The complete Mae Phim Thai Restaurant Menu stands as a true reflection of the restaurant’s commitment to providing an authentic and diverse array of Authentic Thai Cuisine in Seattle. Located in the heart of downtown at 94 Columbia St, this establishment offers a vital counterpoint to the city’s busy Seattle Dining Scene. Its comprehensive listing of classic appetizers, vibrant salads, and complex main dishes ensures a satisfying experience for every diner. We will deeply explore the offerings, from rich Curry Dishes to comforting Noodle & Rice Specialties, providing an invaluable resource for planning your next meal.
Navigating the Mae Phim Thai Culinary Landscape
The menu at Mae Phim is meticulously organized to guide patrons through a wide selection of Thai gastronomy, starting with light bites and culminating in hearty main courses. This structured approach helps both newcomers and seasoned Thai food enthusiasts navigate their options efficiently. The prices are competitive for the downtown Seattle area, offering excellent value for the quality and complexity of the dishes served.
The Foundation: Appetizers and Sides
The appetizer selection is designed to perfectly set the stage for the main courses, offering both familiar favorites and unique, lighter options. These starters utilize fresh, high-quality ingredients, prepared with traditional techniques to ensure a crisp texture and bright flavor profile.
The Spring Rolls are a classic starting point. They feature golden-brown wrappers filled with mixed vegetables, served alongside a homemade sweet and sour sauce for dipping. For a fresher, less fried alternative, the Soft Rolls wrap tofu, crisp cucumbers, carrots, lettuce, and basil with rice thread noodles in delicate steamed rice paper. The accompanying homemade sauce complements the cool, herby ingredients.
The Pot Sticker offers a light crispness with a savory filling of ground chicken, baby corn, and green onions. It is paired with the same sweet and sour dipping sauce. A classic choice, the Chicken Satay, provides marinated chicken skewers, a robust flavor that demands the rich peanut sauce served on the side. The Side Orders section ensures completeness, offering crucial additions like Steamed Rice or the savory Peanut Sauce sold by the cup, essential for enhancing numerous main dishes.
Light and Zesty: Salads and Soups
The Salads and Soups section showcases the distinctive hot, sour, and intensely herbaceous flavors that define Thai cooking. These dishes are less about greens and more about a complex balance of protein, herbs, and vibrant citrus dressings. They serve as excellent light meals or palate cleansers.
The Larb Chicken is a quintessential Thai salad. Ground chicken is vigorously tossed with invigorating lime juice, toasted rice powder for texture, fresh cilantro, basil, and a mix of green and red onions. This highly seasoned dish, served with crisp cabbage, delivers a textural and flavor punch that embodies the northeastern Thai style. Another popular choice, Yum Woon Sen, combines clear glass noodles with shrimp, ground chicken, and a medley of fresh herbs and onions, all coated in a bright, spicy dressing.
The restaurant offers two essential Thai soup variations. Tom Yum Gai is the classic hot and sour soup, built on a light, aromatic broth infused with lemongrass, mushrooms, and a sharp hit of lime juice. Conversely, Tom Kah Gai adds coconut milk to the base, transforming the soup into a creamy, richer, and slightly less intense version of the hot and sour experience. Both soups are finished with fresh cilantro and green onions.
The Heart of the Menu: Entrees and Specialties
The Entree section is the core offering, comprising nearly 30 distinct dishes that span the full breadth of Thai culinary techniques—from classic stir-fries to slow-simmered curries and comforting noodle dishes. The consistency of flavor profiles across this wide range speaks to the culinary expertise within the kitchen.
Noodle and Rice Staples
The menu’s selection of stir-fried noodle and rice dishes caters to the fundamental appetite for savory, satisfying carbohydrate bases. These meals are often highly customizable and represent some of the most popular items in Thai cuisine globally.
The Pad Thai is arguably the most famous Thai dish and a cornerstone of the Mae Phim Thai Restaurant Menu. It features Thai rice noodles perfectly stir-fried with chicken, ground peanuts for a crucial textural crunch, green onions, and fresh bean sprouts. Diners have the option of including or excluding egg, tailoring the dish to their preference for a richer or lighter finish. The signature sweet, sour, and savory sauce is the defining characteristic of this dish.
Another strong contender is Pad Kee Mao, often called Drunken Noodles. This dish uses wide rice noodles stir-fried with chicken, basil, onions, bamboo shoots, bell pepper, and broccoli. The addition of chilies and basil gives it a necessary aromatic heat and depth of flavor. For a sweeter, less spicy noodle profile, Phad See Ew is offered as a Chef’s Special. It combines stir-fried rice noodles with eggs, Chinese broccoli, and cabbage in a sweet soy sauce. The combination yields a distinctive smoky, savory flavor.
The Curry Spectrum
Mae Phim Thai Restaurant boasts an impressive range of curries, each utilizing a distinct paste and coconut milk balance to create vastly different experiences. This section highlights the kitchen’s mastery of the deep, complex flavors inherent in slow-cooked Thai curries.
The menu includes the widely recognized trio: Red Curry, Green Curry, and Panang Curry. The Red Curry features a vibrant red curry paste cooked in coconut milk with bamboo shoots, basil leaves, and bell pepper, offering a moderate level of spice. Green Curry Chicken provides a slightly sweeter, brighter, and typically spicier flavor profile, incorporating zucchini, bell peppers, and basil.
For those preferring a peanut-rich flavor, the Massaman Curry is a must-try. This preparation blends red curry with peanut sauce, incorporating potatoes and onions for a heartier texture. It is traditionally served with a side of cucumber sauce to cut through the richness. The Panang Curry, available with either beef or chicken, is a thick, rich, and often spicy curry, focusing on the panang curry paste and basil leaves to create a drier, more concentrated sauce than the other two main curries. The inclusion of Pumpkin Curry as a special demonstrates a seasonal flair, utilizing red curry sauce with chunks of soft pumpkin, basil, and bell pepper, providing an unexpected sweetness and creamy texture.
Signature Stir-Fries and Chef’s Specialties
The extensive selection of stir-fried dishes emphasizes rapid cooking techniques to maintain the freshness and snap of the vegetables and the tenderness of the protein. These dishes rely on specific aromatic combinations, such as basil, garlic, and ginger, to define their unique characteristics.
The Basil Chicken, or Pad Krapow, is a classic high-heat stir-fry featuring sautéed chicken, bell pepper, onions, mushrooms, and an abundance of fragrant basil leaves. It is a highly aromatic dish known for its savory and slightly spicy kick. Another favorite, Cashew Nut Chicken, balances the savory chicken with the richness of cashews, carrots, bell peppers, and onions, often incorporating a light, mildly sweet sauce. The use of cashews adds a buttery crunch that contrasts nicely with the chicken.
A unique offering is the Swimming Rama. This dish showcases chicken sautéed in a rich, creamy peanut sauce, all served over a bed of freshly cooked spinach. It is a visually appealing and deeply satisfying dish that is often less spicy than its curry counterparts. The Mae Pim Special stands out, combining chicken sautéed in a yellow curry sauce with the crunch of cashew nuts, bell peppers, and onions, offering a milder, earthier curry flavor than the main Red or Green options.
From the Chef’s Special section, the Crab Fried Rice elevates a simple dish into an opulent offering. Stir-fried rice is combined with genuine crab meat, eggs, peas, onion, and carrots, then topped with cilantro. This preparation highlights the subtle sweetness of the crab against the savory rice. Crispy Chicken is another standout, featuring perfectly fried chicken coated in a house sweet chili sauce and finished with delicate, crispy basil leaves. The textural contrast and the sweet-spicy glaze make it an appealing choice for a main course. The inclusion of dishes like Ginger Salmon ensures that seafood enthusiasts have well-prepared, flavorful options utilizing aromatic additions like fresh ginger.
Catering and Beverages: Complete Dining Options
To round out the complete dining experience, Mae Phim Thai Restaurant provides options for group dining and a selection of authentic Thai beverages. These sections confirm the restaurant’s commitment to accommodating various dining needs, whether for a quick lunch or a large gathering.
Catering for Groups
The menu’s Party Trays are an important element for large-scale or corporate catering needs. The options are clearly defined, offering both Medium Tray and Large Tray sizes. Customers must choose any one of the restaurant’s entrees per tray, with a minimum requirement of two trays per order. All trays include complimentary rice. The requirement of at least one hour notice for these orders reflects the kitchen’s need for preparation time to maintain quality for larger volumes, underscoring their dedication to fresh preparation.
The Party Trays offer a practical solution for serving authentic Thai food at events. The pricing structure is straightforward: $35.00 for a medium tray and $70.00 for a large tray. This makes planning group meals predictable and efficient, allowing hosts to easily estimate costs while offering a variety of well-loved dishes from the main menu.
The Refreshment Selection
The beverage selection offers both traditional American options and essential Thai drink complements. The presence of Thai Ice Tea and Thai Ice Coffee is standard for an authentic Thai establishment. These drinks are instantly recognizable by their creamy texture, high sweetness, and distinct deep orange color, derived from a blend of black tea, spices, and sweetened condensed milk.
Other options like Hot Tea, Coffee, Soft Drink, and Iced Tea provide familiar choices for all diners. The Thai Ice Tea is particularly important, as its sweetness and creamy coldness provide a perfect counter to the inherent spice and heat found in many of the restaurant’s most popular curries and stir-fries. The cooling effect of the beverage is an essential part of the complete Thai dining experience.
The Desserts section, while concise, offers a traditional finish with Black Rice Pudding. This simple, comforting dessert is made from sweet sticky rice, cooked until tender, and served with a coconut milk drizzle. It offers a light, naturally sweet ending that contrasts nicely with the savory and spicy flavors of the main meal.
The Mae Phim Thai Restaurant Menu is more than just a price list; it is a meticulously crafted document that presents a wide, balanced range of Thai cuisine from the vibrant streets of Bangkok to the distinct flavors of the northeastern region. Each section is thoughtfully curated to ensure high quality and variety, providing Seattle diners with an authentic and deeply satisfying culinary experience, whether they are ordering a simple lunch or planning a major catered event.
Last Updated on November 29, 2025 by Alex Cesaria
Alex Cesaria is the creative force behind Nomad Girl, an all-day café and ristorante with a signature Milanese flair located in the heart of Nomad, New York City. With years of experience in the hospitality industry, Alex blends refined Italian sensibilities with New York’s energetic dining culture to create a place that feels both elegant and welcoming.