Terminal 26 delivers a Thai tourist experience at Ponce City Market
Terminal 26, a new restaurant in Ponce City Market’s central food hall, is inspired by Thailand’s famous floating markets, where goods are sold from boats and riverbank stalls. Once necessities in places like Thailand and Myanmar, floating markets are now mostly tourist attractions.
During my visits to Terminal 26, I felt a bit like a tourist. The surroundings were fun and attractive, but my presence there felt temporary and inconsequential — like I was just another credit card-wielding drone passing through. And when I paid the check, I wondered if I got my money’s worth, or if I was up-charged for the location.
Terminal 26 is the latest restaurant from sisters Niki and Tanya Pattharakositkul; Niki Pattharakositkul is behind the 26 Thai empire, which now has nine locations, and she has opened newer concepts like Blackjack Bar Tapas and Pink Lotus with Tanya. Terminal 26 fits the mold that has led the restaurant group to so much success: a marriage of serious Thai flavors with a highly-designed, modern space that will feel approachable to most locals.
“I wanted my restaurant to be a destination spot,” Niki Pattharakositkul told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It has to be something people can talk about.”
The food and drink at Terminal 26 is centered around Thai street food and characterized more by consistency and reliability than excitement. Few menu items will blow your hair back, but I found nothing truly disappointing, either.
The papaya salad at Terminal 26 was a textbook example of the dish, with its combination of fresh, shredded green papaya that retained its crunch even when bathed in funky fish sauce. The dish is labeled as medium-spicy on the menu, but the version I got had an intense, lingering heat from the Thai chiles. As a spicy food lover, it hooked me, but my wife was done after one bite.
The chive cakes also hit the spot, a classic Thai snack that eats a bit like a dumpling. Made with glutinous rice flour, the texture was almost like a savory version of mochi, with an impressively rich, but not overwhelming, onion flavor.
Boat noodles — thin, Vermicelli-style rice noodles — are served in a beef broth packed with enough warm, aromatic spices that it almost reminded me of gingerbread. The small portion looked a little underwhelming at $13, but it packs a lot of protein with slivers of beef tenderloin and a small beef meatball; the noodle soup is hearty enough that even the small version could make a light lunch for one.
Terminal 26’s crab fried rice was one of the more expensive dishes at $35, but it contained enough crab to feel like a solid value. The straightforward bowl of fried rice let the tasty jumbo lump crab do the talking; bits of crab are incorporated throughout the dish, while the largest, prettiest hunks nestle atop the generous pile of rice.
The curry prices, however, left me scratching my head. Curries with chicken or tofu are $21, while shrimp or beef cost $30. The floating market red curry with beef was fine in terms of its flavor, but the addition of the completely cooked-through beef did not justify the additional $9. I was much happier paying a lower price for the massaman curry with chicken on another visit; the kitchen was more generous with the chicken and precise with its doneness, giving it a tenderness that added more to the curry than the beef did.
On the beverage side, Terminal 26 offers a tightly curated cocktail and beer list, along with a few interesting non-alcoholic options. The frozen tom kha margarita is excellent, playing off the traditional lime and coconut flavors of tom kha soup, and its creamy, slushie-like texture is especially compelling when the weather is this hot. The nonalcoholic longan drink, also called nam lam yai, is made with the lychee-like longan fruit and has a lip-smacking nuttiness to go with its herbal sweetness. The longan drink and Thai iced tea are both served in frosted metal mugs, making them even more appealing after a 100-degree walk on the Atlanta Beltline just outside.
The restaurant’s design is delightfully maximalist, with a long, serpentine table carving through the middle of the dining room like a river. Walls of shelves are filled with Thai cultural mementos and other tchotchkes, and the large patio is covered with a thatched roof like the riverside shops in Thailand.
But the level of hospitality never quite matched the food or design at Terminal 26. Each visit started with a bit of a poor first impression with a host that took a while to acknowledge us, conspicuously avoiding eye contact and not offering a greeting until she seemed ready.
My first visit was more egregious, when I waited behind another customer placing a takeout order at lunch when the restaurant was mostly empty. After he walked away, I was the lone customer waiting at the host stand. What felt like several minutes awkwardly passed as I stood, without acknowledgment, directly in front of the host as she and a co-worker fiddled with a temperamental receipt printer. I finally interrupted to say that I was not placing a takeout order and just needed a table for two, after which the host smiled and seated me and my co-worker right away.
On another visit, our primary server was great — prompt and confident, easily answering our questions and making recommendations. But other aspects of the service were less than impressive.
Each table at Terminal 26 has a stainless steel box for silverware; ours only had one fork, so I waved at a couple of table bussers chatting near us. One of them noticed me as I held up our box to say, “We need more silverware,” and in turn, he held up a forefinger that communicated, “hold on a second.” The other busser eventually came over with a silverware box he grabbed from another table. I couldn’t help but wonder if the same act would play out again with that table’s diners later in the evening.
Taken one at a time, these small moments might sound inconsequential, but they add up to a general atmosphere that does not feel particularly welcoming or hospitable. In a phone call with the AJC, Pattharakositkul acknowledged that service has been the restaurant’s biggest challenge since opening in June, but said she is actively working to improve it. With solid food and drink and a dedicated, talented owner, the future looks brighter at Terminal 26.
At present, though, it’s possible to find Thai food of a similar caliber in Atlanta at a lower price point, so the difference in cost needs to be justified. Each time I left Terminal 26, I had the sense that I paid for the address as much as the food; unfortunately, that makes the restaurant feel more like a tourist trap than a dining destination.
Terminal 26
2 out of 5 stars (acceptable)
Food: Thai
Service: some servers more attentive than others
Noise level: moderate
Recommended dishes: chive cakes, papaya salad, stir-fried cauliflower, chicken khao soi roti wrap, boat noodles, floating market red curry with chicken, massaman curry with chicken, crab fried rice
Vegetarian dishes: chive cakes, corn fritters, Impossible basil saute, green curry, stir-fried cauliflower, street pink noodle, khao soi noodles with tofu, pad thai with tofu, Terminal 26 fried rice with tofu (detailed allergen and ingredient information available on website)
Alcohol: tightly curated cocktails with a handful of beer and wine options
Price range: less than $25-$75 per person, excluding drinks
Hours: 11:30 a.m. — 10 p.m. Sunday-Thursday, 11:30 a.m. — 11 p.m. Friday-Saturday
Accessibility: fully ADA accessible
Parking: paid parking on-site
Nearest MARTA station: none
Reservations: optional, available on Resy
Outdoor dining: yes, covered patio
Takeout: yes
Address, phone: 675 Ponce De Leon Ave. NE, Atlanta. 470-639-8962
Website: terminal26.com
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s dining critics conduct reviews anonymously. Reservations are not made in their name, nor do they provide restaurants with advance notice about their visits. Our critics always make multiple visits, sample the full range of the menu and pay for all of their meals. AJC dining critics wait at least one month after a new restaurant has opened before visiting.