Since coming to Madison, which a lot of people claim to be a foodie city, I struggled to find a number of international cuisines. I finally found good Indian food and Mexican food, and now I can say I found damn good Thai food that meets the expectations that were set while I lived in Chicago. Way better than the pan Asian food that is worshipped in other parts of this city.
The Rising Sons has been around for 2 years now, taking place of some restaurant. I think what gets a lot of people is how small it looks from the outside. Maybe it just leads to some presumption of what you will get, who knows.
I enter the restaurant and was actually surprised by the amount of space in there. Probably a total of 30 to 40 patrons could be seated at all times. Pretty standard decor and the phrase "upgraded ma and pop shop" come to mind when I think of what I saw earlier today. The place was clean and cozy. I made a carry out order via Yelp and was coming to pick up.
I was greeted by a pleasant lady who let me know my order would soon be ready. We chatted and she did let me know some history of the place including that while business has been better, it seems that the West side of Madison has not yet caught on.
I brought my food home and unpacked the shrimp pad thai and chicken satay. The food was accompanied with crushed peanuts and peanut sauce/carrot cucumber salad respectively as traditionally done. Both dishes were piping hot and smelled fresh and reminiscently fragrant of the Thai food of restaurants I frequented in Chicago.
When taking my first bite of the pad thai I had a thrilling rush of flavor explosion followed by warmth in my soul. The food was fresh, authentic, and homemade. High quality ingredients were used and it tasted like it came from a traditional mother's kitchen. Hands down, real damn good.
All in all a great place that needs to be discovered. Hope it becomes the hit it deserves to be.