Pam Real Thai Encore

After Wondee Siam, and now, Pure Thai Shophouse, the Thai restaurant most talked about in Hell's Kitchen is Pam Real Thai. Due to their cash only policy and the abundance of restaurants in the neighborhood, we still haven't been there. When I saw Pam Real Thai Encore (their second restaurant which opened two blocks south and is supposed to be substantially similar) on SeamlessWeb, I knew I had to order from them. The larb was the cheapest larb gai on Seamless which sealed the deal and I put together a selection of appetizers for dinner. (Apparently I'm into sampler meals today.) Here's what I got:

Steamed Thai dumplings ($4.95, 4 dumplings in one order):

Menu: A classic Thai dumpling stuffed with ground chicken and shiitake mushroom, served with dumpling sauce
I would put this in the middle of the pack as far as Thai dumplings go. It wasn't bland, it wasn't just a blob of meat and it wasn't too heavy on the wrapper, so that was good. The flavor was good, but not as good as some others I've had. They added the garlic on top, which is a plus. This was probably my favorite part of the meal.

Steamed chive dumplings ($4.95, 3 dumplings to one order):

Menu: dumpling stuffed with fresh chives, served with dumpling sauce
When I picked these for the order, I thought they were a little pricey at 3 dumplings for $5. (After all, I hate how Rickshaw costs about $1 per dumpling.) Then again, I was envisioning chive dumplings like those you get at Chinatown dim sum (which are my favorites) - small, dense, tightly packed with chives and veggies. Instead, there was a very doughy white bun with chives inside. It was very basic and there wasn't much flavor other than the chives. I like chives, but I wouldn't get this again as it was just so much starch.

Larb ($5.95):

Menu: (with spicy symbol) chopped chicken mixed with lime dressing, onion and scallion, topped with chili and cilantro
The larb was supposed to be spicy, but more than anything else, it was salty (and not really spicy at all). I thought it was just me, so I had A try some, but he agreed with me that it was salty almost to the point of being inedible. I was disappointed since I love larb and it was a big part of why I chose to order from here. I kept eating from different parts of the dish thinking that maybe I had just stumbled into one part which was unintentionally oversalted, but no such luck. How sad.

Fried spring rolls ($3.95, 4 spring rolls to one order):

Menu: stuffed rice crepe with cabbage, carrot, taro and bean thread, served with plum sauce
I needed one last item to fill out the order, so I picked the fried spring rolls since they were on the "top 10 most ordered" list on Seamless. (I was thinking of the grilled fish balls but they didn't fit under budget.) These were ordinary and not very flavorful. I only ate one before I was full (the salt from the larb didn't help) and passed the rest on to A when I got home. He wasn't very impressed either. On top of that, we got some sweet and sour sauce with them instead of the advertised plum sauce which would have been a much better accompaniment.

I'm lukewarm on this meal. The Thai dumplings weren't bad, and maybe this is just a place where the entrees (none of which I tried) outshine the appetizers. Maybe I should give it another chance, considering all the rave reviews. What do you think?

From the front of the menu - what does this mean?