As the holiday season settled over Ann Arbor, a new Thai restaurant was preparing to open its doors. Located on 322 S. Main St., Eat Thai opened Dec. 26, offering a menu curated by Chef and owner Teerawat Pho-On and his team. With numerous other Thai restaurants established across Metro Detroit, including Tuptim Thai Cuisine in Ypsilanti, Pho-On wanted the Ann Arbor location to reflect the city itself, tailoring its menu and flavors to the local community.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Tom Gritter, Eat Thai’s real estate broker, said a big part of the location search focused on choosing a space with high student foot traffic.
“I looked at five to 10 spaces for them in and around Ann Arbor,” Gritter said. “It’s a competitive restaurant space — students, as you know, have sophisticated taste. It’s not a town where a McDonald’s or chain restaurant is going to do well, but it is a spot that you’re authentic in what you do.”
One of Eat Thai’s main goals is to create a casual, inviting environment for customers. In an interview with The Daily, Jay Armani, a management consultant for the restaurant, said Eat Thai’s hopes to expand with outdoor seating in the future so customers can enjoy Ann Arbor’s attractions, like live music.
The restaurant is also looking to transition towards a full opening following the approval of their liquor license. Armani said the team hopes to integrate the restaurant into Ann Arbor’s nighttime food scene.
“We started looking, and we were like ‘wow, there’s only a few Thai places here, but they close at a certain hour, and there’s nothing late-night,’” Armani said.
In an interview with The Daily, Public Health junior Nadya Poisac-Nguyen said she enjoyed her experience eating at Eat Thai for the first time.
“It was very casual, very friendly,” Poisac-Nguyen said. “Our waiter was super friendly and smiley … (and) I really liked the menu. I thought they had a lot of really good options.”
Eat Thai currently offers a limited menu, but Armani said the restaurant is looking forward to expanding into a fuller menu and new business opportunities in the city.
“We want to let folks know that for our future plans, we would like to do sushi,” Armani said. “(Pho-On) is thinking about doing a food truck or food trailer near Michigan Stadium, so when you walk right out of the stadium, you could have some Thai food.”
Daily Staff Reporter Erin Chow can be reached at erinchow@umich.edu.
Correction 1/15: This article has been updated to more accurately reflect what restaurants Pho-On operates.
