Mai Thai

We had a Groupon so thought it would be fun to try a new Thai place in a trendy neighborhood. We sat down around 6:30pm and were the only two in place. The table was patio furniture with a napkin underneath it keep it stable. The chairs were different from each other and the wall behind us had a huge hole in it. We were hoping for a «hole in the wall» type of restaurant, but not literally.
We ordered an appetizer which took over 20 plus minute for it to come out. It was about $ 10 for nasty chicken and spring rolls that were good but also seems like they were frozen and deep-​fried. We each got an entrée and they were about $ 15-​$ 20 each for a disturbing meal.
I recommend going somewhere else for Thai.

First thing we noticed when we first sat down was the fruit flies. That should have been a sign to just leave but we were starving so we dicided to give the place a try.
There were 5 of us in our group.
Ordered a Pot of Tom Yum and 2 orders of fresh spring rolls. It took 30 minutes for the soup and apps to be served. The Tom Yum was just ok tasting and even though it was served on a warmer the soup was luke warm. The Spring rolls was also just ok with the peanut sauce infused with coconut milk. Over an hour from the time we set down (everyone in our party ordered a variation of noodles) we finally get our order. The food is average.
Definitely not coming back to this resto.

Mai Thai used to be my favorite Thai place but my most recent experience has urged me to seek other Thai restaurants. Years ago, prior to their recent renovations the food was amazing. I always get the roasted duck with plum sauce, but my last experience left me questioning what happened! I went on a date with my gf (I forget what she got, something with shrimp) and she was not pleased with it at all. The sake is pretty good, but the food has changed for the not-​so-​better. The aura is nice and romantic with low lighting and some nice fancy Thai decorations. The bar looks pretty nice as well, but since I usually go here for the food I have to give it 3 star review.

It has been at least 24hrs since I came here for carryout, so I think it is safe to say that I have finally calmed down…
First thing’s first, I’m a realist. If somebody tell me the expected wait time is 25 minutes, I do not expect that my order will arrive exactly in 25 minutes. I give them a reasonable adjustment for error. My allowed room for error is a merciful 7 minutes (you can unwrap and prepare 3 hot pockets in the microwave in that time). I am pleasantly surprised if the food arrives 7 minutes before their estimation and unfazed if it arrives 7 minutes after their estimation. Heck, I am only a bit annoyed if it takes 10 minutes. After 20 minutes, that is enough justification for me to write a bad Unilocal review.
Twenty minutes extra is not a hyperbole. It was AT LEAST twenty whole fricken minutes after their estimated time. I walked into the restaurant and ordered two main dishes and a ‘tizer. The kind man said that it will be ready in ~25 minutes (it was 6:15pm when I placed my order). 45 minutes later, my greasy bag of Thai food was ready (sometime AFTER 7:00pm). What kind of restaurant takes 45 minutes to prepare a carryout order?! I could have had a well paced meal sitting down at many other restaurant within 45 minutes. I reluctantly must mention that their curry is quite tasty.
oh… btw. I ORDERED SPRING ROLLS AS AN APPETIZER NOT CRAB RANGOON. SPRINGGGG ROLLSSSSSSSS
TLDR: Sacrebleu!!!

This place is so under rated and I’m not sure where it gets it’s bad rap from. It’s a shame it isn’t busier. The food is excellent, the service is friendly and the owner is really nice. I wish this place would get more business. I love good Thai food and It’s not hard to know the difference between good and bad Thai. Mai Thai is great and really deserves more credit than it gets.

Eek. I’ve been here a few times and tried to give to a chance, but I’m not coming back. Some of their dishes can be prepared vegan, which is great, but the service was terrible. I’m not one to complain about service and it takes a lot for me to tip less than 20%, but this was out of control.
I came in with two others at 5pm on a Sunday. There were a few other people there and only one server. I can understand things getting a bit behind but it took 15 minutes to get a server to our table, another 30 for our appetizers, 20 minutes to get an extra napkin, etc. Our server never said anything about or apologized for the wait. We were there for almost two hours. The food was good but not great.
Disappointing!

Wow this place went downhill fast. I don’t know if the ownership changed or just gave up. It’s rare that I go to such a poorly run restaurant these days on Brady St.
The moment we were seated we were given 3 glasses of ice water. Immediately followed by 3 more glasses of hot water by a different waiter. Now I don’t mind extra water but how can they give hot water in a beer glass? I don’t particularly enjoy the burning sensation on my palm everytime I want to sip my hot water.
Our group ordered the tomyum soup in an aluminum heating soup bowl but it came with no heating gel/​unit. The soup got cold in about 4 minutes so we ended up eating cold broth. The pad kee mao tasted and looked like it was brought together with a bunch of leftovers. And then they forgot our third order completely (although the waiter cleverly tried to play it off by saying it was burnt so they remade a new order). Either way, that’s a shame. I’ve never done a dine & ditch but we were so tempted because paying for this meal was painful.
Mai thai used to be good. I don’t know what happened. The place is empty now except for a scattering of curious customers hoping for a good authentic thai meal only to be disappointed.
I recommend Yeesan or Thai Kitchen until Mai Thai can get their act together.
Our waiter (Ryan) was nice and tried hard. I’m sure it’s hard to stay motivated with such a slow dinner crowd.

We came for our 2^nd visit and after sitting at a wet table the server took our order and my order was wrong I had the noodles with seafood all I got was noodles with chicken.
We sent it back and the it had 4 pieces of misc seafood. Not too impressed we wo t be back

Meh. The food itself wasn’t too bad, it wasn’t great, but it definitely is not the best Thai food on the east side. Much the the other reviews, the service was not very good at all. I don’t think it was our waitresses fault, and mostly the fact that they seem understaffed. We were happy to find out the drinks were 2 for 1 during 4 – 7 happy hour, but after ordering our second set of drinks we were told that since we have a groupon the manager doesn’t allow other specializes with it. Um, that would have been really nice to know an hour before, when we ordered our first set of drinks! Our waitress was really nice and let us put the drinks & food on 2 separate checks, but really? If you have a stupid policy like that, make sure it is in the fine print.
We didn’t have a horrible night, but don’t ever plan on going back, again, there are a lot of other options just a few blocks away.

It’s a shame that this place is run so poorly because the food here is very good. I have given it three chances to win me over, and each time I am impressed with the food and dismayed by everything else. I keep wondering if they are applying for Kitchen Nightmares & we are all part of their compelling audition video, but barring that scenario, Mai Thai seems like a tragic waste of a talented chef and a good menu.
The restaurant is extremely understaffed. In addition to making wait times ridiculous (15 minutes to get menus, 2+ hours total), having only one or two servers on the floor trying to keep track of the entire restaurant makes for a very uncomfortable dining experience. The servers are so clearly drowning that you feel terribly guilty asking for anything, leaving people eating with their hands and exchanging shrugs as they chew the ice cubes from their empty water glasses.
The thing that really puzzles me is that they continue to offer Groupon deals. Based on how packed the restaurant is all the time, it’s clear that getting people in the door is not the problem. It’s everything that happens afterwards.
Don’t bother trying to order carry-​out to avoid the terrible service– I have tried to call at least 20 times and I have never gotten through. There were people waiting for carryout when we went last time, and the forlorn look in their eyes told me that they probably ordered online and had no idea what kind of a mess they were walking into.
I sincerely hope the ownership/​management/​Gordon Ramsey makes some changes here before it is too late.

The food was great, but the service wasn’t. I ordered the red light district curry with tofu, and the flavor was great, I ordered it with extra spice, and they delivered. Great food, and drinks were delicious.
However, the service wasn’t great. When we walked in, we awkwardly stood in the entryway and weren’t greeted by the staff right away, although they made eye contact with us. It was really strange. Then, our food (for 2 people on a slow weeknight) took 40 minutes to come, which seemed like quite a wait. We got spicy dishes, and our water glasses weren’t refilled until one of us got up and requested more water, and eventually a pitcher to keep on the table since the glasses are pretty small (not a complaint, just a fact). Our server was pretty inattentive, but the other server I saw in there was very helpful and ended up helping our table despite our original server being there.
I was disappointed in the service — maybe it was an off night? The food is good, though.

Service has really gone downhill lately. I’ve been waiting a long time now and the way they treat the staff is making me uncomfortable. I going to take a break from this place for a while.
I just heard they have a whole new staff. They were closed for a few days unexpectedly. Maybe the previous staff all quit or were fired. I use to enjoy popping in here to pick up dinner on the way home.
Update: the manager (owner?) just belched loudly in front of me. I should have waited to pay until my order came out. I could have canceled and left already. I really do not want to be here.

Poor experience. My boyfriend and I were walking down Brady looking for a place to do lunch and when we decided to try Mai Thai for the first time. Lunch special also drew us in ($ 8.95 for a small starter, soup, and entrée). We were greeted and sat right away, but waited at least 10 minutes for the server to greet us. It appeared that she was the only server on. She had 3 tables outside, and 4 tables inside (including us). We watched her hurry around for another 15 minutes, never stopping back at our table. Finally, a server/​bartender (not sure) who had just walked in came up to us to take our order since the other server was in the weeds — good move, but he just asked if we were «ready to order» and skipped asking about drinks and/​or apps. We would have ordered drinks had we been prompted to, but after waiting 20 minutes for ANY kind of service, we opted to just order our food.
I got a tofu soup, spring roll, and pad Thai. My boyfriend got a chicken soup, crab rangoon, and stir fry type entrée. It took 15 minutes to get our soup and starter (now we’re about 40 – 45 minutes into it). While eating my soup, I found a large piece of chicken. I do not eat meat, and where a spillover of ingredients happens (like when you get one random flat noodle in a spaghetti dish — that’s whatever!), but this mistake was not acceptable in my book. When the server/​bartender came back I told him, he asked if I wanted another but I declined since I was already off put by the first try. He replied saying that if that happened to him that he’d be upset, too. The spring roll was good.
About 5 minutes later our original waitress awkwardly came over to tell us our food was in the window. …emphasis on the awkward. Having been a server for 5 years, I’m holding back a lot of judgements because everyone has their days, but come on. Another 5 minutes goes by and our newer/​real server comes to tell us he’ll be bringing out food out, and does. At that time we also asked for our check because we assumed that we would be done with our meal by the time we’d receive it.
The entrees looked very presentable, but I noticed that they weren’t very hot (temp). They were not cold (or not warm enough) by any means, but our food was really sitting in a window for at least 5 minutes. My tofu pad Thai tasted good, my boyfriends cashew chicken stir fry was «pretty good,» then I found a small hair on a noodle. It was one of those that you would see flying through the air like a speck of dust, it was not a long gross thing, but again it was pretty off putting. Again, having worked in the service industry, I know this stuff can easily happen, so I didn’t bother saying anything when the server dropped off our check. Oh! And I didn’t get ANY names! That bothered me too since I didn’t feel comfortable asking for anything, like a napkin or a refill on water, with a «Hey you with the face!» It’s a small respect thing, but it just shows how impersonal our experience was.
The server took of $ 2 for my soup, which was a nice gesture, but all in all it was not a good experience. I can’t imagine how it is when they’re «busy» with a dinner rush.
Will not be returning.

A beautiful 86 degree day lead me on a search for a patio to enjoy some happy hour at. I wandered down to Brady, and as a last resort ended up at Mai Thai. I had enjoyed happy hour here before, and was not all that disappointed with the destination.
We sat down at the open table (there were four tables, three had diners at them already, so it was clear that a server was active out here). After almost 20 minutes with no action another diner went in to be sure that the server hadn’t passed out. Eventually this hormonal little teenager came out. Asked if we wanted menus. To save time… it took us about a half hour to get our first drink.
We started the meal with «spring» and «summer» rolls, one fried and one fresh. The fried rolls had noodles and carrots, and not much else. TOTALLY lacking of any sort of flavor besides fryer grease. The dipping sauce was very vinegary and didn’t help with the flavor. The fresh rolls were offered with either tofu or shrimp, and we opted for tofu. Theirs is totally tasteless and falls out in chunks. The majority of the roll is just green lettuce. The only redeeming quality here was the peanut dipping sauce — which was FANTASTIC! The crab rangoon was fine, but had huge chunks of green onions and I ended up giving up.
For an entrée we split the Massamun Curry, which we ordered at a 4 out of 5 spice level. It came after the appetizers which was nice. Never did our server check back this entire time. Nor did he provide us with napkins. When the curry came (all food and plates were delivered by a third party), he asked how the apps were. The curry was entirely flavorless and lacking of any semblance of spice whatsoever. There were maybe 5 pieces of chicken, some potatoes and ALL white onions. It was just NOT good.
While nothing here was particularly BAD, it was just completely mediocre run of the mill Americanized Thai food. The service was the kicker here, and solidified that I will not be returning.

If I could give this place zero stars I would. It was my first and definitely last time eating at Mai Thai. The service was terrible right from start, which should have been a sign, but I wanted to like this place. It has all the makings to be a great, cozy little restaurant. We waited at the table for a server to stop by for way too long, watched another couple get up and leave after never being tended to. Our ten dollar drinks were all ice with no alcohol and our food was sub par. The one thing I can’t get over is how remarkably terrible the service was. It was no where near full, and had ample staff on hand, yet no one knew who was attending, or not attending which tables.
Don’t waste your time or money.

This is my favorite Thai place. ever. Period. I had been living in Milwaukee for about 7 years when I finally found this place. After my first lunch there I knew Mai Thai would have it be in my regular rotation of usual restaurants. I have tried a variety of the spring, summer, and winter rolls. They were all great. Next course is always Tom Kha or Tom Yum soup. They are both AMAZING. You MUST try one and do yourself a favor and get an extra pot to-​go so you can have it for dinner or lunch the next day.
I have also tried a variety of their stir fried dishes. They are all great. Very, very fresh ingredients, spicy, not greasy, GREAT FLAVOR.
I have been here 20+ times mostly for lunch and always had great service. The atmosphere leaves a little to be desired but as long as the food is great I don’t think it really matters.
If you like authentic, spicy, sweaty Thai food, they are not afraid to make it hot. I would always get a 3 or 4 on their spicy scale (5 is maximum spicy– I think) and I was definitely sweating but it was not too hot. My mom would always get 5 and she loved it.
I live in Brooklyn now and I still think about Mai Thai. I have yet to find another Thai place I like as much. I have tried many, many other Tom Kha and Tom Yum soups and they absolutely do not compare.

I feel soooo redundant saying this place «doesnt feel like a place you’d find in Milwaukee»… blah, blah, blah. I say this in almost every review it seems! Maybe its a self serving prophecy… these places HAVE become the type of places you find in Milwaukee now.
Anywho…
Mai thai does sort of have a laid back beach by way of northern cali feel going for it. The last time I was there was when that sink hole occurred in front of the old pizza man during a crazy summer storm. I had friends visiting from out of town and we naturally didn’t want to drive.
Fast forward several years… the place has been remodeled and always boasts happy hour specials on a little chalkboard easel outfront that try to lure me in. I finally gave in and we headed over one Saturday afternoon.
The stone façade has been replaced with big windows. I still secretly wish those windows opened in the summer so it could be all one big patio. I also wish they had kept the easterly wall aquamarine blue. Its now a creamish color but they’ve added lots of blue lighting and gauze-​y curtains which help things out. They seem to be trying to turn it into more of a «lounge» as of late.
The appetizers were spot on (see pics) especially for the happy hour prices. Drinks were buy one get one free. We each did the the bogo drinks, ordered a green curry dish to split, and then since we were on a staycation & being stupid, ordered all but one happy hr app to sample. Pretip — $ 36. Not bad. Note on the curry –years ago I remember them giving tons and tons of food… portions are smaller now but I thought very good. My dining companion however, has a soft spot for jow kai (I’ve never been) and lamented our not going there. Whatevs.
Overall, if you like a laidback atmosphere and thai food you’ll like this. Especially try to make it before 6 (I think that’s happy hour cut off but don’t quote me on that)

I’m going to write this review while the experience is fresh in my mind… I’m still finishing my soup, in fact!
So, we ordered delivery from Mai Thai — the delivery was fast and the guy was really nice, so that nets them two stars.
I always order the same things from Thai restaurants — the fresh rolls (called «Jumbo Spring Rolls» at MT) and the tom yum soup. Today was no different.
The rolls were abysmal. 80% lettuce and other greens, with a thin sliver of tofu and a couple vermicelli leaves. Really gross — the rolls just tasted like lettuce, even when smothered in the peanut curry sauce (which was quite good). Their tofu is the rubbery kind that lacks flavor, so the whole thing was just terrible. And the amount of vermicelli noodles was laughable.
The soup was also lacking. That bland tofu paired with a flavorless broth — I was so disappointed.
The thing is, Mai Thai competes with Jow Nai, EE Sane, and Thai-​Namite in the surrounding area, and they are by far the worst of the four. I *only* ordered from them because Thai-​Namite and Jow Nai were closed (EE Sane doesn’t have fresh rolls, unfortunately). You’d think that they would bring their A-​game with their food instead of providing customers with flavorless food. If you like fresh rolls and tom yum soup, do NOT order from Mai Thai!

Our sever was awesome! That’s where the awesome ends. I didn’t catch her name, but I wish she worked at a restaurant that I would enjoy returning to. She is the reason this is a two star review instead of a one star review. On to other topics.
The décor itself is nice. I felt like we were at an upscale place once we walked in. After sitting down and placing our drink orders, however, we noticed the tables were sticky, with bits of food for our arms to rub against. Maybe they were teaching us a harsh ‘no elbows on the table’ lesson?
Having never ordered food before, I stuck with things I know I like from other restaurants. The vegetable tempura appetizer was quite good, actually. I’d come back for that and a beer to start an evening out. My entrée of Volcano Shrimp (spice level 1 on a scale out of 4) had absolutely no flavoring to it. It came with rice and overcooked shrimp on a bed of steamed cabbage and sliced carrots topped with a «plum sauce». I wish it had been topped with just a little salt and pepper, at least. Bland bland bland. My husband’s volcano chicken (spice level 2) was also seemingly unseasoned, and that is part of why we didn’t complain at the table. If that’s how they serve their food, we just won’t be back.
Once we were done eating, our server informed us they are only able to split checks two ways after 6:00. That would have been nice to know ahead of time, as there were 6 of us eating. We got it sorted out, though, and were on our way.

I finally made it here for dinner and thank goodness! The dining area is even cuter than the bar, feeling both cozily near other diners, but still separate. The heat was out on a very cold night, but they happily seated us next to the space heater.
My dinner companion ordered the crab rangoon, which I typically don’t get excited about. But this one was great! Not too much cream cheese, perfectly fried, delish. She had the pad thai and was very pleased, I ordered the Pad See Ew with tofu. I was torn between shoving it all in my face or saving it for leftovers because I never wanted it to end. It was perfectly cooked, saucy, delicious.
Our server was sweet, checking on us often. I felt welcome and comfortable here. This is definitely on my list of places to return to!