The Good: The food is very good here. If I were reviewing on food quality alone, I might have rated this restaurant 5 stars. But the dining experience is about more than just the food. The Pad Kee Mao is one of the dishes I use to distinguish among Thai restaurants. Drunken noodles are so delicious when done well, but so many restaurants don't. Sutha does. Flavorful, lots of beef (or your choice of protein) and vegetables, a generous but not overpowering amount of garlic, and they are always right on for what I consider to be "Spicy" (I've tried their "Medium" and their "Extra Spicy")... and their "Spicy" hits a perfect 8.5 of 10 on my Scoville scale. My most common complaint with this dish is that some restaurants prepare it with too much oil... or all heat and not much other flavor. Here the dish provides a balanced, round flavor with just the right amount of heat.. and not too much oil. I would also highly recommend the Beef Panang. It's so delicious here. The beef is cooked perfectly...not overcooked. The bell peppers are crisp and colorful. And the curry sauce is just addictive. I could not stop eating it until I had spooned the last of it over their perfectly textured rice. I've also tried their Tom Yum soup...their Chicken, Shrimp and Seafood varieties. All were excellent with a well-balanced flavor and just the right amount of sourness. And when it's in season, it would be blasphemous to have dinner be without following it with their Mango with Sticky Rice. OMG... this is just a wonderful, yet simple dessert. The mango delicately sliced and arranged in a heart shape around a generous, mouthwatering mound of sticky rice. My only slight criticisms of any of these dishes? There could be a little more beef in the beef panang. They don't skimp, but certainly not a generous portion. And the Tom Yum is spicier than ordered. Not an issue for me. But the "Mild" I ordered for my kids was clearly a "Medium" spice level. It delighted me but was a a little too aggressive for their taste buds
The Bad: This place is tiny. The seating area is tiny... and there are maybe only 8 tables. The kitchen is tiny. The strip mall is located in is tiny. I don't mean small. I mean tiny. When you are waiting for a table, there is literally no place to stand to be our of the way. It's like one of those games where you have to slide tiles out of the way to make room to put other tiles in the right place. And because the kitchen is tiny.... and understaffed... the dishes almost never come out together. Last night, the Tom Yum arrived nearly 15 minutes after the Beef Panang... which stressed out both me and my kids, since we were all starving. And on top of it, the service is poor and not particularly friendly. If I were rating the place on service and ambience, it would definitely be lucky to get 2 stars.
The Ugly: Did I mention how tiny everything is? Well, as you might expect so is the parking lot. So much so that the parking spaces in front, separated from the restaurant by a narrow sidewalk, bring the cars to within maybe only 5-6 feet of the window. And the table we were at was pressed against the window. There was an SUV parked literally 6 feet away from us with his brights on, pointed directly at our eyes. He was apparently waiting for the next table after I saw him come in and put his name in. I kept looking at him and could make out his face clearly enough to see him looking at us. My kids were complaining to me about how bright it was. This went on for a good 12-15 minutes, with me giving increasingly frequent and harder looks at the driver, who also had his wife in the passenger seat. I know he saw me and even my kids looking at them with our faces fully illuminated. Maybe he was trying to encourage someone to finish quickly. But sometimes there is no understanding what makes some people tick. I'm slow to anger. But finally I rose from the table and began walking briskly to the front door. Almost immediately, the lights of the vehicle were turned off. Undaunted, I walked to the vehicle anyway. I motioned for him to roll down his window. And somehow contained myself enough to say "Thank you". Quickly followed with "I think shining your high beams into my kids' eyes for 15 minutes is long enough, don't you? I'm glad we're in agreement." He didn't say anything. But his wife apologized. I'm thinking he got an earful. Lol read more