Thai Pepper — Restaurant in Tacoma

TL;DR, my experience here wasn't awful, but everything left something to be desired, and one member of the staff was VERY pushy with us towards the end. It might've just been an off night, but I'm not sure if I'll take the gamble in the future. Longer review: The staff was disjointed when it came to seating us and cashing us out, with two different servers going in circles to accomplish the same task either time. For food we first got the mixed appetizers, which were alright aside from some poor-tasting spring rolls and very tough (and underfilled) crab wontons. My girlfriend got the Tom Jurd and found it flavorless with an unpleasant texture, and wondered if it was fully cooked. I got the Hot Summer stir fry plate, and while the meat was alright, the vegetables did not taste good, especially the green beans. I will say, we did get the mild spice level (my gf for a healing tooth, me because i wanted to err on the side of caution), but mild shouldn't mean flavorless. Honestly, the best part of our meal was the Shou Mei White Tea, which was very sweet in a subtle way, steeped nicely, and came in a very nice teapot. But then came the most awkward part. At the end of the meal, after being cashed out, an older staff member was the one who brought it back, and asked if we needed any boxes for our food left. After declining, she then started to grill us (pun not intended) about if we liked the food, what was wrong with the food, why we hadn't finished our food, etc. In her defense, she mentioned that she could discount us if we didn't like it, but as the initial payment had already been made, I didn't want to cause more trouble or hassle. But, benevolent reasons or otherwise it was very awkward to have to talk her down so we could leave. Admittedly, this could've been a stressful night due to Valentines Day, or there could've just been more quirks in the kitchen, and maybe the higher spice levels are the real missing ingredient here. But, with the experience thus far, I'm not sure if I'll be trying it again anytime soon. But that's just me, if you're into Thai food you should try for yourself instead of taking my word, as it appears in the other reviews people have had perfectly content...

Food-beef was not tenderized, or maybe overcooked or both, but vry chewy (& too salty) ...sauce broke & was also too salty, not enough salt on the rice & broccoli tho.. (im sure they're supposed2 balance each other out when eaten together, but i didnt evn want the rice & only had it bcuz they didnt have the lettuce i ordered...well, they did but it had black spots on it so i sent it back since it wasnt fresh) ...also, ordered thai coffee & it tasted rly off, not sure why but ive ordered it tons-its my go to drink at evry thai place-& nvr had this unpleasant, sour/sharpie? taste 2 it (i dont think their milk used was bad either, just something diff ab their coffee maybe/how they brew it, or not fresh enough, idk, but was def way different than anywhere else & not in a gd way...they did offer me tea instead, but i didnt want anything else) broccoli had an odd taste too-like a slight stale fridge/freezer taste on freezer burned food/old ice cubes...i forced as much down as i cld cuz i was starving & didnt kno what else 2do, but def wasn't happy ab it n still cldnt finish it all evn with the appetite i had...(& took the rest with me cuz i didnt kno what else2 do n didnt wanna b wasteful, but will b force feeding myself the rest later too) ...staff was friendly enough, but nowhere near standard expectation-let alone above (edit: they had won me ovr a lot more by the time i left than my 1st impressions, which is why i changed that star from a 2 to 5 n still tipd well) ...atmosphere wasn't rly terrible, pretty avg ig, but kinda narrow, lot of loud clanging noise from kitchen, & smelled a lil off which is prob a bigger deal 2 me than most n have rly sensitive sense of smell. Prices aren't terrible but aren't cheapest either-esp 4the quality of what u get, & idk if i wld describe the srvg size as generous either...Anyway, overall prob wont recommend or return tbh, esp with too many other places around that r better & i go more by food than...

We had high hopes for Thai Pepper that were dashed pretty quickly. This is one Tacoma spot to be skipped.

We must have beat the dinner rush as we walked in and were seated, although we were asked if we had reservations. I paused at the bar and noticed the Elysian Hazy 96 tap handle.

When the staff ask about our drink order, I asked to confirm that indeed Hazy '96 was on tap, as the menu indicated Space Dust on the menu. The staff assured me it wasn't Space Dust. I ordered and... it was Space Dust. The 12oz glass was served with a good three+ fingers of head. So they didn't know their beer and they didn't know how to pour it.

We ordered Pad See Ew, Tom Ka vegetables, 2 stars; and the fresh rolls.

The fresh rolls (3 stars for this appetizer) were tasty but would have been better had they been served to include peanut sauce with it rather than just the sweet sauce with a few peanuts floating on top.

The Tom Ka (just a 1 star entrée) arrived underwhelming. It didn't taste like Thai Siam in Ballard or any of the Federal Way Thai restaurants we've tried. It was simply off and not worth finishing.

The Pad See Ew (1-2 stars at best for this entrée) arrived last without the side of brown rice that was still on the ticket when the bill was presented. This dish missed the mark as well. Not only did the dish taste off, the noodles were overcooked and completed this lack luster dish in all the wrong ways. And was that Pad See Ew sauce? Or was it a tan colored gravy? It was too light in color, missing the sour, soy sauce, maybe the oyster sauce too? Could this have been Rad Na sauce?

If anything either entrée was '2 Star' on the heat scale, I couldn't tell.

We left wondering if there was a reason to return - probably not. Our poor entrée reviews seem to align with another...