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| - Thai food is one of my passions. I long ago stopped eating Chinese food entirely--bland piles of flavorless noodles and weird sticky-sweet sauces, no thank you. And I don't have any use for cloying, syrupy Pad Thai dishes that roll around begging for your attention like some filthy two-dollar noodley whore. I like my Thai food spicy. Thai spicy. Pink Pepper delivers, and for that I dub thee the Best Thai in Phoenix.
My personal favorite dish is called "Spicy Green Bean with Tofu", aka Prik King. I'm a vegetarian, and they have a ton of veg options, but not to worry, carnivores, they've got your back. Unbelievably flavorful, with fresh vegetables--not fresh-frozen, really fresh. And spicy? They ask you to order your spiciness based on a 1-to-10 scale, 10 being the surface of the sun. Not coincidentally, very much like the "pain scale" you may find at hospitals. I order a 10, and they always ask me "are you sure?"--possibly for insurance purposes. So so good. If your tastes are milder, they'll take care of you. You'll get less heat but no less flavor.
I've only had the lunch buffet once--and it is a bit milder, as one would expect when feeding a crowd of suburbanites. It's a great opportunity to try dishes you've never had before, and if you want something stronger they're more than happy to let you order off the menu.
The service? Well, I live in California and I don't get into town that often. I've only eaten at the Pepper maybe 10-15 times over the last few years. But every time I walk in, the wait staff greets me by name and remembers what I ordered on my last visit. Incredibly nice folks.
Atmosphere? Well, it's 1985 in there. I like 1985. Kind of a teal green/gray combo. It's a high end Miami Vice video type thing, sans neon. It's very unique, it has character and I sincerely hope they leave it the way it is. It's clean, well-kept, nice low-level lighting, great for a first date.
To recap: stop reading this and get down there post-haste.
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