ThaiYada Restaurant, which is an easy five-minute walk from the Eastman Student Living Center (SLC), boasts a 4.7-star rating on Yelp — and for good reason. The Alexander Street staple feels like one of those hole-in-the-wall places you stumble into and just know has to be good from the bustling kitchen, tasteful menu, and dilapidated signage. From just a glance behind the counter, you can see the chefs hard at work and the hiss of stir-fry perennially blankets the sound in the shop.
If you’re eating in, you’ll order at the counter. You’ll want to go up and look at the laminated menus, since the slipshod menu on the wall has changed prices enough times that they’ve fully blocked the prices out. If you’re lucky, there will be a place to sit and wait, which is illuminated (or, given Rochester weather, not) by the glass storefront and its accompanying downtown side street traffic. If not, no worries! Orders go pretty fast, even with multiple delivery drivers impatiently hovering in the doorway.
If you’re ordering online, you might be concerned about the price of the dishes, but these entrees are meant for a voracious appetite. The prices increase depending on your choice of protein or vegetables (if you don’t eat meat, be warned — the tofu options are not always the cheapest protein) but the portion sizes are hefty enough that leftovers from my current order are still hanging in my fridge a week later.
In case of good weather, order your food to go. Downtown Rochester at this time of year is relatively temperate, and there are plenty of places within walking distance to sit. On our exploration mission for this article, my friend (and former CT publisher Sarah Woodams) and I opted to hit up some benches right next to the Little Theatre to inspect and enjoy our dinners, but there are options closer to Eastman as well. If it’s just too busy in the restaurant and you’d rather eat inside, hit up Java’s, Spot Coffee, or Ugly Duck Coffee — all of which are a close enough walk that you won’t be kicking yourself for going to a secondary location. If it’s a Thursday night, you could even catch local Eastman and River Campus jazz musicians improvising at Stromboli’s, which is just a bit around the corner on East Avenue.
As someone with a dietary restriction, I often find that Thai food is a flavorful savior for my taste buds. The soy sauce ThaiYada uses is allegedly gluten free (definitely ask at the counter) and there are plenty of vegetarian or vegan options, so for the trepidatious few who struggle to find options at restaurants, you may be in luck. Beyond this, though, the food is truly fantastic. You’re given the option of a spice level (one through five) for each entree, and whether you aim high or low on the scale, the food is both fragrant and flavorful enough that you won’t be left wanting for more.
My friend snagged the pad thai with shrimp at spice level two, which was lacking in number of shrimp but high in volume. There’s plenty of chew and crunch in the noodles, crushed peanuts, and bean sprouts, and the heaviness of the dish is lightened up by the chives and the sauce, which is mildly zingy and not overly thick. Drinks-wise, I snagged a Thai iced tea with lemon, which split the difference between the toasty warmth of Thai tea and the citrusy refreshing quality of an iced tea perfectly.
As a spice enthusiast not wanting to seem overzealous, I opted for the gaeng keow wan, or green curry, with vegetables at spice level four. The dish surprisingly also came with some fried tofu, which was a welcome addition to sop up the liquidy curry that contained so much oil that a full layer rose to the top of my container. On the topic of spice, the green curry paste in the gaeng keow wan is a slow burn. It doesn’t feel incredibly spicy, being offset by the herbal tang of lime leaves and Thai basil as well as a mellowing base of coconut milk. You can feel the heat when you step away, which makes eating more pretty addicting.
We ordered, from left to right: rice, pad thai, curry, and a Thai tea with lemon.
Normally, I have qualms with getting more broth in a soup, stew, or curry than add-ins, but the amount of food ThaiYada throws in these curries is enough to feel like you’ve got your money’s worth. Thus, I’ve left the broth in my fridge and thrown some over rice for multiple meals without running through it all. As a broke college student, this doubles my satisfaction with my order.
Overall, if you’re looking for a new place to try on a foray on the Red or Orange Line, ThaiYada should perfectly fit the bill. Make a night out of it. Roll up to an Eastman performance or a Little Theatre movie, or go sit at Java’s and shoot the breeze with some friends over an ill-advised late night coffee. Feel independent as you inhale food that wasn’t concocted in the Douglass back rooms, and feel right at home in a city that might be more new to you than the trivialities of campus.
