It was pad thai from a very local family joint and whenever I call them I always say "spicy please" and they say "are you sure?" and I say "yes." They can hear my whiteness on the phone but they do it anyway and I never regret it. Yesterday was spicier than usual. I think they're trying to figure out how much I can take.
At least some harvard dork article I found says supertasters don't like spicy cause the extra taste buds come with extra pain receptors, while if you have less you can stand more.
The local china-thai place that my family likes to order from also have wildly varying spice levels in the same dishes on different days.
In my head I just chalk it up as a sign of actually making each batch from experience rather than having a strict recipe, but it could also just be for vibes and giggles.
Yeah all the good places around me spice level varies wildly when you ask for it spicy, because it just depends on who is cooking that day and what they think spicy means to them that day. It's a fun adventure and it's always always delicious so I don't care