Restaurant review: Thai Chili Asian Grill

By Stan Dyer

If you are looking for a nice, light and inexpensive lunch or dinner with an "Asian" flair, Thai Chili might just fill the bill. Located at 5725 Yukon Street, (right behind Bella Bistro and just off Ralston Road), in Arvada, this restaurant offers a number of familiar favorites as well as a few "Americanized" versions and plenty of vegetarian choices.

On this most recent visit, we sampled the "Drunken Noodles with Tofu" and the "Tofu Vietnamese Rice Noodle Plate". Both dishes were very good. They were nicely spiced, very fresh and very tasty. The Drunken Noodles are advertised as a "hot and spicy" dish, but, as with most restaurants, only the most timid of taste buds would find this either hot or spicy. I was pleased there was plenty of Sriracha chili sauce right on the table. For those who have not tried it, Sriracha is an Asian version of hot sauce that is very nice and very spicy. It helped even out the spice a bit. With this dish, I did like the way the tofu was grilled to improve the flavor and texture, but I wish the chef would use whole chilies instead of chili flakes. The Vietnamese Rice Noodle Plate came in a nice presentation and was very fresh and light. The tofu in this dish also was sliced in strips and grilled to improve the texture. It had a nice, pleasing flavor

The noodles are $5.95 at lunch and $7.95 at dinner. The noodle plate is $6.25 at lunch and $8.50 at dinner. The prices were reasonable, and the portions were fair, but at least for me, the dishes were not very filling. Some people might like that. The restaurant itself is small, but cute. It is clean, neat and the wait staff are very good. On this visit, I rate this restaurant a solid "A". I would not be afraid to recommend this restaurant to anyone.

Thai Chili Asian Grill

5725 Yukon Street

Arvada, CO 80002

303-940-3866

Open Monday through Thursday 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Friday 11:00 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., Saturday Noon to 9:30 p.m. and Sunday Noon to 9:00 p.m.