Crooked T.'s Profile

Chada Thai doesn't look like much from the outside or inside but behind the curtain in the kitchen is where the magic happens.  

Quite simply, Chada Thai has the best thai food from Holman Road through Shoreline.  Their Pad See Ew is delectable, red curry top notch, and tempura garlic chicken bursts through the box and is otherworldly awesome.  General Tso out of the way: this is the Asian breaded chicken you've been dreaming about.  

So how about the spice?  Other places throw some pepper flakes here and there with little effect but Chada will bring the heat if required.  However, they can also tone it down if need be.  I have a baby at home and they made her a pad thai minus the peanuts and adequately mild.  Perfect and still very tasty.

Pricing is right around eight to ten bucks for just about everything, a fair deal.

I spent several months trying to find a place like this and now that I've found Chada I have made it my goal to recommend them every chance I get.  So place your order now and when you pick up get ready to sign the bill on top of the tiniest note pad you will ever see.  

Love the Chada Thai!

The food is pretty good.  However, getting charged an additional $.30 without any explanation is dirty and underhanded.  Waited to see if the next person in line got the charge, too.   Indeed they did.  Not sure if it is for to-go orders or what but with no sign and no explanation that sort of thing rubs me the wrong way.

Inexpensive yet very tasty food, a nice selection of local brews, and 50 cent pool... what more could you want?  How about the best nachos in Seattle?

It's friendly, it's fun, it's the Park Pub.  I'll be seein' you again, my friend.

Thanks for the recommendation, Cassidy.  Your food wisdom never ceases to amaze me!

Here's the thing: Seattle ice cream shops aren't very good.  As such, a place like Molly Moon's gets overrated to the moon.  Sure, the fact that they sell homemade ice cream is certainly exciting and noble, but the unfortunate truth is that their flavors just aren't very good.  Yes, they're creative but when push comes to shove I'd be much happier opening a half gallon of Tillamook Mudslide at my apartment than wading through their cardamone or ginger oddities.  

Seattle's newest ice cream shop, Old School Frozen Custard, succeeds in both concept and execution.  Sure, they only sell three flavors (vanilla, chocolate, and the flavor of the day) but when those flavors are better than anything all the other local shops serve up that makes you the best.

For those that don't know, frozen custard is basically a thicker, heavier, creamier soft ice cream.  What's soft ice cream?  A soft, creamy version of regular ice cream that gets squeezed out of a machine.  Old School actually pumps their custard out of the machine and then scoops it into your cup or cone when you order, different than straight out of the machine in NJ and NY, but the taste is definitely a match.  

Bottom line: I've been waiting for good soft ice cream or its equivalent in Seattle for quite some time now.  Old School is expensive for what you get ($4 for a tiny cup with rainbow sprinkles) but no doubt it is pretty close to "the real deal."

I'm from New Jersey where everyone is at least half-Italian, including me.  Take that as you will.

I wanted to like Assaggio but it didn't deliver.  Very good service was the highlight.  It was also nice to see the owner stop by to say hello.  However, service and niceties do not make up for lousy food.  That explains the two star rating.

I ordered the ravioli with chicken and marsala.  It was very bad.  Chewey dark meat chicken and a very unappealing liquid sauce drowning the ravioli.  Interesting concept, terrible execution.  The ravioli themselves were plain and underwhelming.  

I tasted the white whine marinara that someone else ordered and it wasn't very tasty either.  

A few people ordered the desserts.  They were less than impressed.

Prices were fair but without the tastes to back it up I'd suggest looking elsewhere for good Italian food.

The best no pretense bar in Seattle.  Excellently inexpensive and long (4pm-7pm) Happy Hour featuring 50% off all food.  A pool table.  A dart board.  Dark wood interior.  A quiz night.  Occasional live music.  Friendly staff.  Fun clientelle.   A sampling of board games.  And always decked out with the latest holiday decorations.  

Kate's Pub... you're always good to me.

$13 bucks for two small scoops of rice and a handful and a half of unpeeled shrimp.  I should have ignored the tourists and gone with the locals to a truck instead of this finer dining shrimp shack experience.

The lowdown:  

Romy's garlic shrimp are tasty.  Their sweet and sour shrimp are fishy.  And then there's the peeling....  

I'm not a food snob but the last thing I want to do when paying for food is spend 15 minutes yanking off heads and ripping out guts, tiny shrimp feet exploding all over my shorts.  

With about 25 or more similar trucks parked all over Oahu's north side next time I'm trying somewhere different than Romy's.

Oasis-like ambience amidst bustling Waikiki is appreciated.  Unfortunately, the food isn't very good.  

They call this Italian so where's the garlic?  Flavorless food is about as unItalian as you can get and highly dissapointing.

From the bread to the salad to the main entrees, for the prices here (about $25-$30 per entree) you can and should do better.

Decent BBQ/hangout place with interesting lodge/mom's basement appeal.  BBQ brisket sandwich and fried oyster sandwich were both good but where are the sides?  Homemade blue cheese dressing on wedge salad was nice but the Uli's sausages were pretty bland.  Drinks are pretty pricey but not much of a "scene" in the place means I'd definitely come back.

The Reading isn't a place to see or be seen, it is a place to sit with some friends, have a few drinks, eat a chicken sammy and shoot the sh%t.  Best low-priced chicken sandwich I have had since Frankie's Bar and Grille circa 1994 in Pt. Pleasant, New Jersey.  Dart board in the back and a busy pool table to give your butt a break from sitting and drinking, The Reading is a laid back hideaway townie bar perfect for whiling away the hours.  Not much in the way of decor but the place is big and never crowded.  Good stuff, indeed.