Sawatdee Bar & Cafe
$$ - average
Thai
Warehouse district version of the local chain
Sawatdee is one of the twin cities perennial favorite Thai restaurants. 10 locations in the metro area, but this is my favorite one.
If you're looking to order food veg, make sure you let your server know. They do use fish sauce in quite a few of their recipes, but will prepare them without when asked.
- Delivery
Added by Missy on Mar 26 03 (updated Jul 18)
Reviews
I walked into Sawatdee confident I could find something vegetarian. Everything but EVERYTHING was made with Fish Sauce. I've been a vegetarian since I was five, and I could smell it right away when I walked in. I ordered springrolls and almost vomited when i bit into it, and even that had "essence" of fish sauce in it. ugh. I can't even imagine whats in the back of that kitchen. I woudldn't trust anything vegetarian on that menu.
I have asked numerous waiters at the St. Cloud Sawatdee if the Country Style Curry (w/Tofu) has any fish or oyster sauce...on three different occassions they said no.
I don't know if all of the Sawatdee Restaurants are uniform, but I imagine they can make a dish without fish sauce.
They have the BEST tofu ever!
The sign out front says "Seafood and Vegetarian," but who in their right mind would consider fish sauce to be vegetarian-friendly? They put it in almost every dish. The last time I went (the last time I intend to go - ever) I ordered pad thai with tofu and it tasted suspiciously fishy. I alerted the waiter and he said he'd take it back to the kitchen and have it remade. He returned with the same plate saying that the "ladies in the back" claimed the original dish had no fish sauce in it - I was mistaken. Honey, I've been a vegetarian for 15 years and I know fish when I taste it. Even by meat-eater standards this place isn't that amazing. I mean, they put iceberg lettuce in their spring rolls. Iceberg freakin' lettuce. Just avoid this place...
it's easy to dismiss our one ubiquitous "chain" Thai restaurant as mediocre and americanized (both often true), but at the same time they can turn out some pretty decent food on a good day.
however, definitely be sure to find out if a dish is vegan/vegetarian, or can be made that way. in addition to the usual Thai culprits of fish sauce, shrimp paste and oyster sauce, i was informed once by a server that the innocent-sounding 'country vegetable curry' is in fact made with chicken broth. where on earth they got the loony idea that a Thai green curry should be made with chicken broth is beyond me. it's a good thing i hadn't ordered that dish that day, or else i may have melted into a sorry puddle of contamination like the wicked witch of the west.
a lot of the variation in food quality from visit to visit just seems to depend on who's in the kitchen that day. this also applies to their spicyness level of 1-5: on any given day, a 2 could be more what you'd consider a 4, or vice versa. the sole regulator of heat seems to be how much crushed red chili pepper the cook decides to throw in the dish. so if you are sensitive to spicy food, you might want to aim low, just to be safe.
I pretty much only go here when I have a hankering for Curry Fried Rice & tofu (without the eggs). Not alot of consistency when it comes to most entrees though. Sometimes they're fine, and you get what you order, other times not so good.
The food is good but not the best in the cities that I have had. I prefer Chiang's in Uptown. Excellent food and excellent service at Chiang's.