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Sookjai Thai Restaurant
- Hours:
Mon-Fri 11 am - 2:30 pm
Mon-Thu 5 pm - 8:30 pm
Fri-Sat 5 pm - 9:30 pm
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
6 reviews for Sookjai Thai Restaurant
6 reviews in English
-
Review from Jason L.
Best Thai food in Victoria. Maybe it just took me eating at the other two over-hyped Thai restaurants in downtown Victoria to realize that Sookjai was by far the best in town.
Fun fact: "Sookjai" means "Don't worry, be happy" in Thai, and this is exactly how you'll feel here
FOOD:
+ Chicken satay: actually grilled and fit the bill compared to other dtown Victoria competitors
+ Penang curry: a red curry with chicken as the protein by default. We chose a medium spice level and it was absolutely delicious. The freshness of the ingredients will really pop out at you
+ Pad thai: ah, the quintessential Thai dish (at least to non-Thai people), was the bellwether that we measured Sookjai against Siam Thai and Baan Thai. The pad thai was perfect -- chewy noodles, not oversauced, healthy apportionment of the veggies, prawns were fresh and not gamy at all good spice
+ Fried rice: fried rice is fried rice, delicious nonetheless, and exemplary with the penang curry
+ Thai iced tea: they blend their tea with ice cubes to create a slurpee of sorts. I like this method because it prevents the tea from seeming to sweet or too thick
OTHER:
+ Service: there was only one waitress working, but she was able to handle our order and food without problem or hesitation
+ Ambiance: the restaurant has much nicer furnishings than Siam Thai or Baan Thai, but still has that eclectic touch of random wall hangings and 60s/70s music playing. It's a dim, small space, but very comfortable
+ Cleanliness: the restaurant is very clean, and there is no worker mopping the floor while you eat causing you to inhale bleach fumes (*cough* Siam Thai *cough*)
I highly recommend coming to Sookjai with a date or a friend just to get a solid, quality Thai meal. Anything less and you'll be sad face -
Review from Rita C.
Saanich, BC
12/13/2009
Sookjai's my boyfriend's favourite thai place in Victoria, and I make it a habit every now and then to surprise him at home with some takeout from here. They're always fast with friendly and efficient service-- even at busy times, I can get delicious food from here within 15 minutes to go. The decor is authentically thai and lovely, and the atmosphere's accordingly pleasant.
Here's a caveat about my review though: since my boyfriend's a vegetarian, I've only ever had the veggie dishes here. But what I have had has been wonderful, and I especially love the red curry with bamboo shoots and peppers ($13, I believe)-- the veggie version has yummy tofu, but there's a version with chicken if you'd like some meat. Portions are large, and it's a great value for your money. They've a full bar, with beer on tap. I have no idea how they fit so much goodness into this small place.
Oh, and as Christine C., says, the coconut rice is delicious! -
Review from Dustin D.
Victoria, BC
8/31/2010
Fairly disappointing. I was expecting something at least in the upper echelon of Victoria Thai food places, but sadly I was met with one of the most boring tasting phad thai's I've ever had.
The ingredients were fresh, the restaurant itself is reasonably nice inside, our server was friendly and polite if not somewhat overburdened with the whole restaurant to herself. Both myself and my guest felt the lunch items we had were totally uninspired and lacking well rounded flavour. The vegetarian spring roll was not bad. The food was a bit slow to arrive for a lunch special item as well. If they could just deliver more on the flavour, they would have a solid restaurant.
Sadly sookjai thai will not be making it into my rotation. -
Review from christine c.
Victoria, BC
10/14/2009
Sookjai Thai used to be sooo dreamy delicious. That was a couple years ago. Their old chef Thai Mike made panang like no other. He is now gone. I shed a small tear when this happened as their food quality flew south, and not just for the winter. Don't get me wrong. The food isn't bad. You could drag me there if you tried. Don't try. We have better places. I feel bad, because Sumchai the owner is so sweet.
One thing I like? Coconut rice. Heck yes! Non-traditional, yummy coconut rice. AND coconut ice cream! 2 things! Sumchai makes a mean coconut ice cream! Ok maybe you can drag me there. One bowl of coconut rice with a side of coconut ice cream please. -
Review from Jessica L.
Edmonton, AB
9/19/2009
This restaurant is small and very clean. We wandered in at 8:45 at night after finding that the restaurant we meant to go to closed at 8:30 on a Friday night! This was a great accidental second choice and they seated and served us despite closing themselves at 9:30.
We ordered a Thai Caesar which was pleasantly spicy but not burning as well as a cold Singha. We started with Chicken Satay which arrived quickly and warm, well cooked and with very well made peanut sauce and a small cucumber salad. We gobbled them down quickly and just in time for our main dish to arrive. We ordered a plate of Pad Thai with Chicken to share and it was more than enough food for two very hungry tourists! The noodles were soft and but not mushy and the dish was well accented with chicken, tofu and egg. The sauce was nice and not overpowering. I asked for hot sauce on the side as I LOVE thai food crazy hot and was very pleased when 3 choices were brought to my table: chilis in a vinegar sort of sauce, chilis in fish sauce, and chili sauce. I tried a bit of each and settled on the very spicy chili sauce as a favorite for this dish.
We finished our food with a good serving left over, packaged it up, and left the restaurant very satisfied. Total cost: 34$ including tip. -
Review from john h.
7/21/2009
Very flavorful. Good service. They willingly customized my order.
