Jai Thai

OK, I went on a Saturday for lunch so I realize I have to be a bit forgiving for going during a slow time, but I think there are three things a restaurant should get right, even on a Saturday:
(1) Food should be hot (it wasn’t)
(2) Food ordered «three star» should have something from the pepper family in it (it didn’t)
(3) It should be better than a microwave burrito (it was)
So three stars to you. I’m leaving you with room to be bumped up in case I make it by during a busy time and the food is better. But I’m pulling you from the list of Saturday lunch places.

Was in the mood for a drink Tuesday night. While driving through Belltown, I heard some good hip-​hop music coming out of this spot. Went in to check it out. The place (dance floor and bar) was empty, but there was a DJ spinning some quality, non-​mainstream, hip-​hop music (a rare find in Belltown, the land of the Paris Hilton/​Nicole Richie wannabes and frat boys).
I ordered a Hangar One & tonic and chatted with the bartender. A documentary on tribes around the world was playing on the wall. The bartender told me that this was the first night they were trying out this format on a Tuesday. He also mentioned that the other nights they spin Top-​40 hip-​hop and the weekends attract the «bump and grind», «Hey Bitch!» crowd.
Come here if you wanna here good hip-​hop music on a Tuesday, while getting away from the typical, annoying Belltown crowd.
Oh yeah, my drink was $ 6.50 and respectable. I told the bartender I would Unilocal his spot because I really did like the place (and it was dead). I figured that, combined with our good convo, would land me my drink on the house. But as Whitney Houston (with crackhead Bobby Brown) would say, «Hell to the no!»

While I have to admit the food here is tasty and that after looking into the teary eyes of my friend who didn’t they their 5-​stars really was a 5-​star item I can also confirm that 5-​stars here really means something. That said, despite their relatively cheap prices on whine and other booze items I really have to ding this place for value as they really don’t give you very much for what they are charging.
So if you’re in belltown this place isn’t a bad one to go to, but as far as thai food goes I will say this — I’ve had better and I’ve definitely been to better bang for your buck places.

This is less than a block from my condo so I might be a bit biased… the service is spotty (depending on who is there) but they make up for it with some of the best Phad Thai I have ever enjoyed. Their scale for spicyness is on the mild side (I consistenly order 5-​stars here while I order 3-​stars at more «authentic» places). The curries are also delicious, very creamy. I would particularly reccomend the panang curry (beef), red curry (chicken) or pineapple curry (prawns).
Regarding their take out — when they say 15 minutes they mean it, and often the portions are smaller than if you eat in. I try to avoid take out whenever possible here because something about the food being hot out of the kitchen that can’t be beat here.
They do some kind of late night DJ or karaōke thing starting around 11pm, but I never stick around for that — it is very strange.

The Jai Thai in Belltown has a dark side.
By day, it’s a pretty tasty Thai restaurant with lovely servers, reasonable prices, and unbelievably quick service.
At night, however, they put all of the tables and chairs aside and the place transforms from sedate restaurant to hilarious dance club. There’s usually an awkward hour or so between the furniture getting pulled and people getting drunk enough to dance, so show up at 11:00pm or after. Honestly, it turns into a mess of the top order.
It’s a nice alternative to the nearby Tia Lou’s, a Mexican joint that goes through a similar transformation, which recently was charging a $ 17 cover — on a Thursday!