Dee Thai Restaurant

So, came here for dinner a few weeks ago and this place is gone. Booo.

Passed by here yesterday, and noticed that after recent renovation there appears to be a restaurant with a different name at this location. I recommend double checking before deciding to make a special trip to Dee Thai.
Update 9÷22÷11 — there is indeed a different restaurant at this location.

Been to a handful of Thai places in Honolulu and this is my fave so far. Their curries and noodle dishes are excellent. Staff are super courteous and prices are extremely reasonable.

*Note that this restaurant is now only open for dinner.
This is a hidden gem. There is only street parking, but it is definitely worth it. The exterior looks a little run down, but inside is very clean & nice.
Came here with a party of 15 & they were very accomodating. The food was very authentic, affordable, & delicious. My favorites were the noodle soup, fried chicken, pad thai with shrimp, cashew chicken, and ong choy vegetable dish.
Since we had a large party, the food took awhile to come out (only one person cooking in the back + we ordered 3 of everything), but our server was very attentive with filling up waters, making sure we were okay, etc.
Oh, and it’s BYOB!

Service was excellent and the food was great. The prices were very manageable and well-​thought out. I love the place. Granted, I’ve only been once but I intend on returning! Too bad the parking situation sucks. We parked by Safeway and snuck over. I know, we’re terrible, but what can we do?
I took the time to read some other reviews and I decided to try the Pad Thai, which was GREAT. I mean, it’s not that easy to screw up Pad Thai but some places have downright bland ones. This one was GREAT. It was delicious and well-​blended in flavors. It was also a good amount (not a lot but not a little… perfect amount for family-​style eating). We ordered a papaya salad in medium and for my friend and I, it was too spicy (but we are non-​spicy food eaters so we know that going in). It was manageable but man, I downed that water like crazy! So delicious :). We also ordered a Pad Me-​Khea (spelling?) — the eggplant with basil thing and we chose chicken to go with it. It was very delicious but my least liked dish of the three. We also got the mango sticky rice, which we were not impressed by at all.

Personally, «good» Thai food is all subjective to the individual’s tastebuds, but quality and freshness you can’t deny and will come out in any dish you prepare. Dee Thai is a pefect establishment for fresh and good thai food at the right.
This was my first visit, after trying about 6 other Thai restaurants and I’m definitely a fan. The prices are pretty good, a bit cheaper than 2 other establishments I’ve been too (with quality ingredients/​cooking) and the cooking is just the way I like my thai food. Loved their pad thai; its the color and taste I’ve been searching for on this island. I’ve tasted pale but burnt Pad Thai, overly sweet dry pad thai and bbq sauce tasting pad thai. Eccck! This was the perfect blend of sweet, sour, shrimp and sauce!
Siam Garden on Nimitz is still one of my faves because of the variety of the menu (and its good) but they are on the pricer side and out of the way. I’m happy to say that I think I’ve found my new go to Thai spot in town. I’ll be back to eat my way through the small but promising menu! My recap:
Pros:
–Good food! Had their yellow chicken curry, pad thai, papaya salad, chicken wings for the keiki and rice. Dude so didn’t know they had sticky rice! bummers… next time. But everything was very fresh and flavorful.
–Good prices; papaya salad was $ 6.95, I’ve paid &8.95 and up at all the others. The rest of the stuff was $ 8.95 for each dish, $ 7.95 for the wings.
–Kid friendly! Get highchairs & room in there.
–Good service, very friendly and accomodating staff. Then again, it was also empty when we went.
–Byob
Cons:
–Parking sucks… coz there is none! You either have to circle the block serveral times through a highly condensed residential area looking for anything OR park across the street at Safeway and walk it over. And be careful of that crazy traffic on the Kapahulu Express way!
–Not the ‘newest’ of décor, it’s kind dark and dank in there, but clean.
the bathrooms were clean at least.
–Not a huge selection on the menu BUT enough to keep you busy and coming back for your favorites.

I really wanted to like this place because I’ve read so many good reviews. Plus it only took me 15 minutes to find a decent parking, because there are none. You’ll have to settle for surrounding neighborhood parking.
We ordered the beef salad and the spicy beef with green beans. Neither beef dish tasted very good, and it was just a okay. My husband complained about a sour taste and I just though it had a weird texture.
We had vegetable yellow curry and because it was not on the menu, I had them add bamboo shoots, broccoli, potatoes, carrots, and onions together. This place is quite accommodating and I appreciated how they were able to cater to us without tacking on extra charges.
Lastly we ordered a side order of brown rice and chicken pad see-​ew. In my opinion, that two alone was the highlight of our meal.
Dinner was a little under $ 39.
I’m still a skeptic, so I’ll give this place another try and order some tom yum and some more chicken instead of their beef dishes.

I just started reviewing other Thai restaurants on this island and felt that this place deserved a more critical and detailed review.
This is still my favorite place for excellent Thai food on Oahu.
As noted in my other Thai restaurant reviews, I AM A HUGE FAN OF SPICY THAI FOOD. I love spicy food, and I love Thai food.
Thai food needs to be flavorful and spicy. Bland is not Thai. If you can’t have spicy, you just shouldn’t have Thai food. Plain and simple. Please don’t go and ask for bland Thai food. That’s like asking for a hamburger without the ham… See my point?
Thai food is all about the spices and the hot chili peppers. It’s as simple as dumping in a cup of hot chili spices! But believe or not, not every place does this right… However, this place does it well.
Here are the reasons why I love Dee Thai:
1. The décor is cute. This is a very, very cute place for a date or for a nice gathering with friends. It’s simple and just elegant. It feels just like being in Thailand.
2. The service is friendly, it feels like being at home with the family. After-​all, it’s a family ran business. Family ran businesses are great because you know they work together as a unit to satisfy the customer.
3. The price is sooooooooooooo cheap! Many Thai restaurants overprice their menus! It makes it sooooooooo hard to dine and have some decent Thai food without breaking the bank! This place is priced JUST RIGHT for my wallet, with some bills left over for dessert too! One of my favorite Thai desserts is Mango sticky rice… Yumm…
4. The food is spicy. As mentioned before, it’s not hard to dump a cup of spicy chili in a Thai dish. If a Thai restaurant can’t do this, it shouldn’t be called Thai. Maybe «Not-​Thai»?
5. The food is flavorful. There are so many spices and flavors in every dish on the menu. You can’t pick a wrong dish. The only dilemma here is WHICH dish to pick??? I have been here many times and have tried almost every dish. I still can’t pick a favorite. My only solution so far: come with an empty stomach.
6. The food is AUTHENTIC! Yes, don’t give me BS Thai food! I am Asian! I love food, I know what is fake and authentic! Don’t lie to me! Dee Thai will feed you truth… Authentic Thai food.
Other Thai restaurants noteworthy of my business are: Chiang-​Mai.

Pad Thai is sooo gooood! Oh and their fried calamari! Decent price and my friends mom is the owner and chef so if you like real authenticThai food this is the place to try.

I like this place! All the favorites, curries, vegetarian dishes, spring rolls, done right. Close to «authentic.»

I love Thai food. I break my Thai places in to two categories. Every day and dinner time. Of course, the really good places are reserved for dinner. Bangkok Chef is a good example of «everyday Thai food». Dee Thai falls on to the «dinner» category.
My Thai friends tell me the food is very authentic. My favorite is the Pad Kee Mao Noodles, but I have had most everything on the menu at one time or another. The curries are all very good, the Chicken Basil is also quite good. The Ong Choi with Tofu is also good and garlicy, but also a bit oily.
Parking is tough! Careful about parking at the Safeway as they do watch the parking lot there. Better to find a parking spot on the street or somewhere around the neighborhood.

I loved the food here. They asked us how spicy we wanted our food and there was «spicy» or «Thai spicy.» Of course, we chose Thai spicy because we really like spicy food. We had the mee krob, tom yum with shrimp, chicken with basil, and yellow curry with pork.
We came at 9 pm and they closed at 9:30pm. However, they told us to take our time and just enjoyed our food. The waiters were really polite and constantly refilled our water.
The parking sucks but you can just park across the street and walk over. Highly recommended.

it was okay, parking is impossible, but everything else … well it didn’t turn me off.
The décor is funny/​cute, the walls are pastel purple, the ceiling is dark purple, and there is random thai statues and fake plants everywhere.
There was only one large party and my friend and I, and one waitress who was quiet and polite.
I ordered eggplant basil, but what I got sure didn’t look like eggplant. I ate it anyway, it was alright. My friend and I waited a long time to get the check, and when we asked for it, the lady looked confused for a moment, then brought us the check. Maybe they wanted us to go up and get it? Not sure.
it was good enough, I’d go back for lunch or something, nothing fancy.

Quick and good for take-​out. My friends ordered three delicious vegan dishes (side noodles, yellow curry, and vegetables), and my fellow carnivore and I split an order of Pad Thai and Massaman curry.
As for the food, the two curries and the vegetable dishes were outstanding, and both the sticky and brown rice was delicious (the brown was reddish hued and nutty – yum!). I particularly enjoyed my chicken Massaman curry. I wish I had Unilocaled it before going, however, as the Pad Thai was awful.
One thing to watch out for: although the Massaman curry came in a plastic container, the others came in styrofoam, and sadly leaked their precious juices everywhere. So ask for the plastic container for anything saucy, soupy, or curry-​y.
So: delicious, quick, and inexpensive; skip the pad thai, and be careful about the packaging if you are bike-​bound.

So far this place has proven to be one of the two best tasting Thai restaurants in Honolulu (the other one is Siam Garden Café) but if and only if the Thai owner lady is in the kitchen.
The food here tastes very close to what you’d have in Thailand if you order it on maximum heat setting. Loved the larb gai, panang, tod mun pla, and deep fried fish with chili sauce. Prices are very reasonable.
I’d give four stars but had to dock them for ambiance. The place is a dive (if i’m not mistaken there might even have been a titty bar in this location about a decade ago). Dining room smells like a movie theater and gets really hot and loud– perhaps that contributed to the authentic feeling of sweating your ass off in Thailand.
BYOB with Safeway across the street helps to keep your dinner check down. Its okay to park at safeway, just don’t get caught sneaking over.
Our server was very attentive, knowledgeable, and friendly. I think he was the owner’s son.
I’d definitely come back but I’ll remember to change into something more comfortable next time. Also it might be more pleasant to eat later. This place doesn’t really have a second turn for dinner, so if you arrive around 8pm your food and service will be faster.

If you’re looking for some legit Thai food for a good price, this is your spot. It’s located across the street from the new Safeway in Kapahulu.
Food is really great here. For appetizers, spring rolls, summer rolls, Mee Krob (crispy thai noodles), and green papaya salad are really good. As for main dishes, this place has everything: curries, Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, Tom Yum soup, cashew nut, hot basil, etc, etc. Every dish ranges from $ 7 – 10 depending on what kind of meat/​fish you get with it. You can also control the spice level of it: mild, medium, hot, and Thai hot. My personal favorite dishes are the Pad Kee Mao, which is a house special and the garlic chicken. Pad Kee Mao is like the Pad See Ew chow fun noodles but the sauce is even tastier, IMO.
They also have sticky rice (or mochi rice, as some people call it) which is great for eating with the curries.
For dessert, they have some flavored sorbets. Ask if they have the sticky rice with mango, which is really delicious as well. Try the Thai Iced Tea while you wait for your meal too.
If you ever have nights (like me) where you just want to stay in and have some Thai food at home, they offer take-​out and the order is usually ready quickly from the time you order it. Parking is a little tougher, but not that much of an issue– you’ll need to look along the side street, and you’ll usually be able to find some spots there. If you’re planning on coming with a big party, however, carpooling might be a good option.
One last note, drinks are BYOB here for $ 1.50 a person. Beats going to a bar and paying overcharged prices for drinks! Bring some beers or a bottle of wine and down it with your meal. :)

Food — Tasty! Lots and lots of vegan options. I ordered tofu and mixed veggies. The hubby ordered the pad see-​ew with no eggs. He loved it and wants to go back. The spring rolls were good, but I have definitely had better.
Service — Great. Our waiter was on it. Didn’t miss a beat and always made sure our drink glasses were full.
Parking — yeah, it sucks. But just park at the Safeway, which is less than a block away on the other side of the road.
Price — good. this is not high-​class dining, so the price was perfect.

I came here with my dad after the sushi place we originally had tried to go to was closed. It’s tucked away from all the hustle near the coast. It was very quiet, with only 3 of the tables being used. We ordered Pad Thai, Panang curry and rice. The pad thai (with chicken, medium for spice) was VERY good (and even better for leftovers). The panang curry was ok. I think the place was priced fairly well, especially considering how expensive most of the restaurants here have been.
If anything I’d just come here for the pad thai.

This place is a hidden gem! I’ve tried so many Thai food restaurants on Oahu, and this is by far the best!
The food here is very tasty. They have a variety of entrees to satisfy your craving — crispy tofu, tom yum soup, green curry, pad sa ew noodles, papaya salad, etc. Vegetarian friendly. You can also choose how you want your dishes prepared — mild, medium, hot, and «Thai hot».
The shrimp spring rolls and the cashew nut chicken are amazing! I also recommend the stuffed chicken wings and the pad thai pork. They also serve the hard to find sticky rice. Oh and the best part is — almost every dish is under $ 8!!!
You can park at the Safeway across the street or in the Bank of Hawaii parking lot (Dee Thai rents it out during dinner hours), about a block diamond head of the restaurant.
BYOB

Simple, easy, and not too shabby. Small dining room. Lovely purple walls. Really attentive, very sweet and accommodating service. Food is sometimes really tasty, sometimes «okay» but never «ew I can’t believe I put that in my mouth.» (Well, the coffee was pretty icky, but everything else was perfectly acceptable)
I think everything was based price under $ 10, and most of it was under $ 8 (naturally, shrimp curries cost more). Particularly tasty sateh.
BYOB.
Across from the new Safeway.