Thai Lotus

Have had a few dinners and lunch here. They have not ever been real busy, so I hope they are able to keep enough people coming in to stay in business because right now this is my favorite Thai place in Folsom. There are several choices for Thai food in Folsom, but I think the food here is as good or better than the others in town. Thai Paradise is also very good but can be crowded and a bit more pricey. Everything my wife and I have ordered has been excellent. Good sauces, great curry, fresh veggies. And I like the selection of various hot peppers, chili paste, etc. that I can add to spice things up. Odd that they don’t ask you how spicy you want your food as many Thai restaurants do, but I assume you can let them know if you wanted it more or less spicy. As it comes, it’s not spicy at all.
First time we were there was right after they opened, last year some time I think. At the time the place smelled due to the varnish or whatever they had on the wood; the walls are covered floor to ceiling with wood. That smell is long gone now and the décor is actually very nice. Booths and chairs are all new. They obviously made an effort to make this place look nice when they opened it. This is not a hole in the wall place like you might find in some strip malls.
There has only been one server in the times my wife and I have been there. So far, this hasn’t been a problem as the food and check have been brought out quickly. The first time we were there we had to wait a bit before we were greeted. The restaurants in this little strip mall don’t seem to do that well, so I hope the owners are able to make this work because I’ll keep coming back.

Went here for lunch today with my wife. Asked waitress to get an appetizer started and she said she’d be back to get our full order:
Waited 15 mins still no order. Although there were two tables ahead of us — which is why we wanted to get orders placed: at least an appetizer.
I went up to the counter to ask to place our order to the other server while he made Thai ice teas — he said he’d be over. We waited 5 more minutes. We ended up leaving.
Terrible service which was is u unfortunate as I used to come here frequently.

My favorite Thai restaurant for sure! It’s the best Thai in Folsom! Great food, great portions, great prices and great service! They often have happy hour specials too!

My Favorite Thai food in Folsom, very nice food. And great service, I been in many Thai restaurant in town but for me only this restaurant make me remember about Thailand same flavor and reasonable prices. Highly recommended, We will be back and back and back…,

I have been going to this establishment often, mostly for lunch… and the food has always been hot, looking and smelling fresh. The service is a bit unpredictable, although nothing earth shattering! This does not seem like an ethnic Thai place. More like it has been «Americanized» but overall, I do recommend this place and will continue to eat there going forward.

Definitely not the best Thai food I’ve ever had and the lunches may be a little skimpy, if the ones we had are typical. Yesterday the duck soup was very good, but unadorned duck and noodles in dark broth that the waiter didn’t know anything about apparently… probably beef. The drunken noodles were chow fun noodles, and not a whole lot of them. We were the only ones in there, but I got the impression that the service may be a bit lacking, as some have said.

I will start with the positive… I very much enjoyed the food. I think I ordered once before takeout (honestly can’t remember), but if I did it was good as I decided to come back. On this trip… I was happy with food ordered (crab lagoon appetizer, soup that had coconut milk and pad Thai… my boyfriend didn’t love the pad Thai but I was ok with it. Soup and appetizer were great in both of our opinion).
Issue was with the service. Saturday night/​8pm. Several tables occupied. Walked in… no greeting. Stood there for few minutes not really knowing what to do. Got seated, maybe by owner? He gave us menus then came back after a bit and took order. Don’t love the iPad order taking. Very impersonal and just had his attention on the input, not on any personal connection to customer. He asked if we wanted water but not about any other potential drink and was clearly frazzled/​short staffed. Didn’t try and upsell a beer/​drink other than water… and then we didn’t get our water. I ended up going up to counter to ask for it after about 8 minutes and my boyfriend threatening to walk out.
Food delivered fairy quickly considering the original wait and, again, was very good. Delivery was by a female… not rude but still not a ton of personality.
Once we were fairly clearly done with meal the male asked about a box and brought promptly with a check. No inquiry about dessert (which at the beginning of meal I had thought I wanted to try mango sticky rice). Since check was there and sort of seemed as though the male server/​possible owner was just relieved that things had slowed down and just wanted everyone out, we did not attempt to order anything more.
We paid and left. No apology about the sub par service and what seemed like short staffing or polite thank you for business and invitation to come back etc.
I think as a small owner/​operator type business it was really lacking for the customer service portion on several levels. Food was good, but Folsom has many Thai restaurants, all of which seem pretty good… think I will stick with others.

It’s very clean and well decorated. The food was a little bland and not spicy at all– not even a kick. Probably due to it’s normal clientele. They made a dish that normally had animal products to vegan. Thumbs up for that.
Food was served quickly. It tasted fresh. The server was very nice and asked if we needed anything multiple times.

The food is amazing, the service is pleasant and the ambiance is really nice.
Try the duck curry, it’s phenomenal.

Had dinner with the wife, here. For the last several weeks we kept driving by this place and was curious. Wife and I really enjoyed ourselves. We plan to return…
Ambiance, hospitality, food, good — Thank you!
Recommend…

Mom and I tried this place out for lunch one day– it was pretty good! She ordered green curry with a side of white rice (disappointing that most Thai places charge more for rice), and she liked it well enough. She’s never had green curry before, so there was nothing for her to compare it to.
I ordered the pad see ew (with tofu/​egg), as I’m on a quest to find the best pad see ew in the area, and this place was pretty decent. It was definitely not my FAVORITE, but it was not bad.
We checked in on Unilocal and got a discount too, so that was nice since it was our first visit. I’d probably come back here with my husband sometime.

A family owned gem in Folsom! After receiving a coupon in the mail, my friend and I decided to try this place for lunch. Greg, our waiter, immediately greeted us and seated us at a clean table in the middle of the restaurant. Meme, another waiter, brought out a delicious soup to start our meal. For lunch, we ordered the Green Curry and the Pineapple Shrimp Fried Rice! The Green Curry came with eggplant, but they graciously changed it to broccoli since we don’t eat eggplant. The fried rice was DELICIOUS, too. Add Shrimp to the fried rice… you won’t regret it. In addition, they use fresh pineapple in the fried rice. We ordered two glass of Cabernet to round out our lunch. Great Place! Excellent Service! Clean Bathrooms! Clean Restaurant!
We will be back!

The reason your place is empty most of the times is: your food isn’t very good.
Most of the items don’t taste right. Try changing the chef. Or recipe.

This was our first visit to Thai Lotus but it certainly will not be our last!
As we entered the bright and open dining area we were quickly greeted and offered a choice of tables.
Checking out the menu we found many choices for appetizers, entrees, desserts, and even lunch specials.
We started off with potstickers. They showed up after about a five minute wait. The order of seven smallish dumplings were accompanied by a garlicky dipping sauce. But what those potstickers lacked in physical size was certainly made up for by the large flavors we enjoyed. The bits of toasted garlic sprinkled on made the dish.
Next our entrees, Pad Priew Warn w/​chicken for the Mrs and Duck Curry for me.
The menu described the sauce for the chicken as «sweet and sour». But after tasting it, we agreed that this sauce in no way resembled that thick, gooey mess that is normally served in Chinese joints. No, this sauce was bright and very flavorful. Not at all sugary. The rest of the Mrs meal was reported to be very fresh tasting and cooked perfectly including the Jasmine rice.
But what was the star of the meal was the Duck Curry. We agreed that this was one of the most flavorful curries either of us had ever tasted. The duck was not over cooked, but was fork-​tender and flavorful. The veggies were fresh and had bright flavors. However, it was the Thai basil and the curry sauce that knocked it out of the park. Seriously fantastic flavor from that curry sauce. Wow, just thinking about it has me planning our next visit. If you think you don’t like duck, or curry, give this dish a try. I think it would change a lot of folks opinions about curries.
Great service, truly inspired food, in very nice surroundings, made for a wonderful dining experience.
We will definitely return and highly recommend this great restaurant.

I love Thai food, so I’m always excited to see a new Thai place open, even though we already have like 12 in Folsom. So I came in for lunch and ordered the green chicken with curry, medium spiced.
I always feel bad writing a bad review when the workers are nice, so I’ll start with what was good. The waitress had excellent customer service. She said hi to me right away, took my order quickly, brought the food out quickly, came back to see why I wasn’t eating my food, offered me something different, and didn’t make a fuss when I asked if I could just return the food to her.
The salad was okay. The lettuce could have been fresher and the peanut sauce could have been more flavorful, but it still tasted pretty good.
Then the green curry comes. I find it odd that it’s served with the curry already poured over the rice, since most places bring out the rice and curry separately and let you figure it out, but I don’t really care. It is nowhere near green (it’s more of a dark brown color), but I figure, maybe she accidentally brought me panaeng curry, or yellow curry, or Japanese curry, but I love most curries so, whatever. I take a bite.
The spice (heat level) is just right, but the chicken tastes like a combination of horrible and fish. Ugh. Maybe I just got a bad bite? I take another bite. It’s like squirting a bottle of rancid fish sauce into your mouth. Now, I understand that fish sauce is very important in Thai cooking, and I’m totally okay with that. But this was the equivalent of ordering chow mein and then taking a bite of just ginger. When a condiment meant to enhance becomes the main focus of a dish, it’s just wrong.
In all fairness, when I read the menu, I thought it was odd that they didn’t mention coconut anywhere, but I took this to be a typo, because everyone knows that coconut is one of the major components of Thai food (right?). I mean I can even think of several local Thai restaurants with «coconut» in their name just off the top of my head. Well, anyways, there was no coconut here. Maybe that’s part of what threw the color off so badly. I’m also pretty sure there was no keffir lime leaf in the paste.
(Edited out comment that hurt owner’s feelings– sorry if it came across as mean.) I mean it was just so bad. So I sit there thinking, I can bring this home to my boyfriend, he’ll eat anything. But it’s so bad that I’d feel bad asking anyone else to eat it for me. So when the waitress comes back and asks if my food is too spicy, or if I want something else, I say, «I’m so sorry, I just don’t like it, and I don’t think I’ll like anything else, is it okay if I just return it to you?» She says, «Sure, no problem.»
If you love fish sauce and hate coconut, you might like this place. Otherwise, skip it, and hit up one of the many good Thai places in Folsom instead.
EDIT: Per the owner’s comment, coconut milk is used in the dishes, and fish sauce is not. Maybe the coconut milk was accidentally skipped in my dish. If there is no fish sauce, then I am even MORE concerned about the fact that my dish was so fishy that even the fumes from it smelled like pure fish. Again, I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings, but I have to insist on standing by what I said about the fishiness, because it’s true. It would be nice if the purpose of Unilocal were for everyone to give you five stars so that you don’t get your feelings hurt, but that’s not how it works.

Had chicken fried won ton. Good taste slightly crisped.
Entrees spicy seafood medley. Mussels, calamari, shrimp nicely deep fried. Peppers and onions and great flavor.
Fried pork and yellow curry. Very aromatic and tender.
Service was okay as she was operating solo. But trying hard with a handful of tables. Consistently have found food to be very good.

I was disappointed.
The first disappointment was the service. The lady sat us when we walked in. She just threw two menus on the table and left. Oddly there was a handwritten sign that said water was only served upon request. A minute later she set down two waters that we didn’t ask for. I couldn’t even get out a thanks before she turned and was gone.
The second dispointment was the food. We started with the Beef Salad. The flavor was good but the beef was tough and the pieces weren’t fully cut from each other. We had the red snapper fish chef’s special. It was good but the slices were a little thick so that unfresh fishy flavor snuck through in some of the larger chunks. The worst was the chicken with spicy basil. The chicken was tough and grizzled. I am almost positive it was pre-​cooked then reheated in the sauce. I think this because I’ve had meat like this before. Also if it was raw chicken, then it would pick up a little of the sauce flavor. It didn’t. The biggest disappoint was in a simple bowl of white rice. There were some pieces of rice that weren’t cooked. Yuck!
We paid a total of $ 41 for three dishes. The salad was by far the best but it is not worth going back for.

My husband and I were here last night for dinner and we had a very enjoyable experience. I have passed this restaurant a few times and got a lot of good feedback from friends who encouraged us to try this place. There were some previous reviewers who mentioned that this place was not family friendly and I would totally and completely disagree. We brought our 9 month old son here and they treated him very well and were extremely accommodating.
When you walk in you will see a sign that states they don’t serve water unless requested. I’m assuming that this is because of the water shortage and drought in California. This is a plus in my book! Kudos to them for being environmentally conscious.
We ordered the vegetable spring rolls for appetizers. For some reason I thought there would be tofu in there but it was just vegetables which made it not so exciting. The sauces that came with the spring rolls were yummy, a peanut sauce and a sweet chili sauce.
My husband and I ordered drunken noodles with chicken and beef salad for entrees to share family style (medium spice). All very delicious and flavorful. The spice levels were perfect and the overall dinner experience was great.
The waitress was friendly and warm. I would come here again! Thank you!

Yummy! We were the only ones in the restaurant so service was superb, as to be expected. Tempura was A M A Z I N G! Hot and perfect crunch. We had the yellow curry which was my favorite! They have the recipe just right! ;) the pad Thai was a bit sweet, but nothing to lose stars over.
Can’t wait to return!

Attention Folsom residents –the wait is over. There is finally a Thai restaurant worth going to. For those of you who only visit Folsom to shop at the outlets or visit family members in prison, please stop by Thai Lotus for a quality meal while you are in town.
For starters, I highly recommend the Spicy Thai Chicken wings ($ 7.95 for 8 wings). The wings come out crispy (not overcooked), and are coated with a sweet /​spicy homemade sauce that will make you want to lick your fingers, and your date’s fingers after you are done.
For dinner, I went with the pineapple fried rice with pork ($ 9.95). The sweet pineapple combined with the salt from the cashews was a perfect blend of flavor. However, the pork used in this dish was bland and really didn’t add anything at all –except protein. I would have enjoyed this entrée more if BBQ pork was added instead .
My wife went with the Cashew Chicken ($ 12.95), and I can tell you that this dish was just as good as the wings mentioned earlier in this review. Prepared with bell peppers, onions, cashews, and chile paste, the sauce used in this dish has a sweet yet smoky complexity to it. I can only describe the sauce as a BBQ sauce with a Thai twist. The dish was served with white meat chicken, and was not rubbery at all.
The inside of the restaurant is clean, modern, and quaint. We didn’t have to wait too long for our food, and our server was attentive and friendly. Why not 5 stars?
Including tip, we spent $ 54.00 for two entrees, an appetizer, a beer, and a Thai tea. In my opinion, I felt that this may have been slightly over-​priced for the amount of food that you get. For those of you with a huge appetite, this may not be the place for you. However, if you have been waiting for fresh, delicious, creative Thai food to hit Folsom like I have — Thai Lotus will not disappoint.