Araya's Place Vegan Thai Bellevue — Restaurant in Bellevue

I found this searching for Thai places with vegetarian options on Google maps, and am very happy to have found Araya.

The interior is nicely decorated and while there are many tables inside, they didn't cross the threshold of being too close to peacefully enjoy your dinner.

The wide array of appetizers was unexpected and offered a number of good options. We went with the veggie tempura, and loved that it had a great selection of vegetables and a good portion size.

Tom kha soup was good but not flawless, could have used a bit more variety in vegetables, and had a nice lime flavor. while the burner to keep the soup hot is a great idea, it burned out quickly, leaving us with the downside of the design - the donut shape is a bit hard to actually extract the soup from versus a standard round vessel.

The fake meat (phad king?) entree was satisfying and I enjoyed the flavor of the sauce and presence of crisp celery.

Pad Thai was ok, I would've appreciated more ingredients as it felt dominated by noodles and tofu versus the same dish elsewhere.

Cocktails were a letdown as they had very little alcohol and were closer to a mocktail. We had the mango mojito and Araya paradise. Presentation was nice with actual mango and pineapple in the drinks.

The service was nice with kind employees and prompt attention to any needs. Predefined tip options on the receipt are 20%,...

We were excited to try out this vegan restaurant for Mother's Day lunch, but were completely disappointed. They were clearly super busy, and waitress was clearly impatient when taking our orders. Well, it's a busy holiday and they are small biz during Covid-19, so we were not bothered. An hour later, food was not still there and the waitress only came by once to tell us it was coming. Then we noticed the table next to us got their dishes, even though we were seated first. Another 15 minutes later, our kids got their dishes. 30 minutes later, while our kids finished eating, one of the remaining 3 dishes arrived. We learned that they have not even started the last 2 dishes, and decided to cancel. The waitress gave us the adjusted bill and never stopped by after that. My husband kept signaling them to pay for the bill and got ignored completely. So he went to the counter to pay himself. Well, absolutely not acceptable customer service. As for food quality, frankly we were not a bit impressed and not sure why others think it was so great. Bai Tong has much better Thai food. Key take away, for main holiday and major events, do not book at this restaurant, they don't have the capacity or capability to handle...

Though I am hard-core non-vegetarian, I must agree that this restaurant made Vegan Thai equally delicious. We tried the mango salad, red curry and pineapple fried rice. All three were outstanding with the pineapple fried rice being the best of the lot. The spice levels are on the higher side. I normally level 4 generally at Thai places but I would stick to level 3 here. And always opt for the fried tofu options vs soft tofu. Special shoutout to the server. He was gracious enough to change our red curry once.

The more I visit the place, the more I admire its culinary excellence. We started off with Veg Tempura and Fried Brussels sprouts. I never imagined veg tempura could be so delicious. The sprouts were amazing as well. For the main course we went for Phad Thai, Green curry and Panang curry this time. Phad thai was a perfect blend of spice, juiciness and texture. Panang and green curry were amazing as well. Also worth mentioning are their drinks. Thai iced tea and mango mania are worth a try.

Definitely in my top 3 thai restaurants...