chantanee thai restaurant & bar

the food is as good as it was in the old location, but the newlocationand the addition of the yuppie cocktail bar is a turn-off for me (and probably anyone with kids). i would recommend pen thai (in bothell, same owner i think) or o'char (in eastgate) over this pretentious place.

best thai. one of the best places for thai food. i used ot go to their old locationin bellevue and the newlocationis equally good. a bit pricy though.

two long-standing thai restaurants on the eastside: chantanee and bai tong with similar offering, here is the low-down. i still remembered i had to travel to bai tong in sea-tac in the early 90s for some decent thai food; and now there are 3 bai tongs! chantanee moved from its oldlocationto the current key bank one many years back as well due to the on-going bellevue downtown development. one of my favorite thai dishes is the thai fish cake (hence my excitement to try fish cake factory ). i believe chantanee won the fish cake battle. chantanee’s fish cakes were bouncy, fluffy and full of curry flavor; chopped green beans were still crunchy inside — excellent; versus bai tong’s were harder and more dense. dh’s favorite was pad thai...

better than expected, but pricey and lacking authenticity.. we had been to the "old" chantanee once before, at the recommendation of a friend, and weren't crazy about the food or atmosphere.

much to our delight, both have improved (but, keep reading) since the move to their newlocationat the bottom of the key center building in downtown bellevue. my wife and i enjoyed quality glasses of red wine, on happy hour, appetizers and entrees. the food was very well-prepared, it tasted great, and the portions were generous, but not huge. we had some leftovers. my wife had a craving for phad thai that night (we had just returned from a vacation in mexico and were in dire need of something other than chips, salsa y guacamole) and she left very satisfied. i ordered the garlic lovers from the "wok-fried" section of the menu. we appreciated that the menu clearly gave us the option to substitute mushroom sauce for oyster sauce, since my wife is vegan-"ish." that was extremely helpful.

however... i'm all for variety, but the menu was too large, in my opinion. i'm a believer in "do few things extremely well," instead of "do many things, but be average." i think the large menu could take away from chantanee being seen as a quality, authentic thai restaurant and instead lump it into the "asian fusion" category.

also, although we enjoyed our food/drinks, the bill was my least favorite part of the experience. this is probably the most expensive thai restaurant i've been to (maybe i'm cheap?). there's definitely a bellevue premium, and leasing that particular space can't be cheap, so i can't say i don't understand, but still... not sure i'll be willing to pay that much for thai when i know of other, equally good (dare i say, better?), more affordable places on the other side of the lake.

one more observation, then i'll shut up - it was very modern for a thai place. our server was in black dress pants, a dress shirt, tie and vest. it didn't do much for the authenticity factor. again, probably a result of the location, but it just didn't "fit."

chantanee now open at their new location.... dined at the newlocationlast night.
very nice place, good service - good food.
the atmosphere is decidedly more upscale from the previous location.
they are at the key bank building but not accessible from inside the building. rather - you have to get out the building and enter their establishment from outside, via the stair walkway between the bellevue transit center and galleria.
their new menu is now available online at their website.
nice new bar, too...

good to have them back!

missing it. we loved chantanee and while we were disappointed when it closed we knew we could look forward to it opening at its newlocation- but it still hasn't opened - what's up?