -- not that it was a good bun that might have been left sitting too long. I guess I'll find out next time.

But otherwise, everything else about their burger was good, and the breakfast burrito I had there the day before was really good, as have been the couple of their Thai menu entrees I've had, and their milkshakes too.

Next time I may try their chili burger and then a side of their tater-tot chili fries.

[USNret]

Got my chance to try Angel City Diners today. Loved it, and will go back.

I'll never pass up the chance for a good meatball sandwich (though I was sorely tempted by the Reuben). I was not disappointed. All the ingredients, including the bread, seemed fresh & high quality. I've never like cole slaw, but I liked theirs, and it also came with a good-sized salad (or your choice of fries or tater tots). I had asked for extra marinara sauce on the sandwich since the greatest crime is a dry meatball sandwich. I don't know if I got extra or not, but there was plenty, not to mention abundant melted mozzarella cheese.

Wife got the country breakfast & it was tasty, too. The home fries tasted like the potatoes were first roasted, then fried with onions. The typical recipe will simply fry them, probably using more oil than the ACD recipe. So we were pleased with the result. Not shown in the pic are her pancakes, equally delicious, fluffy & tasty, with syrup & dusted with powdered sugar.

ACD will be having a special starting May 1 (this is from their FB page): All You Can Eat buffalo wings! I'll totally be there if I'm in town, but I don't know the price. There are several other menu items that I want to try, including their pancake sandwich ( 3 buttermilk pancakes, stacked with bacon, maple sausage, fried egg, ham & grilled tomato). We saw a couple of those being served, and it looked awesome! 269 THB.

When we arrived, there were 2 parties of 4 farang guys each, in their 20s and 30s. Later came a family of 3, and some farang couples. There were about 20 people when we left. This was from 1:30 - 2:30 on a Friday afternoon.

I hope this place catches on & is successful. It would be Bangkok's loss if they faded away. I won't eat there often since I didn't come to Thailand for American food, but when I want a taste of home, this is where I'm coming.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The wife and I stopped by again this afternoon as well, for perhaps a last meal out before the Song Kran water begins...

Rather than a breakfast or their chili cheese burger, I ended up trying their chili cheese tater tots for 229b++.

The dish tastes fine, the tots were well prepared and just the right degree of tenderness and crunchyness. But for my taste, the dish was a bit heavy on the melted cheese and light on the chili, which was more like a kind meat paste, without any saucyness to it.

While we were there, the staff was handing out 30% discount coupons for their tie-in with the FoodByPhone delivery service. 30% off for the initial order pretty much brings FBP's menu prices for ACD back to ACD's own menu prices (in order words, erasing FBP's substantial markup). One bad thing about their connection with Food By Phone is that FBP appears to not offer any of ACD's very good and bargain priced Thai food entrees on their delivery menu.

During our early afternoon visit, it turned out their restaurant wifi was out/down also. But when we mentioned it to the manager, she had a staff member go check it and it was back working again within 10 minutes or so.

Wife had another of their chocolate milk shakes, which have become a big favorite with her.

So far, apart from the several of their Thai food entrees I've tried, which were all very good, the best farang item I've had has been their breakfast burrito with good sized chunks of fresh avocado inside. I was less wow'd by both their regular hamburger and today's chili cheese tater tots.

Edited April 12, 2013 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[USNret]

Hey, what time were you there? Did you sit at a booth with a broken juke box & then move? If that was you, I was still there. :-) Like you mentioned, the wifi didn't connect but I didn't say anything to them about it.

My wife & I got different coupons, for admission & drinks to the nightclub next door. Since we don't do nightclubs, it isn't much use to us.

Edited April 12, 2013 by USNret

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Nope... when we were there in early afternoon, we were the only patrons for most of our visit...and we stayed at the same table.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

After a break for Song Kran and all the water throwing, the wife and I went back to ACD for breakfast today.

Finally got around to trying their PB&J French Toast for 229b++, which was pretty tasty (for a sweet breakfast) and benefitted from some really nice, thick, soft and flavorful bread used in the toast.

The wife, meanwhile, had their pad krapow talay (seafood in garlic and chili sauce) for 85b++.

One down side, their bank card machine apparently wasn't working today and/or the non-regular staff that seemed to be working this morning didn't know how to use it, meaning cash only for check bins.

Definitely would give the PB&J French Toast another try in the future.