Haad Thai Restuarant

Elite '08

41

160

Liam D.

Washington, DC

If there's one thing that I love, it's Thai food, and fortunately DC has a number of good Thai places to satisfy this. Having lived in Chinatown for nearly a year, I've frequented Kanlaya, Thai Chili, and other more well-known Thai places, never paying much attention to this unassuming little place on 11th and New York Ave. Friends and I decided to give it a shot recently, and am glad we did!

The first thing you'll notice about the place is it's cool decor - it's like you walk into an evening scene of some tropical island. It also looks strikingly similar to the office of the drug dealer that Al Pacino begins working for in Scarface, videophiles may notice.

The food is flavorful, and the portions are the perfect balance of filling and light. The pad see ew is good, as is the Ka Prow. They have one of the BEST papaya tropical salad's that is seasoned with chili and is just spicy enough to open up your palate-  I highly recommend this as a starter. Another way I judge a good Asian place is based upon the quality of the rice, and Haad Thai has probably the best rice of any Thai place i've been - it is so light and fluffy that it's the perfect compliment to a meal.

If you're ever in the MetroCenter/Chinatown area, do yourself a favor and walk to Haad Thai for a quick bite - it's well worth it.

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1

36

Professional Eater S.

Washington, DC

Mehhhhh...

I don't know what it is about the DC area, but there are a ton of Thai restaurants and none of them seem to be very good. There's a wide swath of mediocre Thai food available in this town because it's trendy, but it's all roughly the same quality.

This place is one of those.

Also, their sign is so small and unreadable and invisible unless you're standing right in front of it that it's basically impossible to find. (hint it's right behind Capitol brewery, it's got a tiny neon sign).

I've only been here once, and had a rice noodle/chicken dish, which was serviceable.

Not a place I could recommend to anyone.

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0

9

Randy Y.

Fairfax, VA

Excellent place to dine for lunch!  They have an unusual decor but the food is great and reasonably priced.  I always have their grilled seafood fried rice but their other dishes are also very delicious.  At lunch time, you have to get there by noon or you'll likely wait.  It's one of the favorite lunch places around.

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5

51

j k.

Washington, DC

Had dinner here the other night.  Ordered a chicken basil chili dish, some steak special, noodle appetizers, and steamed dumplings.  Overall, the good is decent.  Chicken was a little too lukewarm and dry, but the seasoning was okay.  The steak dish tasted more like a cross between korean and chinese food to me.  The other dishes were pretty good.  The inside is clean, interior is not too different from other thai restaurants.  Service was good.  Our waitress was prompt, friendly, and courteous.

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228

811

Gayle G.

Woodbridge, VA

We went here today at an odd time of the day (1:30pm) so maybe that's why the service was soooooo inattentive. When we walked in, the maitre d was on the phone. So, we patiently waited for him to end his call and acknowledge us. There was only one other table of three in the place, and they were finishing their lunch.

So, we sat down. The decor is kinda neat, there is a Thai beach scene on the wall. I don't think it is a mural, but wallpaper. Anyway, hubby ordered the Key Mao (chicken with basil on top of wide noodles) while I had the Pad Z U ( beef with noodles and broccoli). The food was very good and flavorful, but the waiter never came to check on us. In fact, we had to flag him down for a check.

This place may be better for dinner when it is better staffed. The price for lunch was kinda high for what it was. The entrees started at ten bucks.

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Elite '08

8

59

Bryan H.

San Francisco, CA

Down in DC for business and decided to give Haad a try due to its proximity to my hotel.

At any new Thai place I always opt to try their Pad Thai; if they can't do that right they probably can't do anything right. The quality, flavor, and price were spot on. I definitely enjoyed my visit. The service could have been a little more attentive.

Decor is minimal but clean and uncluttered.

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Elite '08

346

605

Holly T.

Long Beach, CA

I went here twice for dinner, on a Friday night and a Saturday night, and I have no idea why this place is not rated higher. It's a fairly nice, elegant Thai place - not at all like the Thai places I'm accustomed to in the LBC, which are tasty and authentic but certainly not posh and swanky. I'm normally a bit suspicious of classy Thai places, but the food was actually very, very good, and wasn't terribly overpriced. Unlike others, I had no problem whatsoever with service.  

The first night, I had intended to go somewhere else, but it was way too crowded, so I headed over here and was glad to be able to get a table no problem. Since I was solo, I didn't really feel like sticking around too long, so I got a tom yum soup to eat there, and then took some pad thai to go. I normally avoid pad thai, preferring more interesting Thai dishes, but it was a Friday night and I was freaking tired and just wanted something simple that would make for good leftovers the next day. The tom yum soup was absolutely delicious - the best I'd had since Saladang in Pasadena with Jenny J - clean, crisp, not cloyingly sweet, but lots of flavor, and a ton of spice, surprisingly hot. I even ate all my mushrooms. The hot soup at the end of a long day was just as good as a hot bath, nice and relaxing as the heat flowed through my body. The pad thai was quite good when I had it later, and similar to the soup, it was much more spicy than what I'm accustomed to, which is a good thing - usually Thai places make pad thai relatively mild to accommodate the poseurs.

The second night, I got soup again to start, but since this time I had a dinner partner, we had several entrees, a sizzling pork (Moo Yang) and a red curry duck (Gang Roast Duck). Both meat dishes were absolutely outstanding. We cleaned our plates and enjoyed every moment of it. We really enjoyed the decor - black and red for the most part, but enough light that it was sultry without being too dark; we could still see our food.

Certainly recommended as a delicious and affordable meal option near the convention center.

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9

36

Dan R.

San Diego, CA

Oh man, I miss this place a lot. I used to go here at least once a week when I was working in DC.

They have one of the best-tasting pad thai I've ever had. For about 90% of the time I went to this restaurant, I basically just ordered pad thai.

When I was not eating pad thai, I also tried their seafood fried rice. First time I had it, it was too greasy so the next time I ordered it, I asked them to be easy on the oil which they did.

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