On a mobile device? Try our mobile site, optimized for faster browsing.
Loading...
3.5 stars.
In the interest of full disclosure, I considered simply pasting Venu's review into this space, as it perfectly captures my feelings about Urban Thai.
I strolled in here for lunch on Tuesday with some rowdy friends, both delighted by the intimate feel of the restaurant and concerned that our laughter might rile the cooks and servers. We received a full menu, a list of daily specials, and a list of that day's specials, and I felt a bit overwhelmed by the options. Soon enough, I located my standard American Thai dishes (kanom jeeb and Panang curry, which I use as baseline testers) and settled back until our server arrived. With a glass of ginger iced tea imperiously dominating my place setting, its fresh ginger fragrant and piquant, and conversation flowing in all directions, I was quite satisfied.
The dumplings graced the table first, four bulging wrappers filled with chicken, crab, and vegetables served on a rectangular plate with a lightly sweet soy sauce. The dumplings were comforting, evenly seasoned, and not overwhelmed by salt. Though not the most remarkable rendition of this appetizer, I appreciated that the wrappers had not become crunchy or gummy due to overcooking.
Our entrees soon arrived, including a rice and vermicelli dish topped with pork and peppers and accented with a spring roll, thick noodles with Chinese broccoli and shrimp, and the Panang curry. We considered calling my dish Almost Carnage, such was the shockingly red appearance of the sauce. Though the food was not spicy enough for me (I love hot food), there was an unexpected range of flavors to the curry that compelled me to finish the final drops with a spoon. But, the rice lacked flavor and its texture was a bit crunchy.
My companions enjoyed their dishes very much, and their vegetable garnishes looked fresh enough to be intriguing. The service was perfectly competent, and our water glasses remained full. I would like to try a couple of other dishes, and will return to Urban Thai when I am in the area.
On our quest to sample a different 23rd street eatery on each business trip, we stopped at Urban Thai for dinner. There was a good mix of couples, families, and business types in the cozy space. We were seated quickly, and our drink orders were brought out shortly after.
We both had the thai ice tea, and i found theirs to be quite good. It came in an attractive tall glass, and the tea was not overpowering, nor was it overly sweet. They also brought out glasses of water at the same time. Nice touch...
After perusing the menu, I noticed that they did not list yum woon sen as an appetizer. When asked about it, they said it can be offered as an entree but not an appetizer?! Not wanting an entree portion, but still craving something with a spicy, lime-y kick, I opted for the Larb Gai. I have to say that it was only ok. Not spicy at all, and could've used some more lime. It was also missing the rice component.
My compadre ordered the butternut squash ravioli's and the fresh spring rolls and thought they were good. For entrees, we went for the red curry duck and the chicken pad thai. My curry was pretty damn good and made up for my appetizer. The coconut milk base was very aromatic and the boneless duck slices were very tender and not greasy at all. The sweet pineapple chunks and cherry tomatoes soaked up the curry and complemented the savory duck. The pad thai looked appealing with a mound of fresh sprouts on top, and must've been good since he cleared his plate.
We were too full for dessert, but both agreed that all the portion sizes were right for the price. The service was quick and friendly and the food presentation was attractive. As other posters have mentioned though, their version of HOT is actually pretty mild. Maybe you need to request Thai Thermal Nuclear Hot, or just bring a packet of Taco Bell Fire Sauce with you.
This is one of my favourite restaurants in the whole DC area.
I have never had a bad dish here. The soups are heavenly, appletizers and main courses are amazing! I highly recommend the crab and avocado cup to start
I also like the music a lot. Their cool repertoir of classic rock songs sang by this female voice definitely give the place a chic atmosphere. Friendly service too!
I ordered delivery (brought to my hotel) on a Thurs evening around 7 p.m. They said it would take 45 minutes, but it got here in about 35.
The menu is impressive - some unique items that aren't always on Thai menus. The ginger mushroom dumpling soup was simple. Three dumplings. Well balanced broth. Ped See Eew with chicken also pretty average. I asked for everything extra spicy and it came quite mild. I spiced it up with the two types of chilies they provided.
For soup, entree, lemongrass iced tea, and tip it came to $23 . A bit pricey, I feel, but it was good. Yay expense account.
As someone who was alone in Arlington and DC for business, I spent a lot of evenings dining by myself. Urban Thai became one of my lonely dinner staples. The food was quite tasty and within my budget, the staff was friendly, and there was never much of a wait for a table. And for you solo diners, there were always a handful in the restaurant so I never felt all that out of place.
Great Thai food in Crystal City. I thought it was better than the other Thai restaurant on 23rd street (the name of which is escaping me). We had the spring rolls and shared the drunken noodle with seafood. It was a TON of food, they did not skimp on the seafood and the flavor was spot on. I'll be back :)
AMAZING. My new favorite restaurant. I'm not a huge fan of Thai cuisine in general, but that's only because other Thai restaurants are missing excellent chef.
The food is always well seasoned. I've attended for lunch and dinner, each time I leave satisfied. If you have a taste for Thai, this is the place to go! It's especially nice when the weather is perfect and you get seating outside. I tried their brown rice it's so good. Happy Eating!
Been here a couple of times, I enjoy the food, service, and the modern setting of the place. It stands out from other Thai Resturants!
Food was ok, service was not too great, they will remove plates if one person finished so the other people feel uncomfortable. Small plates, would recommend to go elsewhere.
The waitstaff was confused, uninformed, improperly charged my table and wasted our time. I like thai food, but my friends and I will never go back.
23rd street is a foodie heaven so much to chose from and Urban Thai is a good pick. The food is not to hot and spicy you can not enjoy it, a good starter place for Thai foods. The room is small just like most of the places on 23rd st, but nice. The wait staff is helpful when it comes to ordering.
Remember to eat well and live well and please no chains!
My dining partner in crime and I went here on a Wednesday early evening, since we both were craving some healthier Asian food.
When we got to the restaurant, there was only one other solo diner there, so we were quickly seated and attended to.
I ordered the Winter Squash appetizer, which had stuffed dumplings with an amazing sauce--already planning on returning here for that again!
As an entree, I ordered the Pad See Ew (or however you spell it). I had ordered the dish once before at Bangkok 54 and was equally pleased with Urban Thai's rendition. Ended up being $22 for both of these, so not too expensive, but a little bit more than I was looking to spend. I'll still be back :)
Urban thai is a very friendly place. Service was very smooth. Me and my family ordered 6 entree's, 5 appettiers and some side dishes and everyone of them were spectacular. The food was perfect and with a modern twist to it. I can't wait to go back there again.
Slightly slow lunch service but the kitchen came through with a delicious, affordable ($7.95) lunch. Nothing out of the ordinary, but nothing incredibly memorable.
Squarely four stars. This is a 23rd Street establishment you can safely hit up with friends without fearing salmonella, bugs or the all-too-common "totally bland" disease.
We ordered the lump crab dip appetizer and were not disappointed. It looked beautiful and tastes better. If we'd had any room we would've sprung for one of the delicious-looking desserts...next time, maybe! The wine was delightful.
Solid Thai food with ambitious presentation makes for a great girls' night out. Looking at some of the other reviews, "solid" seems to be a common adjective, and for good reason. It's not spectacular, but it doesn't disappoint. I'll take it.
I was at Urban Thai on Friday and Saturday of last week. Simply the food was exceptional. When I compare the sizes of the dishes to what I'm used to here, they were quite a bit smaller; some more noticeable than others (e.g. the curries). The sticky rice with the mango was delicious but the size of a hockey puck, half as thick.
I agree that it's probably not a good idea to compare the size of dishes in an area like Crystal City to one here especially when everything about the restaurant business here is so much cheaper than in Arlington and near DCA.
Simply the food and the service was great and I'd go again if I bunk in Crystal City.
This was probably my favorite Thai restaurant in Crystal City. I know everyone loves Top Thai down the street, but I had a better meal here than I ever had there. I ordered the spring roll appetizer, which came with three long thin spring rolls. For my entree I had the garlic pork, which was actually quite sweet, not very heavy on the garlic. Service was great throughout the meal. This place seemed pretty popular with solo business travellers. I don't remember exactly how much I spent (somewhere around $20) but it lasted me for two meals so I figure it was a pretty good deal.
Two thai restaurants within a block of each other poses an interesting dilemma. I've eaten at both now and think both are equally pretty good.
The only problem I have with the food is the heat. For some reason, when I say I want it hot I don't get a burst of heat. I'm assuming most of their consumers don't ask for the hotness but I want it!!!
Make it Thai hot... the way you would it eat it!
3.50 stars. Some would say that Crystal City isn't exactly a food mecca; however, it DOES sport Kabob Palace and a couple of Thai places that have consistently held high ratings on Yelp. Tonight, I decided to test whether this was the by-product of living in Crystal City or if the cuisine was really spectacular. In that vein, I ordered a soup, an appetizer, and an entree from Urban Thai.
For soup, I went with a ginger mushroom dumpling soup. For under $4, the soup came with 4 dumplings stuffed generously with shitake mushroom. A tantalizing blend of ginger, carrot, and light spices made for an excellent broth. The ginger taste might be too strong for some palates, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
My appetizer, on the other hand, wasn't as spectacular. I shifted gears and went with a fried calamari. I prefer a crispier finish to my calamari; I felt that this one was borderline soggy and I have to deduct points for that. However, I did enjoy the addition of fried green onion and the dipping sauce (a sweet, red plum colored one) was a nice complement. The dish might have been a bit too salty for some tastes, but my main issue was the texture of the dish.
Finally, for dinner, I went with an odd combination of shrimp, spinach, and gravy with thick chunks of bamboo shoot and mushrooms all on top of some flavored noodles. The dish is called Bamee La Nad Shrimp. It's a new one for me, and although I didn't come close to finishing it (I got a decent push from the soup and appetizer), I thought it was somewhat interesting.
One nuance regarding this place. Usually, I avoid a place that doesn't make spicy Thai food (indeed, I generally order Thai hot). Oddly, this place manages to remain flavorful and capture a large percentage of the essence of Thai food while remaining simply moderately spicy. I was rather impressed with their ability to perform this subtle balance.
Overall, this place is somewhere in the Thai Square range for the DMV. It is not the mind-blowing experience of Thai X-ing, but this is certainly better than your average Thai place. I would go back.
This place was delicious, and a pretty average expense for a dinner with friends. I had the night's special, a Shrimp and Potato Yellow Curry, while another friend had Chicken Pad Thai. The portions were decent, and while I had an easy time consuming all of the "Thai Hot" (yellow curry always tends to be less spicy, regardless of heat), it left a pleasantly heated sensation throughout my body.
Other than that, the meal was pretty uneventful. The Thai Iced Tea is fine, and the bill came out to roughly 13-15 dollars a person. I don't have much to say about this place, but I don't have anything bad to say either.
Arlington itself offers far more eligible choices. The interior is somewhat dimly lit. There's much to criticize about Urban Thai, they make what should be dry too oily and vice versa. There are way too many other excellent Thai food restuarants to go back here.
With a large group here for dinner (12 people), we were able to make reservations and they were pretty accommodating when we had to suddenly expand our group last minute. I was surprised how the place wasn't as crowded as much of the neighboring restaurants and bars. And we ended up hanging out there for 3.5 hours since they're open pretty late. We definitely appreciated the staff and their patience with our group.
Their spring rolls and duck puff pastry appetizers were good and light. I opted to try the duck specialty which was decent. I noticed that their penang chicken curry wasn't spicy at all. And their mango with sticky rice was well done. Urban Thai also has a good selection of drinks from different teas and martinis with an Asian style.
Side note: parking is mostly street parking around here, but just a block away, there is residential parking that is free after 6pm on weekdays.
A solid Thai restaurant that has great presentation--I don't know why, but the way that my bf and my meals were arranged caught my eye, which usually doesn't happen at cheap Thai restaurants like this.
I had the 3-Flavor Veggie and Tofu, because I was craving some pineapple. It made a modest lunch--the serving size was perfect for that, but for dinner one might want a little more. The spiciness wasn't overpowering, which was fine. I would've enjoyed a few more cashews, but overall it was a decent dish. The bf had Spicy Tao's chicken (which I guess is a variation of General Tsao's) which was delicious--it wasn't overbreaded, which seems to be a problem that plagues that particular dish at other restaurants.
This place is great for me and my co-workers as it is fast, close to work, cheap, and good food!
When we need to head out for a quick bite, this is usually the place we go to. The staff is always friendly and quick to get our orders. The menu is somewhat small, but I have yet to hear someone be disappointed in their dish. The servings are just right to a little much (which is never a bad thing, especially when you bring guys).
It is situated it a neat little area of Crystal City which has tons of restaurants and has outdoor seating. There is plenty of parking in the surrounding area as well.
3.5 Stars
A convenient place to go for Thai since it's open kinda late. The dishes we ordered were pretty good, although when we ordered things "extra spicy", their eyes bulged...and the food ended up coming out not that spicy at all.
The drinks, however, are way fun. Really neat martinis and teas with interesting Asian flavors.
Very pleasant service, even when arriving 10 minutes before closing.
The staff in this restaurant were very nice and accommodating - especially since there were 16 of us!! It was a small restaurant with a nice sized menu. I had a very tasty soup and a veggie pad thai that left a bit to be desired.
Everyone else was very pleased with their food and the prices were right. This is a good place to stop in for a decent lunch with friends.
The food has some heat to it. I got one of the noodles, i forget the exact name, but it's one of the flat noodles, with chicken. They also have a pretty extensive bar, for a Thai place. The interior is somewhat dimly lit, nicer than Top Thai down the street. The noodles were a bit salty though, other than that it was solid Thai food.
Consistently delicious (to Thai X-ing's inconsistency).
A beautiful and "urban" (stylish) interior, this is one of the cooler restaurants on the strip. The Lemongrass Ginger Tea was amazing, I wish it were bottled, the perfect ginger tang to it. I also noticed that they have a Lemongrass Ginger Martini, as well as several other very interesting and possibly delicious cocktails, I may have to make this a happy hour hang out one afternoon.
The food is always delicious, standard choices. I love anything that comes with wide rice noodles and has "3 stars" for extra spicy! :)
I've been here a few times already and Urban Thai is probably my favorite Thai in nova.
The food was average, the seating/atmosphere was okay, and the service was okay. I ordered the ginger/lemongrass cocktail for 6.95, and it was awesome! It was the perfect amount of sweetness and was strong, but not overly so. We walked right in with a group of 12! I would go back.
We were on our way to drop friends off at National Airport and realized we had time for a very quick lunch, so we whipped a right at 23rd Street and this was the first restaurant that we found with a parking spot in front. The food was tasty, but my lunch special (eggplant and rice) was extremely hot and slightly mushy. The hot food was welcome because it was a very cold day and every time someone opened the door of the restaurant the entire restaurant got cold. Sure beats airport food, but you might want to wait for a warm day to go there.
YUM! My favorite Thai place in the area so far! (Of, well, three.)
One night my friend and I were wandering down 23rd and couldn't decide on food so we compromised and went here. My beef pad see euw was deeeelish, so much more so than his entree (I don't even remember what it was) that he kept trying to steal more of my food. This was a while back so I can't remember much more than that.
After ordering from Thaiphoon and just not being impressed with their food, I decided to look this place up for a delivery order. I of course ordered my beef pad see euw, but I also got the chicken fried rice (Thanks Kevin M.!). The delivery was quick and the delivery guy had a pen, so no problems there. The pad was as yummy as I remembered it being -- and the portions were twice the size of Thaiphoon's. The fried rice was awesome: fresh, sweet, lightly sauteed onions (and I don't even LIKE onions!), big chunks of juicy tomato, strips of chicken that don't make you feel like you're eating a cubed & processed meal... overall, absolutely fantastic. And two entrees for $25 (including tip) = four happy (and satisfying!) meals for me.
Just a few "other" tidbits: They deliver from 5pm-closing. They take your card # over the phone. Their minimum for delivery is $15, which is nice because you don't have to order 2 entrees + appetizer to hit the minimum.. you can just get one entree and one appetizer.
My favorite Thai in the area hands down...I've never had bad food from here. The portions are a tad small, but I need to loose weight anyway. The service is great and keeps you coming back for more, and hey afterwards you can check out a show at the Tortoise and Hare right next door.
My former neighborhood of Crystal City did not have a lot to offer in terms of dining, bars, entertainment, well really anything. But Urban Thai on 23rd Street is an exception to this. This place is on the "strip" on 23rd, on the same side of the street as Crystal City Sports Pub.
My favorite thing to order here is chicken fried rice. She always gets pad thai with chicken. We have ordered from here with guests in the past and everyone seemed please. They do deliver but I am not sure how far they will deliver. One odd thing is that the delivery man (and it was always the same guy) NEVER had a pen. So if you order from there, keep a pen handy.
Of course there are more expensive, fancy options throughout Arlington, but for thai takeout or delivery in Crystal City, definitely give this place a look!
Urban Thai is a surprisingly nice gem on the 23rd St. strip of Crystal City. Less surprising, it's not terribly crowded (I'll leave my take on that to the talk threads). Anyway, Urban Thai has a nice basic menu with a few kicker items: Things like soft shell crab and lamb ka prow. The food's better than average and the prices are below average, which balances out to a really great find! Urban Thai also has a few cool drinks: I tried a lychee 'martini' and a lemongrass ginger iced tea cocktail. They were only $6.50 each and quite good, adequately strong, and not all syrup. I'll definitely be back again, as restaurants that serve decent food at fair prices rank very high with me.
The food was not as special as its presentation. The service was good, but I could not really understand the waitress through her accent. Everything was basically average.
Eh. Really hit or miss. My roommate and I usually get some version of the pad thai, usually the veggie or chicken. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's pretty awful. Delivery is really fast and the prices are reasonable so we keep going back. Definitely wouldn't go out of my way to visit Urban Thai, but if you live in Crystal City it's a good, quick, cheap option.
Food is okay, prices are okay, delivery service is quick.
Great menu for someone eating alone. Entrees come with rice. Although the waitress tried the hard sell for some deep fried appetizers, went with the house salad. Very good dressing and not drenched. Had the Red Curry Duck which was excellent. The plantains wrapped in Roti dessert was just ok but the Singha and good service made up for it.
Yummy veggie options. Good food. The sauce for the penang chicken was tasty. The service was great - our server even chased after us when we left our to-go bag. I had the pandan martini on a previous visit and it was good - not sweet with a strong pandan flavor.
great lunch specials and great food. never terribly busy so it is always great for a quick decision. also they can make any dish vegetarian. Today I had the "Spaghetti Chicken Cashew Nut " with Tofu instead of Chicken. it was delicious.
Arlington, VA
Category: Restaurants
Arlington, VA
Category: Thai
Arlington, VA
Category: Thai
Arlington, VA
Category: Thai
Arlington, VA
Category: Thai
I frequently get sent to the DC/Arlington area for…
Here's some of the hot spots that I checked out in…
Some of my favorite dining destinations in the…
