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Plaid Eatery - CLOSED
Category: Restaurants Asian Fusion Asian Fusion [Edit]
1044 S Terrace RdTempe, AZ 85281
(480) 394-9424
- Price Range:
-
$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- Yes
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
12 reviews for Plaid Eatery
12 reviews in English
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Review from james r.
Tempe, AZ
1/3/2008
Plaid is a fun little cafe style rerstaurant near the ASU Tempe campus. Their prices are reasonable, about $6-10 for a meal. A couple of good beers on tap. Great vegetarian options. Yummy healthy food. Great desserts.
Drawbacks: They almost never have the deserts listed on their menu. If you are unlucky enough to patronize Plaid on a night which they have a guest band playing, your hearing will surely be damaged. Plaid is a small place and if a non accoustic band is playing, you wont be able to hear the person across your table.
If you are going on a thursday-saturday night, I recommend calling ahead to see if a band is playing. -
Review from sara b.
Redwood City, CA
1/19/2009
Nothing I've eaten here has ever been good. Sure, it only means two meals to review but I'm not a masochist so that's the best you yelpers will get out of me.
I had some lemon grass soup, it tasted as if someone had poured lysol into it. In fact I stopped after the first spoonful out of concern for my health.
The fact that this place is still open pisses me off. I blame the trendy vegetarians who don't know how food is supposed to taste because they've accepted it as a casuality of their dietary choice. Unacceptable! Cook at home and wise up so that these places can follow their natural progression to extinction. -
Review from Mr K.
12/17/2007
I'm too old for Plaid Eatery. And I'm not saying that to sound like a jackass. But this is a place whose only website is a poorly designed profile on MySpace, so, well, you make the call.
When I ventured in here, I got stinkeye from the three tables of college-aged hipsters sitting there (what is it about hipsters giving everyone who isn't a hipster stinkeye? Get over yourselves already.) The venue itself reminded me of these college town pizza bars I visited up in Corvallis, Oregon years back. Except Plaid isn't a pizza bar. Or in Corvallis. It's a world-fusion mishmash veggie-friendly restaurant in Tempe. Or something like that.
I was served by the owner himself, who was the sole server of the evening for several tables and was a very nice guy but he seemed very nervous and I wasn't sure why. His nervousness proceeded to permeate my mind and that kind of made me feel nervous.
Like, why was he nervous? And now, like, why am I nervous? It's like some psychoanalytical flu virus. I became slightly uneasy.
Anyway, the entree menu is really random: spicy Singapore noodles, Jamaican Jerk chicken, Bombay cauliflower curry, Plaid Thai noodles, all with options of chicken or tofu. The flavors are so extremely varying from one dish to another that you sit there and debate about whether any of them could actually be good. I was a little dubious about how the food was going to be, but I went with the scheme anyway and opted for the spicy Singapore noodles with chicken, which the owner assured me was very good.
In the interim I paid a visit to the graffiti-strewn bathroom and then looked around Plaid as a whole. Bar to the side, 2nd-hand couches in the middle, conga drums just sitting there. The leather seat of my own booth was pretty worn down and when I'd lean forward, it would lean forward with me. I don't think that's supposed to happen. I then proceeded to thumb through an old edition of the Phoenix New Times because it seemed appropriate. .
My bowl of noodles and a 1/2 pint of AmberBock greeted me at my table soon after. The noodles were decent, and there was giant mass of them, but they weren't remotely spicy. I could taste the curry powder but that was about it. I then walked across the room to get some Sriracha to kick the noodles up a little, which to me made them more palatable. The owner then came by my table to ask how I liked the food. I didn't know how to respond. I wanted to say "This is awesome stuff" but it wasn't awesome stuff so I settled for "good, thanks".
That all said, I'm probably far from the target demographic for Plaid. I mean, places I thought were amazing when I went to college would probably be met with a different reaction had I gone to them for the first time at my age now. But I could easily see how this joint could be a student favorite.
Now I'm not saying Plaid is a bad place. It's extremely vegetarian-friendly where every dish can be made with tofu instead of meat, so that's a big plus for the soy product-inclined, and the owner is a very friendly guy and my meal plus 1/2 pint together equaled $9 and change. Wallet friendly, especially to kids on a student budget.
But this place was kind of awkward. I felt kind of awkward. Which is, well, kind of awkward, because that's not at all what I was expecting when I was heading over here.
3 stars. Would be a worth a return journey if I lived close and was a junior at ASU. -
Review from Max A.
9/18/2007
The service was pretty good when I went, but it wasn't very busy then either. I hear stories that the service is normally lousy though. The place is really hip and cool and the atmosphere is comfy and relaxing. It was a good experience overall really.
I'm not a vegan or vegetarian, so I don't have a reason to go here very often. They do accomidate the meat-eaters though, and they do it well. The food I had there was pretty delicious which is refreshing for a vegan-friendly place as most of them have terrible meatatarian cuisine. The vegan I went with was very picky and particular about her food and she regarded this as one of her favorite places to eat.
I'd say this is a great place to suggest for lunch if your group is a mix of vegan and carnivore. Something for everyone. -
Review from Katie C.
Flagstaff, AZ
1/17/2008
Plaid used to be delicious...
Now, they got rid of the veggie dumplings and have slow waiters.
Oh well, now everyone goes to Green-which is actually way better than post-plaid. -
Review from Sean G.
10/24/2007
I thought this place was okay - they did have a quite a few veggie options.
I settled for an asian noodle dish with thin slices of grilled tofu. I thought there was too much of the brown sauce and a bit salty for my tastes.
There were only four other tables that were seated when I arrived - my waiter was attentive and struck up a conversation. Service was good.
I'd recommend this place if you live close by, but not if you have to drive across town to get to it (which I did). -
Review from Jack T.
Phoenix, AZ
1/3/2008
I've eaten here a couple times. The food was decently delicious both times. I also had a strawberry and chocolate Italian soda that was so good, I had cravings for it for like... 3 months afterwards. Watch out for that stuff.
Service was pretty slow, but so was the crowd. This place has been deserted whenever I go. -
Review from Stephanie L.
San Francisco, CA
12/9/2007
When I think of Plaid, I think of spicy, funky, tasty, and tofu-y. It's a cute little place, hidden between neighborhoods. Everything is reasonably priced and portions are plenty.
This is definitely a place you can eat alone and not feel awkward. -
Review from Kiarash Z.
Lima, OH
11/20/2007
The spicy Singapore noodles with tofu is the bomb. Sure, the noodle bowls are $8, but there's a lot of food in there! And Plaid's tofu is my favorite tofu on earth.
Sandwiches are about $6, and seasonal beers are $2 a pint. Most of the seating is booths, which I really like.
Plus, there's almost always a cute server. -
Review from Bethany C.
Davis, CA
8/12/2007
This place is totally funky and really convenient for the ASU crowd. I recommend it as a cheap place for beer and lots of vegetarian options. They have great art on the walls and the best flier selection this side of the Mississippi. I also went to a craft fair by local independent crafters this weekend - this will apparently be a reglar event - the second saturday of every month.
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Review from M W.
Seattle, WA
1/12/2008
A culture-y, friendly, locally-owned eatery hidden in the most wasteful, consumer-driven, anti-community megalopolis in the world (with the possible exception of Atlanta). It's hard to believe it can survive in a lake so shallow, but it does, somehow, and it's actually really great. Plaid fell out of heavenly San Francisco and landed in this hell-hole. Hooray!
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Review from Lauren V.
3/1/2007
out of the, say, 50 times I've been here, the service has sucked 90% of the time. chalk it up to that cool baby, hipster clientele, but servers here just love to suck it up.
...didn't stop my from working there my last semester in college - i was burnt out on working and school full time and needed a job that let me take it easy- this was the place.
I've seen things that i would probably get in trouble for writing about as an employee, but all i can say is last time i went there, they weren't serving booze anymore - and i would bet they lost their license.
BUT, crappy service and lame owners aside, the food is great. very unpredictable because quality control is not their strong point, but good.
and EVERYTHING - aside from the obvious ham and cheese, is vegan or can be made vegan (i.e, order the pad Thai sans egg, etc.). this is a good veggie, vegan joint, but it's not all rabbit food, there's pork and chicken, but no beef for the meat eaters.
i recommend:
Plaid Thai noodles (one of my favorite places to get them)
Hummus foldover (Ezekiel bread, hummus and veggies, yum!)
Plaidtanes (plaintains...sooooo yummy)
peanut sauce and chips
mozzarella and spinach salad (this is a tough one - sometimes i get huge chunks of moz, other times, a few tiny thin slices....one time it came out with regular lettuce instead of spinach, like i said, quality control not so hot)
breakfast - yes, they serve potatoes and breakfast sandwiches that are pretty good
red light curry -spicy and delicious
veggie steak sandwich is NOT good
oh, and they used to have vegan cakes and pies, which is pretty cool. they also have free WI-fi and a coffee bar. come to think of it, it's such a rad little joint, it just sucks it's so poorly managed...
decor is nice, concrete floors, couches and arm chairs and magazines for spending a day here. Chinese lanterns and local artists featured on the walls. a five-chair bar area. big booths and thrift store random table sets.
