Pattaya Thai — Restaurant in Jacksonville

Order: Pork Wonton as an appetizer, Red Curry and Pad Thai Price $36 Pros: Extremely helpful and friendly waitstaff, fast service (slightly uncommon for a thai restaurant) Cons: Food was a little on the salty side (especially the pork wontons), the pork wontons were a little too fried,

Thoughts: I've heard several people mention the (relatively) new Pattaya Thai location, and it is only a few miles from our house so we decided to give it a go. I'll start off by saying that that Jacksonville has a quite a few Thai restaurants and several of them are quite good so the bar is pretty high in my opinion. We went for dinner and was surprised to see how small the location was. While we were there no one else showed up to eat in but several people did pick up take out. I would probably say that between indoor and outdoor seating they could probably seat 30-40 people max.

Our waitress was incredibly friendly and very helpful. She talked to use about their spiciness levels (this changes A LOT between different Thai restaurants so I always recommend asking), and the different "specialty" options. They also had incredibly fast food service and if you've even been to a Thai restaurant you know this is not always the case. While I actually enjoy sitting and chatting with friends during dinner, anyone that is in a "hurry" may find their speed a service really helpful. For example it is very difficult for my wife and I to get a Thai lunch during a work due to only having an hour, but it would be completely possible to do that here.

Now for the less than positive points; the pork wontons were a little overly fried. They weren't burnt just a little too hard and crunch like they have been left in just a little too long. All of their food was a little too salty for my taste as well. I have mentioned in previous posts that I might be a bit more sensitive than most to salt as I don't really cook with it but I would still say that should hold back on it a bit. I expect cheap chines food to be salty and it make the dishes overall seem a bit lacking in "Thai" flavor. I also thing that the portion sized were a little smaller than other Thai restaurants I've eaten at.

Overall I think that Pattaya Thai was just "ok". I don't think I'd call it out for being bad, but I would probably send someone elsewhere if they really wanted excellent Thai. This would be my go to if I REALLY wanted Thai take out, or didn't have time to commit to a full meal. Other than those circumstances though,...

Quite simply put, this is THE best Thai food anywhere even CLOSE to the Jacksonville area! I am a hardcore Thai-ophile, and I travel quite a bit for work and have actively sought out the best Thai restaurants everywhere I go, from Florida to California to Virginia, DC, etc., and to date, Pattaya is hands-down the best Thai food I have ever tasted!

I first experienced the cut-above goodness that is Pattaya Thai over 20 years ago at Lek's original location on Atlantic across from the airport, where her salty sense of humor and huge personality won me over as much as her mind-blowing food did, and have been a dedicated customer ever since, although my natural Cajun curiosity has always compelled me to try every place in town at least once, and there are a couple of other very good choices in town, but when it comes to the best, freshest (they even grow their own aromatics and herbs!), most top-shelf ingredients, the difference is NOTICEABLE. One dish in particular will VERY clearly and definitively prove this. Try Pattaya's Tom Kha soup, and then try it ANYWHERE else, let me give you a little spoiler here, no one else. even comes CLOSE, but PLEASE don't take my word for it, try it yourself and taste the difference!

Lek retired and closed her Baymeadows restaurant a few years ago, and her son, Chef Russ, who learned at the feet of his absolute master chef mother, has carried on her considerable legacy at his own restaurant, Pattaya Thai on King, where he faithfully keeps her legendary recipes alive, as well as adding his own uniquely delicious, creative and adventurous spin on classic Thai cuisine and has established himself as a formidable First Coast culinary force to be reckoned with!

Please, by all means, TRY the other places as I have, then come to Pattaya Thai and have your bar for Thai food excellence forever raised to a whole new level.

P.S., some of these one-star ratings are friggin' HILARIOUS, particularly the GENIUS who ordered his food "Crazy Hot" (that's actually what they call their top spice level!), where they actually make you sign a WAIVER, and then leaves a one-star review because, get this... it was TOO HOT!!! DEEERRRRRRRRRR!!! 😆

And to the guy who was actually such a jerk that he left a one-star review simply because they were closed for the first vacation they've had in over a YEAR, I can only imagine what a miserable excuse for a human being you must be, I mean surely YOU must NEVER take a vacation,...

I had heard so many good things about this place, the food smelled amazing and of what I could see of others plates, the food looked good as well. However, I am disappointed to say I never even got to try the food and I'll never go back.

I walked in the very small restaurant with my two year old in tow at 7:07pm. I asked the lady behind the counter if the seating was open or if they would seat us. She said sit wherever I'd like. There were 4 empty seats at the counter, 3 empty two-person tables inside and 3 empty outside. My daughter needed to use the bathroom immediately so I took her in and by the time I came out, the table we had sat down at initially was taken. (The table in the front corner so I could corral a hungry toddler.) So we sat at the table next to it which was also next to the door. I sent a message to my wife along with pictures of the menu at 7:12pm to look at so I could order her food. Their website was not working. For 35 minutes I sat at the table with my daughter watching cartoons on my phone when I realized that 3 tables that came after us had already ordered food and one of them had already gotten their food! They hadn't even taken our drink order yet! I gathered up my things, and my daughter, let the lady behind the counter know that I had been sitting right in front of them for 35 minutes (same lady that told me to sit wherever) and was never even acknowledge. We left at 7:47pm.

This was a Friday evening, they were very busy with take-out orders and I can understand a wait if they are slammed. But there were some empty tables, they had 3 different people helping wait tables and we never even got a drink order taken. The final straw was seeing a table that sat after us get their order taken and got their food before we even got to order drinks. That is absolutely...