Jai Thai Restaurant

User Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

While most aspects of Jai Thai in Fremont are similar to the scores of other Thai restaurants in Seattle one dish in particular sets this one apart, that is the penang curry. While most other thai restaurants try to foist off regular old runny red curry as penang, Jai Thai Fremont's penang is true to it's country of origin. Thick and coconutty with a hint of peanut taste and a small swirl of coconut milk known as "gati" on top. It's wonderful. I lived and worked in Thailand for numerous years, speak the language well and lament the fact that out of the literally hundreds of Thai restaurants in the western Washington area I can't find one that serves really authentic thai food. HINT: If they have to ask you how many 'stars" you want or don't bring you a spoon (chorn gin kaaw) and a tiny bowl of chilis in fish sauce when you order rice dishes, chances are almost certain it ain't gonna be authentic; but I digress. The atmosphere in Jai Thai is pretty cool and fits in well with the hip neighborhood which is Fremont. The service is hit and miss but is usually satisfactory unlike most thai joints. Besides the penang, other dishes on the menu can be pretty good too. The Kanom Jiin with green curry is a northern thai favorite and done pretty well at Jai Thai. If you order green curry (gang keeow waan) in Bangkok it will come with rice, as most Bangkokians consider kanom jiin a food only eaten by the peasants (Bahn Nawk) despite it being delicious with curry. The pad thai, pad siew and pad kee mao are just as mundane here as at most other thai restaurants however. Overall, Jai Thai Fremont is not bad for a Thai restaurant in the US and I will go back again but as I said before, it's the penang that really makes this place stand out from the others.

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User Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Customer service lacking significantly: We ordered 3 general lunch items from the regular menu (to go) and had to wait over 30 minutes. 2 walk-in to go orders were served ahead of us and the hostess had to actually come back and asked us again what we ordered. If they would have acknowledged that it would be a long wait and/or even apologized for the wait, this wouldn't be an issue. I have never experienced this lack of service at Tawon Thai across the street.

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