Pad Thai — Restaurant in Charlottesville

Sorry to bash a local restaurant... But the people deserve to know. I have tried dozens of Thai places, and I have to put this in my top two worst experiences... I would describe the food to be basically cheap chinese food, without the price associated with cheap chinese food. Chinese food and Thai food are supposed to be very different! But, as I ate my cashew duck dish, I thought it man this really tastes like some lackluster lo mein. No flavor whatsoever, the other three people in my group ate about half and threw their meals away. I took mine home and only after adding a lot of different sauces did this thing become palatable... don't spend your money on the "duck". It can't say with complete certainty if it really was duck because the quality was so poor, it tasted like the beef chunks in cheap lo mein. If it was duck, it certainly was the poorest quality I have...

Very small and unassuming Thai restaurant. The previous five star restaurant experience of the owner/operators is obvious from the quality of their meals. Such lovely people and truly phenomenal cuisine and a true secret treasure in Charlottesville. The menu has so much variety that it runs over onto several white boards that are changed frequently. There will always be something new. They have been serving the area for almost 20 years and I don't doubt that you could be a regular and still be constantly surprised. The Pork Spare Ribs with Fried Egg and Jasmine Rice was a substantial portion that was tender and savory. The herb tea is a lemon grass and probably some other herbs, but predominantly the grass, and is available hot or cold. The spring rolls with homemade sauce were absolutely perfect. Will definitely have to go back to try some other variety...

With all the great reviews on this site, we were excited to give this restaurant a try. We absolutely love Thai food and try to find a Thai restaurant on every trip that we go to. We ordered the Tom Yum soup with shrimp, the Pad See Ew with beef, and the Pad Ped with pork. The Tom Yum soup was horrible! It was watered down and there was barely anything in it except fresh lemongrass, which you can't chew. They only gave half a bowl of broth with 1 shrimp! To top it off, the ceramic bowl was noticeably cracked with a piece of it missing so who knows where that piece went. We told the waiter this and he totally ignored both complaints. The pork in the Pad Ped was fatty and they gave us barely half an entree. I'm Asian and have worked in a Thai restaurant for many years. This was truly one of the worse Thai restaurants I've eaten at and I've...