Chili Thai Silverdale — Restaurant in Washington

UPDATED & NEW FEEDBACK ON THIS RESTAURANT On April 25th, 2024, hubby and I decided to revisit Chili Thai. Four years is a long time, and it was due for an update. For those unfamiliar with the area, Chili Thai is nestled in the Ross Plaza, a bustling hub just off Silverdale Way. Its location is a convenient spot for locals and visitors to indulge in authentic Thai cuisine, and do a little shopping. As for the restaurant's ambiance, it remained unchanged from our previous visit. The interior was clean, tastefully decorated with Thai-inspired decorations. The restaurant had warm and inviting atmosphere.

Our dining experience took an unexpected turn when we were seated right next to a lady who, oblivious to restaurant etiquette and ambiance, decided to have a loud (over the speaker) phone conversation while waiting for her friend. This situation, unfortunately, significantly disrupted our dining experience. We ordered and could only hold a little conversation ourselves; we tried but were always overdone by the oblivious customer.

Our food arrived, and so did her friend. YAY, two extremely loud people to listen to.

About twenty minutes into our meal, another lady arrived and sat two tables over. Unfortunately, she decided to have a video conversation, which was a distracting, and also rude. While we understand that everyone has different dining preferences or styles, we believe it's important to respect the shared space. So, there is my rant, onward to the food.

My hubby had the Cashew Chicken with brown rice. The dish was a colorful mix with the sautéed chicken, cashew nuts, mushrooms, straw mushrooms, baby corn, bell peppers, and onions. The taste was good, but not exceptional, according to my hubby. The chicken was tender, and the cashews added a nice crunch, but he felt that the flavors could have been more pronounced.

I had Chili Thai Noodles. Yellow egg noodles with prawns, BBQ pork, egg, spinach, bean sprouts and green onions. The flavors were there, but I feel it should have been listed under "salad" rather than "noodles". Yes, It had some noodles, but, if I'm honest, there wasn't a lot. The dish provided plenty of vegetables, but lacked on quantity as far as the noodles go.

Overall, food experience was good but the atmosphere (due to the people with phones) was distracting and disappointing. I really wish our server would have said something to these people.

Our server was friendly enough, not extremely chatty, but that is ok because I doubt we'd be able to hear anything she was saying due to the mannerism of the insensitive customers.

PLEASE PLEASE for anyone dining, take your calls outside the restaurant or lower your voice, trust me, no one wants to or cares to hear what your saying. And it's called table manners, not entitlement.

PLEASE be kind to ALL...

My wife and I tried this place for the first time and I had high expectations because I had the ice coffee to go and it was delicious. Well, I really thought it would be good if their coffee was but unfortunately it was not. The first thing I did notice was the slow service, we were the only ones there and it did take the server some time to come to us because I had to look for her to place orders for the appetizer.

For appetizers we had the calamari, fried pork wontons and the wonton soup. The soup was good, the calamari was ok some were cooked fine, some were tough and rubbery, but overall it was just ok, but for the fried pork wonton the pork didn't taste right as it could have spoiled because it smelled wrong. As for the main dishes, the pad see ew, was ok - the noodle was good but the beef that I had ordered with it didn't taste right. I don't know maybe it was spoiled, maybe it was sitting out too long, but I do know that it didn't taste right. As for the chicken, it was completely dry. We didn't finish it and left the 3 large pieces where it laid. I do not foresee us going there again.

Sitting there however, I can overhear other customers claiming their food was really good so maybe it is? I have had Thai food before and I loved it but this place did...

A true 3-star rating:

PROS Some of the most delicious Thai food in Kitsap When they get it right, it's mind-blowingly right. I'm a self-styled connoisseur of Tom Yum (savory lime and spices) and Tom Kah (coconut and Thai seasonings) soups.

CONS There is no standard, it seems, in the kitchen. From one shift to the next, cooks use their personal preferences as the standard, especially when it comes to spice levels 0-5. Result of this is akin to playing Russian Roulette. Anecdote: I was at the end of my rope from hospital food failures, and I just wanted something I LIKED for dinner. Tom Yum is the king of flavor in this situation. I like spicy but wanted to share, so I chose 2/5 stars. I couldn't really taste any heat, so it was a flop on my end. Couple of days later, still in the hospital, I ordered the Tom Kha, choosing spice level 3/5. It was nuclear spicy. NOBODY could get any down. Pricing would be perfect if they got it right reliably, but with tax and tip, it's over $20 per bowl.

CONCLUSION: Thai food for over $20 should not be like a box of chocolates, Forrest! I'm taking a step back for several months to give the place time to sort things out. It really is perfect when this restaurant gets...