Thai Time
- Cuisine Type: Thai Restaurants
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What's the vibe?
Casual
1 of 1 said Casual
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How much is an average meal?
Affordable $$$
1 of 1 said Affordable $$$
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What meal do they do best?
Dinner
1 of 1 said Dinner
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What makes this place special?
Near where I live
1 of 1 said Near where I live
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What's the dress code?
Casual
1 of 1 said Casual
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What's to drink?
Beer and wine
1 of 1 said Beer and wine
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Who would you bring here?
First date
1 of 1 said First date
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Can you order out?
Takeout only
1 of 1 said Takeout only
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Where's the best place to park?
Lot
1 of 1 said Lot
aunderscorek wrote about Thai Time
Thai Time isn't the best Thai food in San Diego — there are some incredible places downtown, such as Lotus Thai or Royal Thai — but it does the best job of combining excellent Thai food with reasonable price.
I feel like Thai food is a pretty difficult thing to screw up. Like, how many people have been to a "bad" Thai restaurant? The cuisine has strong fundamentals, strong tradition... I don't want to get too expository, but my point is that Thai food seems to be universally awesome. Thai Time (I believe this one calls itself, "Thai Time III" to distinguish from the one in the Sports Arena area, the other in the North Park area, and the other Downtown) is just a hair above the already-high average.
Let's start with what everybody usually orders: Panang Curry. A lot of middle-of-the-road/non-swanky Thai restaurants have a liquidy consistency, which isn't bad because, again, the flavor is established from tradition. However, Thai Time has a very hearty Panang, very thick and comforting with a strong flavor. Excellent Panang. I feel like this should sell most of you already.
The Thai iced teas are, sadly, on the small-and-shrinking side.
The other standard (which I probably should have started with) is the Pad Thai, which is, uh, standard. It's Pad Thai! What do you want me to say about it? It's delicious! There! LIKE YOU COULDN'T HAVE GUESSED. Jeez.
I once ordered one of their special, experimental house dishes, the spicy spaghetti. Essentially, a spicy, basil-y, Thai dish using spaghetti noodles. The results were pretty "meh." Also, it's one of the more expensive items on the menu and, if you're OK with spending some cash on your Thai, head downtown instead of ordering high-end items here. Like I said, my favorite thing about it is the COMBINATION of taste and price; if you take away either one of these attributes, I will find somewhere cheaper or tastier, depending on which is taken away.
I don't know if that makes sense. In the end, Thai Time III has excellent Thai Food, is never crowded, and is reasonably priced. The more you know.
posted on May 28, 2010