The truck-stop décor of yesteryear has been replaced by colorful umbrellas hanging from the ceiling, a sleek sushi bar and a few touches that try to mask the restaurant’s more humble origins. Yet there’s still something about Tong’s Thai that defies any attempts at a facelift. (The odor of cleaning fluids emanating from the restrooms is part of it.) Still, the food is solid with more than a few surprises.

If you can stand the heat, the kitchen will be glad to deliver it. The green papaya salad (with salty crab in the Laotian version, dried shrimp in the Thai) is a knockout, with plenty of chili setting the fruit on fire. Thai cooks love basil, too, and Tong’s adds it to clams for a dish that is a must for anyone who craves the chewy critter. Among the many noodle dishes, try the “Pad Khi Mao,” a fiery combination of flat rice noodles and vegetables with beef or chicken (or both). Less hot but no less welcome is the green curry, bursting with fresh spices and soothing coconut milk, filled with peas, zucchini, bamboo, and more, plus your choice of meat.

Sticky rice with mango is available for dessert. But for something different, try it with mashed banana. It arrives wrapped in a banana leaf and topped with a few mung beans.

Another opinion: “At Tong’s the dining experience is fun and lively. The downside is that the food has gone downhill over the last 4 years.” We think it started with the arrival of bubble tea.