Best Budget Bites: $9.95 Pad Thai From Jasmine Thai

Sitting on the border of Minneapolis and Columbia Heights, Jasmine Thai makes the perfect flavorful, saucy dish.

10:48 AM CDT on June 13, 2025

Greta Wilson

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The cost of things these days? Far too expensive! Tariffs, labor, giddy price gouging from proprietors large and small—the boring factors are too numerous to count. To protect our readers, Racket launched the Best Budget Bites series, where we’ll showcase a toothsome, wallet-friendly food item that’ll actually fill you up. Have a nomination? Hit us up: tips@racketmn.com.

What: Pad Thai
Where: Jasmine Thai, 3800 Central Ave. NE Columbia Heights
Availability: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mon.-Fri.

It’s the perfect meal and the perfect bite: noodles, sauce, lemon, peanuts, and beansprouts.

When I first tried it in sixth grade while rewatching Inside Out in my basement, the dish changed me from chicken-strip-eating suburban kid into, well, a pad Thai-loving culinary adventurer. And it has been my go-to order ever since. One of my favorite spots to get it? Jasmine Thai on Central Avenue in Columbia Heights.

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Just 12 minutes from downtown, Jasmine Thai features a marked-down menu for weekday lunches, and I usually scarf its pad Thai down within minutes. Order up the $9.95 lunch special and you’ll receive an entree with a choice of side salads. Don’t expect any frills here; we’re talking iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, and peanut sauce. Not bad, but it’s not the main attraction.

The pad Thai arrives on a square white plate, with a fresh lemon wedge in one corner and a pile of peanuts in the opposite corner. You have a choice of veggie, chicken, tofu, or pork as your protein; my choice is always chicken. After mixing it all up you’ll find that the dish is sweet, acidic, peanut-y. My one (minor) note: I wish there were more beansprouts.

Jasmine Thai’s recently renovated space features white walls, a black ceiling, and bedazzled elephant art. When I visited, speakers played covers of songs like “Riptide” by Vance Joy and “Do I Wanna Know” by the Arctic Monkeys while a TV by the bar had a (muted) cake tutorial with German subtitles on. But all these far-flung elements add to Jasmine Thai’s charm. Also, the space remains relatively quiet and calm, even during busier hours when most of the tables have customers. That makes this a great place to bring coworkers and clients for lunch meetings.

The Heavy Table's James Norton has argued that Central Avenue is one of the greatest stretches of food destinations in the Twin Cities. Believe him. Jasmine Thai is a shining example.

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Greta Wilson is a sophomore organizational communications major with journalism and business minors at Bethel University. She loves puzzling, her first car, a 2003 bright copper colored Nissan Pathfinder, and watching bad TV shows with her friends. She wants to have a job that will help others.

Greta Wilson

Greta Wilson is a sophomore organizational communications major with journalism and business minors at Bethel University. She loves puzzling, her first car, a 2003 bright copper colored Nissan Pathfinder, and watching bad tv shows with her friends. She wants to have a job that will help others.