Paradise Bar and Restaurant

It was a little early in the day and a friend of mine wanted to go for drinks. My first choice in the area does not open until 4:00pm on weekdays, so we looked for the next closest beer sign to go for some drinks and a little lunch. From the corner of Parliament and Carlton, Paradise Bar and Restaurant had the most prominent sign and was just a few shops away, so that was out destination.
From the outside it wasn’t bad. A little run down looking and had a few homeless looking people hanging outside having a smoke, but that did not deter us. The inside was dark, even for a Thursday afternoon, but the seating in the main area was nice. The homeless looking people were not just outside, but inside as well and all seemed to be extremely intoxicated, even for 3:00 in the afternoon. There was one really creepy looking guy that was sitting right behind us and staring at the girl I was with and making her uncomfortable.
We were a little surprised when we first saw the menu as we were looking for a burger and beer or something along those lines. The menu was a compilation of Asian food only, and it was actually a really nice surprise of food choices. It wasn’t just the standard rice and meat either, it was pretty complex meals. We did have a hard time understanding the waitress because of her thick accent, but were still able to order without problem. Their beer selection was a little weak and they only had the basics, especially on tap, but we agreed on one and got a very reasonably priced pitcher.
I am a very picky eater so I went with the chicken wings while my friend went with pad Thai with beef. The wings were deep fried and rather greasy, but they had a large amount of meat on them and the wing had the extra tip on them which I have always loved. I was told that the pad Thai was better than almost anywhere she had been. When there was a little altercation in the bar with a patron who was drunk and just being disorderly, the chef came out to help out the bartender/​waitress and that is when we saw why the menu had the food selections it had. Authentic.
The pricing of the food was also pretty standard, coming in about $ 8 – 10 a dish, but the taste and portion makes it well worth the money! The beer itself was pretty well priced as well with pitchers starting around $ 11, $ 14 for the Amsterdam that we ordered. The atmosphere that the other patrons of the place provided was less than adequate, but while enjoying our food we forgot about them completely (until the altercation of course). With a higher class clientele it could be a very decent bar/​restaurant, but with alcohol as cheap as it was they went with quantity clients, definitely not quality.