Bye-bye, Thai?

Someone e-mailed us a few weeks ago saying they had heard Thai on Alki (1325 Harbor Ave, next to Alki Tavern) was going out. So we’d been keeping an eye on it; drove by last night and, for the first time, noticed the interior looked fairly empty except for people doing some work; went by this morning to try to find out more — the signage is gone (as shown at left), the place looks cleaned out. No permit applications for anything at the site, no note on the door; the phone is answered with an announcement that sounds like business as usual, but it didn’t allow message-leaving. Looking up the corporate registration for the company that holds the business license, we found the name is the same as someone who had a Craigslist ad up a few weeks ago (pointed out to us at the time by a reader) selling restaurant items (the ad’s not cached in Google but one line of text from it that is, includes the Thai on Alki number). Another tidbit noted during research: The parcel has been owned since 2004 by “Salty’s Properties.”

A October 31, 2007 (1:21 pm)

Good riddance – the food sucked.

Kayleigh October 31, 2007 (1:53 pm)

Maybe something more…er, edible will move in.

JT October 31, 2007 (3:41 pm)

Clearly the leader in your quest for food poisoning in West Seattle.. The only surprise is that its not the health department closing it down.

dq October 31, 2007 (4:18 pm)

while taking the 37 the other day, i did see a U-Haul truck out front with people moving things out….

scott October 31, 2007 (4:28 pm)

Having been a Salty’s employee, I would almost guarantee that the owner will expand their office space.

carraignasplinkeen October 31, 2007 (4:55 pm)

We ate there a long time ago and my husband got very sick on something I didn’t have–we never went back. From the postings, I guess it wasn’t a fluke.

marty November 1, 2007 (9:47 am)

Property Ownership: Jerry Kingen (Salty’s owner) has owned the triangle shaped piece of property that includes the newer condos, Alki Thai and the old Embers (torn down) since the early 1970’s. The land at the point of the triangle where the condos are located was sold about 10 years ago. His original intent was to develop the Embers into a nightclub, but lack of parking in the area stopped that. The existing buildings have had almost no maintenance over the years. From the road above you can see that the roofd consist of several blue tarps. The Embers building was torn down because it was past the point of being repaired. Most likely future use of the property will be for condo development.

MsBette November 1, 2007 (11:53 am)

I can’t figure out how several Thai restaurants that serve bad food keep going as long as they do. Another place comes to mind – the Tum Yum-something in the Junction. It is a huge space, and no one is ever in there that I’ve seen. My husband went once and hated the food, and the staff treated him like he was bothering them. It’s got to be a high rent area – how do they do it?

JumboJim November 2, 2007 (10:50 am)

Hi MsBette,

Not sure if the place you mentioned (Tum Yum-something) is the same one I’m thinking of, but the Junction’s Thai place that is s a block south of Alaska (on the east side of Calif.) was very good the one time I went there. This was about 3-4 months ago. Granted, once is not much of a smaple size, but there were two in our party and we both liked it.

That said, I really like the Thai place a little bit south of Admiral, on the west side of California. I think that one is called Pailin Thai, or something like that. I’ve been there quite a few times in the last year and think its excellent.

MsBette November 2, 2007 (11:36 am)

I agree, JumboJim, Pailin Thai is great, as well as Buddha Ruska. But even if you liked that other Thai place, I have never seen more than a couple tables being used whenever I have walked by there. How do they stay in business, with rent on such a huge space?

GenHillOne November 3, 2007 (8:29 am)

We pick up to-go from Tom Yum Koong all the time – easy when you have other errands at that end of the junction. They started delivery some time ago too, but couldn’t tell you if they still do or not. Maybe they do enough of that kind of business to pay the rent? It’s good Thai “fast food” – we choose Buddha Ruska for more creative selections.

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