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Pad Thai is not likely to catch the eye from outside. It is located in a shopping center that used to draw much more traffic, some time ago.

Vibrant colors, however, characterize the interior. Fiery red walls flank green and white tile floors, with light, natural-colored wood booths along one side.

A community table provides especially inviting seating for single diners.

The food here is lively, too. Although you can order "mild," and the kitchen accommodates requests readily, I considered the spicy-hot preparations especially attractive.

Larb Kai ($8.50), for example, is a ground chicken salad, with diced red and green onions, toasted rice, lemon juice, and hot Thai chili sauce.

Served chilled, the cold-hot interplay is entertaining as well as tasty. I would characterize the flavor of Yum Beef Salad ($8.50) as OK, a product of thin strips of very lean beef, with all fat and gristle trimmed away, but mild in comparison to top-ranked renditions of this personal favorite. A Thai sour dressing enhances mixed lettuces in both salads. These could serve as a light entrée or a large starter to be shared.

Other first courses are pretty conventional for the genre. The ground pork in Steamed Thai Dumplings ($5.50) is a bit firmer than what I've found in other locations -- more like a meat ball, but quite flavorful, enhanced with a soy based sauce.

Chilled Fresh Rolls ($5.50) contain quite a bit of shredded lettuce, with a lot of flavor emerging from shredded fresh basil, which complements sliced shrimp and rice noodles with peanut sauce.

Gold Shrimp ($5.50/six) are medium-sized, deveined, fried crisp with a moderate batter, but a bit greasy. Pleasant sweet and hot chili sauces augment flavor.

I was a little disappointed with the fish offerings on the menu -- only tilapia and catfish. I'd like to see flounder, at least.

Entrees come with a small salad of iceberg lettuce and shredded carrot, watery, with a peanut dressing.

Pineapple Fried Rice with Chicken ($9.50) places strips of fresh breast meat, natural texture intact, in jasmine rice flavored with curry, joined by egg, cashews, raisins, carrots, pineapple cubes, diced scallions, tomato, and green peas. I considered this the most enjoyable dish of my experiences.

Shrimp Curry ($12.50) turned out to be highly flavorful, too. Eight, tender, deveined, medium-sized shrimp were bathed in a rich red curry broth, with bamboo shoots, green peppers, broccoli, carrots, and fresh basil.

I would quarrel with the "Crispy Duck" ($18) characterization on the menu. The skin on my serving was soft and fatty. Pulling that away, however, revealed tender, flavorful meat, stir fried with broccoli (cool to the touch), snow peas, green peppers, crinkle-cut carrots, celery, mushrooms, and white onions, with lots of fresh basil leaves and basil sauce. Scattered red pepper flakes intensified the level of heat.

In Beef Stir-Fry ($9.50), thin, lean strips of beef, all fat trimmed away, produced a light level of flavor from a fairly firm texture.

The vegetables almost duplicated what I was served with my duck (no green peppers or mushrooms).

Service was quite pleasant and well-paced.

I considered Pad Thai pleasant, the food fairly economical and reasonably enjoyable. I would return if I were in the neighborhood, but I would not be inclined to place this on a "must visit" list.

John Batchelor is a freelance contributor who has been reviewing restaurants for more than 20 years. You can reach him at P.O. Box 20848, Greensboro, NC 27420 or send e-mail to john.e.batchelor@gmail.com. To find his recent columns on the Internet, go to www.go triad.com and click on dining.