I am Thai Eatery — Restaurant in Washington

EDIT: I am editing this review and reducing stars because of an online order experience on 05/09/2021. Special requests cannot be made online if you need to remove something from a dish. They have to be called in right after the online order is made or you can always call in your order. This is also not mentioned anywhere in their website as of editing this review. You can add extras that they charge for, but you can't ask to remove anything.

At the restaurant, I did ask about this. And their answer blew my mind. They said that the order goes directly to the kitchen and having special requests make it confusing/difficult for them. So if any one has special requests, they have to call it in. And the person who takes the call has to run to kitchen and tell them had it been an online order. How can that be an efficient action for your kitchen? At this point, I'm disbelief, so I asked what if someone had an allergy? They said the customer would call (I can understand that. If you/your family member will die if you eat a certain thing and the online order didn't have a way to specify it, then yeah, they would have called. Still inconvenient since they wanted to order online).

I've tried to rationalize why this feature might have been removed. Smile dining may charge more for it OR others may have abused the option and you just didn't want to deal with it. But that's just not fair for those who aren't abusing your system, which I think would be the bigger portion of your customer base.

I saw the EatStreet website for I Am Thai and that one has a special request field. Do people who make online orders through eatstreet? Does someone call them in for you? Or is your kitchen put in difficulty by the third party orders received from here which could be why there is confusion? If you can accommodate additions that cost extra money over your website, then why not removals from dishes? If smile dining cannot accommodate for that, that's all the more reason you should include a special request field online. During our my conversation at the restaurant about this, I believe one of people there said that "you can't do much online". I think you guys are missing out. Its 2021.

We've been in COVID time frame for over a year. Yes, COVID has been hard on everyone, especially restaurants. But restaurants primarily did To Go during this time period and have had plenty of time to really perfect this process. I am disappointed. Online platforms and I quote from your website, should be "no hassle". If I have to go online, make an order and then also call you, that's hassle. If your website doesn't make it intuitive to order food, then that's a hassle. If your website doesn't say anywhere that special requests must be called in, and I have to guess that, that's also a hassle. I wonder how many customers decided to order elsewhere rather than call when they realized you couldn't do a special request online. I hope this review is helpful to you in order to improve the experience for your customers and to get it together in that kitchen.

PREVIOUS REVIEW from about a year ago:

I have had takeout from here several times and enjoyed it. I ate in for the first time today. Lovely spot for a great lunch. I love the menu. It's got some basic Thai dishes I look for always and some specials that I haven't seen in other Thai places. We enjoyed the Sriracha wings for the appetizer. Then the Cashew Chicken, Garden Noodle with Chicken and Pad Kee Mao for our entrees. Finally had the honey toast for dessert. :) Will come back...

It's like finding small glittery token of magic and wonder while wading in a roadside puddle. A complete surprise! And talk about convenient? For those of us who are getting old and have more visits to Kaiser than we wold like to admit or keep, have a great little Thai place within walking distance. Run in and pickup your copious meds and then trot over to I Am Thai and reward yourself for being old and still waking up in the morning. Yes, I know, a good place for young people, but who cares about them.

I had the Tom Yum Noodle Soup and it was a pleasant and unexpected surprise. Hiding right there in plain sight disguised in a tiny mall. The large crunchy chips looked a little like fried Easter Bunny ears peeking out of my savory, spicy broth, but they were delicious. The decor is simple without being unfriendly. The space is a bit awkward... ungainly like people trying to eat in a long bowling alley. The kitchen is off to the side making the place into a long and narrowing corridor as you go back. The furniture is simple and utilitarian and the television runs jokes, which I like better than sports, but is completely out of place. But the broth was what it was all about. I love the places that grind up their chicken before throwing it into the broth, so that the flavor leaves no part untouched.

How did this place evade me for so long? I never noticed it and suddenly it was there like a mushroom that springs from the earth seeming full grown and permanent as if laughing that you never noticed it before. My first messy slurp (My wife dreads these soup forays that leave me grease streaked) had that initial moment where you thought this might be a bit too spicy and then suddenly it whispers in your ear and you feel this deep red satisfaction as you slide slowly into the bowl.

Maybe it's time to schedule a doctors visit so I have an excuse to swing through that neighborhood and take a flying leap into the...

I have eaten here many times and have placed lots of orders using the online ordering service with great results. Yesterday I placed my order for a business meeting to be picked up at 11:30 am this morning. Arrived to pick up my order and was told by the young man that he didn’t have my order. I showed him a copy of my email receipt on my phone. He said he needed a printed copy to do anything. Really? I’m standing in the restaurant showing him proof I ordered and paid for it. He said he didn’t know what he could do. I told he should put the order in that I paid for. He got flustered and proceeded to put the order in. I asked if they could hurry since I had a meeting to go to. He said there was a large order ahead of me. He just brought my order to me without any apology or words at all. I thanked him and he walked away without even looking at me. Poor service. He needs to be trained on customer service. Disappointing at one of my favorite places to eat at

Addendum: Got to my meeting and unpacked the food. The young man had written on my take out “lose the attitude”. I have never seen such rudeness from a restaurant. I called to speak to a manager or owner. They took my information. I hope...