*Happy Hour* Nida's Thai on High

Having received some pretty enthusiastic recommendations, I'd been wanting to try Nida's for a good while now. How fortunate for me that after a very long walk on a very beautiful day I emerged onto High Street at Second Ave shortly before 4 pm--just in time for Happy Hour at Nida's Thai on High.
The Happy Hour specials run from 4-6:30 Monday through Friday and include $3 & $4 sushi rolls and appetizers, $5 cocktails and discounts on beer and wine. How fortunate indeed.

For beverages (after, of course, eagerly draining 2 full glasses of water: parched from our trek,) my walking companion could not resist the Thai Iced Tea nor I the Gott Lightening--a Gin Cocktail with triple sec and tamarind nectar. It was tasty but light on the booze, so if you're aiming for a real deal, order the Dirty Ginger Martini--Citrus Vodka spiked with fresh ginger juice. They had quite an extensive and interesting cocktail list, all at the discounted Happy Hour rate.
The drinks arrived a little (ok, very) slowly from the bar, but the service was friendly, and she kept that water flowing so I never felt snubbed for dearth of a beverage.

We ordered Hamachi (Yellowtail) and Salmon sushi rolls, along with their Spicy counterparts. The sushi rolls were on the small side (and poorly wrapped) but the fish was fresh and the spicy variations were not the heavily spiced, pureed fish ends that you normally find in sushi restaurant 'spicy rolls', but nice hunks of Yellowtail and Salmon, with a delicate but slightly tongue-searing dry spice added.
Not on the Happy Hour menu, but reasonably priced and quite tasty were the traditional Thai soups--The Tom Kha and Tom Yum, which we tried with chicken. Both were a little skimpy on veggies and meat, but the broth was expertly spiced--savory, tart and sweet.
We also sampled the Fresh Vietnamese Spring Rolls and the Japanese Squid Salad from the happy hour appetizers. The spring rolls were good, with a nice flavor but again, poorly wrapped and lacking the dramatic crunch that I look for to offset the cool sponginess of the fresh wrapper. The squid salad on the other hand, was phenomenal. The texture was perfect--just the right balance of tenderness and chew, and the flavor was addictive--light and fresh but salty and spicy all at once. I would have ordered 3 more plates of it if i hadn't finished the rest of our spread feeling like a fat-bellied Japanese money cat.

The danger with happy hours is that, once having discovered them, you will never come back during the regular, sad hours. This can make the servers resentful of happy hour guests, and reluctant to offer them the full benefit of their assistance. We never felt ignored, rushed, pressured or like the cheapskates...
ahem...frugal diners that we are, and that will definitely keep me coming back to Nida's for happy hour--and maybe someday to pay full price for dinner.