http://www.baitongthai.com/
Alicia gets home tonight and I have a dinner ready to make at home but Alicia wants to eat out. What the lady wants she gets and I start searching through Yelp to see the local food joints around our new rental in Saratoga. Saratoga sure has a lot of overpriced restaurants and I wasn't in the mood for any of that so I decided on the only Thai place in town: Bai Tong.
We make the 10 minute walk over and fortunately don't have to wait for a table. It's a small place that can maybe seat 30-35 at most. It has the usual Thai theme decor and it's a nice atmosphere. I place an order for spring rolls and chicken satay to start.
The spring rolls come out first and are served with a peanut sauce. There are 4 of them cut in half and they are filled with various vegetables and herbs. There are also tubular things as well that I guess are made from vegetables. The spring rolls are good and have a lemon/basil/mint type aftertaste which goes well with the slightly spicy peanut sauce. I kind of hate paying 8$ for a protein less appetizer but for what it's worth they were good. Then came the chicken satay. Three skewers of chicken served with peanut sauce and some cucumber relish type salad. The satay was one of the better ones I've had. The chicken was seasoned well (yellow I guess from tumeric) and was very tender and juicy. The cucumber relish was almost like a palate cleanser after eating the satay. So far so good.
Then out came the two dishes we ordered: kang karee (chicken yellow curry) and Pad Kra Pow (chicken/basil/vegetables). We opted for brown rice instead of traditional white on the side. The yellow curry was quite good. The vegetables were cooked through nicely and had just the right amount of bite in them. I love biting into a perfectly cooked piece of potato, all the better in a nice sauce. The curry had just the right spice. We had asked for medium and the waiter said that their curry is fairly spicy and we may want to go a little less. It was a good call by him. The Pad Kra Pow was good as well, lots of basil and again perfectly cooked root vegetables like carrots putting up little fight as I bite into them and send them to the black abyss of my esophagus and digestive tract. (For some reason carrots aren't on the online menu for this wat?).
We passed on desert because two appetizers and two entrees were more than enough. We probably could have skipped something but I read online their portions were small. I guess if you are used to the Cheesecake Factory then it will seem small but each entree is enough for two people to share. Alicia did get a Thai Iced Tea though and liked it. I tried it and didn't but I don't like Thai Iced Teas.
The service was good and the wait staff was very professional and friendly. It is a family run business and they obviously all take pride in running the place, from the back of the house to the front. So whats the downside?
Only the price. Everything is about a 1$ or 2$ over the typical price you find on Thai menus. Even the brown rice was $2 each (come on now Bai Tong). The bill came to 44$ with tax and then throw eight bones on for the tip. Like I said though we easily could have dropped an appetizer or entree because it was more than enough. And even though it's pricey for Thai I am pretty sure none of the other restaurants in Saratoga can give me a better meal for $25 a person. Although I will try to find one. If you like Thai and are in Saratoga then I would say check this place out and save the $29 entree restaurants for another night (like when someone else is paying). I'll probably be going back.