Singha Thai has quietly opened for business in the Williamsburg Shopping Center, serving up pad Thai, drunken noodles and panang curry from a snug 639-square-foot storefront at 2900 N. Sycamore Street. The restaurant soft-opened on September 15, and it's already built a small but devoted following of regulars who keep coming back for seconds.
ARLnow reported the new eatery's opening. It occupies a space long known to neighbors as the home of Williamsburg Deli, which had been listed for sale before Singha Thai took it over. Owner Jim Boonyanan told the outlet his favorite item on the menu is the crispy larb chicken popcorn — fried popcorn chicken tossed in chili, roasted rice powder, scallions, cilantro and lime juice, served over rice. Diners can also order the Singha Noodle, a house creation that combines pad Thai and drunken noodles into one dish.
Megan Thomas was Singha Thai's very first customer, and the drunken noodles with chicken made enough of an impression that she's been back several times since. Jason Priesser had a similar reaction, coming back the day after his first visit with his neighbor. According to the same report, takeout makes up about 90% of the restaurant's business, though the space does offer a handful of ways to eat in — three two-top tables, bar stool seating along the window, and additional seating near the kitchen, all set beneath a mural of tropical birds and palm leaves.
A Storefront With a Long History of Staying Full
Singha Thai's arrival brings the 16,904-square-foot Williamsburg Shopping Center back to 100% occupancy, according to property manager Kalis Development Corporation, which announced the milestone when the lease was first signed in 2024. It's not the first time the center has hit full capacity — it also reached 100% occupancy back in February 2020 after adding pet grooming and home restoration tenants, a sign of steady demand for the center's small-footprint spaces. Built in 1957, the 1.1-acre strip center is, per Kalis Companies, Arlington County's only retail property north of and apart from the Lee Highway corridor.
Singha Thai now shares the center's food lineup with Deli Italiano, Peking Pavilion and Haute Dogs, alongside neighborhood businesses like Two The Moon gift shop and Jin's Drycleaner. The center sits at North Sycamore Street and Williamsburg Boulevard, near Interstate 66 and the East Falls Church Metrorail station, with ample surface parking.
An Affluent Customer Base, Rising Costs
The shopping center draws from a well-heeled customer base: the one-mile area around it has an average income of $327,617, with residential neighborhoods nearby. The center's small-footprint spaces offer a setting for food operators like Singha Thai in a corner of the county without the density of a major commercial strip.
Arlington County proposed raising its local meals tax from 4% to 5% in its fiscal 2026 budget, which was set to take effect July 1, 2025, according to ARLnow. The proposal would mark the county's first adjustment to the meals tax since 1991.
Singha Thai joins Arlington's Thai dining scene. The new Williamsburg neighborhood spot is a different kind of animal entirely — small, takeout-first, and tucked into a strip center with a self-described neighborhood feel — but it's carving out its own niche among Arlington's growing roster of Asian eateries.
The owners aren't newcomers to the restaurant business. They also run Kin Japanese and Thai Eatery in Germantown, Maryland, making the Williamsburg location their second venture.
