Thai Pavilion

Lackluster Thai food, the staff was Chinese, which may have something to do with it. Pleasantly served by attentive staff in a clean establishment, but I was in search of Thai flavors.

Yeah, the server pulls this disappearing act and I have to track her down for my order, refill and bill but you’ll always find me here on Friday nights getting my weekly Thai food fix. With the exception of the spring rolls (which are better at the Thai place down the street) the food is consistently solid! I recommend the Mixed Meats and More, Beef Fried Rice and the Cashew Chicken, I come here a lot (literally, like once a week) and these dishes have never been anything but outstanding. Authentic Thai food, just like my Thai grandmother makes. And for the price you get a good sized portion.
Low-​key spot and a laid-​back atmosphere, this place is great for a casual night out. Don’t expect too much from the service and you’ll enjoy yourself.
Note to management/​owner: Please get additional servers. It’s obvious that the one lady you have is overworked, acting as both a cook and the only waitress for all the tables in your restaurant.

I have had the Pad Thai and Pad Kee Mao both very solid noddle dishes! Very flavorful the noodles stand out!

Food came out very fast. Tom Yum soup it’s amazing. Red and green curry were on point. The server is exceptionally nice despite the fact that we came in last minute before closing. I have 18 at four different time restaurant in Olympia and they’re all were nasty in on authentic. This is the only place that is authentic. As a former manager for Thai restaurants where all my chef are from native, from Thailand, I give this place a five stars.
The ginger fish it’s OK but not to my liking because I don’t like cod. I also ordered some mango sticky rice to go. So, if you’re going to eat here you can go wrong with the curry you have to try it. Prices are a lot more reasonable than most dishes is around $ 9 to $ 10 dollars. Portion size is quite large and plenty to share.

This place is weird. We stopped during Fall Arts Walk and you’d think they would staff up on one of the busiest nights in downtown Olympia. We were seated quickly, but there were lots of dirty tables around us. It took about 10 minutes to have our order taken and for water. Then, we waited 45 minutes for our food. While we were waiting, those tables were never cleared. At least 6 parties came in and were turned away. «Can’t you clean those ones?» «I don’t have time» was her response. She was the only one working the floor. Once the food finally arrived, it was really quite good. I would recommend the food, but the service left something to be desired.

Very very good authentic food
One lunch special for two growing boys enough
I recommend the beef salad and Penang curry washed down with a Singha beer
Friendly quick service in a relaxed atmosphere
No kids menu so choose carefully for them
I eat Thai food a lot so good value and quality

Favorite thai spot in Oly… actually in WA in general, and probably the best compared to any thai restaurant i’ve ever eaten at. Sooo good. Pad see ew is my favorite dish of theirs, as well as their black rice pudding. OMG~yummm

Sorry, but this was terrible. We should have left after the spring rolls. Flavorless, and wilted with NASTY cabbage that should have been thrown out, but instead was fed to me. Nice and crispy, biting into them was a huge disappointment and was unfortunately a harbinger of things to come. Nothing but cabbage and carrots that I could see or taste.
I had the bathing Rama. The spinach looked fine, but the chicken and peanut sauce were bad. Chicken tasted re heated and the peanut sauce lacked flavor.
There are lots of great options for Thai within a few blocks of TP. If they don’t care enough to put out decent, fresh food, I won’t waste my time or money here again.

This place is a keeper! Tasty food, friendly (albeit minimal) staff and a good prices.
Been here 3 times now (in 8 weeks). I’ve had Rama Showers, Won Ton Soup, and Tom Ka Talay — all were really good and large servings that resulted in 2^nd meals. Hubby always gets Naughty Jungle Princess (it appealed to his purient side at first — but the taste made him reorder it twice more!). We also always pick an order of pot stickers and these amazing puff pastries as an appetizer.
Planning on moving to Oly soon, and this is one of the places that will definately be on our regular rotation!

Okay, so I haven’t eaten at ALL the Thai restaurants in Olympia (who could?), so I can’t say Thai Pavillion is the best Thai food in town, but I can say it’s my personal favorite. Everything I’ve ever had here has been perfectly cooked – the protein is always tender and the veggies are always perfectly crisp and al dente. So good.
I love the menu, too. They have all the expected Thai dishes (pad thai, masaman curry, rama…) and a few dishes I just haven’t seen on other Thai menus around town, like the tropical jade curry with avocado or the divine kalee puffs (kind of like Thai samosas in a puff pastry – every bit as hard to find as they are delicious).
There are a lot of Thai options downtown – I think there are 3 on this block alone. Thai Pavillion is the only one that keeps me coming back for more.

I have walked past this place a hundred times and never stopped. So glad we did today!
We shared three dishes: yellow tiger, naughty jungle princess, and Chinese sausage fried rice. All three were equally tasty. If I had to choose from these three again, I honestly do not know which it would be. They all had their own unique yum factors.
Although being initially skeptical, the fresh spring rolls were delicious. A cold Singha was the perfect complement to the spicy dishes.
My main complaint was the service. It was slow and the restaurant was not busy. It’s been a toasty summer in the PNW and our waters were not refilled as often as we would have liked. On a small side note, there was also no A/​C, but who knew our ozone layer depletion would make us so damn hot in WA this year? We waited a bit longer, but the food really was great. It probably wouldn’t have mattered so much if I hadn’t walked in quite so hungry.
We love ourselves some good Asian food and will be back again for sure!

Edited post: Revisited, food has improved since last years visit. Still not my favorite spot. Orig Post: Five years ago the food here was good. The establishment’s quality and food has gone downhill. If you’re looking for Thai food, go to one of the several other places available. I suggest mekong. Food at Thai Pavillion is a mix of Asian — but falls horribly short of being Thai (as the name implies). save your money.

Chinese Pavillion. A thai restaurant with Chinese cooks. Terrible, thai fried rolls with no meat. No those are chinese fried cabbage rolls. So many better thai restaurants with authentic thai food on the same street. Do yourself a favor and avoid this place. Just bad.

When my sister moved away from Olympia, I grew fond of calling her and bragging, «Guess where I had lunch today?»
Her reply? «I hate you.»
She knew I was referring to Thai Pavilion, one of our favorite restaurants anywhere in the world. If you’re looking for a traditional Thai meal, options abound in downtown Olympia. What sets this place apart is the originality of the dishes.
The green avocado curry with tempeh (you can get it with meat) is, hands down, the best Thai meal I’ve had. The «Washington State curry,» which features apples and potatoes, is similarly fantastic and unexpected. The male half of the spousal proprietor team told me his wife, a Thai native who seems to do the bulk of the cooking, enjoys experimenting and inventing dishes.
So, order something average and it’ll likely be just that. Pick something unusual and you might find yourself as impressed as I am with this place. Two small dings: Service isn’t fast because staffing is minimal, and visiting the bathroom requires a bit of a hike. One small bonus: The proprietors are always there and quickly get to know customers by name.

Similar to the place next store, nothing memorable.
Hot food was served on cold plates, drinks weren’t refilled promptly. Homey, but nothing tasted home-​cooked.
Meh.

I think this is quickly becoming my favorite Thai place in Olympia. Granted, I am obsessed with Panang curry, and that’s baaaasically the only thing I’ve had here. They have good panang curry. It is spicy and flavorful and just rich enough without being tooo rich, and filled with large chunks of soft potatoes and carrots and red peppers. I definitely haven’t found a better Panang curry at all the other Thai places I’ve been to in Oly, and therefore this one’s my favorite.
I think I’ve also tried the phad thai at some point, and it was pretty good too.

One of the better meals I have had since moving to Olympia. I had the coconut soup. The wife had chicken pad thai, and my 4 year old had fried rice. It was all very good.
The service good have been better. We had to wait a while for our order to be taken, for refills and for our check. There wasn’t anyone else in the restaurant.

For my first two years in Olympia, this was easily in my top three restaurants, as my original 5-​star review reflected. Last year, ownership changed, and I’m sorry to say it’s gone somewhat downhill, as some of the recent reviews reflect. I used to go about once a week, but since the ownership change, I go once every month or two.
The menu is basically unchanged, but things just aren’t as good as they once were. I can’t put my finger on it, but something is off, and I’m pretty sure it’s the quality of ingredients. For example, the previous owners had told me how they waited to add a beef salad to the menu until they could find the perfect beef to use, and it was great. I’ve ordered the beef salad since, and it seems like the new owners are using much cheaper beef. I suspect the same is true for other menu items as well. Minus one star for the drop in food quality.
The bigger hit for me has been the service. I used to enjoy going in and chatting with the owners. Now the service is the same typical service you get at most of the Asian restaurants around town. Even when it’s not busy, the service is slow and sketchy. Minus one more star for the drop in service.

Not too long ago, Thai Pavilion was one of my favorites. It’s the only Thai place in town that has Bi Toi — warm and gooey sticky rice topped with custard, coconut cream, and a sprinkle of crunchy fennel seeds. Their coconut-​broth seafood soup and vegetarian & tofu stir-​fry dishes were excellent, too, if you like your Thai food on the sweeter side.
Since the new owner took over the cooking has been inconsistent. Dinner can be amazing one week and disappointing the next. That said, the new owner deserves a chance to straighten things out. I will come back, for old time’s sake and for the Bi Toi. If things won’t improve… oh well, au revoir and thanks for all the great memories.

Had the chicken pad thai, which is the cheeseburger of the Thai world, and the best benchmark I know for evaluating thai restaurants.
I finally broke down and realized that in greater Olympia, I’m a 3-​star-​spicy kind of person, where in Seattle I’m a 2-​star-​spicy person. I just went ahead and ordered the food 3 stars, and it came just right, meaning I’ve finally figured out the local rating system. Kind of like when those Squamish 5.9 climbers go to Yosemite and learn why it’s called the Yosemite decimal system, and have to readjust their, um, spicyness expectations.
The food was great — I’ll be back to try the curries and the peanut sauces.