Thai 65 Bellevue — Restaurant in Bellevue

TL;DR: Good, solid Thai food, served late(!).

Food trucks are tough to review because every bit of score rests on the food with nearly nothing left for service, decor, or cleanliness. Minor mistakes in food are amplified and that's what shaved off the fifth star here in an otherwise great Thai meal - which are a real rarity in Seattle. There's a lot of bad Thai food in town, but Thai 65 is some of the best.

We got two dishes. First was the pad Thai, which is a great dish to gauge a Thai chef's palate and the quality of ingredients. Fresh, bright, flavorful, but a little on the sweet side with a glutinous-sweet tamarind sauce used to bind the dish. I didn't like the almost ketsup-like flavor of that one part of the dish, but overall the meat was fresh, the egg was fluffy, the noodles separated easily, and the plate as a whole was balanced in flavor.

The second dish we got was a delicious Panang curry that came with a side of rice. As to the flavor and dish itself, once again, a touch on the too-sweet side (though that's common with Thai street food) but overall fresh and bright with crunchy vegetables paired with a beautiful stock and curry. My companion's complaint was that the curry was too thin for his preference and he expected a little more coconut fat. I didn't mind, but I could see his point.

The real problem for me was that the curry and rice were served separately in containers too small to easily mix the two halves of the dish. Without a table, it was really unwieldy trying to juggle the cup of curry and the box of rice. Again, this is more a food truck issue than anything else - but on the other hand it's something the truck should foresee if they're going to make people stand around or sit in their cars to eat. Serve the curry in a larger cup or the rice in a larger container so a spoonful of both can be scooped at once.

Overall, we really enjoyed the food and have plans to...

Great, authentic thai food food truck operating outside of a gas station. Perfect for late night grab-n-go or delivery (for extra fees).

The entire food truck is a two person operation and the couple seems to have dialed in their practice over the years. I had their Pad See Ew towards 9pm and really enjoyed it. I found that this place can be quite crowded and the average wait time can range between 20-30 minutes.

Their pad see ew delivered a comforting balance of sweet, salty, and smoky. The broad rice noodles are chewy with just enough wok hei to give a hint of char, while the dark soy lends molasses depth against the light soy’s brightness. I found that their noodle soaked up flavor uniformly, which was a big plus for me, as at many other thai places, wide noodles are often stuck together, mushy, and not properly carrying flavor - that showed me that Thai 65 chef made my food without compromising the recipe's order of operation and heat!

While I dont have a whole lot of critique on the flavors, I did feel that the portions were a bit small relative to how much the food cost. If you have an appetite, you'd be better off ordering two dishes.

They only accept cash or venmo!

Plenty of parking space, but no formal...

My husband and I have ordered three times from here. Today was our third and last time we will be coming. The best was the first time we had it back almost a year ago. Ever since then the quality has significantly gone down and prices have gone up. We always order the Thai 65 chicken with pad Thai combo. The chicken tonight was soggy from the outside and dry from the inside, clearly it was not fresh and reheated. The pad Thai was a little too sweet and lacked flavor.

My husband mentioned that it smelled like sewage/garbage around the place and there were flies around the back.. He had to wait for 30 minutes for the food without any updates. The person in charge did not say a word to him except mumble the total at the end, also did not provide a receipt either. Terrible customer service and food quality isn’t there for the restaurant level prices. The reason I’m giving a 2 is for the spring rolls which were crunchy...