Thai Idea

There are lots of The exotic decorative trays of delicious food on our tables today on Mylene’s 40^th Birthday!!!

I’m super sad this place closed. Sweet Basil, the sister restaurant a few doors down, just isn’t the same. They don’t have the same selection of faux meats, but that’s to be expected being that it’s not a vegetarian restaurant. Everything tasted just different enough to remind me that I wasn’t at Thai Idea. I think they have a location in the city, so I might have to start driving up there. Thai Idea used to be one of my favorite restaurants.

Great vegetarian and vegan food in a nice location. Unfortunately they are closed as of May 2^nd. On the bright side, the same food can still be ordered at Sweet Basil Thai just a few doors down. It’s the same people, just not exclusively vegetarian.

Bad Thai food, bad customer service and horrible attitude.
0 stars for worst customer service.

I saw this in the same plaza as my massage spot. It is also along the water, so a nice place relax and walk.
Anyways, I saw that they are vegetarian, so I had to try. One thing I always go for is fresh spring rolls.
Price could be better if they knocked off a dollar or two (price is $ 8).
But you get a sliced up spring roll with delicious peanut sauce.
I loved it so much, I got another order after my walk.
The time I was there, it seemed like a very low key spot to eat, but this was in the early afternoon.
Service was fast.

Excellent food. Panang curry was the best I have ever tasted!
Nice ambience and excellent service. One of the best thai places I have ever eaten.

Well guess it’s time to edit my review since the last few times I’ve been here I’ve been really disappointed.
So I’ve been coming to this place for over 5 years and have been satisfied. However the last few times it’s been really terrible. I always order the «Tom Yum Soup», «Bangkok Duck» and their «Pad Sew Ewe». Every time I ordered it, the food has been super sweet and not even a taste of thai. None of that spice and sour. Anyways, I called and asked about the food to see if they had changed the recipe or maybe even a change of owners. Whoever I spoke to «some Latin guy» was just clueless and had no idea what «customer service» is. After explaining my situation he had the audacity to ask me to bring my order back so he can «taste it». I was completely struck and had no words. So I ask to speak to the owners or managers and just my luck, the owners were out of country and had to wait til the following week to talk to them.
So I had to drive all the way back to the restaurant and show him the food so he can give me a refund. That was 3 weeks ago. Til this day, still no refund. No return calls.
I wonder if other helpers that come here to eat has felt the change in the dishes. Please let me know. Because they TOTALLY loss my business and many others because I will totally pass this on to many foodies I know. I
To the owners here at «Thai Idea» please retrain your staff with better customer service. lll take my business to many other Thai places in the surrounding areas.

Delicious vegetarian food in a quiet, «wait where is this place? are there really restaurants this way? are we going the right way?» strip mall.
All of their food is vegetarian, and it’s nice trying out the veggie ducks, chickens, etc. Everything is tasty and they offer brown rice. Courteous service. Prices are similar to the meat variation of this restaurant… sweet basil thai (~7.95 per dish?)
This place definitely gets busy, but not as busy as sweet basil. That being said, this is worthy of being in your rotation if you work in or near the area!

Excellent food and beautiful presentation. Have fun with the many «fake meets» they offer or go healthy with nutritios vegetable dishes. Super fast, friendly service.
Keep in mind that they have pretty large portions here: appetizers are the size of an entrée, and the soup bowls can feed 6 people.

This is one of the best vegetarian restaurant! All the dishes are full of vegetables and bursting full of flavors.
I have been here many times with friends, family and coworkers and at their other location (SF Polk and Ellis with friends). I have had nothing to complain about food and service here. Décor and ambiance are very good. Service is good. Food is flavorful and in good quantity.
Don’t miss the Tom Yum soup for lunch. It is full of vegetables and at a very low price. I am fan of their curries and pad ki mao.
I would recommend this place to all the vegetarians and people who like flavorful Thai food. Ask them to «make it (very) spicy» if you want to kick it up a notch. I hope they keep cooking and open up more restaurants. It will be a hit in South Bay if they decide to open one there.

Still love it. The pad see-​ew is always killer, the pumpkin curry is filled with kobocha squash (my favorite kind!), the prices are low for their massive portions.
Tonight I ordered take-​out, and upon getting home, was horrified that my request for tofu instead of veggie shrimp and chicken went unnoticed. I hesitantly took a bite of a veggie shrimp, which looks horrifyingly similar to real shrimp (curled up like a little fetus), and AUGHHHH, NO. I’ve been vegetarian for so long now that my taste even for fake meat has sort of vanished. I’m extremely picky about meat substitutes, and the fake chicken and fake shrimp do not impress me. However, because they’ve always done everything else amazingly, I will be a trooper and ingest the fake chicken that is chopped up throughout my dish.
Only for you, Thai Idea.

Went here with a group (including non vegetarians) and everyone really liked their food.
Started with the spring rolls, golden cauliflower and samosas. All very good but the samosa could have used more filling. We had one «chicken» appetizers, which the carnivores did like because of the mock meat texture. It was fine to me, but I can see that it might be weird if you haven’t eaten it before. The smaller, more thinly sliced mock meats were not an issue.
For entrees, we had the Pad Ped, Pad Thai, Pumpkin Curry and Thai Fried Rice. The Pad Ped and Pumpkin Curry were the best – really delicious. The Thai Fried Rice was good as well. The Pad Thai was ok.
The space is simple, modern, neat and clean. The service was very good. This place reminds me of Golden Lotus, but (obviously) with an emphasis on Thai.
Overall, we enjoyed our meal and would return.

Vegetarians will go nuts about this place. I was impressed with a lot of vegetables that are given to a dish. I tried veggie shrimp for the first time here. However, given that I have been many Thai restaurants before, the food tasted blunt so that I needed to add additional chili paste/​soy source.
One additional note, please reduce the amount of sugar in the papaya salad dressing. I felt it was too sweet compared to other ones I tried before.
I think this restaurant is unique though as their dishes have veggie meat options.

I use an app called orderahead and they get my order of satay chicken, crab cakes and brown rice ready every time. I love this location way better than the city, they never run out of food.
It’s great for vegans! a little expensive (as with everything in Foster city) but very filling.
a big plus is their thai tea w/​soy!

Mmmm!
Delicious and super fresh! Have been wanting to try this restaurant when I first saw it highly reviewed in December (the SF location), but I was not able to go there then. When I came into town again, I decided I HAD to come there and I was not disappointed.
We ordered the green curry, brown rice, and the pad lee mao… mmm.
It is also located right by the shore and there is a great running path so you can eat and then go for a walk or run, if you’re bold.
I’m already looking forward to going there again soon!

Wonderful & flavorful cuisine.
Portion size’s are perfect!
Every single dish we ordered was delicious. We were a group of four adults.
We ordered 3 appetizers, 4 tea drinks &
4 main dishes. Total was under $ 75.00.
All of us were satisfied with the food & were given attentive service from the moment we walked in; until the time we left. Dinner totaled less than $ 75.00. :)

I had to meet a friend in Foster City within walking distance of his house. Luckily Thai Idea fell within these constraints. The dishes are standard for what you expect at a Thai place. Nothing unexpected. Everything is vegetarian and most of it is vegan since there’s not much dairy in Thai food. All the «meat» listed is fake meat and they recommend either tofu or fake chicken.
I got the pad ped ($ 7.75) with tofu. And I asked for it be hot. And it was Thai spicy hot. A miracle. I could barely eat it. Took me an hour with lots of water.
3 stars — solid but not exciting, but I’m in a good mood so an extra star for doing Thai spicy

Food
5 stars — yummy veggie spot. Tasty sauces and well prepared. Our favorites were the pad thai and the crispy tofu. We also liked the tom yum soup, the mixed vegetables and fresh spring rolls. All good.
Service
Pretty good — maybe a little slow but we were hungry. Only one waitress to cover the whole place.
Ambiance
We like the bamboo walls and the colors. A little cold when we got there at 12:30 but with more people it warned up. Feels like Thailand:)
Price
Servings were somewhat small for the price. We spent $ 50 (without tip) for two adults and two kids. Probably the reason for 4 stars.
We’ll definitely come again and would recommend to a friend.

Sooooooooooooo yummmmmy!
I can not believe how good this little Thai place is in Foster City! It’s a hidden gem!
My in-​laws live in one of the next cities over and I found this using Unilocal of course. My mother in law said that she has eaten there many times and every experience has been perfect. From her understanding these owners also own the other Thai restaurant in the same little shopping center and that one serves meat items.
During our stay a few weeks ago we went here twice lol because it was soo good!
Both times it was for dinner.
The service here is super fast and super sweet. The owner? a lady waited on us the first time and a gentleman the second time.
Both repeated our orders back and made sure that we wanted the vegan options (some items have eggs or regular milk).
I posted a bunch of pictures of all the different items we ordered.
Everything was fresh, clean and spot on. The curries were flavorful and the Thai Tea was one of my favs I have ever had. The server said they blend coconut and soy milk together in it. The noodle dishes were perfect. I also tried a spring roll and it was very good despite not liking egg roll/​fried/​crispy items.
My favorite dish is the pumpkin curry dish… it’s magical.
Oh and I’m a super big fan of their beautiful brown rice. It is perfect.

We went to Thai Idea for lunch after hearing awesome reviews. I ordered the Green Bean Chick’in (with chili paste). It was pretty good, but was not great. The décor was better than a normal Thai restaurant and the service was very good. I will return someday to try other entrees.
Overall grade: B