Araya’s Place

The service was great and the food was good. It’s not «write home about» good, but definitely good enough to bother with stopping in if you are in the area. I enjoyed the pineapple curry. Also, they can make things super spicy.

A delicious Thai buffet! it’s cool to be able to sample so many things.

Araya’s is my bottom bitch.
For almost any other vegetarian/​vegan restaurants in and around Seattle, they have no issues skewering your ass with a $ 22.00 price tag for a burger made of soy and brown rice. That’s not even a real burger, you asshole.
Araya’s is delicious and simultaneously affordable. The next time you’re in charge of where to eat for your first date and you want to find out if the guy is a cheap prick, take him to Araya’s and if he has a compulsive urge to go dutch with you, sling your poop at him and get out while you can.
I’ve only had the lunch buffet at the Bellevue location while most of my sampling of their entrees have been in the U-​District location. Both of which have never disappointed, and I am pretty in love with all of their options.
Their lunch buffet, the two times I’ve tried it, had some rotating dishes but they were mainly your standard fare of green and red curry, a raw salad bar, delicious phad thai, egg rolls, and black rice/​coconut milk dessert. I’m pretty giddy about green curry and they have some damn good green curry here. Everything is so flavorful, well-​prepared, and it doesn’t make me feel like I’m going to piss oil.
I must say that I have to give props to the black rice and coconut milk dessert. Believe you me, I could take a whole day off and inject the dessert into my very being, in public, with zero fucks given. It’s sex in a tray that’s likely collecting bacteria from all of the Microsoft people sweating pits in it.

I’ve been to Arayas in the U District a good number of times (with first time being 6 – 7 years ago). This Bellevue location is pretty much the same. It’s usually good, sometimes really good, and this past time that I went it was reallllyyy good! Note: This is their last week as the building will be torn down for construction of a new building, possibly high rise? They said they are looking for a new location in Bellevue, but have not decided on a place. Not sure when they will be back in business. Go to the U District one in the meantime.
Food: Everything is vegan. No eggs in your Noodle dishes or fried rice. No cream (sub coconut milk) in your Thai iced tea. The dishes are filled with veggies and tofu. I love love their spring rolls! It’s my favorite amongst all Thai restaurants. I also enjoy their papaya salad. However, their lunch buffet (everyday) is the best option! It’s $ 11 including tax. The food served changes depending on the day. I’ll review what I had this past visit. Tom Kha soup, spring rolls, yellow curry were the three top items! 5 stars. Phad Thai, this clear noodle dish, and fried rice were 4 stars. I didn’t eat everything since I didn’t want to get food coma, but there was a Swimming Rama like dish and a stir fried veggie dish. I would say some days I eat here it feels like a 3.5 stars, sometimes 4, but this past visit 4.5 stars! I’m not sure why. Maybe just how I’m feeling or when I last had Thai food. I don’t think they are inconsistent or anything so it must be just me.
This is too long. I will end it here. Customer service, no complaints. So glad I came before they closed!

I’m not a vegan, not a vegetarian. I’ve tried some vegan restaurants before and didn’t think much of them… Araya’s changed my mind! …and I think one of the differences is that they don’t build their meals around artificial meat. I’ve been to places with BBQ «Chiggen and ribz»… Give me a break! Does anyone like that? This restaurant makes delicious meals that never needed meat flavors.
Their lunch buffet is fantastic and very affordable. You’ll find many Thai favorites and fresh fruit! The peanut sauce is some of the best I’ve had and they have lots of it!
Their dinner menu also has lots of great curries to choose from and they pour Singha beer!
And finally, their service is great. Many restaurants in this area forget that service can break the experience… Not Araya’s. They are wonderful!

I like the Araya’s in the U-​District so I was happy to see a location in Bellevue.
I was lucky enough to find myself in the area a little after 11:30am, so I got to check out their $ 9.99 vegetarian lunch buffet.
I tried a couple of the salads, the mushroom soup, the spring rolls, the Phad Thai, and the black sticky rice with coconut milk. Everything was… pretty good. Definitely a good deal for $ 10! I’m glad the location is pretty big because it got pretty busy around noon (on a Sunday).
I don’t know if I’ll go back because I’d rather spend $ 10 – 12 on something smaller and much more fantastic, but all the other customers seemed really happy with the quality and variety.

This food is so good, that my non-​vegan friends don’t even complain about the lack of meat. My favorites are the curries (get the avocado curry, and thank me later), and the Phad Thai. My hubs always gets the Cashew Delight without fail. Interestingly enough, I’m not a fan of their soups, even though I love soup. I think it’s the serving bowl; hard to get the ladle in.
Most Thai food is flavored with fish sauce, which is definitely not vegan. I’ve talked to the manager a few times, just because he likes to come around and say «Hi,» and he said that he has devised a recipe for vegan fish sauce, but he won’t tell me what it is! Ah well, that will keep me coming back, because no flavor is missing from any dish I’ve tried.
Food is so rich that you probably won’t be losing any weight, but still good for the vegans and carnivores alike.

Thumbs up for the tasty Thai preparations, no fuss service and very beautiful presentation. The ingredients stood out as fresh and authentic in the food we ordered. I must mention that it wasn’t spicy like I expected it to be. Soup was served very stylishly in heated open– pot. Thumbs up for raw papaya salad, basil rice and the red curry, which was very well– flavored. All in all, elegant dining.

I have been going to Araya’s for years now and it just never disappointed me so far. I love their raw vegges and the bean dip. Also the brown rice with any kinds of curry goes so well. Their service always has been excellent.
I just eat a little too much more than I should…
Oh, try the dessert called Jasmine something which isn’t on their menu yet but they make it for you. It is divine… I never tired anything like that before– not too sweet yet so delicious.

I’ve come here for dinner and lunch buffet. The buffet wasn’t particularly exciting, but dinner gives an opportunity for them to showcase more exciting cooking.
My favorite part of the buffet was raw veggies and bean dip — not your avg bean dip at all! Instead if being heavy and beany, it was creamy and cool and slightly sweet. Gobbled up all my veggies with it. The sweet black rice pudding was a little too sweet but that is easily remedied with a generous helping of coconut milk. Nothing else as particularly memorable but I’d happily come back for a satisfying and healthy meal for a very reasonable price.
Dinner was fun. Got a the drunken mushroom noodle dish and banana massaman curry. The drunken mushrooms seemed more like a mushroom stir-​fry, but they tasted pretty sober to me.
The banana curry was by far my favorite and worth coming back for on its own. The banana becomes little pillows of sweet banana surprise in the curry. It just complements the spices in the dish so well. And it comes with roti to dip. And the roti is excellent. I wouldn’t mind coming back to try their other entrees.

«Woohoo! As good as it gets!»
I just stole that quote from Unilocal.Don’t sue me. But seriously, this place is the best. All vegan Thai food? Sign me up! Some of the highlights of my multiple trips to the buffet are as follows:
1) Crispy spring rolls smothered in sweet and sour sauce
2) Sir-​fried veggies smothered in creamy peanut sauce
3) Pad Thai smothered in non-​fish sauce
4) Brown rice smothered in red curry
5) My fork smothered in french kisses! Yes, it’s that good!
If you are a carnivore and think that you wouldn’t like a place with no dead animals, I dare you to try Araya’s and not like it. In fact, I double-​dare you.

Fairly average food, decent portions, great service but a little pricey for dinner.
We started off with the pot-​stickers which were just meh. Not something I’d recommend.
For entrées I asked them to recommend their most popular dish and after pretty much naming everything on the menu as «awesome», the server decided on their signature dish the «Drunken Mushroom». The dish itself was ok. Nothing extraordinary. My friend ordered the Spicy Noodles. They were pretty tasty albeit a little sticky (overcooked gluten??). By far my favorite dish was the Panang Curry that my wife ordered. It was very rich and flavorful, loads of perfectly cooked veggies and went very well with a side of white rice. Surely try that here.
I’m usually a carnivore but I don’t mind veg thai food. I would probably go back here for their lunch buffet someday to give it a shot but the dinner prices are not justified by the dishes. Based on that amazing curry they really should recommend it a lot more than the average noodle dishes.

I don’t normally eat vegetarian, but I saw the good reviews and decided to check out the place for dinner. It’s pretty big and roomy and is decorated with various thai statues, paintings, and other things. We got the Drunken Mushroom and a yellow curry.
It was the first time I’ve eaten Seitan. It has very similar texture and consistency to pan-​fried spam. It was quite tasty, but was a little off-​putting because it was very similar to meat but didn’t quite taste the same. The mushroom was soft and juicy and the curry was very flavorful. The purple rice went great with the curry. All the food was tasty and reasonable priced, would come again. Though I hear their lunch buffet is a pretty good deal to try lots of things.
The service was good, the waiters were cordial and came to check in on us now and the then.

Best vegetarian Thai in city. Enjoy many of their unique items in the menu. Curried tofu with avocado, mushrooms with wide cut rice noodle, brown rice all were delicious…
Service is attentive as well.
Will definitely return to try other tasty foods.

The worst Thai restaurant I have been to!
When we came here on a Friday for dinner, we ordered
— Thai Iced Tea
— Tom Yum Soup
— Pot Stickers (Appetizers)
— Veggie Spring Rolls (Appetizers)
— Red Curry with rice
— Panang Curry with rice
The Thai iced tea was the WORST I have ever had. Tom Yum soup and the appetizers were just okay. Likewise the watery curries. Nothing really was memorable.

We went here for lunch with a group last Friday — what delicious Thai food! I’m not a vegetarian/​vegan but I found the buffet selection to be pretty filling and very tasty. I really enjoyed the fried rice, spring rolls, peanut sauce and black sticky rice dessert. You also can’t beat the price — $ 13 for buffet! The restaurant was pretty crowded when we first arrived, but we only ended up waiting 10 minutes to be seated. If you are a fan of Thai food you should definitely try this place!

For a Thai vegan place they seem great but my problem was how much oil was in their food and how carb-​filled the food was, that was a downer for me. I couldn’t find anything that I would eat there again.
Parking is tough but from what I saw the people were coming in like ants attracted to honey. Great lunch/​brunch deals so check them out!

I’ve had the vegetarian lunch buffet twice, and I think they do a great job of making you feel like there’s nothing missing from the meal. For a reasonable price, you get unlimited stops to fill up on curries, phad thai, pineapple fried rice, and lots of fresh salad.
I love their pickled vegetables and kimchi because it provides a good balance to the heavier flavors of the rest of the food. The phad thai is alright, but I really like the spice in the pineapple fried rice. They also have a cabbage stir fry that is simple but really good. Tom yum soup is also one of my favorite soups, and theirs has a great flavor and has big chunks of soft tofu in it. What I love about the buffet is that you end up eating a lot of vegetables, but you feel full and satisfied with the familiar Thai flavors!

Our group stopped by for a team lunch and had the flavorful $ 8.99 lunch buffet. I was excited to see that they had the yellow curry fried rice. It’s one of my favorites. And of course I had to have a few of their freshly-​fried spring rolls with that great crunchy exterior and vegetable filling.
They seem to switch up the dishes from time to time. I ran out of plate real estate on my first trip and skipped getting this thin rice noodle dish. But quite a few people in my team said that it was good and recommended that I should go back and try some.
When I returned to the buffet, I was a bit bummed to see that the noodle dish was replaced by a cabbage dish. So, one of us asked if they were going to cook any more of the thin noodle dish because we really liked it.
The answer we got wasn’t clear, but it didn’t seem like they were going to – which was totally understandable. They were quite busy after all.
But then, the server lady with this fantastic hairdo (it was a casual yet fashionable vertical cone bun) came by our table and asked if we requested a noodle dish. We did ask about it, but we didn’t intend to order any food since we were so full and content with the buffet.
However, she said that the chef heard us and cooked one for us – on the house!
And it was good. It seemed to fit the description of the Spicy Noodle on their menu, except that he used the thin bean noodles rather than the rice noodles (which are a little chewier than the rice noodles.)
The best part of that dish was a tie between the fabulous seasoning of the noodles (including the spicy red chili sauce and essence of sesame oil) and the freshly-​fried tofu cubes with their crisp outer shells that were soft on the inside.
We have been fans of this place ever since they first opened. I’m so glad to see that this location is doing well!

Hands down the best Thai restaurant we’ve eaten all over Seattle, W. Seattle, Bellevue, Capitol Hill and Fremont. Regardless if you’re a vegetarian or not, you WILL enjoy the fresh, spiced flavor of the curries, stir-​fries and noodles.
We ordered the Avocado curry and a noodle dish. The veggies in the noodle dish were amazingly fresh and organic. The zucchini and broccoli came out tender yet crisp. The flavor was intense but not overly salty or sweet. The 3 star curry was packed with intense spice but not tongue-​numbing hot.
The service is a tad slow but the staff made up for it by being friendly and tried hard to make everyone happy. We left as very happy customers. Make that regular customers!