Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Restaurants East Side Pads Its Resume with PadThai Kitchen
Posted by Carrington Fox on Wed, Nov 5, 2008 at 6:59 AM
When we pulled into PadThai Kitchen, which recently opened on the east end of the Woodland Street Bridge, Jack Silverman all but had tears in his eyes he was so happy to have a new Asian restaurant on his side of the Cumberland. Coincidentally, fellow food writer Dana Kopp Franklin was already there when Jack, Mr. Pink and I entered the roadhouse-style building that formerly housed Moon's and Cantrell's barbecue restaurants and Most Wanted Pizza, so we consolidated our parties at a four-top on the covered patio overlooking the asphalt moat around LP Field.
PadThai Kitchen has been open for all of four days, so we don't begrudge the fact that service was achingly slow. We just assume things will get better. Timing not withstanding, we had a delightful lunch, which started with tiny, piping-hot spring rolls and a lovely, light broth with bits of chicken, tofu and cilantro, served in a pretty glass bowl.
The eponymous pad Thai was a generous and extremely sweet plate of rice noodles, chicken and tender de-veined shrimp, with bits of scrambled egg, crushed peanuts and a lime wedge. Pad ped nor mai (spicy chicken with bamboo) was fresh and tender, if not as spicy as we hoped for when we asked for 5 out of 5 on the hotness scale. The runaway favorite of our meal was larb nuew, a spicy salad of minced beef with pink onion, cilantro and lime juice, served with rice.
Topped off with a round of super-sweet and creamy Thai iced teas, our lunch for three clocked in at $25 plus tip. It may have taken longer than we would have liked—Jack was racing to his desk to email the East Nashville Listserv about PadThai Kitchen, and I wanted to get back in time to scoop Dana—but we enjoyed every minute and bite of our long lunch.
We'll be headed back to PadThai kitchen soon. In the meantime, if you get there, please report back on Bites.
Located at 207 Woodland St., PadThai Kitchen is open 10:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday.
Comments (11)
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This was formerly the Nashville's Most Wanted Pizza place, correct? Not so wanted, as it turns out, but more Thai especially on the East Side has to be a good thing.
Thanks for the heads up!
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In fact, there were tears in my eyes, but thanks Carrington, for not outing me for the food sentimentalist that I am. I will definitely head back within the next few days. I really hope they make it!
My wife and I ate there last night, the food was excellent but they are definitely still working out the service kinks. The owner is a very nice lady who was the sole server for the whole place AND had cash register duty. It took a while to get our food but she was very gracious and apologetic about the service, which she promised would improve as she gets a handle on what the regular crowd size will be. I'll be back.
We had lunch here today and wow, was it slow but man, it was good! Same scenario as David described in that the owner was running the whole show. They seemed to be doing a decent take-out business, too. I'll definitely go back.
My husband and I ate there yesterday. Very tasty indeed. And I am not a meat eater, so was pleased to see they were happy to make all veggie versions of their dishes for me. Loved it!
I have been twice, and actually ate there once. The first time the service was terrible, waiting 25 minutes for our check, never being offered refills and spending a total of two hours when there were only two other tables. The pad ka prow was alright, spring rolls boring, tom yum pretty good, not great, and the level 5 spice not quite the euphoric heat experice I look foward to. The tom ka gai was pretty excellent though, which is why I wanted to give it another shot.
I went with a friend who had not yet been, and warned her about the service. So we order soup, one entree, beers and an appetizer....then we wait...and wait....and wait. After about 15 minutes we recieve the beers. 30 minutes later they try to give us entrees that are not ours. I ask about the soup...'it's coming' they say. So we wait. When they came around with the wrong entrees, never did they ask us about refills for the waters or beer. After one hour, still no food, no refills, no apologies. The table next to us gets up and leaves.
After an hour and 15 minutes, we ask if we can take our food to go and they tell us that it will be another 20 minutes. So we leave hungry and pissed.
I hope they work out the kinks of service shortages, and the stress of a higher demand than anticipated. The food I was able to eat on the first time though, was not worth the trouble.
very disappointing for huge Thai food fan. Lack of flavor, ambience, or anything resembling heat/spice made for crap-tastic dining experience. Very nice people and good service but the food was a major letdown. Anyone championing this place is nutso. Looks like I'm gonna have to keep making the drive to Siam on Nolensville, which has sadly been slipping of late. Somebody please open a Thai place in the East.
We experienced the same slow service. The curry I had was pretty good, but not the best in town. However, the food at lunch was definitely cheap! The servers still have a number of kinks to work out. Also, the seating inside is surprisingly limited. And the tables and chairs outside aren't in the best condition.
I absolutely love this restaurant. Don't be fooled by the less than attractive building and decor, their food is amazing. My boyfriend and I eat there about twice a week. I'm vegan and there is an option to get almost any dish with tofu. The curries are all unbelievable and the fresh rolls with peanut sauce are a great start. If you are lucky you will get the male server who is so nice and helpful. The pad thai is not the best dish, although one of my friend swears by it so maybe it's just a matter of preference. Try the larb. So tasty. They have a huge covered patio that's great for warm nights. It's fast, inexpensive and totally delicious. I'm not giving it 5 stars only because it's not the nicest restaurant by any means but the food really is so good. I always leave so happy and satisfied and singing Pad Thai Kitchen's praises.
