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| - Sa Bai's two locations, one (recently renovated) on the near West Side, one further West on Odana's restaurant strip, serve reliably satisfying and very tasty Thai food and are justifiably local favorites in a town that loves Thai food and supports quite a few of them for a city of its size. (Lao Lan Xing has its advocates, and is also very good, but I think Sa Bai is the best of the local choices). it's rare for us to enter the University Ave location without running into one or more sets of friends.There is a large menu with many delights; at least until recently, the Odana (not Obama, not Osama) location had a few additional dishes, especially good at dinnertime. The chefs are cooperative with spicing requests, allowing for more assertive dishes than are available in most Madison Asian restaurants. Food usually tastes fresh and lively. Soups and noodle dishes are usually excellent (my wife is addicted to their tofu pad thai, and we both love their tom ka gai); I also enjoy their duck dishes, which are better than most duck dishes available in Madison. Service at the University Ave location is friendly and usually quite quick, even at busy times; the Odana location is spottier, often with long waits at dinnertime. Parking at Univ Ave location can be awkward at peak lunch times--the shopping mall parking lot is relatively small and badly engineered for the activity level.
BTW, for an entirely other dimension in Thai cuisine, get yourselves to Arun's in Chicago for a sublime gourmet tasting menu, at 4 star big city prices and worth every penny (if you have been saving pennies for a long time, and don't need them to pay for health insurance).
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