Thai Tom

Thai Tom is one of those eateries that seems to always be full of activity and customers, with a line out the door and full tables.  I had never eaten there, but its popularity foretold a memorable experience.

Three of us were ready to give it a try.  We planned to arrive before the restaurant opened to avoid a long wait and we wanted to be seated together.  Thai Tom is a tiny restaurant consisting of maybe ten seats along an L-shaped bar that surrounds the kitchen with a few tables along one wall that appear to seat two people each.  That's it.  They do a big take-out business as well as serving the walk-in crowd.  The sign says that the restaurant opens at 11:30 am.  We arrived about 11:20 am.  The sign on the door said they were meditating.

At 11:30, I tried the door and was told that they hadn't eaten breakfast yet; they would open in 15 minutes or so.  One of the workers came outside and cleaned the windows.

As we were waiting, a small crowd gathered.  We struck up a conversation with an  experienced customer who noted that a late start was fairly standard.  He admitted often waiting but sometimes gave up and went for pizza since he needed to return to work (Pagliacci's is nearby.)

Eventually we were seated along the counter overlooking the kitchen.  As far as I am concerned, the primary reason to bother with the wait is to sit at the counter and watch the cooks.  It's a constant ballet involving fire, potions, and hands full of noodles, vegetables, and more.  Watching the cooks is truly the best part of the Thai Tom experience.

The decor is simple with some authentic Thai relics.  We ordered from the wooden menus that lacked prices and description:  shrimp phad thai, veggie phad thai, fresh rolls, and veggie phad see ewe.  We tried to track our own orders as they were created by the cooks, but lost track.

We ordered too many noodles.  The Phad See Ewe and the Phad Thai were very similar, just different size noodles.  Then the noodle dishes are served with rice.  That's just too much starch in my book.  So, a word to the wise, order the fresh rolls and something else such as Swimming Rama or Tom Kah.  Skip the noodles.  If you usually order phad thai at a Thai restaurant, it's time to broaden your horizons.  I wish we had broadened ours.

Although the menu was extremely sparing on prices, the dishes ran between $7.00 and $10.00 each including tax.  The service is attentive and the facility seemed clean by University District standards.

I couldn't find a website, but Thai Tom is listed on most of the Yelp-type sites.  They do have a Facebook page:  Thai Tom Facebook Page