Thaiger Room

My experience of Thaiger room is plentiful in quantity but limited in diversity: it is cheap and close to the UW, but there aren't very many menu options that can be made without fish sauce/shrimp paste (all curries and anything with peanut sauce can't be made vegan, nor can many of their speciality noodle dishes), so I end up eating the same dish every time I go.

The dish is Garlic Pepper Tofu, and I happen to like it, so my experience tends to be good.
I order it with soft tofu and specify no fish sauce. The dish amounts to a stir fry with veggies and tofu and rice, and comes loaded with chopped garlic and (on a good day) a visible dose of ground white pepper. The sauce tends to be flavourful without being too greasy, and is definitely not sweet. One problem is that the spice level doesn't seem to be consistent... I tend to order it 3 stars, a level which varies from burning the heck out of my mouth to being completely undetectable.
As a whole, there are probably plenty of better Thai restaurants in the city, but for me, this place has a specific function as purveyor of cheap, garlicky, non-sweet, non-fishy stir fry and that keeps me coming back.

4228 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
(206) 632-9299
http://www.thaigerroom.com/