Tommy Thai (Franconia-Springfield) [CLOSED]

Tucked away in an anonymous shopping center is Tommy Thai -- a place you pass by, say "Tippy Thai" or "Sada Te", laugh and roll on by.  At least that's what we did dozens of times before M's friend said it's really good. So we go. Are we ever glad we did.

We go in, and it looks good enough. We're seated very quickly and look over the menu -- typical Thai restaurant menu end to end. That's not a bad thing, but something to note. We decide to go with 2 appetizers and 1 meal.

Appetizer 1 - Dumplings
These seafood balls tucked away in a rice-noodle pouch set a good tone for what was to come.  They could be enjoyed with or without the simple, but tasty, sauce. Delicate fishy scent, but without an overpowering "fish" flavor. Yum!

Appetizer 2 - Satay
Fantastic. Simply awesome. The chicken was the juiciest pieces of chicken L thinks he ever had (and being from GA, that's really saying a lot). Well marinaded where you could taste the marinade and the chicken evenly. Nice! The side peanut sauce was very tasty, with a little bit of extra flavor. Get two orders and you could leave happy. There. Said, and believe it. Took M

Main course - Spicy Basil
In some ways, this was the perfect complement to appetizers. The two were so exciting, that a calmer, measured spicy basil pork with rice posed a nice change of pace. Simple and straight forward, the chef knew how to be sensitive to the spiciness. The waiter said 3.5 stars sounded right, and boy, was he on the money.  "It tips on that edge between medium and hot. The spicing is perfectly done." While the pork itself did not have succulence or juiciness, in the context of the dish it still was fine.  Better to be slightly overdone than under.

Portion size was just right.  Otherwise, with two main courses, we should order one each. It's just enough. We should likely go during lunch when possible.


Cost 
$$

Cleanliness 
Very clean.

Service
Great service by Bill. He was a hoot and really seemed to engage with the customers (L listened out for it)

Pluses 
Satay
Well-handled spices (big plus)
Good service (this cannot be underestimated)
Nicely lit (daytime)
Satay

Minuses
Portion could have been a little bigger on the entree
Would be nice if they offered beef, lamb or pork satay and not just chicken
Would have been nice with a cucumber sauce (ask M if uncertain what the heck this means)
No skinny noodles...prevalent issue in NoVA/DC area

Overall value
Better than average value because the food is really good. However, for Thai there are several "nice to haves" that would make this better. On the whole (and especially the DC metro area), there's few that are this good.  Bonus points because they can make sweet tea using simple sugar.

Rice & Spice Thai (Ft. Belvoir)

After eating noodles at ChinaTown Express, the noodle craving got bigger. We (M and L) remembered that there was a Thai place near Olympians. After seeing good enough ratings on Yelp, we thought, "why not" and went to check it out.

Blah blah...no one in the restaurant...blah blah...not great seats...blah blah...average menu. The point is the food was pretty dang good.

M has the Lard Da w/chicken (stir-fried with rice noodles and Chinese broccoli in gravy). Quite tasty and they'll spice it up to the level you desire. Be warned they put a lot of gravy in this, so it's more like thai chicken with wide noodles in gravy soup. The food is better than it sounds, but it's a little off-putting on first glance.

L has the Rice & Spice Noodles, which we both agree looked and tasted like Pad Thai over lettuce(?!?).  Really good, though. Not spicy, though I'm sure they'd be happy to oblige.

Anyways, the wide noodles. If you've had Thai wide noodles, you think you know what you're in for. But these wide noodles are best described like this: lasagna sized noodles bathed in a tasty broth. They are relatively uncut, so you get this super-large "noodles" mixed with yumminess. The wide noodles are fantastic, and we both know we don't generally prefer/like wide noodles.

Cost
$$

Cleanliness
Clean.

Service
Good, but we were the only ones...

Pluses 
Good noodles, esp. for wide noodles
Large portions (we could split a plate)

Minuses
No music or anything in the restaurant
Little atmosphere

Overall value
Worthwhile.