Well, while the food is good, the service makes the entire experience unsatisfactory. Rude, surly, arrogant. From the waiter who talked back to the waitress who reached over people to clear plates (she didn't need to do that if she had just walked around the table) to the added 18% gratuity, the waitstaff makes for an unpleasant time. Many other good Thai places to go to than this. read more

Pen Thai _always_ does me right. I've entertained groups here via a Twitter lunch I've hosted recently and family visiting from out of town. Modern architectural touches in the seating area with a private room in the back for groups up to 40 people but I wouldn't dare attempt it with more than 25 Otherwise, you'd risk one of the females needing to go to the bathroom with 3 of her friends simultaneously converting the room into an agoraphobia convention gone horribly astray. Despite a down economy destroying service industries and restaurants everywhere they charged us _nothing_ for the 4 bowls of rice served to my tweet-up group. How do they do it? The food isn't that expensive... Waitresses are _always_ friendly. Water glass rarely dry. Food comes out hot and fast. Heavenly Beef is a must have especially if it's your first time. Possibly the only knock against Pen Thai is the check can be slow to arrive if you are in a hurry but all things considered I can't dock them a star for it when everyone else in town has a "get 'em in - get 'em out!" service ethic. Also, when I'm in a hurry (always at lunch) I just mention it to the waitress when my food arrives and she squares the check up right away for me. Also, you'll find the Phad Thai a bit ketchupy if authenticity is an important element of your dining experience. The store front is very clean and modern facing a quaint "small town" main street with microscopic parking options. Seriously, parking is kinda silly. Here's a trick for you: Thank God for the back entrance. Just drive around the building and you'll discover a much larger parking area, then come in through the back door. It's a nice, clean entrance. You won't have that awkward look from a cook or bus boy when you open the door because the food prep area has it's own separate access. Very nice for when you invite your friends up from L.A. who want to maintain their superstar anonymity... But I don't have any friends like that... Yet. I just use the back entrance to pretend for now until I do. Did I mention I have a script for a movie I just finished? It's totally awesome. read more

I called and complained that the food was terrible and had one piece of chicken and it's not like it use to be a couple years back. I received a call back from a man who said he was the manager, his name is Mike and he called me back to say that they prepackage the food so there is no way that my food could've been made with such a poor standard. I asked him if he was calling to tell me that I was lying and he said "no, I'm just saying you're wrong"... I said I'm currently the manager at a restaurant so I let Mike know that this is definitely not how you talk to paying guests and that he needed a little more work in the customer service department and he said "Honey, I run a multi billion dollar company, I don't need help with customer service" hahah I said excuse me, don't call me honey and I thought you were the manager "He said I'm the owner but I call myself a manager" Hahha that response right there tells me everything I need to know about whoever Mike is. Who calls paying customers honey tho? If I could give zero stars I would. For sure won't be back read more

After parking in back, I was impressed with the interior right away. Natural colors and textures surrounded us as we were seated in a quiet corner. My friend said it is usually much busier for lunch. Must have been the weather that kept people away that day. Iy certainly was not the food. I ordered the Pud Ki Moa (4 *). It was the perfect spiciness. I like food spicy, but not over powering as to burn your mouth. The beef was thinnly cut and lightly cook, again just how I like it. My buddy ordered the Sizzling Beef with brown rice. He has been to Pen Thai several times before and has always liked the beef. But this time he said it just wasn't the same as he remembered. At any rate, the food was very good and I will be going back again. read more

Friends and I were looking for a good Thai place close by and came across Pen Thai. Saw other good reviews so decided to give it a try. We got the garlic beef fried rice, crab fried rice, tom yum, noodle soup, and pad thai. Everything was SUPER yummy. I have a thing with pad Thais being cooked with tomato or tamarind sauce cause I find that tamarind sauce has a better flavor. The pad Thai here was bright red from the tomato but still had a good tamarind flavor. The portions here were great so we left with leftovers. Only grading this place down because I ordered my pad Thai without bean sprouts and was told that they couldn't batch make mine. I had to wait a long time after my friends were half way done to get my food. read more

Penang Curry and Crispy Golden chicken is simply great!! The ambience is nice and casual, the service was prompt even though the place was crowded with Thai food lovers on a Friday night. This is a sister branch to Chantanee Thai restaurant in Bellevue and I love that place. read more

I've been going to both Pen and the sister restaurant in Bellevue, Chantanee for 20 years. Always great food and reasonable prices. People would line up at lunch time for take out at the Bellevue location. The quality of the food has gone down in quality considerably since then. Not sure if it's due to Covid-19 lockdown or change of chefs but I've ordered 3 times in the last month or so and was greatly disappointed by smaller portions, higher prices, sparse vegetables, and overly oily phad Thai noodles that left me with an upset stomach after eating. The photo of the dead cockroach in their food posted by another Yelp reviewer 4 months ago made me nauseous but confirmed there's some cleanliness and pestilence issues that I'm not OK with. Sadly will not be returning. read more

The service is prompt and the food arrived quickly. We ordered Won Ton, Crab Fried Rice, and Pen Thai noodles. All were deliciously. The portions are generous. A good experience overall. read more

The food at Pen Thai used to be great but they've taken to using CHEAP QUALITY MEATS and even the fish is chewy. The service has always been incredibly slow. We don't go there any more. read more

Best Pad Thai in Seattle in my opinion. I go there about once a month. Its a bit crowded during lunch, but service isn't bad. Portions are nicely sized and there is a large menu. Take everyone coming to town here! A+ Highly Recommend. read more

Coming here for the past few years and are genuinely always impressed. The Pen Noodle dish is our favorite, it's like Phad Thai noodles, but with a different sauce that in our opinion is much better! Red curry is spot on as well, very spicy and very good. Carry out or dine in, had good experiences with both! **Note, this is one of the more pricey thai locations, which is the reason for the 4 stars instead of 5** read more

We just moved to Bothell, and have been in the process of searching for our new fav restaurant in the area ever since. Pen Thai (translated as "being Thai") sounds very attractive to us, and nothing can beat the less-than-15-mins driving from home. [Pro] The decoration is great and the atmosphere is very friendly. [Con] The management is very poor. They offer take-out. We have seen many people came, ordered take-out, and left with their food, while we have been waiting in that 30 min for our appetizer to come -- my husband was starving to death. It didn't take a long time for us to finish everything. The appetizer plate was taken away, not until 15 mins later the first entree came. The other came later. In conclusion, it took us 10 mins to be seated, 30 mins playing with cellphone waiting for the appetizer to be served, another 15 mins looking into each other eyes waiting for the first entrees to come. This is unbelievable !! [Con] The entree is very Americanized. We ordered "Miang Kum" as the appetizer which is ok (we have seen better for the price), "Heavenly Beef" and "Phad Prik Khing" as the entrees. "Phad Prik Khing" is very inaccurate and too sweet. "Heavenly Beef" is extremely too sweet for us. We couldn't finish both dishes, and were very disappointed with the entrees. [Pro] Also we ordered "brown rice", and that is the BEST thing ever. We love brown rice, and know that it's not very easy to cook. Not many Thai restaurants offer brown rice. Pen Thai do, and they do it so right. Their brown rice couldn't be better which gives us hope to get back there and find something else on the menu that might turn Pen Thai into one of our fav restaurants. read more

I'm not sure what all the commotion is about this place although the interior of the restaurant is quite nice looking. I originally ordered the chicken/beef pad Thai at 3/5 star spice level. It came to the table and looked very good and smelled decent but upon the first bite I realized it had no flavor and it had very little spice, not enough to be 3 stars anyway. That wasn't exactly the most annoying part, the frustrating thing was that our waiter never came back to check on us, and with maybe a handful of tables occupied in the restaurant? I'm not sure where he was the whole time? Finally I made eye contact, flagged him down and told him I wanted to exchange for something else as I've had better pad Thai at the food court at the mall. So I ordered a 4 star heavenly beef... heavenly isn't exactly the word I would use to describe it. The beef tasted burnt and was dredged in a sauce that tastes like what any other teriyaki restaurant would use on their food. Again, little spice for being 4 stars and hardly any flavor. And still again, our waiter didn't even ask how my second dish was as the first left little to be desired. Finally, the pricing. $14 for pad Thai or "heavenly" beef? C'mon, the pad Thai tastes like what you'd get at a fast food/mall food court joint. The so called heavenly beef tasted like beef teriyaki and for double the price that you'd spend anywhere else? Yeah definitely not worth it. Although I will admit, my mother got the garlic chicken something or other and that was pretty tasty but again for $14 or whatever that cost it was a tiny portion with I'm guessing not even a full chicken breast worth of meat. read more

My cousin and I went to pen Thai because we were craving Thai food, when we walked in the door to pick up our take out we had the weirdest experience! Two of the workers got into a fight, they were pushing each other. We stood there awkwardly. About 2 mins later a gal came and helped us out and 10 mins later we got our food. It was pretty awkward and I don't know what happened. The food was ok read more

I love this place!!! I try to come here at least once a month....it's a good little spot for date nite. The staff is always friendly and the decor is a little more modern then the surrounding area looks. Food: I always always always order the crispy garlic chicken and it tastes the same every time.....DELICIOUS!!!! I've tried other things and they were all good but nothing stuck out to me like the crispy garlic chicken. The best part is that they give you a bowl of rice with anything you order. read more

Sizable lunch menu at great prices. Tom Kar (sp?) soup was tasty, and the red curry was the right amount of spice. Friend had the pad thai; would go better with seafood than chicken or pork. Shop's in a cute part of downtown Bothell. read more

Food was so-so and service was mediocre as well. Staff in the past would ask the kitchen for a favorite (corn patties) but this time, staff declined to even ask. I wouldn't come back. read more

THE BEST thai food ever and the best service ever. My glass is always full. As soon as we order and appetizer its on out table. And the main dishes arent far behind. The best part is even the left overs are delicious. Favorite Thai, time and time again. read more

Yummy green curry and chicken satay. There prices are a bit high and no lunch combos. Their phad Thai is not my favorite though, it's more red in color than prefer. (Hope that makes sense) Parking is not ideal. Place is clean and fast service! read more

Really poor service and hard to communicate, they treated us like we owe them something. Food is OK, not as good as before. Not sure what happened read more

Good food, great spices. Service is pretty decent and there is lots of seating available. Only drawback is pricing. Dishes here can be pricey, and it seems like the prices have gone up again recently. read more

Consistently good food and service. They have a huge menu that includes all the standards you see at other Thai restaurants as well as some unfamiliar dishes if you're feeling adventurous. The only thing holding me back from 5 stars is that they are a little more expensive than some of the other Thai places in the area and a few of them are equally as good. read more

Came by at 240 on a Wednesday and the door was locked and they wouldn't answer the phone. If you say you're open until 3...you should be open until 3. False advertising and bad for business. read more

Pen Thai is my favorite Thai restaurant in the whole world. It can really be summed up by just that. Any time I have clients from out of town, Pen Thai is usually on their "must do" lists. I personally can't eat enough Pen Noodle, Five Stars, Beef. ZOMG. I'll drive across town to get my Thai Cravings met instead of being disappointed elsewhere. Their Tom Kah soup is also among the best I've ever had. The prices are extremely reasonable, the service is friendly (and they're cute to boot), and it's tastefully decorated with art from local artists as well as mixing in traditional styling. Last time I was in Pen Thai, a plaque on the wall informed me that they're rated one of the top 100 Thai restaurants in the country. I understand why! read more

I thought that the food here was really average. I've been here a couple of times for lunch and dinner. Service is really good and they are very quick with the food but the food itself is mediocre. The Thai restaurant staple, pad thai, was really boring - lots of noodles, not a lot of flavor. There's not much good food here in Bothell, so given their reasonable prices and quick service, I'll probably be back. It's really nothing special though! read more

We ate at Pen Thai last night and were very disappointed. We ordered four dishes and two were horrible! The fresh rolls were 96% shredded iceberg lettuce which is so cheap and flavorless. The Phad Ki Mao was pretty good, although it did not come with tofu and would have been an additional charge, unlike all the other Thai restaurants. The Veggie Fried Rice was good and the portion was very large. The Flaming Vegetable Tofu dish was HORRIBLE! It was sitting in a black 'sauce' that was just soy sauce with no flavor other than intense salt. Truly awful. We hate to walk out of a restaurant having paid so much and feel like we were totally ripped off. Never going back. read more

BURSTING WITH FLAVOR! I've been here twice and liked everything that I've gotten. My favorite is the Pad Kee Mao (sp?) because I love noodles and I love the flavor. The Garlic Lover's with Beef - super tasty-licious. Tom Yum soup - uh Yum. The Panang Curry was very good. The food is great. We normally go to a different Thai restaurant that is closer to our house and love that place, but Pen Thai has great, tasty food. I love coming here every time. Service was good. Gratuity was added to our bill for a party of six, which was fine, so just check your bill when you get it. No one says anything. It is pretty contemporary as far as Thai restaurant decor goes. Because it is open and everything is wood (floors, walls - duh, etc), it gets noisy. Anyway, check it out. I doubt you'll be disappointed with the food! read more

I have been coming here for years and it's been great food average service....not today! Outstanding service with the same delicious food. We had their amazing crispy garlic chicken which is the best. Their sizzling duck was also delicious with great portion sizes. read more

I find myself slightly at a loss to describe why this is so good. There's a different character to a 5-star review of, say, Thai Tom, which is arguably the best Thai food on the planet. But this place earned its 5 stars too. Come inside, and you'll find a typical Thai restaurant for white people- no chopsticks in sight on the tables, authentic-looking decor, and a noisy yet congenial atmosphere. The menu is quite extensive, and our group ordered 5 dishes. The spicy eggplant was particularly memorable (served with beef), the phad see iew was delicious and sweet, and even the fried rice was well-flavored and not oily. Even down to the water on your table, this was really good. I suspect filtered water, and the staff ensured that it was never empty. Prices are pretty standard, $8.95 for most dishes. I don't have a lot more to say, and that's a good thing. This is darn fine Thai food, period. Forget that this is in Bothell, just off SR 522. Forget that everyone else eating here is white. Just check it out, and share your food family-style. read more

I am having a rough couple days with no eating due to my stomach sickness... and all of a sudden I am craving Penang Curry. I have never been to Pen Thai, but let me tell you this will not be my last visit. This is absolutely the best Curry I have had in a long, long time. I called in my order with a 15 min. wait. In sickness time - that is eternity. I arrived a few minutes early and my order was ready with a nice young man. I looked awful, felt worse and just wanted to get the heck out. But I couldn't help but admire the nice décor and happy eaters inside. I wished I was one of them. I get home with the perfect amount of Penang Curry and Jasmine white rice - Normally I could eat this in one sitting but it will due for lunch and dinner on my sick stomach. THANK you Pen Thai! This is the first meal I have eaten in 3 days! I can't wait to bring my boyfriend back and eat in house! *I might mention I made a yelp account just to review this delicious place!! read more

Pen Thai's food is alright, although I often find that it's not only mild (even at five star) but also a bit bland for my tastes. I regularly find myself asking for additional spices. Despite this, they tend to use high quality produce and meats and it definitely doesn't taste *bad*. Despite this, I often find myself going there during the day for lunch because it's a beautifully designed atmosphere, their lunch specials are cheap and it's fun to sit by the big windows and watch people walk by. If I'm really craving good Thai food then I'll drive to Typhoon in Redmond. If I just want a quick lunch in a nice environment, I'll go to Pen Thai. read more

I found this restaurant on Yelp earlier tonight and decided to give it a shot because of the great reviews here on Yelp and I thought the quality of the food was very good! Based on the other Yelper recommendations, we ordered Pad Thai (though we had vegetarian) and one of their specials, the "Sizzling Chicken" - note that we had the Sizzling Chicken on their "specials menu" b/c apparently there's more than 1 dish with "Sizzling chicken" in the name. Both dishes were high quality (meaning all white meat chicken, no sketchy "fat" or "pieces" of bad meat) and the veggies in the pad thai were fresh and tasty. Overall, we were quite impressed and would definitely go back again. Pen Thai does not have delivery services but they will pack up an order for takeout which was what we did tonight. I'd bet the food would've been even tastier had we eaten in instead... read more

Hey Scott, thanks for turning me on to this place. Go for the lettuce wraps, so good and not the greasy mess that you get at that Chinese like chain restaurant. And they have the basics down, very good Pad Thai, Thai fish soup is mid spicy good and filled with seafood, the eggplant with shrimp was not my favorite but good. The Massaman curry was tasty but I do prefer cashews in mine. We were there on a Monday night and were surprised to find that all bottles of wine were half price, perfect for a table of 4! I'd love to go back and keep exploring this place. read more

I noticed a few reviews that mention poor service and small portions. Either they changed staff or these people came on a bad night. The hostess and server were quick and friendly. We actually commented that next time we would split an entree so we could try an appetizer since we just got two entrees and went home with leftovers. The food was a bit pricey if you order drinks but I think it was worth it. We usually hit Uma Thai in Kenmore which I still like but the food here tasted fresher and not as heavy. I also really liked the quality of the vegetables. The crispy garlic chicken was really awesome but don't order it if you're not a huge fan of garlic like I am. I got the phad bai graprau (basil chicken) and it was really great. There were fresh green beans, musrooms, carrots and other veggies and a really tasty sauce. My only complaint would be that I think that they spent too much money on a really nice fancy interior when I'd rather have it more simple and have lower prices :) read more

After my last review, the owner contacted me to get feedback about our experience and took full ownership over our visit. Now, that's treating your customer's with care and respect. She didn't have to offer me anything free to entice me to come back. Like I mentioned, I love Pen Thai and Chantanee's dishes, all I wanted was the service levels to be fixed. And happily they have been! Came back the other night and had a spectacular time. Excellent food and great service. Well done! read more

This place makes me miss the original Chantanee location in Bellevue. Their fantastic flavors, acceptable prices, and competent service reminded me of the original. What's more, "downtown" Bothell is a surprisingly neighborly place. As someone who's found many more reasons to avoid the north end of the lake, I was pleasantly surprised. Now, if they would kindly move back into their old place (where is the new Bellevue joint?) with their old places I would be quite elated. read more

They were not ready even for a half full of the restaurant. Not enough people to serve, somewhat slow and never even asked us if food was ok. And that is on Mothers say! Food was good, only chiken strips were overcooked and hard. I might try them again,, read more

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Based on reviews from other members, I took a friend to lunch at Pen Thai. Yelpers...you did not disappoint me! Pen Thai was/is a fabulous Thai spot. I took someone's suggestion and ordered the corn frittters: delish! I could have made a lunch out of those alone. We had one chicken dish and one meat and both were excellent - although next time I'm taking it down the heat to just a "2". I guess I'm not as much of a heat junkie as I thought. There is plenty of food served and we could have probably ordered just one meal and had enough for two. However, the menu entices and you can't order just one! Living in Seattle, taking the short trip up to Bothell was a nice change of pace - the quaint main street and the yummy meal made it very worthwhile. Next time: the fried tofu, which a few of you raved about. Thanks for the descriptive and dead-on reviews fellow-Yelpers! read more

I don't have much good to say about this restaurant. On a Sunday evening, it ws packed. We ordered the sizzling beef and the spicy eggplant, and waited. And waited, and waited... the food took a long time to get to us. The sizzling beef was on a metal platter shaped like a cow. The description made it sound like this would be very flavorful - but honestly, it wasn't. The vegetables were overcooked, the sauce was oozing out from the platter onto the table, and the beef was so-so. It just wasn't very good. The eggplant, to its credit, wasn't greasy, but it didn't seem like any oil was used; the texture was kind of like eggplant that hasn't been steamed all the way through. It also wasn't spicy at all, and wasn't even very hot (temperature-wise), as thought it was cooked and sat while the sizzling beef was made. Getting our check took forever - this even though the restaurant had basically emptied out by this point. Even getting back our change took five minutes. There are better ways to spend $30+ (for two) on mediocre food and bad service. read more

The service was good, and the green papaya salad was decent. But the pad kee Mao was bland and way too sweet. I don't think I'm going back. read more