Typhoon

Sad day today — they had a sign out that it was closed for good! Sucks! I will miss the food and the great staff.

I am surprised I didn’t write about this place after the first time I ate here. I guess I was too crazy monkey busy.
First experience was quite good. The gf and I ordered some specials. The squash soup was fabulous. The stew thing we ordered, well, I didn’t like it so much but she thought it was great. We also ordered a salad and it was somkin’ hot. We are wimpy white girls and they were very nice and brought us a whole new toned down salad. That was very much appreciated.
Second experience was more recently. The tom kah gai was amazing. My gf said the best she has ever had. It was up there for me as well. The fresh rolls were pretty good though I didn’t like the kind of shrimp the used (the gf did). I loved the little dipping sauce though. It was much thicker than I am used to and was both sweet and tart at the same time.
We each got separate dishes this time which is a bit unusual for us. She got cashew chicken and thought it was great. I tasted it and I agree that it was great. Dryer than other cashew chickens I’ve had before. I had the king’s noodles. I was a bit wary at first as it was a very soupy looking dish when it arrived. I wasn’t sure it was what I had ordered but it was. I had a very difficult time stopping myself from eating it even though I had gotten full. I will be dreaming of it I know.
I thought the service was great.
It was a bit noisy though which made me grumpy as I was having a hard time hearing the gf. (She can lip read so she wasn’t too disturbed.) Plus the light was glaring in my eyes.
So, I might go for a 4.5 instead of a 5 and since 4.5 isn’t an option and the food was so good, I am stickin’ with the 5!

4 stars for the 4-​star drunken noodles I had today at lunch. When I order something higher than 3 stars, I expect some heat, and this did NOT disappoint. I kept going for my water glass, and luckily the service was good enough that they kept it full, or else my head would have boiled over, literally. My party also ordered some green tea to drink and while we were expecting the normal stuff you find at every other Thai/​Chinese place, the tea that they brought was amazing, and real tea leaves that were seeped right when they brought it out.
Typhoon is definitely an upscale Thai place based on the others in the area. The prices are still reasonable 8 – 9 bucks for lunch, but for some reason their lunch «specials» are 12 bucks and more than the normal items. Perhaps someday when I want to splurge for a weekday lunch I will try it. They also have happy hour drink specials, which I saw on a card, but have not tried yet, but want to check it out.
All in all, a worthy place to check out for a downtown lunch or evening drink.

I’ve been here several times for lunch and only once for dinner. After every visit I tell myself that I won’t be back. Why don’t I just go to Mae Phim I ask myself?
It’s not that Typhoon is bad, it’s just not good. The service is spotty, the tea selection is bloated (this is a coffee town!) and the curry is so-​so. Their location in Portland is far better, but just the same — look harder for good Thai, you’ll be happy you did.

Decided to stop by here for dinner because Opentable had a 1000 point deal. The layout of the restaurant is pretty nice; complete with the spinning lead fans.
First of all, the service is sort of slow. I waited over 5 minutes to get water and another 5 to order.
I decided to order the pad kee mao, shrimp rolls and was recommended the cashew chicken.
Wow they need to lay off the salt here. If I’m going to eat here again, I’ll need a pitcher of water. Nice presentation and decent portions but wow the salt.

Looks like I’m the millionth reviewer here, so I’ll keep it short.
Very good Thai food. Small portions. Higher prices than average. Great Teas and Tea selection. High prices for those.
Overall– great food, maybe try happy hour? 4 stars if you cut your prices 15−20%.

Typhoon is one of few (I think) sit down Thai places in downtown Seattle. The food is pretty good, the service is generally slow, and the facilities are clean and presentable.
I would recommend Typhoon for a work day lunch, but save special occasion dinners for somewhere else.

I visited Typhoon for the first time and was somewhat disappointed. There were very few people there and, on a Friday night, that tells me a lot! We ordered the Nibble Plate to start and almost all of it was fried… the chicken skewers didn’t look or taste like real chicken either. Our server was very patient as we took quite a while to order since we were chatting. I ordered Buddha’s Feast and enjoyed it but wished they would offer a spicy version. Thumbs up for offering brown rice though.
Overall, okay but I probably wouldn’t visit again…

Really good tea.
I was impressed by the music (esp on a Sunday night), they played a better indie/​dance-​ish selection than any club I’ve been to in Seattle so far.
The Phad Thai was so-​so. Size was small-​ish, and as another Unilocaler mentioned, mostly broccoli and cauliflower. And the amount of tofu was laughable.
Overall, ok.

Three stars because I’m sick as a dog and Typhoon, McCormicks, or that Mexican place which I plan to review after this could be the reason why.
Was here on a Friday night and on a Monday night and the bar was entirely empty on both. I think this place suffers because of it’s location. I have, however, been here for a work-​related happy hour event and they were very accommodating and friendly, and I’ll be sure to use them again. It’s not like they’re busy!
Here’s something weird. My Friday night group ordered the happy hour spinach dip… which was served with tortilla chips, and not very many of them. When we asked for more, the manager was like, «Well, that’s how many come with the order» and acted like it was against the rules to give a group of five people more than two tortilla chips a piece. Eventually, he did bring us more chips… but only seven. This brings up several questions: 1. Why is a Thai restaurant serving tortilla chips, and 2. Why are they so stingy with them?
Was happy with the popcorn chicken, the sundried beef, and the potstickers– but holy MOLY the drunken noodles with chicken were spice-​spice-​SPICY!

I’ll be honest… I love Thai Food… if it’s authentic, I don’t care. Yes, I know the people of Thailand don’t eat their food with chopsticks (which I was given in my to go bag), but it took me a HELL of a long time to learn how to use them to a point where I can use them during a meal where it won’t take me 2 hours to finish, and you know what, they help me portion my foot out so I don’t stuff it all in my face at one time (yes, face… not mouth… it goes everywhere!). So… now that I finished that rant…
Super good Panang Curry! Great flavor, nice and hot when I got it to go, and… just delicious. I want to go back for the ambiance of the restaurant. Who doesn’t like oversized criss-​crossing bamboo walls?!
My boss got the Beef with Grapes and said it was very good, and a coworker raved about the winter pumpkin curry (was a special this evneing). Their lunch menu looks super good and well priced as well. I’ll be honest… I think the dinner is a little overpriced, but not too bad.
I really should walk down those stairs off of 1^st Ave. more often…

Been here a few times. Food is quite nice, never evil. Their appetizers are great. But I always leave feeling like I just spent a lot of money. I just left there after my $ 35 lunch.
Their tea list is looooooooong and detailed. You will have good tea here and feel better for it. I will never turn down an offer to eat at Typhoon, but I won’t initiate one.
Oh, their happy hour menu is also way cool and that is cheap. Their drinks are innovative and their bartender is skilled.
Good food, good ambiance, tad pricey.
Must have: The ahi spring roll.

Typhoon! is a great Thai restaurant in Downtown Seattle. Rather than the typical hole in the wall joints most people are used to this is a stylish and tasty place with all your traditional dishes and more!
Initially I was worried that this place would be one of those fusion-​type places with lots of weird dishes that only semi resemble what I know to be Thai, but instead this place stuck to its roots.
The service was great, the food (and dessert!) was definitely beyond my expectations based on reading the mixed reviews on this page, and all in all it turned out to be a place I intend to revisit as soon as I make it back to Seattle.

*Review of the bar, not the food.
Came here for a birthday party saturday night. I loved the look and feel of the place, especially I love the red wood (or whatever kind of wood it was). For the purposes of that night, I wish the bar was a little bigger. A bunch of us were kind of cramed in a little area that had one long table for people to sit at, a little area for the dj and dancing with white rappers provided. I didn’t buy any drinks, but from what I heard, they were pretty expensive.
Zipzap Zubidy Bop!

Sometimes when I visit Typhoon I wonder if people just don’t know where this fabulous restaurant is tucked away. I’m not sure I’ve ever been in there when it is full, but the food is so good… it just leaves me a bit confused.
The most recent time we ate here we met up with friends for a Thursday happy-​hour. We sampled lots of delicious things off the happy hour menu — including the clam chowder, which is amazing. The only thing that was ordered but not enjoyed was the popcorn chicken. Not really surprising.
Overall, the food is really good and the service is fine. As many other reviewers have noted, they have an extreme tea selection as well.

This was the first time I ever had Thai food and it will probably be the last time. I’m not bashing the restaurant but the food itself. I started off with some incredible Jasmine Dragon tea. That was probably the best part of the meal. I order the grilled beef served room temperature with Garlic and grapes. First of all way too much garlic, it killed the taste of everything. I won’t try anything room temperature anymore. The service was great but I’m not a fan of Thai food.

Hands down, my favorite Thai restaurant in the Puget Sound area. While it’s not traditional Thai — it’s got lots of noodles and dishes you’d expect to find on a Thai menu. They have a fantastic tea menu. Fun to peruse and experiment. Only once did we get a pot of tea we didn’t like, so the server replaced it with another choice, and we weren’t charged.
My co-​workers and I selected Typhoon for our birthday lunches, or just monthly out-​to-​lunch spot. Alas! our office has moved,

I am not a big fan of Thai food, but Typhoon just might convert me.
I started my meal with a long chat, my favorite way to start a meal!
The tall dark bench seating made me feel we were in a private little space eventhough the restaurant was quite busy for lunch.
When we finally got around to ordering our food, we started with pumpkin soup and lemon grass clam chowder.
The pumpkin soup was spicy and thick with coconut milk. It was rich and satisfying and so yummy it could be a dessert!
(I have a habit of ordering things like mashed potatoes and soup for dessert — which drives my pastry chef sister insane).
My dining companion had the chowder, which was chock full of clams and very tasty, although we both agreed we are kind of purists when it comes to the clam chowder.
This dish is a great indication of how Typhoon plays with different flavors and marries them successfully so that they are not muddy and unrecognizable — which is my past experience with many Thai restaurants.
We moved on to a noodle and curry dish. Again, clear distinctive flavors along with crunchy veggies and tender chicken. The green curry was a nice blend of sweet, spicy and just a hint of sour. I think it’s the best curry I’ve ever had. The Pad See Ew noodles were not too sticky and accompanied by fried tofu. I loved the noodles because they were very light — not greasy as I have often experienced.
I mean, really, how do you make a wide noodle light?
I don’t know but they did it.
They have an extensive tea selection and I look forward to going back for tea service.
I’ll definitely return, which makes huzbeau very happy cuz he loves Thai food, and especailly loved sucking up my leftover curry for his lunch.

Thai food with a little bit of a twist.
The high backed booths make you feel like you are the only people in the whole place. The bar area is open and inviting, a perfect spot to mix and mingle. If you’re not into kicking back a few drinks you have no shortage of teas to choose from. I think that the selection of tea outnumbers the selection of entrees!
The menu is seasonal and has some unexpected winners on it. The Pumpkin Soup (that I wasn’t smart enough to order, but was lucky enough to taste) was phenomenal, and I don’t like pumpkin, but that was some good soup! My Pad See Ew was flavorful and not too greasy, and the medium curry was pretty darn spicy to me.
If you’re looking for a nicer place for dinner that won’t break the bank Typhoon is a sure winner!

I love Typhoon. I went for dinner there last night and it was a perfect ending to the work week. Actually, I work from home so there is no ending to my week, but my friend who works downtown needed a Typhoon ending. I digress. We had reservations but scarcely needed them. The bar is full during happy hour, but when we left around 8:30 it was practically empty. The dining room was nearly full, but there were a few empty tables. All this to say that you won’t have any kind of uncomfortable wait to eat here. The lighting is dim, but spotlighted well enough so you can see the people at your table just fine. Our waiter was friendly, smiling and helpful and deserved the large tip we always leave when we eat out because the 2 of us are so damn indecisive and chatty it takes a LONG time for us to get around to ordering. Patience is a large tip deserving virtue.
We started with an Ice-​Tini. Never heard of it. Vodka and sparkling white wine. Sounded weird, but tasted great. Then a Nibbles Platter with satay and sping rolls and bags of gold stuffed with shrimp and mushrooms (great) and something called Ka-​thong Tong — little pastry cups filled with shrimp, chicken and veggies all mashed up that neither of us liked. Just a taste thing. My friend ordered the Drunken Noodles, medium spicy, and her spice loving palate went through a lot of the tea I ordered. It was almost too spicy for her, so I didn’t even bother trying it. Wimpy me would have fainted. I had the 5 spice crispy duck with steamed dumplings and plum sauce. YUMMY. Only complaint was that one of the little drumsticks was mostly inedible, overdone, probably because it was cooked much earlier and had been hanging around under a heat lamp for awhile. Duck does take some time to cook.
I really love the tea menu at Typhoon. It’s nearly as big as the dinner menu and it’s as involved as ordering a cocktail. Japanese teas, Thai teas, Chinese teas, really rare teas grown in nearly inaccesible regions that cost as much as an entire dinner. I settled for a pot of mid-​priced orange oolong tea that went well with the duck and plum sauce and helped cool my friend’s sweat inducing noodles.
We were too full for dessert and each had a box of leftovers to take home, which I demolished at the stroke of midnight that night. Too good to let sit for long. As I said, I love Typhoon, but next time I won’t sit facing the mirrored wall as I really don’t enjoy watching myself stuffing myself.