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| - Who knew you'd find a good Thai/Vietnamese restaurant all the way down Independence? Indian Trail now houses this little shining star and beckons all those who crave Pad Thai, Pho, and boba tea.
Once the typical Sunday Thai craving set in, my wife and I were listing off our typical go-tos as we thumbed through our bookmarks. Enter: Thai Viet. One of the places we had yet to try and decided to traverse ever-hated Independence Blvd for a taste.
The unsuspecting space rests amongst a few other small businesses in a strip right off of 74. Not much to look at from the road and the sign is kinda small. If you're headed south, just look for it on your left about 2-3 miles after you pass under I-485.
The interior is pretty plain. Just booths and a few knickknacky things for decor. We got our menus and started with some tempura veggies. "Meh" is all I can say about these. We should have known better to get these, but they did sound so good. The veggies were a little too tender for some and pretty bland. The sauce they came with was reminiscent of Japanese steakhouse "white sauce" and was overtly sweet. Not my bag.
For entrees, I went with the Pud Thai and added the seafood mix. Not a typical order for me, but I wanted to try something new. Brilliantly flavored rice noodles, a smattering of veggies throughout, and a mix of mussels, shrimp, crab, squid, and scallops. The seafood was pretty fishy and might not have been the best grade from the day's catch. I picked around most of it, but at least tried a bit of each. It was definitely interesting and I'm glad I tried it. The noodles and usual Pad Thai suspects within were spot on.
The owner was really nice and upfront with my wife about the veggie Pho. He even claimed, "Well, if you want veggie broth, it will be pretty bland." Really great to have that honesty. Though we didn't find it to be bland at all! It was packed with veggies and just needed a little sprucing up with Sriracha. Love the mix of their broth(s), too.
The price was ridiculously affordable. Competitive compared to some of the other places in town.
Should we be in the area, or just in the mood for more Thai/Vietnamese in the near future, Thai Viet will be in the mix.
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