I don't spend a lot of time on Mercer Island, but came here since I was working in the area. The decor was very pleasing with that modern, trendy asian flair, but it was rather empty for it being just after the lunch hour. Maybe they get slammed for lunch and I happened to arrive afterward?  I dunno. It was a weekday afternoon. Anyway, I decided to go ahead since I was hungry for Thai food and with the Starbucks right next door, I figured I could hop on the wifi and work a bit through my lunch. I ordered the lunch special of the red curry with chicken.  I have to agree with some of the other posters that it was rather pricey for what you get. It was a very simple lunch  with the curry bowl and a small bowl of rice. I didn't like was that the curry was watered down and the chicken wasn't tender. It seemed old.  It wasn't at all spicy even though I asked for medium, so if you like it spicy ask for more stars than you usually order. Also, once I got my food, the waiter disappeared and didn't come to refill my water until I asked for the bill.  I did like the candies that came with the bill though.
Review Source:I thought this Thai restaurant was cute but a bit expensive. Â I got the yellow curry and I had to pay an extra $2.00 for a dinky bowl of white rice. Â The yellow curry was okay but the potatoes were really dark for some reason (as in black potatoes). Â
The total with tax and tip came out to be $16 for one person, one entree. Â I thought this was rather expensive because a lot of Thai places I can get two entrees for around $22-$24 or so.
Also this restaurant played French music (?) which I thought seemed odd.
We have been to this restaurant several times. Â The food is good , the decoration is simple and nice, and atmosphere is friendly. Â The quality of the food is good and every dish that we have tried did not overwhelm us with too much oil or spices. Â Â Tamarind shrimp is my favorite dish. Â Recently a lot of people have discovered this restaurant and on weekends it gets busy and the service suffers.
Review Source:This is a very clean and well-decorated Thai restaurant. I had the gold-stuffed chicken wings which thought I was quite nicely made and well-fried. I also had the rama chicken with 1 star spiciness which end up being flavorless. If you can take mild spice, perhaps try ordering it with 2 stars or above to avoid only tasting the peanut sauce (so note to folks - the stars for spiciness here is American standard). This dish did come with quite a bit of vegetables (broccoli, carrots, and spinach). You can get brown rice with your dish but you need to pay two dollars more. My friend always get the drunken chicken noodles here and this place gives you all lot of chicken and vegetables but not a lot of rice noodles. The service here is quite nice. I might come again and try one of the noodle dishes.
Review Source:Food is mediocre; the dishes we ordered were either a bit too salty or too sweet. The dishes were overpriced by about $2 - $3  per dish compared to other Thai restaurants that have great food.  Phad Thai started at $11 per dish.  In fact all dishes started at $11 - which is definitely on the high side.  Portions are average and by no means justify the cost.  It does have a cozy ambiance. I would give this place a 3 star, and my husband said he would give it a 1 star for quality/taste of food.  The server offered us rice and tea and made it seem like it was free or was included in the stir fry dish we ordered  (who eats stir fry chicken plain?).  But at the end, she charged us $6 for tea ($2 at 3) and $6 for rice ($2 at 3) even though my daughter did not drink tea, and she ordered a noodle dish that did not need rice.  If you are going to charge for rice or tea, you should ask how many servings of rice or how many people are drinking tea, and not just serve it and assume all are going to consume it.  That was a bit annoying but overall the server was pleasant.  If you want good thai food, you definitely have to leave the island.  This place was not very good and really overpriced....especially if you have to pay an extra $2 to $4 for rice.  That would make your chicken stir fry dish $15. Yikes!
Review Source:Pon Proem is better. Â Do not recommend this place. Â Food was bland. Â Service was mediocre. Really hoped it would be better.
If you want great Thai Food, drive off of the island. Â If you want ok Thai food, try the compeitor. Â Why anyone goes here at all astonishes me--I even gave it a second try hoping it would have improved after their initial opening. Â It didn't.
We came to this place by recommendation from friends.I really enjoyed the foods here. My daughter's favorite is potsticker and beef broccoli with jasmine rice. She can eat the whole thing by herself! Other favs include coconut lemonglass soup,basil chicken and purple sticky ricedessert are all amazingly delicious. The service was also good as everyone is attentive and helpful in explaining all the menu items. Super clean, excellent and fast service.
Review Source:I love Anise Thai!! Â This is the only place I go to on MI and choose it over Thai Ginger, in Factoria. Â Anise Thai Cuisine has a gluten free menu! Â Like me, owner's daughter has celiac disease so the owner knows just how important it is to keep the food gluten free. Â I've never had a reaction after eating from there. Â I go so often that the women know me. Â They are always so sweet and accommodating. Â I really like their pad thai and their panang curry is pretty good. Â For the panang, it's pretty spicy, so beware when you determine how many stars you order. Â Enjoy!
Review Source:So happy there is a great Thai place on MI!!
I am very picky with my Thai food, have had ALOT in my day. New owners do a great great job, especially on flavors, and they are not scared of spice. On a scale up 5 stars for hottest, I usually go with a 3.5, very yummy and flavorful and spicy. At ther restaurants I have many times just gotten hot/spice, and not flavor when asking for anything else than mild, ie 0 or 1 star.
My kids love it too.
We tried going to Anise two weeks after it opened but left after 45 minutes stll waiting for menus.
Went back again hoping it was just a rough opening, sorting out staffing......
We were greeting immediately and seated, given menus, and water. Ten minutes later ordered drinks and food. 30 minutes later received drinks (one glass of wine, one bottled beer). One HOUR later received appetIzer. Thirty minutes after that we saw soup come out, and heard server yell at chef that he made it incorrectly. Ten minutes later we received soup (one of our entrees), but waited another 20 for mine. Order was made incorrectly but at this point....why bother. All in all  dinner took THREE hours.
It was not that busy, just three table tops were used, but EVERY table was uncleared.
Food was so-so, the server was pulling her hair out, kitchen disorganized. They need some serious help sorting out staffing, systems, and cooking. Will not return.
Went here for lunch, got to enjoy their lunch combos for $7.95. It is worth every penny. The portions aren't too different from their regular menu portions which is a huge plus. Â The appetizers are a little too expensive for my taste. They cost about the same as a regular entree, but are teeny tiny.
The congee that they give you to start off your dining experience was delicious; but i can imagine how it weird it would taste to a person who hasn't had congee ever before.
We recently moved to Mercer Island and live across the street from Anise Thai. The interior is lovely and the ladies who work there are very sweet.There is a language issue,very hard to order and or inquire about the food. The food was very nicely presented and was as good as it appeared. There was about a 12 min delay between the two dinners that we ordered . Once the bill arrived I found that not only do they charge $2.00 for each cup of rice they also charge $2.00 for  refills of ice tea. We are new to the west coast, (maybe this is normal). They should mention this when they asked if we wanted white or brown rice as if it came with the dish. The food is reasonable but adding on the normal extras it does become a little over priced.
Review Source:Went in here for lunch today with my mother. We ordered the fresh rolls and we both ordered the phad see ew. She ordered it with 3 stars and I ordered it with zero because I have a sore throat. The fresh rolls were uninspired, and the peanut sauce kind of just tasted like ground up peanuts and oil.
Now onto the really disappointing part; the phad see ew. Mine literally tasted like it had been cooked with oil and nothing else, and then had like half a cup of PEPPER dumped on top of it. There was so much pepper, and so little sauce, that you could actually see it and no amount of mixing could fix it. You know that taste that phad see ew has and every thai place manages to replicate? Well, this place didn't get anywhere close. It tasted like if I had attempted to cook thai food one day, and I'm a terrible cook. That's why I go out to eat.
My mothers was so spicy that she could barely eat it. Also, the service was incredibly slow, and when they saw that I hadn't even touched my food they didn't say anything and just removed the plate and continued to charge us the full price.
I won't be back, and I don't recommend it to anyone.
I'm a Thai foodie and the dishes are not even passable. Sorry guys... had to put out this honest review since the food was so off the mark. Oddly, the food was undersalted and seemed flavorless except for mounds of chili sauce which they used to spice up the dish. The chicken satay was overcooked, dry and pasted on with a thick peanut sauce like it was a PBJ sandwich.
We were lured in by the location on 27th as we were driving by, and the decor is better than most Thai places.
Pron just down the street is much better.
My office gals went and the service was slow, didn't bring soup with our combos and didn't listen to our requests. When we asked what the spice levels were they said the two star was mild. After getting our food it was so hot we could not eat it and asked to have it boxed up however, they proceeded to throw it away.....ok,thanks? I guess? I didn't want it anyway? Not really. Instead they said "you must not like spicy food" and walked away.....what happened to customers always being right? When did that go out the window?
Oh well, went to McDonalds to get a soda since my tongue was burning and I needed to soothe the blisters.
Advice: Get NO stars and bring your pocket book :)
I came here with a friend for lunch a couple of days ago and got the fried rice chicken lunch combo. The lunch combos are a really great deal - only 8 dollars, and most of them come with their egg roll, which is now on my top 5 egg rolls list. I'm a spicy food person, so I got three stars, which was nice and hot but not to the point where I wasn't enjoying it. The portions are filling but not disgustingly big, and the rice was quite delicious! I'll definitely come again when I visit the island.
Review Source:Awesome! The food at Anise Thai tasted as good as it looked; both were fantastic. The atmosphere was comfortable and elegant, and the feeling was that our enjoyment of the food was the most important thing. If you like it hot - just ask and you can get it as hot as you like.
My favorite was what they called "pillow noodles" - large square noodles stuffed with vegetables and cooked to perfection. And the mango sticky rice - as good as any anywhere but presented nicer than I have ever seen.
Enjoy!
The moment we walked through the door we felt at home. The atmosphere was very relaxed and the staff friendly and helpful. Not only did the menu look amazing but they had a vegetarian menu as well that looked just as good. I had items off of both menus and all the food was better than I had anticipated. Even the presentation of everything we had was beautiful. I highly recommend the lamb to those of us that are meat lovers. All in all, great food and nice ambiance.
Review Source:We ended up on Mother's Day at a new Thai place on Mercer Island, Anise. We like to support our local places. It looked nice on the inside and it was pretty full. We sat down and our waitress was pretty quick to get our order's. The first problem was the language issue. She could not understand most of what we ordered. I ordered wine and she wanted to bring me champagne. The food was really super pricey and when it finally did arrive (with my wine and not champagne) we could not help but notice the large bug on my son's plate. In addition, the food was all wrong. Somehow tofu and chicken were the same to her. I explained that I do not eat meat and she was in her broken English telling me that tofu and chicken ARE one and the same. Needless to say we won't be back there again. With the plethora of GREAT Thai places near us and in Seattle we don't have to look far. Too bad another place on the Island that will probably end up history.
Review Source:My hubby and I were over on Mercer Island yesterday. Â Never am on Mercer Island but we were meeting a friend in the evening and had a few hours to kill before we met our friend. Â
They are located right next to Starbucks. Â The people were really hospitable. Â We got green curry ($10.95) - a few dollars more than what we are used to paying and the usual chicken phad thai. Â Both were great. Â If we are ever out on Mercer Island again (not a normal thing) I am sure we will remember their restaurant and go back eventually.
The place was clean, nice decor, good food and service. Â Prices a tad bit higher than what we are used to but I always say as long as the food is delicious (which it was) and the service is great. Â I give them two thumbs up. :)
The food was very delicious. Â In the green curry, the eggplant was amazingly good-- I have never tasted eggplant like that before, and I have never seen eggplant sculpted/trimmed so beautifully. Â The pad see ew had nice flavors. Â
Both dishes had white meat. Â Not my preference but it was cooked nicely, not overdone. Â Both dishes were ordered at 1 pepper, but the rice noodles were waayy spicier and had my nose running throughout much of the meal. Â I can't imagine what 4 peppers (which they call "Native Thai" level) is like!
The curry portion size was very disappointing-- a thin curry sauce with a scant cup of vegetables and chicken somewhere in it. Â With only a fork provided and no other utensils, it was not possible to enjoy the large amount of liquid-y curry sauce left at the end of the meal.
Quiet and clean restaurant, good for conversation. Â I agree with Hawker C. that there's something slightly off about the atmosphere-- I think it's the lighting (just a tad too bright and too even), music (unfortunate synthetic elevator tunes), and decor (minimalist). Â Tables had a real flower and a real candle-- but candle was faintly scented, which isn't great for eating with. Â But the atmosphere wasn't a big deal-- just go out with someone you can talk to and it won't matter! Â :)
In sum, I would definitely return to this restaurant and see what else they have to offer.
I had the basil chicken, you know the one. A pretty standard fare dish that can give you a good idea of what the kitchen is capable of.
It consisted of lots of ground chicken meat and very little of anything else. Â No sauce. Â 2 sprigs of basil. Very little veggies.
I was the only one in the place and it took less that 10 minutes to create.
For $12?
C'ome on! Â You shouldn't be able to get away with that crap in Seattle.
Don't EVER BOTHER
We have twice had take-put from Anise. Â You cannot go wrong with the spring rolls or the thai catfish! Â Overall, the food is pretty darn good. Â To be fair, the green curry could have a little more depth to it - but still very good.
As a MI resident (which I am), YOU SHOULD SUPPORT THIS RESTAURANT! Â The restaurant choices on the island are pretty slim. Â It is nice to have a solid addition downtown that is not pizza or a sandwich.
We have eaten here two times now. Â The first time we were here they had just opened, so they were still working out the kinks. Â But...the food was still great. Â Fresh, generous portions, and flavor is amazing.
We were back tonight and had excellent service and great food again. Â I encourage you to give it a try!
This restaurant is now at least the 3rd Thai Restaurant to inhabit this space in the past few years, and I hope it's able to shake the bad luck of being in this building. It has potential -- the food is good, the menu is interesting, and the general atmosphere of the place puts it a step or two above your average strip-mall Thai restaurant.
We've been once, and the best news is that our food was really good. Interesting menu that goes a bit beyond the staples of every Thai restaurant; nicely prepared; generous (and maybe even over-large) servings. We had a wide selection of dishes, and all were very good.
Now the bad news:
- Service here is still pretty shaky. Our tea was served lukewarm to cool, not hot; our food arrived at random intervals; and one of our dishes was prepared completely wrong and had to be sent back. As a result, the interval between the first person in our party getting her main course and the arrival of the 4th person's main course was about 30 minutes. Â I think the staff was still trying to figure out how to use the restaurant's sound system as well - the volume varied widely; the style of music changed abruptly a couple of times.
- Something about the atmosphere of this space has always left me cold, and the new owners have not really fixed it. Not sure what it is -- it's just a little box of a building, but  it seems sterile, cold and over-lit. The place settings and furniture are nice enough; it just doesn't yet seem like  a cozy place to sit and have a meal.
- No liquor license yet.
I think this place has potential, just judged by the quality of the food. But I wish it was run more professionally; the furniture/place settings signal that it wants to be more than a hole-in-the-wall restaurant but based on our experience it needs some experienced, professional oversight to get there.
Here's hoping that they iron out the kinks and have a long run in this space.
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