Thanks for an in-depth review of this delightful restaurant. After several visits I'm impressed with the exuberant use of fresh vegetables and the different, Cambodian slant of some of the menu. Cambodia has a far older culture and cuisine than Thailand, and you can see its influence at TT, even in some versions of standard Thai dishes, incorporating non-Thai touches like clever use of black pepper.

In a region with many Thai restaurants (often actually with Vietnamese cooks or owners), Tommy Thai is not simply another Thai restaurant, and is worthwhile even just for its Cambodian specialties.

It's a place for good values too in my experience. As noted above, lunch specials were $7 -- rice actually INCLUDED, during most of 2012 (unless you ordered the brown rice option), per menu copy I have at hand. It's among several notable MV restaurants that offered good under-$8 lunches at that time (most of them unfortunately omitted from the Voice's August 10, 2012 dining article on that subject).

Currently Tommy Thai's lunch specials have risen to $9, including rice, but remain good values I think.