Park Slope's Best Pad Thai

Be they pagoda-style traditional Thai spots or trendy restaurants that look like an Ikea catalog exploded, Park Slope is chockablock with Thai restaurants. Still, the question remains: which one is the best?

Park Slope Patch set out to find out. The order: one chicken pad thai. The contenders: five of the Slope's most popular Thai restaurants. The results may surprise you.

Song
Overall Flavor: Song's pad thai was, far and away, the most satisfyingly umami, probably because of the abundance of fish sauce. Notably, Song was the only contender to provide a wedge of lemon, rather than the traditional lime, resulting in a taste profile that's even brighter than usual.
Noodles: Unlike some of the pad thai contenders, Song's noodles were loose, never clumpy and mushy.
Chicken: Song's chicken was pretty much a non-event: neither too dry nor deliciously moist.
Price: $6.95
Ranking: 1

Beet
Overall Flavor: Though Beet's pad thai tasted a bit burnt, the flavors were great: savory, tart, and not too sweet. While pad thai is, by definition, a bit greasy, Beet's wasn't an oil slick.
Noodles: Though Beet's noodles had a pleasant hint of crunch, they also clumped together. Some people (including us) are into that, but if you're not, be warned.
Chicken: Beet's chicken was probably the moistest and most flavorful of the bunch.
Price: $8
Ranking: 2 (tie)

Rice Thai Kitchen
Overall Flavor: The peanut flavors were super strong in Rice's pad thai, which made for a nicely savory taste. Unfortunately, that was counteracted by it being a bit too sweet.
Noodles: Notably, though Rice's pad thai was procured first (and thus, was the oldest of the five sampled), the noodles didn't get at all mushy or clumped together.
Chicken: Rice's chicken was extremely dry and not terribly flavorful.
Price: $7.25
Ranking: 2 (tie)

Watana Siam
Overall Flavor: Watana's pad thai was overwhelmingly characterized by an almost sickly sweetness, as though it had been flavored with a not-insubstantial amount of sugar. It was also rather greasy.
Noodles: Watana's noodles were really the saving grace of its pad thai: pleasantly al dente with almost a hint of crunch.
Chicken: You'd think that some of Watana's prodigious grease would translate into a moist chicken. You'd be wrong.
Price: $8
Ranking: 4

Mango Thai
Overall Flavor: Despite looking like pad thai, Mango's dish tasted almost exactly like an Italian spaghetti with marinara sauce. Perhaps this had something to do with the baffling decision to include giant slices of onion in the dish. Mango's pad thai was also the oiliest by far, leaving a notable orange slick on the plate.
Noodles: Mango was the only eatery to use vermicelli noodles instead of the standard (and more satisfying) linguine-sized rice sticks.
Chicken: Mango's chicken was actually fine: cooked through, but not too dry.
Price: $8
Ranking: 5