Tara Thai - Bethesda

This time, the Tom Yum soup was much better. I really enjoyed the mango sticky rice!

This restaurant is a great spot for spicy Thai food. The crowds tend to gather around 6:00 PM for dinner at this smaller location, but the service is excellent. They offer refreshing ice cream and tea, and the soups are fantastic. Enjoy your meal!

The food here is excellent! My favorite dish is the pad ew with beef, but this time I decided to try the garlic shrimp, and I really enjoyed it. Everything I've tasted has been delicious, and I'm looking forward to working my way through the entire menu. Just a heads up, since it's a small restaurant, it can get quite busy during mealtimes.

The service was friendly, but the food was a major disappointment. If I had more time, I would consider coming back. The spring rolls were overcooked, leaving the outside burnt and the inside mushy, while the Pad Thai noodles were lackluster and lacked flavor. After just two bites, I decided it wasn't worth the calories.

The Pad Thai was decent, but not exceptional. It satisfied my cravings, but the noodles were overly soggy, and it seemed like they were trying to compensate with an excess of random ingredients. The beef was overcooked and tough, and the cocktails we ordered were weak; there’s a big difference between a strong drink and just a glass of tequila topped off with a splash of other ingredients. I gave the service 4 stars, but it was a bit awkward when the waitress seemed annoyed at our request to sit outside. It was even stranger when another table wanted to sit in the second pavilion and she denied their request, saying she was the only waitress available. While I understand that might usually be a valid concern, the distance was only about 20 feet from the kitchen, and there were only three tables occupied at the time, including ours. It didn’t seem like it would have been a huge effort for her to check on them, so I'm unclear why it was such a big issue.