May 19: Orient Express (and bonus Georgetown Brewery)

Last Friday, on the way back from running errands, I spotted the Pick Quick in SoDo and stopped for lunch, just like I used to when the office was in Federal Way and I ran errands into Fife. While waiting for our burgers to arrive in the pouring rain, my co-worker and I spotted the Orient Express across the street. The bright yellow paint somehow still gave the appearance of fading and neglect, and the rail cars that make up the dining space seemed to have been assimilated over time, like a scavenger's Mad Max vehicle.

"What do you think it's like in there?" I asked. From the outside, it looked a little scary. "We should have lunch there," my co-worker dared me. No way. And then, on the way back to the office, I read aloud "The Crazy Things That Happen Inside Orient Express" from The Stranger to my captive co-workers:

[Orient Express] is composed of seven antique train cars, one of which was once Franklin D. Roosevelt's personal transport. Flashing neon lights and a Candy Land color scheme reminded me of the dives near the house I grew up in. ... The voices in the karaoke cars (yes, they exist, and are rumored to contain lasers) were audible through the layers of polished wood and photos of FDR chomping cigars ... The upholstery tacks in the car's tall, luxurious leather booths are topped with huge fake diamonds [near] the fluorescent glow of a huge fish tank where orange, football-sized fish swim in slow circles. There seem to be entrances to 10 different rooms in the lobby—a woman at the front desk directed me to the bar car. Old photos lining the walls give the place a museum quality.

—Sarah Galvin, November 2014

"OK, we've gotta go there next week," my other co-worker said. Fine. So I sent out a meeting notice titled "Dare to eat lunch at Orient Express", warning "while out running errands, we spotted this scary looking dive. I read a review from The Stranger, and it looks quirky, even by their standards. Care to lower your expectations and meet up here for lunch? Chinese and Thai food. Allegedly. You’ll have the weekend to recover."

I got four takers. One backed out. So today, we checked our antacid levels, noted the "$7.95 Lunch Specials!" sign, and headed inside.

It's just as the article described. The fish greeted us from their tank as a noontime karaoke singer's voice wafted from the back. The hostess asked use to take any seat we'd like, so we took the one next to the entrance to FDR's train. It smelled sweetly musty, like a hotel room where the air freshener is successfully covering up years of cigarette smoke. Three bins of pull tabs perched behind the bar, where another patron was nursing the end of his morning whiskey. Bright sun filtered heavily through the curtains on one side of the car, casting a yellow glow on everything, making it all look a little older, a little smokier, a little grittier.

Service was quick, and our waiter apologized for the cold air inside of our train car: "we just opened".  The menus are heavy on Americanized Chinese and Thai foods, which is fine. If I wanted authenticity, I'd eat in the International District.

While we waited for our food, the waiter opened up the Presidential Car, perhaps to help raise the temperature of the room (its windows face south), perhaps to let us take a look. I poked my nose in, looked around, and shrugged. It was less fragrant, more musty, but I can check that off of my list of things I've seen.

Diet Cokes and tea arrived shortly after, and our food wasn't far behind. The appetizers arrived with the meals, but that was really the only service faux pas, and they were good. The BBQ pork was warm and cut thickly, unlike the cold ones I've come to expect. The pot stickers were outstanding.

I ordered the chicken pad thai; the 3-star spiciness level was hotter than I expected. The crushed peanuts were sparse or missing altogether, and the noodles were slightly mushy, but it still went well beyond my expectations.

One co-worker had the kung pao chicken, which he said was really good. Another had the Mongolian beef, which she said was flavorful, but was mysteriously close to room temperature. My third co-worker had pad see yew, which unfortunately had what my family calls "lumberjack noodles", which is when strands of noodles stick together during cooking, leading to a mass of solid noodle with no way for the sauce to penetrate.

The Chinese meals came with Hot and Sour soup. My co-workers reviews are mixed: one thought it was just OK, the other thought it was pretty good.

I didn't experience it, but I've read the trip to the restrooms is labyrinthine. My co-workers confirm.

Would I go back? Sure. At the $7.95 price point, it's one of the best deals in town. Our waiter made sure to let us know that they deliver for free anywhere downtown, but really, it's more about the experience than the food. The food itself is well above mall quality, which put it way, way above my expectations.

Bonus: After lunch, we hopped back in the car and went a little further south to the Georgetown brewery. They've got a free tasting counter and rapid growler exchange. I tried a shot of the Gusto Crema coffee ale, which smelled just like the coffee we've got in our kitchens (because that Caffé Umbria product is exactly what it's made of). It was so good, I grabbed a growler that I'll somehow need to figure out how to bring on the train. Worth it.

Orient Express
2963 4th Ave S.
Chicken pad thai, half an appetizer, Diet Coke, $15.40

Georgetown Brewery
5200 Denver Ave. S
Growler of Gusto Crema ale, $10.00

Kung pao chicken

Pad see yew

Mongolian beef

Chicken pad thai