The Thai 99 of old offered a dimly lit, cozy but slow dining experience in what felt like someone's living room. But no longer!
The new Thai 99 has opened in Albemarle Square Shopping Center on Route 29, and is now the satellite restaurant of the old Charlottesville Thai standby on Fontaine Avenue. The lights are brighter, the service is faster and the food remains just as good.
Colorful silk flowers float in the pool that rests alongside the restaurant's suburban shopping strip facade. To one side of the dining room, a small waterfall descends flagstone walls and crashes into a small stream, filling the room with the pleasant sounds of running water. To the right, dark wood in sharp angles creates an indoor pagoda, while bolts of brightly colored silk and several family portraits hang above the bar. Statues of Buddha and brocade tapestries complete the decor, one that has been preserved from Thai!, the former resident of this space.
Although fans of the old proprietor may be sad to see Thai! go, they will be glad to find that the food now is more affordable and comes in sizes larger than previously offered.
Thai 99 offers a large menu with many different ethnic selections. The patron can choose from a wide variety of appetizers, including several different soups. The fried egg rolls ($2.99) are of your typical Chinese carry-out standard. The wonton wrap, which is thicker than most, contains pretty basic cabbage stuffing. However, the unique pineapple sauce that accompanies the serving provides more of a kick than the usual sweet and sour sauce combo.
The Kanom Jeeb, or Thai Dumplings ($3.99), consists of ground pork wrapped in steamed wonton skin with carrots and mushrooms. In truth, these are little more than meatballs with a few errant wontons here and there and one quickly recognizes the "special Thai 99 sauce" as little more than soy.
At Thai 99, the appetizers are rather uninspired, yet still quite enjoyable. Just do not expect anything too out of the ordinary.
The entertainingly titled Drunken Noodles ($8.99) is one of Thai 99's most popular dishes. Pleasantly spicy, your choice of meat or tofu blends both visually and aromatically with stir-fried noodles with onion, chili pepper and basil leaves.
To accompany its entrees, Thai 99 offers a spice tray on request filled with chili powder and mysterious spicy liquids like jalapeno-soaked fish oil or vinegar. These allow you to pick your poison and control the heat of your dish.
The Pad Praew Waan ($8.99) is a dish without much heart. The sweet and sour sauce is a bit too heavy on the sweet end to create much of a flavorful tension, and the pineapple, tomato, onion, cucumber and peppers become bland and rather mushy in stir-fry form.
This less than spectacular entree also is served with a choice of meat and comes with a bed of steamed rice. The upshot is there is enough for leftovers, but they're not any you would run to the fridge for the next day.
As any connoisseur of Thai cuisine knows, the Pad Thai ($8.99), which all Thai kitchens offer, is the standard-bearer by which different Thai restaurants are judged. Along with your choice of beef, chicken, pork or tofu, eggs and pickled radishes in tamarind sauce are tossed with rice noodles and topped with fresh bean sprouts, green onion and chopped peanuts.
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Some say the proof is in the pudding, but for Thai 99, the proof is in the Pad Thai. The most popular, affordable and generous of the kitchen's noodle offerings, this dish is less greasy than one usually finds and, whether mild, medium or hot, this selection is highly recommended.
On the drinks menu, small, highly excitable young children or those with diabetes should stay away from the Thai Iced Tea ($1.59). It's pretty much the weirdest, sweetest drink ever, and is saturated with sugar while steeping in an unusual type of tealeaf. Half-and-half is poured on top of the drink, and then the whole thing is mixed together - the result is an indescribably sweet cream tea drink.
If you are looking for a unique drink, we'd check out selections such as the soy, green or jasmine tea first, unless you have an overwhelming sweet tooth.
For dessert, the deep fried bananas ($2.99) are wrapped in wontons and topped with honey and sesame seeds. They can be served with vanilla ice cream ($1), and if you are lucky and have a nice server, you can have them dramatically prepared right at your own table.
To our dismay, the Sticky Rice and Mango ($4.99) was unavailable since the mango was not yet ripe enough to serve. Yet, even though it's frustrating when something listed on the menu turns out to be unavailable, it shows that Thai 99 is paying attention to the details of quality control and they would rather not serve a dish than serve it sub-par.
Those who mourned the passing of Thai! can rest assured that the loss of the enthusiastic punctuation in its new title, Thai 99, has not harmed the restaurant's dedication to excellent service and its commitment to a fine dining experience.
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