When the Fire and Spice line at Reid becomes your number one source of ethnic food, you know Walla Walla has a ways to go. While it may not be the first town that comes to mind when you’re craving some curry or cucumber salad, the addition of Thai City to Walla Walla’s restaurant scene is a definite boon.

Opened over the summer by owners Phoy Noisee, Noy Kumsi and Kanittha Kumsi, the restaurant was a pleasant surprise to Whitties returning from summer break. Early feedback indicated that the food was tasty and unexpectedly authentic, but the service was slow.

An experience at Thai City on Friday absolutely confirmed positive accounts of the food, and contrary to complaints about wait-time, we received our dinners approximately ten minutes after ordering. Probably the best time to go is a little past peak dining hours, especially on weekend nights. We arrived at 8 p.m. and found the restaurant about half-full with speedy service.
Although the interior of the restaurant is pretty basic, with wood paneling along the walls, some nice touches here and there –– Thai music playing in the background, the obligatory portraits of the king and queen of Thailand –– made for a fun, festive ambiance.

The menus provided a lot of options, and while I was immediately tempted to order the American favorite of pad thai (this restaurant spells it ‘pud thai’) and a thai iced tea, my dinner date convinced me to expand my culinary horizons. We stuck with the thai iced teas (delicious, and served in tall tumblers), but instead ordered the pud see ewe and the pud priew wan, both with chicken. The first consisted of a special Thai City flat noodle, stir fried with meat and vegetables. Pud priew wan featured a colorful mix of carrots, bamboo shoots, bell peppers and other veggies in a sweet and sour sauce. Neither of our meals were too spicy, although Thai City provides a spiciness scale on their menu and allows guests to indicate the level they prefer. The portions were very generous and lent themselves to tasty leftovers.

Thai City is a great choice for a group of friends, a date or even visiting parents. Their hours are preferable to many of the downtown restaurants in the area as they are open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. during the week. Located at 311 South Ninth Avenue, or call (509) 525-2566.