PJ Thai — Restaurant in Savannah

Visited tonight. Google Maps tag line is, “Thai classics in a quaint space.” I’d agree this an appropriate description. Is located at 147 Abercorn & E Oglethorpe. Easy on street parking. Has quaint diagonal entrance facing the intersection. Has several tables on sidewalk and white crepe myrtles along the sidewalk complete a pleasant setting.

Restaurant is cozy inside, decor was humble with numerous personal photos. Music was kinda weird, maybe “Enya plays Bangkok? Then the CD must’ve changed and cue Coldplay. Was finally able to roll with it.

Greeting was prompt and friendly. A single server was present and juggled 6 tables without missing a step. She was delightful.

Menu as described in the tag line. For an appetizer, we had basil rolls in rice wrappers and served with steaming peanut sauce. Thai basil, fresh mint and crunchy vegetables. Serving was 8 pieces. Somebody got the photo until 5 were gone :) The rolls were excellent.

We had Pad Thai and Massaman Curry as entrees. These average at best and disappointing at worst. The dishes came up promptly and were attractively served.

Pad Thai is a dish that will be different at every Thai restaurant. PJ Thai’s take was disappointing. The noodles were cooked appropriately and garnishes were right. The portion was generous. However, the noodles were swimming in a orange sauce that was reminiscent the duck sauce served in Chinese restaurants. I’ve had spaghetti with less sauce. Too sweet, not enough spice, Thai nuance. I ate it but not what I came for.

The Massaman curry was better. The vegetables were al dente which was a nice touch. The curry sauce was somewhat less hearty than what I prefer. Too sweet; sugary character overwhelmed the curry flavors. Definitely missed the mark.

Dessert was Mango with Sticky Rice. This was outstanding. Very generous portion, plenty for 2 people to share.

Why give a 3 Star rating? Many positives about the experience but Pad Thai was very disappointing and the curry dish wasn’t much better. I could’ve gone 3.5 stars but not 4 stars. Unsure if...

Weird experience: went today at around 7PM, My wife, baby and I. We stood waiting in the entrance while different employees just passed by us and didn’t acknowledge us. Weird, but Ok I guess as the place was full. Finally this young man comes and we ask how much of a wait for as the place was full. He mentioned that all proper tables are taken but we could sit side by side at chairs in front of a wall, or wait until a table clears. Understood. We ask him if we we can order takeout he says yes and that it would take around 20 min to have the food ready. He excuses himself while we think. We are like PERFECT! Let me take my wife and son to our AirBNB a few streets away and we order take out and I come and pick it up. 5-10 minutes later we are back at our airbnb and call to order. This lady picks up and tells us that there’s no takeout available. We tell her that we were there, it was full and that a guy told us we could order take out. She said no, that is not full now that we can go and dine in. We explain to her that we don’t want to go back (we were just there and have a baby! And is cold outside). She reiterate that theres no take out, that if they continue to take takeout orders they wont leave until midnight (Again: it was like 7:15PM). We said thank you and took our business...

Pen and paper is not the way to have a waiting list in 2023. We walked in around 6:15p Saturday 11/11/2023.. two people were sat immediately. A gentleman took our number and told us twenty minutes. In the meantime, we walked to Collin’s quarters, ordered two cocktails, drank them there, and then walked back. Upon arrival, we were told 20 minutes again.

The food is consistently delicious so we were ok with waiting, but we had 2 parties sat in front of our face due to size. With the “system” y’all utilize, pen and paper, there should be no preference to table size (2 versus 4) and it should be FCFS seating.

Your bar area and cushioned seats near restrooms are under utilized. All in all, the Thai food is phenomenal, the service is normally A1; however, tonight, after 1 hour of waiting we walked two blocks to fire street food, got sat immediately, and were served food within 10 minutes of being sat.

Pen and paper is not the route. If we are allowed to walk away, make sure we actually get called in the correct order.. Get one singular-hostess and one singular bus-boy.. way too chaotic and your waiting area/front entrance/to-go order section is not suitable for your amount foot traffic.

Disappointed tonight and very...