4543 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98127 (206) 548-9548
My girlfriend and I are in the quest of finding an authentic Thai restaurant from where we can order something simple like basil pork with fried egg or cashew chicken like what we could from the small restaurants around the school we went to in bangkok. A friend recommended me a place around UW and, based on reviews on Yelp, I thought it must have been Thai Tom. Com'mon, it's got 4.5 starts on Yelp. Over 100 people can't be wrong. The place is small (1st criteria), looks dirty (2nd criteria), close to college (3rd criteria), and cheap (all four criteria are met!)
We arrived at the peak time at 7 something during school year. Hungry UW students were queuing up for take-out and the place to sit. We spent about 20 minutes waiting. Not that bad, I think. The waiters there were highly efficient though so it wasn't that bad.
After we were seated, I could sense the college late diner. Everything there was greasy. Nope, I'm talking just about food. The tables, floor (kitchen and dining area), and the wall are greasy. Fine, we thought. We're used to this type of place back home. Oh... Gotta mention about the music. They were playing the songs you would find in a nice night club and the old Thai rock/alternative songs we liked during our teenage years. Very cool...
The menu is made of carved piece of wood which is pretty cool. We saw only some dishes which are not Thai. I wanted to eat Tom Yum but they ran out of it so we ordered Tom Kha instead. My girlfriend and I ordered Spicy Noodle and Cashew Chicken.
When the food arrives, we couldn't believe the size of it. Huge, compared to what we have to pay. However, we were absolutely disappointed. Listen folks, no matter what anyone says, this place is NOT authentic. The Tom Kha (Coconut Soup) misses several kinds of spices and herbs while the spicy noodle was almost inedible and (and I believe Pad Thai and Pad See-you also) came with rice. Being overly sweet, unnecessarily greasy, and housed in hole in the wall doesn't mean it has to be authentic.
Bottom Line:
The food deserves just one star but I gave another for the music and services. If you want a real, nice, reasonable, authentic Thai food, go to "Krua" Thai Kitchen (55th St & 25th Ave) But if you want the Thai version of General Tso kitchen, be my guest.
3 comments:
LOL it was the time i lost appetite in thai food.
And be ready to face some rude behavior too. If you ever feel like not paying the tip they will after you and will demand it in front of other guests. I notice one of their staff going after a guest who was about to leave the restautant and demand tip of him. So rude!!
Interesting to know.
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