Araya’s Place

New favorite vegan place!
I went for their lunch buffet recently and really enjoyed the selection! Their veggie spring rolls and cold bar are great. The staff here are friendly and quick on their feet. I will need to come back to order from their dinner menu.

This place exceeded my expectations about vegan Thai food. I heard from my friends that this place was really good so I decided to try it with another friend. We went in time for happy hour (4−6pm) and the Phad Thai is $ 5 which is very worth since its originally $ 9.95. And you can’t even tell that it was vegan even though it came with fried tofu which tasted good anyway. I think it was the right amount of food and perfect for a sit down date or catching up with a friend. We also ordered the Thai iced tea which was really good in my opinion and it came in a cute jar.
The interior of the place was very nice too. The marble tables were my favorite and made the food look very pleasing and added aesthetic.
We decided to order dessert too and the waiter suggested that we get the mango sticky rice which is a seasonal dessert and it was very tasty. I would definitely come back here again to try their lunch bar and other foods on the menu.

This is one of the best vegan/​vegetarian restaurants I’ve been to! Everything I’ve tried is great. My favorites are the Bangkok Café Bathing Rama and the Phad Phak.

All I wanted was was dessert
This review is due to poor treatment by the manager of Araya’s Place.
Araya’s has an All You Can Eat lunch buffet which is about $ 13. (I also bought a Thai iced tea so my bill was $ 16.70). However, if you order to go, they give you one hot fluids container and a box for food. It was one of those days where something sweet was in order… However the waitress let me know that she could not provide a container for the dessert– rice pudding with coconut milk.
I didn’t want to mix the pudding with my Pad Thai, so I decided to ask the manager of he could provide this.
The manager became really upset and confrontational raising his voice in front of all the patrons saying if he had to do this for me he would have to do this for everyone and ‘he would rather not.‘
It was as if he couldn’t believe I had the audacity to request some dessert.
Gosh, all I wanted was some pudding. I mean, I just spent over $ 16 bucks.
If they are going to offer all of these items to go at an All you Can Eat buffet. Why not provide a little container for the dessert? Pretty please?
I like Araya’s but I won’t be recommending it anytime soon while meanie manager is there.

This place has ridiculously good food. I keep coming back despite living on the east side and a toll on the 520 bridge. They care about what you eat and have great service. The lunch buffet is great.
I look forward to trying out the Bellevue location.

I had been to Araya’s a few times before — for dinner and the lunch buffet at their previous University District location, and once for dinner shortly after they moved to this current spot on the Ave. I don’t remember what I ordered last time, but my memory of dinner was that the food was good but it took forever to come.
Since I have been eating about 95% vegetarian lately, I wanted to visit Araya’s again and see how the food compared with other Thai restaurants in the area. I decided to go for the lunch buffet rather than dinner. I’m not a very big eater so buffets are not necessarily the best value for me, but I still like them for a few reasons. I like to try a lot of different things without being committed to a whole order of something. I also like that I can control the amount of food that ends up on my plate, so I’m not ending up with leftovers that I don’t always want to deal with carrying around if I’m not going straight home.
The buffet, while not huge, had a good amount of choices in it. Other Unilocalers have posted photos. There were a few different hot dishes and also a salad area. Most dishes were quite mild spice-​wise (except the red curry which was probably about a 2), but they had chili sauces available to spice the food to taste.
My favorite items from the buffet were the pineapple fried rice, red curry and the black sticky rice pudding with coconut milk dessert. I also liked the steamed vegetables and tofu with peanut sauce. The veggies were not overcooked/​mushy, and the tofu was soft and went nicely with the creamy peanut sauce. I was a little disappointed with the Pad Thai — it tasted suspiciously ketchupy and just seemed to be lacking something flavor-​wise.
The tables were pretty close together which was kind of awkward since I was sitting on one of the benches against the wall and either I or the person in the next table kept squeezing through the small gap to go get more food from the buffet.
The price for the buffet has gone up over the years ($ 8.99 for adults 3 years ago, now it is $ 11.99) but it is still a good value considering the food all seems fresh and pretty healthy. It’s a bit more than I usually pay for lunch, but it can be the main meal of the day. I would go back, but there are other Thai restaurants in the area that I prefer overall. If you’re vegan, though, not having to worry about hidden fish sauce would definitely be a point in Araya’s favor.

I was very happy with the food and atmosphere here. I thought the dish I ordered was on par with other restaurants and the service is great. It looked like they have a few different menu items not offered at other Thai places but over all it’s rather delicious. I do like their spice cart they offered.
I was very pleased and had great company with me :)

Cute little place with good food! I was not given a happy hour menu but asked about happy hour when I ordered thanks to the helpful Unilocal menu pictures and tips. I didn’t realize this place was fully vegan until I sat down. My meal was fresh and tasty

Again, came in for the great lunch buffet! First time eating at the U-​district location, didn’t disappoint. Same offerings as the Madison location: pad thai, stir fry, fried rice, peanut sauce, kimchi… all delicious and tasty. Finished off the meal with a bowl of their sweet and yummy black sticky rice pudding with some coconut milk.
The U-​district spot is bigger and has a larger buffet area. Nice staff and the food was fresh and replenished often.

Basically one of the best Thai food restaurants I’ve been to ever. I’ve been coming here for years to all their locations and they are all amazing! It’s a full vegetarian menu and everything I’ve had here has been high quality. Never had a bad experience — food always comes out quick, staff is friendly, and everything is decently priced. I usually get either the red curry or pad Thai.

This has to be one of my favorite vegetarian spots! On days I don’t want to indulge in heavy, American food-​why not vegetarian Thai?
Served for dinner was the drunken noodle with added tofu, vegetarian spring rolls (eggrolls technically) and tom yum soup extra mushroom. We asked for 4 stars as for spiciness for our dishes and it definitely was what our tastebuds expected. I really appreciate when a restaurant listens and doesn’t drench your food in chili.
This place is very quaint and quiet during dinner but I look forward to trying their lunch buffet sometime soon. It’s very clean and service was very prompt. Can’t wait to go back!

Love this place! They have the best vegi food around and the folks running this and the other locations couldn’t be nicer… They just opened back up in Bellevue too… they were there before but had to move, so I am really glad they are back on the eastside.
The Brussel Sprouts are freaking crazy good!

I have been a long time customer of Araya’s at this location. The quality of service has been on a gradual downhill slope the past year or so.
I mostly order to go so the following issues may be less relevant for dining at the restaurant.
My last few orders has seen issues with wrong spice levels (not spicy at all), missed drink orders, and a tendency to put you on hold (phone orders) and then forget about you entirely.
While I still enjoy their food with an abundance of vegetables, it is easy to find other restaurants that are more consistent in dealing with to-​go customers, especially when online ordering has become so popular in recent months.

Nice vegan Thai restaurant in the U-​District. I’ve been going here since they were at their previous location on 45^th. During lunch, they serve an all-​you-​can-​eat buffet. For dinner, they have an a-​la-​carte menu. Decent place to have refreshing vegan Thai food.

I took my parents there and had a high expectation because of its excellent review.
The décor was very nice, the service was okay.
Most important it’s still food.
I’m assuming that the menu dishes must be excellent since the review is good. All of us had the lunch buffet. The curry was okay, the soup was okay too. It just wasn’t that flavorful, I’ve had many Thai food around the world and in Thailand, this is definitely not in my top 10, at least the not the buffet.

Our friends took us here as they loved Araya’s and we weren’t disappointed with the food. The waiter asked us how spicy we said ³⁄₅. The pineapple fired rice arrived and was spicy, I would say it was an easy 3.5÷5. I like spicy so I loved it. But the green curry which arrived next was sweet, it tasted good, but was sweet for a ³⁄₅ spice level. They must maintain a consistency in their spice levels, which was sorely lacking.
Apart from that the ambience was great until a group of 15 arrived and created absolute chaos. Overall a pretty good place, if you dont have a bunch of noisy, annoying ppl eating here at the same time.

I ate here a number of times before I realized it’s completely vegan. The dinner options are expensive, so I only do dinner here every once in a while, but if you come for the M-​F lunch buffet, it’s more than worth it.
Everything from soup to fried rolls to phad thai to curry. It’s ALL delicious. I’ve never had a meal I didn’t like from them and think I’ve tried everything on the menu by now.
Definitely recommend eating here! It’s making me hungry just reviewing it, haha!

We’re big fans of Araya, and used to frequent their old location on NE 45^th. We decided to check out the new place on University way, and found it to be disappointing unfortunately. First, the space itself is nowhere as good as the old one; the buffet is cramped, no room to move with folks jostling each other or waiting in long lines. Second, the variety of items has shrunk, and now just has one rice and one noodle item. Not as impressive as before. Third, they have started cutting corners on the food quality, with the fried rice for example not having the yummy pineapples etc. in it. Fourth, the staff appear to be ruder; we were a big party of 5+2 kids, and were told initially there was no room for us (the waiter then just walked away). Later another waiter gave us seating in a six-​seater table (one of us had to squeeze in). There was no follow-​up in terms of filling water jugs etc. but they conveniently charged us 18% gratuity! Not happy about that
Having said all that, the rolls are as good as ever, and the few dishes that were available tasted good.
Hope they can bring it back to the previous standard again!

I love this place! Delicious thai food with vegan meat, can’t beat it! The first time we came here we came for valentine’s day and they had great deals on bottles of wine and the food. We have loved it ever since! My boyfriend eats meat but raves about this place. Would recommend!

The lunch buffet here is awesome. When we went, there was pad Thai, tom yum soup, spring rolls, fried rice, veggie tofu curry, several salads, a veggie tofu stir fry, sticky black rice with coconut milk, and lots of chilis to go with it! The price is very reasonable at 10.99 and the quality of food is high.
The place does get busy, but there should be seating for you right when you walk in.

This place has the best happy hour I have ever had when it comes to quality and price. During 4−6pm they have a $ 5 menu for food and drinks. I went there the other day with a girlfriend and I was hungry. I didn’t expect much with each item being only $ 5 but was I surprised! I ordered pad thai, spring rolls, and a well drink. The pad thai was delicious and a normal size portion. I ordered the fried rolls and my friend ordered the fresh rolls, each order came with six rolls that were also decently sized. On top of the great food, the service was also great, fast and friendly. This will now be my go to HH spot when I am in the mood for Thai :)

This is one of my favorite spots to grab lunch in Seattle. I’ve probably been here close to 10 times now, and the lunch buffet never fails to delight. The food is delicious, all vegan, and very fresh tasting. I love the Tom Yum soup and the spring rolls. My partner (who eats meat) also loves it, so don’t be afraid to bring meat-​eaters here.
I also like the atmosphere. Nice bright, airy, and open.
I think the price is very reasonable.

Horrible service!!! The worst service I’ve ever had in Seattle. We waited for our food for 1 hour and they didn’t even realize that they forgot to punch in our order. Food is descent. Price and food quality is definitely not worth the waiting time. If I could I would give them no stars at all.

I’m trying to eat less meat, and Araya’s has a great selection of Thai food, you almost don’t miss the meat.
I was talked into the buffet option since I couldn’t decide what I wanted. While the buffet selection was decent, I wouldn’t have it again. The spring rolls were my favorite!
I’ll definitely give this place another try. I’m thinking Spicy Noodle. *drool*

The restaurant has a nice vibe. And they put lovin’ into their food, which is why I came in be first place.
I ordered yellow chicken curry. (They don’t only serve vegetarian food.) It came with the usual carrots & potatoes but also included zucchini (yum), cauliflower (could have done without) and no onions (yay!). The base is thick and tasty.
All was good until I realized the weird looking squishy chicken was really tofu. The server brought out chicken 5 minutes later but it was overdone and dry. And I really didn’t get a lot, as opposed to the tofu which was served in abundance. Too bad I don’t like tofu. This whole thing ruined the experience.
If I were them I would have brought out a whole new plate of chicken curry, free of charge.

I just went here for the first time after hearing rave reviews from non vegan friends. My review may be a little biased because I just ate at In The Bowl yesterday and it was INCREDIBLE.
We came at 2:30 and wanted to hit the buffet, but all that was left was scraps and they obviously had no intention of refilling. The woman who greeted us was not warm or friendly at all. When we decided we wanted to eat off the menu instead, we flagged down a different girl and she became our waitress. She was very kind and gave great service.
We ordered the vegetarian spring rolls, pad Thai, and green curry with crispy tofu.
The spring rolls were pretty good. The sauce that came with them was so tasty, perfectly sweet, and definitely the star of the meal.
The curry was pretty good as well; the «crispy» tofu could have been crispier. I think I would have been more impressed with it if I hadn’t just had the best curry ever at In The Bowl yesterday.
The pad Thai was extremely disappointing. It had a weird flavor that can only be described as hamburger grease and ketchup (i havent had a hamburgee in quite some time but it definitely stirred up some memories). Between the two of us we hardly ate any of it, but took it home in the hopes of reseasoning/​cooking and making it taste like actual pad thai.
Honestly, there’s a ton of vegan fare in the area and this place just doesn’t really cut it. I was hoping to have found my new go-​to spot and I think I did (yesterday, at In The Bowl.) I’m rating three stars because it was clean and service was okay-​ish and at least some of the stuff tasted alright, but I most likely won’t be back and I wouldn’t recommend it — to vegans or anyone else.

Our favorite Thai restaurant in Seattle, well this and their other location in Madison.
We had our first meal in Seattle at Araya’s (old location in Bellevue) and truly liked the restaurant. Every dish has been delicious.
Favorites:
Papaya Salad (Som Tum), Tofu Tod Gatiam, and desserts Sweet sticky rice with mango (seasonal), and Black sticky rice pudding. Just delicious!

Araya is one of our top three all time favorites here in Seattle. We always take visitors here for lunch because the food is so darn good and so consistent. We see families with kids here all the time so we feel quite at ease bringing our son along. Strongly recommend the place for vegetarians, vegans, and thai food lovers.

This place is the best! Everything we’ve had there has been delicious. The buffet is a great deal, but I prefer the items on the full menu.
Friendly staff, reasonable prices, a large menu, and it’s a great place for both vegans and omnivores.
I advise skipping the Pad Thai in favor of one of the other noodle dishes.

This place has nothing on Sukho Thai. Now that’s an impressive vegan Thai lunch buffet.
This will do fine though. The food is decent. Selection is rather small (but no worse than at Sukho Thai). Prices are decent. Service is friendly. The restaurant is located in a converted house, which is rather charming but makes for an awkward layout.
I give it three stars because I’ve had much better Thai food. I’ve had much better vegan Thai food.
Edit: After I posted this, I realized that I reviewed the wrong location. There is also an Araya’s place in Capitol Hill.

Do you like food? Do you like healthy food? Do you like healthy food that will make you involuntarily moan with delight? Do you like healthy food that will make you involuntarily moan with delight AND is unlimited? Keep reading.
Araya’s place is THE place for lunch buffet in the university district. You have to go during lunch and eat until you’re doing a full Richard Simmons ab-​workout just to keep it all in, then go back for dessert. There’s this magical sweet dark thing that you put white stuff on that I can’t even justify with words.
Yes, it’s vegan and pretty gluten-​free. For some people, this may be the biggest draw ever because like, they and their cats all eat a gluten free vegan diet. For others, it may just be a coincidence that the elixir of the Gods served here also has no animal products, or whatever… What I’m trying to say is the fact that it’s really diet-​friendly shouldn’t stop you from checking this place out.

After the folks at Vegan Haven recommended the lunch buffet, we stopped in for a lunch break from work.
The buffet was nice, and almost entirely gluten free. It had about enough for a meal, if one were to try a bit of everything. If you really like Phad Thai or Pineapple Fried Rice or those things, you could get a serious deal with the buffet. I really liked the black rice and coconut milk for dessert. The salad bar was interesting, too, with some italian dressing-​tasting kimchi among other things you might expect.
The interior was nice, and service is what you ought to expect from a family-​run Thai, Lao, Chinese, or Viet place.
I’d like to go back and try the mango curry.

Araya’s Place is a vegan Thai restaurant. I’ve taken people here, withheld the fact that this place is vegan, told them right as we entered the restaurant, pissed them off, almost lost friends, told them to order the pad Thai, strengthened friendship, PROFIT.
I’m not a vegan, but the pad Thai at Araya’s Place is the best pad Thai I’ve had, BAR NONE. …which sort of makes sense. Here’s why:
Almost every Thai restaurant I visit, the highlight of the meal isn’t the meat; instead, it’s almost always the way the flavors coalesce into something exciting and zesty for my taste buds. Meat is usually the disappointment; they either provide too little or it’s dry and bland.
Take out the meat, and you can concentrate on what makes a thai dish supreme; the sauces, spices, and even a little je né sais quoi.
Araya’s exemplifies all three of these qualities to its absolute capacity.
FUN FACT: Pad Thai is only $ 5 during happy hour, and the portion is large enough to satisfy a light meal. If you’re looking for a starting point, MAKE THIS YOUR FIRST DISH. They know how to make tofu delicious.
One time, I took a couple homies to Araya’s and we each ordered the pad Thai (HH). Waited 10 minutes, then the server told us that the kitchen screwed up and presented the table with some FREE basil fried rice, which was FUCKING DELICIOUS, almost as good as the pad thai. 5 minutes later, they present the table with the pad thai.
Here’s what’s awesome about this service. We didn’t know that they screwed up, but they did, and they were accountable for providing the highest quality service they could to their customers. They uphold their high standards, regardless of the customer.
I can’t praise this restaurant highly enough: its food, service, and refined ambience are unmatched by other Thai restaurants in the area.
5

This place slides in just right at five stars! I ducked in here because one of my recommended resources mentioned it. I was not disappointed and was quite pleased.
I got a Thai Iced Tea which was good but the standout item from my order was the Drunken Mushroom Noodles. This main course was fresh, complex and delightful because there were several kinds of mushrooms in the dish.
The service was very speedy which was a nice bonus! Definitely one of the better Thai restaurants that I have been to recently!

Now this is a vegan restaurant.
Seated with a view of the kitchen, in the corner. Everything looked super duper clean. Music was the right mood and volume. Decorated with buddhas and pretty things.
Upscale in appearance, but casual in attitude.
Had potstickers and fried brussel sprouts as appetizers. They were both incredible, but we loved the brussel sprouts because they were seasoned and garlicky and crunchy.
I had the Asparagus Hunsa entrée. I told the server (who had a fantastic attitude) that I loved broccoli and hated bell peppers, and it came out with tons of broccoli. The sauce was so, so creamy and tangy and delicious. Asparagus and fried tofu were so good in the panang sauce.
Boyfriend had the Bangkok Café Bathing Rama. His was drowned in delicious peanut sauce, super spicy as he requested. He said it was awesome, and I tasted a little peanuty bite, but I can’t handle the super duper spicy food.
If I lived in Seattle, I would come here all the time.

Araya’s is one of the most consistently excellent restaurants on my list, and has been that way for, sheesh, over 20 years. It’s remarkable to be able to say that about a restaurant located in the U District (which is not exactly the heartbeat of Seattle dining culture, and where restaurants go out of business faster than you can say «hey, that restaurant went out of business.»). And all along they have maintained not just their stellar food but also their commitment to vegans and wuv for the animals.
Their present digs are probably the nicest and certainly the sleekest and most modern of the three incarnations of the U District location… however, tonight was a night for some solo takeout: yellow curry (my autocorrect is having a good time with the dish’s real name, kaeng ka-​ri) and brown rice.
Kaeng ka-​ri is my favorite dish on a menu loaded with great choices… creamy yellow curry with tofu, potato chunks and some carrots and zucchini to add flavor, color and crunch. Spectacular, even as takeout (I’m coming to appreciate more and more that important qualities of food are lost in the takeout or delivery process, but not so here!).
And Araya’s brown rice is definitely worth a try… it deftly walks that fine line of being light but not overcooked and has that great note of nuttiness.
A couple of other notes…
…they have a lunch buffet, which I’ve tried a very few times (the phrase «all you can eat» no longer sounds like sweet music in my ears). It’s fine but the quality of the food off the menu is vastly superior.
…when I think of phad thai, I think of Araya’s phad thai. No other will do. Ditto on the thom kha.
…try their Thai iced tea, in its beautiful tall glass with a cascade of coconut milk in it.
…they take the spice level pretty seriously, as far as my very Caucasian palette can tell. I’m not sure if they still do this, but they used to say that you could get 1 through 5 stars, but then you could up the ante and get your order «Thai hot.» I tried that once. My dish made everyone else’s eyes start to water as it was arriving at the table. It was soul-​destroying. But if that’s your bag…