Isarn Thai Soul Kitchen — Restaurant in Seattle

First time dine in at this restaurant, but will never return. The lady serving us was unnecessarily rude when we switched to another table in the same indoor bar area where no one else was sitting! The original table was almost directly under the AC, and we felt cold. After explaining ourselves, she asked us to leave the table and choose between the original cold table and another one with uncomfortable stools. If there were any compelling reasons why were could not choose among the 10 free tables, at least please tell us nicely. We should have left the restaurant then - we really regret not doing that because the disappointment and humiliation could have stopped there. She was mumbling incessantly and pushing us to choose quickly. She complained that the original table was in the same area so how could it be cold. She didn't believe us. If one has this kind of attitude, why bother working a job that makes oneself and others miserable? Food. We ordered crying tiger and chicken rice. At first it tasted good, but then the desperate dryness creeped into my mouth - I haven't had food so heavily laced with MSG for a really long time. Trying to cover up something? Hygiene. Still can't believe I'm raising this as an issue in this seemingly top rated restaurant. The table top was sticky. There were 2 pieces of food remnants on my serving plate. A big fly was dying on the window sill next to me and eventually died.

PS: Yelp hid a one-star review of this place that also complained about a particularly rude and sarcastic staff member. Guess what happened to us was not an isolated incident. But if Yelp "algorithm" keeps hiding these reviews from the recommended review list, the high rating will be protected for a really long time. Good luck, lowly consumers.

To respond to the owner's question: We arrived around 6:50 pm on...

I generally like the food here and was in the habit of going to one of their locations when up visiting from Portland every few months. The reason for my low review is the service is consistently mediocre, sometimes even bad and last night our server tried to scam me.. This is how the scam works, they have a policy to automatically add a 20% tip to all parties of 6 or more, however this is not stated on their menu or any other obvious place, neither did our server inform us of this. When it came time to pay the bill our server presented us with a digital devise for payment, on this devise it just stated the total amount and a suggested tip of 18-20-25 %-or other. -- But glancing at the total it seemed high so I asked if I could see a detailed list of what we were being charged for, at that point the served pushed a few buttons and gave the checkout devise back to me, upon viewing the details I quickly learned they had already included a 20% tip which our serve then informed me was their policy on groups of 6 or more -- So to summarize this, the server was hiding that the 20% was already included in the total and would have gladly had me add an additional tip on top of the total that included a tip, for service that at best would deserve a 15% tip.. Needless to say this really pisses me off, and makes me wonder if other unethical things are happening at...

I'm a huge fan of Isarn, having frequented both Lynnwood and Kirkland many times. The food is terrific, so when I heard one was opening in my area in northeast Seattle I was ecstatic. Unfortunately, while the food continues to be to notch, clearly the management is still figuring things out at the new location. I've ordered twice now, and both times the wait time after ordering has been horrendous (against the estimated time, to be clear). A long wait is not a big deal if expectations are set, however on my most recent visit I ordered to go and their internal ordering service on their website (not a third party intermediary) estimated 25 minutes. I showed up 30 mins after ordering, and was told it wasn't quite ready, maybe 10 mins. No biggie nice evening, I see they are reasonably busy happy to wait. 20 mins go by... I check in again, nope "wait outside and we will come to you when ready". Sure thing maybe they needed to remake something. 45 minutes after I've arrived (1:15 after placing the order) I'm irritated, I check in again - couple more minutes. Food is ready shortly thereafter, but all I'm told is sorry for the wait and they're off. I wholeheartedly recommend getting Isarn food. It's fantastic, maybe just clear your schedule for the...