RSS FeedRoyal Thai Cuisine and Bar Open For Business (507 H St NW)
We noticed Royal Thai Cuisine & Bar (507 H Street, NW) putting its signs up back in February and we thought the fresh coat of exterior paint might portend a quick opening thereafter. Unfortunately, “soon” included a generous heap of hope but hope springs eternal and whaddya’ know…it’s sprung! We stopped by the newly opened Royal Thai (incognito, of course) to check it out. Here’s what we found.
Royal Thai is located in a top-to-bottom renovated townhouse on the north side of the 500 block of H Street, NW, accessed by a set of exterior stairs to get to the first floor. After entering, the first floor opens up on the left into a simply decorated open dining room seating up to 16 at two tops with bench seating along a wall shared with the next townhouse over. A short four seat bar is found deeper into the heart of the first floor on the left. Simple but cozy.
A straight staircase on the right gets you to the second level where a space fronting the windows overlooking H Street, a nice area for group dining, displays itself along with a separate room that could be used for private dining, also at the front of the venue. More dining area can be found in the rear along with bathrooms at the far back side. The decor remains simple and in line with the ground floor.
The menu is Thai focused and not trying to be all Asian things to all diners so you won’t find sushi or General Tso here. Appetizers, soups, salads, entrees, chef specialties, noodle/rice and desserts section the menu and include favorite staple Thai dishes like tom yum, panang curry, pad thai, pad see ew and mango sticky rice. The drinks menu includes beer, wine, soda, martinis, cocktails (some signature) and coffee drinks. Pricing is reasonable…apps are $6 or $7, entrees run $11 to $15, desserts $5 to $8 and the drink mark up is reasonable (no wine bottle costs more than $35).
As always, this first mention post opening is less a review and more a description and notice that the venue is serving diners. We won’t reveal our culinary opinions until we’ve gone at least a handful of times. Stay tuned…we don’t think it will take long to hit that handful!
Royal Thai Cuisine & Bar
507 H Street, NW
202-842-1405
Open daily 10:30 am to 10:30 pm; Fri/Sat close is at 11 pm
No website yet
Local delivery (3 mile radius, but they check with the driver first…condo buildings in the Penn Quarter and Mount Vernon Triangle should qualify)
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- Royal Thai Cusine & Bar Opening Imminent (507 H St NW)
- Tunnel Fine Wines & Spirits: Open For Business
- Business Still Healthy For Penn Quarter Restaurants
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Comments
Thanks, I look foward to checking this place out. For me, I will be going to see if Royal Thai is better than Thai Chili, my favorite of the local Thai spots from both a taste and price perspective.
Thankfully, Royal Thai is not another Asian Spice or Asia Nine (i.e., trying to do 10,000 things but doing nothing great), both of which I found to be disappointing.
Interesting. We went when it first opened and thought it was over priced and the food rather poor compared to some of the good thai places down in Arlington. Maybe we will go try it again.
We thought it was good, on par with Thai Chili and the others in the neighborhood, but $1 or $2 more for similar entrees. Arlington, esp along Columbia Pike, definitely has the best Thai food in the area, but they’re not around the corner from our condo.
My only experience with the place came during my lunch hour mid-week. I decided to eat in and after waiting for over 50 minutes for my food, had to ask them to make it to-go so that I could get back to the office within my 1 hour lunch break. It then took another 15 minutes for me to receive my lunch in a bag to-go.
The staff offered no apology but did give me a coke for my trouble…by the way, you get a free coke with any to-go order, so the coke was no big deal!
The food was fine, but everything outweighs that for me. There are other places that the food is as good or better with service standards that are much higher. I won’t go back!
Another Thai Food place opened up on 6th and G, right behind the Verizon Center, called Absolute Thai. Has anyone out there tried it? I think the location is doomed but am curious.
I tried Absolute Thai yesterday. They had a soft opening over the weekend. The food was very good and reasonably priced. I had the massaman curry tofu and my boyfriend had the him-ma-parn chicken and both were very tasty. Despite its unfortunate awning, it was nice inside. I’d definitely go back.
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I’ve been there several times and the food is excellent. Their panang beef green curry chicken are the best I’ve had anywhere. I like the friendly, attentive staff and decor. I wondered if another Thais restaurant could be sustained in Chinatown, and based on my experience, I think they can.