Thai Table (Berkeley)
913 University Ave.
Located just over a mile away from UC Berkeley’s northside of campus
Situated on University Ave. about a mile or so away from UC Berkeley’s campus, Thai Table is located just short of the main shops on 4th Street a few blocks away. While from the outside it may be unassuming, there is usually always a line out the door around dinnertime.
My group of three arrived just in the middle of dinner and were told to wait about ten minutes before getting seated. Seeing how busy the scene was, this was not bad at all. I was really excited to try this place. Before Thai Table, my personal favorite Thai restaurant in Berkeley was Imm Thai. However, close friends and coworkers advised me that this restaurant was far better than Imm Thai, so naturally, I was intrigued to see if it lived up to the hype.
Once inside and seated, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the interior looked nothing like the unassuming exterior of the restaurant. The inside was relatively spacious with high ceilings and decked out in modern design elements such as a floral wall and neon lighting. Inside, the place was bustling with tables of young customers chatting and drinking away. The energy felt lively, youthful, and fun; kind of unexpected for some reason but I’m all for it.
Being that I love Pad Thai and judge a Thai restaurant’s quality on this dish alone (personal preference, feel free to disagree), our table ordered chicken skewers with peanut sauce to start, chicken Pad Thais, and a Thai papaya salad with a milk tea. Our food was out in about twenty minutes and smelled unreal.
The chicken skewers came in a set of four and were accompanied by a cup of thick Thai peanut sauce. As a heads up, if you are allergic to peanuts or do not like peanuts, I would recommend something else as the sauce is really meant to bring out the flavors in this particular dish. The chicken wasn’t anything super wild or mind-blowing, but simply fresh and juicy, both indicators of good quality. The peanut sauce in particular was a deep, nutty, and umami flavor that complimented the chicken’s texture and flavor profile.
The papaya salad was also unique in the sense that I’ve never really had anything like it before. Made of shredded papaya and other vegetables, it had an amazing flavor of bright, citrusy crunch that was incredibly refreshing and aromatic. My favorite part of it was the slight kick from the jalapeño mixed in that balanced everything out perfectly. The bowl alone was definitely enough for a meal for one person, and I highly recommend this especially if you’re vegetarian or want to try something different.
Now, the main attraction was obviously the Pad Thai. Again, this smelled unreal. It had the smell of peanuts- similar to the sauce with the skewers- but mixed in with citrus, meats, and cilantro which was incredible all together. Each order was on a large plate and stacked fairly high, so you could immediately tell that they didn’t skimp out on portion sizes, and you got what you paid for. Taking the first bite was like biting into the most tender and flavorful bundle of noodles with chicken, peanut crumbles, and sauce all perfectly mixed in. While Imm Thai’s Pad Thai variation will not disappoint you, I felt that Thai Table’s dish simply elevates everything in terms of the quality of ingredients, which ultimately made for a better-tasting dish overall. I could not get through this fast enough, and I was full at the end with a new conviction that this was my new favorite Thai place in town.
In closing my thoughts on Thai Table, I realized that I didn’t really touch on the milk tea yet. I felt that the milk tea itself was great but comparable to what you’ll find at other Thai restaurants, so I didn’t feel the need to elaborate greatly on this end.
While many dishes have peanuts in them (including the Pad Thai) there are plenty of other dishes available without peanuts if you prefer. In addition, while I didn’t get to try it this time, they offer $6 beers which is a fantastic deal and will make for a great dinner hangout spot, especially for students and local residents alike. Overall, Thai Temple’s amazing food, friendly service, cleanliness, and affordability make this a hotspot for Berkeley locals looking for one of the best and underrated Thai spots near campus.
