Manee Thai

Ordered one of the spicy tofu dishes today as take out. Terrible. It had no flavor (no spice) and the tofu was hard. How hard is it to cook tofu? I couldn’t even finish my dish. I had to throw out most of it and I am a college student (can’t afford to throw out food).

Good lunch specials on the cheap. I have driven by here for years and decided to try it. They had a few specials for $ 7.95. I got the chicken pad Thai and some soup as part of the special. I give it 4 stars for the value. The food was good but nothing special. But, hey, what do you want for less than $ 8? If I was rating just the food, I would give it 3 stars. I was the only customer but my waitress was pleasant and attentive. No complaints there. A guy did come in to pick up a carry-​out order while I was eating. Again, if you want a 4 or 5-​star dining experience, you will pay double or more. It really boils down to what type of experience you want to have.

I’ve never had pork fried rice which was just steamed brown rice and soggy pork. How does pork get soggy? Did they run out of onions? I’ve also never had a chicken satay I didn’t like. Mannie gave me two firsts.
Thankfully they were out of fish!
100% true to form the service wasn’t good and of course nobody bothered to ask if the food was Ok since they knew it wasn’t and don’t care.
I don’t plan to ever return here despite it being the closest restaurant to my home. The place is sort of dark and lacking in atmosphere also.
A woman sat down at the bar and ordered a glass of red wine. I swear the glass was coated in dust but she seemed fine with it. What?
I texted my friend as I was paying my bill. «I tried Mannie Thai so you don’t have to.»
Bangkok 54 is just down the street and much more satisfactory.
Don’t be that Thai!

This place has been here forever and its good at lunch. Gets a lot of customers from the Pentagon and nearby. The food is good, the restaurant is outdated but the food is consistently good. Portions are big, you will take food home.

I come here to get my yellow Thai curry fix. And their «Musaman Curry» is amazing!?! My husband calls it peanut butter chicken but I like to stick to yellow Thai curry hehe.
If you read all the other reviews, they talk about a lot of other things.
You gotta come here for the FOOD — that’s it. You want good Thai food, this is a good Thai place. Almost anything we order here is delicious: dumplings, chicken satay (chicken on a stick with peanut sauce) fried rice, spicy pork, duck, etc. AND portions are definitely worth your money. You’ll either get stuffed finishing everything or you got lunch to take to the the next day!
And that’s why we come back even though: the service is a bit slow, the place is uneventful and a little gloomy.
I’m excited to eat outside on their little patio area when it gets warmer. Drinks are good here too. Thai iced tea is a staple!

Had a horrible experience a month ago at Manee Thai. Went in on Friday, December 6, for dinner, and there was one woman serving the whole restaurant, bar included. I ordered the deck curry while my wife ordered another dish. Both came out together, but the woman did not understand that I wanted the duck curry and not the crispy duck. I got up and walked to her to get her attention, and when we got to my table, she told me the crispy duck was in fact my duck curry. It took her a couple of minutes to realize that I ordered duck curry and not crispy duck. Then she took my dish and we waited another 15 minutes for my duck curry to come out. My wife’s dish was cold by then, and the woman did not offer any discounts or comps. I only live a block from there, but I will NEVER go back again.

Pad Thai and Thom Kha soup are delicious. Most of their business comes from delivery, but you’ll find yourself perfectly comfortable dining in as well. I eat here all the time and the dishes can be hit or miss. Find what you like and stick to it type of place. Awesome prices.

Stopped by for some late lunch after getting our hair done at Ly’s next door, but we were quite disappointed.
The décor inside is quite… interesting. Tacky? Lots of big plastic lights and foam letters on one side of the wall… and the restaurant was a bit dark. Something about how the restaurant was set up felt a bit grimy to me, actually.
We shared an order of the steamed dumplings and the shrimp pad thai. Both came out quickly, but were pretty greasy, which is never appetizing. Flavor was OK once you got through the grease, but nothing great.
Our waitress was nice but there was another manager who was sitting at a computer at the bar the entire time we were there and never looked up.
Won’t be back.

Meh. 2 ½ stars. I ordered delivery from here the other night because delivery from my favorite thai place down the street that shall remain nameless, was estimating 1.5 hours for delivery and I just couldn’t wait that long. Plus this place had online ordering, which was perfect for my antisocial self and I didn’t have to talk to anyone. Advantage — Manee Thai.
We ordered the spring rolls, beef with veggies and the panang curry. The spring rolls were good — very crunchy and greasy and everything one could want out of a spring roll. Yes, they are filled with purple cabbage and cellophane noodles — but really, deep fried anything is delicious. So yeah, pretty tasty.
The panang curry was very aromatic but when I actually took a bite — there was a severe lack of flavor. I couldn’t tell what was missing but it was just not quite right. The beef was cooked well, but it got lost in the mass amount of watery broth that was the curry sauce.
The beef with vegetables looked pretty good but had an oil slick on it that made it look very unappetizing. Boyfriend said it tasted okay, but there was no way i was touching that.
Also, perhaps the weirdest thing about our order — our rice was undercooked and kind of crunchy. I mean, not inedible, but still crunchy.
I thought portion sizes were decent and they delivered quickly — would I order from there again? Possibly, but only if the two other great thai places on the street have extremely long waits.

I’ve come here twice. Once in the middle of the afternoon for an extremely late lunch/​early dinner last week, and then again last night for take out. Both times have been great!
I really like their pad see ew which I’ve gotten both times as well. I got the chicken the first time, and for the second I ordered both chicken and steak and let my boyfriend pick the option of which one he wanted.
First experience was nice. There was not anyone in there at all except me and the girl working behind the bar, in turn, was also my server. I ended up sitting at the bar for an hour taking my time with my meal and channel surfing. I watched a lot of CNN in that one hour, but it was just nice having the solitude. I didn’t drink a thing other than water… I certainly hope that didn’t come off as me sitting at a bar alone and well… drinking at 3 in the afternoon. Totally was not the case.
As mentioned, I got the pad see ew with the added request of more egg in it. It tasted really good. I added soy sauce to it as well to give it a little more flavor than what it had. Still, they are not stingy with the meat and the meal was just well prepped.
My second visit, I was in and out in 15 minutes. It was a bit busier this time and it was during dinner rush… minus the real rush. This time, they didn’t add any soy sauce in the to-​go which was a bit of a downer because the pad see ew didn’t really have any flavor in this meal. I had to go to my neighbor who just happened to have a huge bottle of soy. My boyfriend and I did enjoy them once again. It just sucks they don’t come with enough flavor in the dish itself.
Man, I really should branch out and try something different and branch out of my comfort zone…
I think I will end up coming here more often than I should considering this walking distance from my apartment. Kudos to having a neighborhood Thai place.

I tried Manee Thai once and it was OK, but with better Thai in the area, there is no need to return. I ordered drunken noodles and spring rolls. While the spring rolls were good sized and crisp, they were filled with purple cabbage, and I was not a fan. The drunken noodles were super greasy and not spicy, as requested.
Delivery was fast and the driver friendly, but I’d order somewhere else before returning.

Got delivery from here. The delivery was fast and the guy was very sweet, but the food was bland and greasy.

Food is okay. Price reasonable.
Atmosphere is a bit weird because as other reviewers said, this place is never busy.
We went to this place for lunch one Saturday, we are the only customers.

Blech– Manatee Thai stays in business only because of bar patrons NOT because there food is good friends!
Horrible food, horrendous service, dismal atmosphere. Go to Rincome or Bakok 54!

Meh… was super hungry so I stopped here to order a New York Strip Steak… yeah I know what you’re thinking. WTH did she order a NY Strip Steak from a Thai restaurant…
Look…don’t judge me. I was hungry. At least it wasnt McDonalds!
The décor was… interesting. Not sure what to think of it but, it was all very… stimulating. A lot to see.
My steak was.terrible. I had better beef at my high school’s cafeteria back in the day.
So…I probably won’t be back…

I really like this place. They have a lunch special for $ 7.95 that comes with a drink. The chicken phad thai is my favorite. I also enjoy the full size bar they have. I have to admit, the interior set up is wild. There’s a life-​size Santa in a corner, and a whole wall of magazine photos plastered up of old American 50’s idols. It’s a unique place. I’ve never seen it too busy though.

I love Thai food and I will try it from just about anywhere at least once even the mall, I know, I know, don’t judge me, lol. Anyway Manee is my little hidden Thai place… it is not some place you go for décor or ambiance; however, the food is very good. On any given night there might even be a few creepy old men sitting at the bar watching sports or TV., but like I said the food is worth a few awkward stares, lol. I have enjoyed many a plates of Pad Thai here and they make it spicy to your taste… I also like that they give you extra peanuts and chili sauce at the table.
For ambiance and décor the place gets a zero, but the food is good and it is priced well… it’s a neighborhood Thai place and it serves its purpose.

This place is just okay. The pad thai was greasy. The tom yum soup was not very spicy.
They renovated this place but the renovations are very odd. It is an eclectic mix of furniture, lighting and so on, with no constant theme.
When we went, there were a few people there but each person was sitting alone. There were also a few people sitting alone at the full bar. It all made for a very odd atmosphere.
They have a small outdoor seating area.
My main concern here was the food. It was okay at best.

It reminds me of every single other unremarkable Thai restaurant that I have been to. The food is good but not great. Their «outdoor patio» is a joke — — I don’t know why anybody would want a view of their seedy parking lot.

After five years living in the area, I’d made Bangkok 54 my go-​to Thai restaurant. They have a stylish interior, good food, and they deliver. At the same time, I’ve ignored the other Thai restaurants on Columbia Pike’s «Thai Alley». Manee Thai specifically just never looked very attractive from the outside, and I constantly overlooked it. Until this past week. On a whim, we dined there for lunch to try it out. We were very pleasantly surprised.
Manee Thai is located in an older, run down strip center on Columbia Pike, better known for having LA Bar and Grill on the lower level. Upon entering, I was shocked to see the incredibly trendy, lounge-​like atmosphere. The owners have really spruced up the place, and used a lot of great design to come up with this black painted space. The bar is attractive, and the seats and tables are stylish. I think if more people could see the interior from the street, Manee Thai would have a lot more traffic. Which brings me to my next point, the place was dead. Granted it was a weekday late lunch, but it was totally empty. I guess this just ensured we got our food quicker and fresher.
We started with the spicy lemongrass soup which was excellent. Spicy, but retaining the lemongrass flavor. I ordered the Fiery Kaprow, my wife ordered the drunken noodles. The drunken noodles tasted incredibly fresh with a spicy and delicious sauce. Compared to Bangkok 54, these were far superior. The ingredients seemed of higher quality, and the preparation was top notch. The fiery kaprow was tasty, spicy, and fresh, although not as mind blowing as the drunken noodles. This food was affordable with our total bill being under $ 20.
I noticed they had a nice outdoor seating area for when it’s warmer. All in all, Manee Thai offered a rewarding, delicious, and underrated Thai meal. With all of the Arlington Thai options, Manee Thai will be one of our go-to’s. If only they delivered also…