Sakoontra Restaurant

From the outside, it is unassuming and quite unremarkable. The interior is a different story. Sakoontra has a cart in the front (which you can't sit on) to give the place a more authentic Thai feel. The colors are active, playful and seemingly random. The patterns on the tables and the shades of chairs are a patchwork that is pleasing to the eye.

They're open for lunch and dinner and offer delivery to the local area. With a license to sell alcohol, Sakoontra also has a bar/lounge area for happy hours.

Their tom kha, a hot and sour lemongrass soup with coconut milk (I ordered the pork variety) ($3.50) was spicy and prepared in a way I've never seen coconut milk soup done. The hoy jaw was delicious and the gang ped yang (roasted duck simmered in coconut milk with a red curry sauce) was worth it!

If you go for lunch (and you should), be prepared for a wait! I'm told that the line of folks waiting to be seated snakes around the restaurant and the corner some distance. Recommended.

Sakoontra is my favorite place for Thai food! The interior is large and modern looking. Prices are very reasonable and the food is very VERY good. My favorite items are:

1) Yum watercress salad - Deep fried watercress, sauteed scallops, shrimp, and calamari tossed in a lime dressing. So good it makes you want to slap your mama! I can't get enough of this dish.

2) Gang curry gai - Basically chicken, potatoes, tomatoes in a golden curry. It is a wonderful homey dish that really hits the spot on a cold winter day...or a summer day..or a rainy spring day..or a crisp autumn day.

The waitresses here are super nice as well. One time I went to get gang curry gai on a rainy day and I left my bumblebee umbrella there. I came back three months later and the waitress recognized me, remembered my favorite order, and gave me my prized umbrella back! If that isn't service, I don't know what is!

I absolutely love this place. It's probably the best in Fairfax that I am aware of. An ex introduced me to this place and ever since then I've been hooked. Inside the restaurant, it's very hip and modern and I want to climb into the vintage pedicab whenever I visit. Service is usually very good and the pad thai never fails me. When I ate meat, the panang curry with chicken was another favorite, but a coworker told me it's not difficult to request tofu instead.

I've also eaten here with a group of about 15 and they are more than accommodating to us. They let us pay with several credit cards even though the menu says they won't.

Most of the meals I order are to go. It's very easy to call in an order and have it ready within 10-15 minutes. I am also lucky to live within the delivery area but I rarely order delivery unless I can meet the minimum order price.

I highly recommend Sakoontra to anyone who craves Thai food in the Fair Lakes area. There are many fans at my work :)

The best Thai food in the United states hands down!!!
The Roasted duck is to die for!!!!
Mom that runs the bar is very nice and will never forget what you drink ever...
I was a refreshing place to go after a long day at the office...
I f you like spicy Noodle this is your place...

I started with tom kha soup - tasted great!

Risked ordering the special of the day which was fried striped bass. I was afraid the fish was frozen. The waitress said it was fresh from the market, but I hear that every where I go so I am always a bit skeptical. It was a gamble that paid off because striped bass was FRESH and delicious. I ate it so fast. The sauce completely melded with the fish and it melted as I ate it. I hope its being offered next time I go.

The sauce on the pad thai was too rich and sweet for me so I don't think I'll get that next time I come back.

Good food, quiet little spot, definitely check it out!

Enjoyed the food and great service here. Very friendly, drinks always topped, packed your food for you at the end, and never waited long for anything.

Food: Chicken Pad Thai - I usually always order pad thai at every Thai restaurant I go to, so honestly can't differentiate them from another. All taste similar but still good. Bf ordered the Sakoontra Duck (meh...) wouldn't order it again. It wasn't terrible but just tasted like general tso chicken but with duck and super spicy to a point where my bf's bald head was glistening in sweat lol so don't do it if you can't handle the heat.

Overall, good experience but would only return if we were in the area again.

We came here as a family for a day-before-the-wedding lunch. Although I don't consider myself a huge fan of Thai food, this place has definitely altered my view. A wide assortment of authentic dishes consisting of all different meats, noodles, and seafood. The soft-shell crab appetizer was absolutely amazing. Of the eight or nine dishes we had out there, there were probably only about two that I didn't absolutely love. The inside of the restaurant doesn't exactly feel Thai, and instead reminds me of a seafood restaurant with its fluorescent/blacklight hues across the restaurant. All in all, although it feels more upscale, the prices certainly don't equal that. Overall, a very beautiful but affordable lunch spot featuring delicious Thai cuisine.

And though we didn't order anything from the bar, it's worth dining here just to take a glance at it.

The Sakoontra fried rice and the Panang curry were delicious. The dinner portion of rice was enormous. It can feed two people and so tasty we didn't leave any on the plate.

The restaurant was clean and the staff friendly. I liked how they decorated the Tuk Tuk for Halloween. Tons of parking and close to the Costco and Home Depot.

Good price for the portion of food. Will definitely go back and recommend to friends.

The food? Delicious. I've lived right around the corner from Sakoontra for over 7 years, and for 7 years the food (both lunch and dinner) has always been delicious and consistent. Granted, it's no Thai Noy or Rabeing, but in this parts of Fairfax, it's about as good as it gets.

So, why the 3 stars? Well, it's very unfortunate, but in the past year or so, they've become yet another restaurant to fall into the trap of making a scene when it comes to charging more than 2 credit cards per check. Today's iteration of this credit card saga was ridiculous: I went for a birthday lunch with 10 other coworkers, and as usual we were sat right away and the food was great. Then, the check came and we all threw in our credit cards -- just another day out at lunch.....right? No...

The waitress mentioned that she could only swipe 2 credit cards, and when she saw that we were not going to budge, stood there and shuffled the cards in her hand for a long while before getting the "Manager."

A young man came over and explained to us the best he could do was split the check into 4. Considering that made no sense, we just asked him to split the check into 11, so we could each pay for our own meals. Apparently, that wasn't going to fly... so for literally 3-4 minutes, there was continual (very, very awkward and uneasy) dialogue about why he couldn't split a check, some BS about how their system works, and yada yada. Finally he mentioned that splitting the check would be "so much work" and then reluctantly charged our cards.

In 1/3 of the amount of time it took him to argue his case, he could have simply charged our cards and we could have been on our way. He had to reiterate, afterwards, that he did us a favor this time.

To all small businesses out there: I understand that you're trying to save a few pennies per transaction, but I hope you know that by pulling this antic, you are losing customers.

Sadly, after so many years of patronage, today's experience might just be enough for this to be my last visit to Sakoontra. Alas, you could have avoided all of this situation by even doing nothing more than mentioning the credit card policy prior to seating us. Oh well...onto the next restaurant.

Great food with great service. This is one of the better Thai places in the area (except for my mom's or course). The food usually comes out pretty quick also.

Some of my favorite dishes that are always delicious are-

-Chicken Satay- marinated chicken with a peanut sauce on skewers. So good!
-Pad thai chicken or beef- big portions, great flavor
-Sakoontra fried rice- rice with pineapples,raisins and cashews...need I say more?
-Pad watercress- lightly fried watercress with a spicy sauce
-Sakoontra duck- I never thought I would try duck until I had this, its spicy but not too spicy with sauteed onions
-Crispy fried bananas- deep fried heaven, its a big crunch but when you bite into it the bananas is soft...did I mention it's drizzled in honey?!

This place is affordable especially when the portion sizes are so big. I've never had a problem here. I always leave happy and so does my stomach!