Staying late on campus often means eating in the area, and when you’re looking for a reprieve from Roly Poly or La Madeleine, WaiWai Kitchen is a great option.
WaiWai is located where Chinese restaurant General Joe’s Chopstix used to be, and offers much better, fresher Asian fare.
The mainly Thai restaurant’s main appeal, besides location, is how fast the food is prepared.
Ordering is in a similar set-up to the popular Pei Wei. Pick your entrée, choose a protein, and order at the counter.
Whether you call in an order or eat there, chances are you won’t wait more than 15 minutes for your food.
Appetizers include traditional Thai items like tom yum or tom gha soup, chicken satay and crispy spring rolls. But WaiWai’s menu also touches briefly on popular Japanese and Chinese items like edamame, miso soup and vegetable sushi, as well as chicken lettuce wraps and tulip dumplings.
Be sure to try the tom yum, which has a sweet coconut flavor that melds nicely with chicken.
WaiWai also extends its main menu to include non-Thai items like orange chicken and teriyaki chicken, as well as sushi rolls.
The sushi does not include any raw fish; options include the mustang roll – which comes with grilled beef, mayonnaise and cucumber – and the Bangkok roll – with mango, carrot, cucumber and chili.
But WaiWai’s best entrées have rich, tangy Thai flavors.
The Thai Peanut, which comes with your choice of protein, steamed broccoli and bean sprouts, is served with a thick peanut sauce, an intense flavor that manages not to overwhelm the tongue.
If you are not afraid of spicy food, do not skip the Sriracha fried rice, a combination of egg, onion, scallions and protein doused with a heavy hand of the Thai chili sauce. The result is a phenomenally spicy yet phenomenally delicious version of classic fried rice.
The Pad Kee-Mao, or drunken noodles, is another tasty Thai specialty with a heady mix of bell pepper, eggs, onion and basil leaves. The basil’s zesty flavor infuses the dish, which works best with beef. But you can also order the entrée with vegetables, tofu or chicken.
While most of WaiWai’s Thai options are well worth it, you should probably skip the Pad Thai.
Pad Thai is probably the best known of all Thai dishes, but the restaurant’s version comes up short. At best it is a listless dish, bordering on too saucy and hardly even average.
All of WaiWai’s entrees are affordable in price. Appetizers range from $2.95 for the edamame to $6.55 for chicken lettuce wraps. Curry is $7.55, no matter what protein you choose, and noodles and fried rice are $6.95. In fact, no entrée is priced at more than nine dollars.
So next time you’re around campus and looking for somewhere to eat, try WaiWai.
The restaurant is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, and is located at 3020 Mockingbird Lane. For more information, visit .waiwaikitchen.com.
