Chai’s Thai

Haha! Not surprise to see this place is closed! I went there once and it was a horrible experience. I had to ask a hand full of times for something to drink, they were «out» of the appetizer that I ordered so I had to have something else, and they had a «freak accident» with the Pad Thai noodles so I couldn’t have that either. I don’t even remember what I had for an entrée but it was okay. The guy at the table next to us ordered one thing and got another, later when he asked the waiter what he just ate, the waiter told him they were (again) «out» of what he ordered so the just decided to bring him something else! Weird! We contemplated leaving before we even got our food because it took sooooooo long! Then we had to practically beg them to get our bill to pay and waited 45 minutes to finally get it. If I could give less that 1 star I would!!!

So I like to review places that are closed, sue me. This was a really cool little place on the West Bank. It was small and simple, while being classy and tasty. Before Chai Thai this location had a Vietnamese phở soup deli run by an ex-​Vietnamese airforce pilot who got shot down during the war and hurt his leg. He liked to be called Tiger.
What’s next for this spot, I’m hoping a Somali café, there’s not enough on Cedar. But the Wienery next door will outlast them all!

After years of coming back and a trip to Thailand, I mantain my opinion that Chai’s is quite possibly the best Thai in town.
I love their curry and their soups. The Laab salad and the Singapore noodles are great. And pretty much anything I try is at least good.
Downside, they are a bit slower and more expensive than your regular lunch joint, but they would be a bargain for dinner.

I learned of Chai’s Thai via Unilocal.
Being a huge fan of Thai food and having eaten at almost all the more known places I decided to try Chai’s. I will admit I was a bit put off my the space and the smell in the space. It is super small, and the restaurants food odor hung in the air. Not a fan of that… in fact I am airing out my coat right now.
The food, on the other hand did not disappoint. We had the green curry with chicken, and the Pad Kee something. It’s awful I can’t remember the exact name, but it was a wonderful dish with wide noodles, chicken, egg, and veggies. We ordered both of these because they had 3 peppers! My friend and I love hot food.
I will also mention we started out with the spring rolls. This is the main reason they are not getting 4 stars. The spring rolls were the WORST I have had. All lettuce, and wrapper with a thin shred of chicken in the middle… sorry but I will pass on those.
Quang is still the best spring roll in town.
I probably won’t be back to Chai’s but I am glad I tried it.

I had the dish that was like pad thai, except with wider rice noodles (Sorry, I forget the name). I thought it was a little on the salty side, but had some nice flavors. I asked for the dish to be super hot so it had more of a kick but not so much that I couldn’t eat it. The best part of the meal was the chicken satay appetizers. They were fabulous.
The place was small, but not so small that you get claustrophobic. The service and food makes up for their small size. I had excellent service — there was only one waiter working over the lunch rush, but I felt like I got attention when I wanted it. I walked through the kitchen to use the restroom downstairs and both the kitchen and bathroom seemed pretty clean to me.
This is probably one of the better places to eat on campus. I would definitely come back here again.

I’ve been here twice now and it definitely pays to come when it’s not too busy. The kitchen is small and seems to take the time to make things fresh, so it can get slow and backed up when there’s a crowd, like for weekend dinners or before a show at a nearby venue.
That said, the place is great. The interior is small, maybe only twelve tables or so, but the design is interesting and they don’t cram people in too closely. Best of all it’s BYOB with no corkage fee.
The first time we ate there, shortly after it opened, we had the spring rolls, the Massaman curry, and one of the stir-​fried noodle dishes. Everything was tasty and we left full but not overstuffed. We noticed the Pad Thai looked delicious and wanted some, so we went back and tried it along with the beef jerky with sticky rice and chili mint beef stir fry.
We liked the food even better this time, and the service was great. It was about an hour before closing on a slow restaurant night and there was only one other table of people. The service was ideal – all our food came out fresh and hot, and the waiter was very pleasant and also very attentive without being annoying about it.
The Thai beef jerky was really flavorful and the sticky rice was perfectly cooked. A great deal for $ 6.50. The chili mint beef was spicy and satisfying without being heavy or greasy, and my guy, who eats Pad Thai whenever and wherever he gets the chance, loved it. He scarfed up his entire (generous) portion and then scraped his plate clean.

After reading all the reviews, I decided to give this place a try.
Thai iced tea: very good! A little too rich like a dessert to accompany lunch, but I will be back specifically for the tea.
Crab and avocado app: wow! Amazing!!! Best part of lunch. The pastry part of the roll was crunchy and flaky and absolutely perfect. The avocado was ripe and soft and delicious. The dipping sauce it came with looked a bit weird but complemented the rolls perfectly!
Pad Thai: good but average. A tad disappointed in this dish after the amazing app and tea, but still good.
Mint beef– can’t remember the correct name. Very good! Like others have said this portion was smaller than the pad Thai, but I’ll take quality over quantity any day.
Like others have said, it’s a small location and during rush times it can take a bit longer to get service, but the short wait is 110%worth it. Plus the waitress was amazing, friendly and helpful with menu items even though she was in the weeds.
I will definitely be back!

* Closed, and I can see why…
Visited this place again, after several months and noticed my entrée, which I order consistently, had shrunk by about 50%, (price remained the same, at close to $ 10 (for lunch)… you’d expect more.
I asked the server if the management had undergone a change and she replied yes. It was quite obvious that they are trying to cut corners by cutting the portion size. Sad, because I really liked this place, and I will probably go back again, since I work just down the street, but may order a different dish or just appetizers next time.
I hope they realize that it really does not cost that much more to put a few more vegetables on the plate and maybe a bit more than a ½ cup of rice for each person.
I will add that the food was very tasty, just sparse.

Great food, great atmosphere, and you can bring your own wine without a corkage fee. I am not sure what could make it better!
My favorites are the green curry for a dish and sticky white rice with mango for dessert.

This place was awesome! asdf!#@!!! awesome!
This tiny lounge restaurant is delicious! The price, which is around $ 8-​$ 10 a dish, is a bargain considering the atmosphere and taste. Pad Thai is great. Panang curry is awesome, and has just enough spice to satisfy even the spiciest fan like myself.
Our server was very informed, paid great attention to us, and was very helpful. I’d come here again in a heartbeat.
Chai’s is a small restaurant, so I can’t believe I’ve driven past this a bajillion times and haven’t tried the food. Yay, coming back again.

Another hidden West-​bank gem! I happened upon this place one day while out for an afternoon stroll with a friend, and boy am I glad we stopped! It is pretty much the definition of a hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurant… probably as big as my living room! It has a delightfully bright green interior and I love the staff’s comfy-​looking uniform pants.
Things to try:
–Panang (curry)
–Thai salad — the peanut dressing is one of the most delicious sauces I’ve ever had
–Sweet rice with coconut custard — beautiful presentation! It sounds a little weird but it is delicious!
This place feels like a beautiful little secret… everything I have tried has been great, so feel free to explore the menu!

While I’ve generally been charmed by Chai’s Thai, my last experience distinctly soured me on the place.
How on earth can a Thai restaurant serve a dish with NO SPICE?
I ordered a dish (Cashew Chicken) that was listed on the menu with two chili peppers, which is supposedly pretty spicy. It’s listed that way, I order it, the waiter does not ask my preferred spice level (as they often do in Thai restaurants). Fine, that means it will be as spicy as listed on the menu, right?
Wrong.
Apparently, I need to actively ask for my dish to have the spices it is supposed to. My dish arrived UTTERLY SPICELESS.
I can’t tell you how wretched an unspiced Thai dish is. I may have well have been eating oatmeal.
Actually, that’s unfair to oatmeal. I like oatmeal.
I would have sent it back, but the waiter didn’t stop by the table for ten minutes. Not that it was busy, it was lunch and the place was near empty.
I hope this was just an inexperienced waiter, because another experience like this and I will swear this place off for good.

Holy Hot Flash!
Even with the door open this place was roasting and humid and made it all the more welcome for all the flies buzzing around.
I ordered the Spicy Thai Basil fried rice which was alright, but it was too damn hot to eat because it was so hot inside. I took the rest of it home. Wasn’t a huge fan of the green and red peppers in it.
My friend had the cashew chicken which she really liked and we split an order of egg rolls which were tasty and cute. They were the little mini thin egg rolls.
The décor is simple and clean, minus the flies.
May have to try this place again in the winter. We’ll see.

I’m so hung-​up on the Acadia that it was hard for me to pry myself away to try something different on the West Bank, but Chai’s was good to me.
I had the garlic chicken & a Thai tea. The chicken came on large plate with a broccoli border and a side of sticky rice. It was tender and held its flavor nicely. The garlic wasn’t overwhelming (but let’s be real, it would have been fine if it was) and the portion was perfecto.
Our server was extremely attentive and refilled my water glass about 8 times (seriously, I am a server’s nightmare when it comes to refills) so I am appreciative. The place is so small that she was able to chill out in the back on her Macbook between patrons. Not a bad gig!
I hate to over-​use a quote, but Chai’s: «I’ll be back.»

Apparently this place has been around longer than I was aware. I noticed it a while ago while going to some blues concerts in the Cedar area and just finally made it there for lunch. We walked in and the place was empty, and there were some flies and the place seemed, not dirty, but not especially clean either. Not a good first impression, but the space otherwise was charming. This got –1 star.
I was all set to order my staple, laab gai (a Laotian chicken salad dish) which I not only like, but which is fairly healthy (not laden with coconut milk, butter, etc) when the server told us about the specials. One was a seasonal hollowed-​out pumpkin with massamun curry inside, including choice of protein and obviously pumpkin, along with sticky rice. MY friend ordered that. I ordered a mahi-​mahi green curry dish and some jasmine tea.
The tea was delicious, and the place started filling up as we passed noon. This was reassuring. My friend’s pumpkin came out, and it was very impressive to behold. I tasted a bit and it was delicious.
Then mine came out, and as I dug in I was shocked by how good the green curry was. It had just the right amount of heat as well. The fish was overcooked, but I think it may have been done that way on purpose; in any case, I really enjoyed it and loved the crust on it. This was the best thai meal I’ve had here, displacing Sen Yai Sen Lek, which has soared to great heights, but also at times disappointed.
I’m really pleased I stopped in, and my friend couldn’t stop eating his dish either. I love this place and hope they can deliver on this level consistently. Next time I will try my staple dish, and if they execute it well I’ll have a new favorite.

This is the best Thai place in town as far as I’m concerned. The prices are great, the food is fantastic and the presentation is always lovely. It’s fun to have such a great hole-​in-​the-​wall place in my old neighborhood.
Be prepared to wait if you go though, it’s a small place and when it’s busy it’s BUSY!

Nicole and I went with her family to get a bite to eat on a thursday night. It was pretty dead, and a calm enviroment. This is a place you can get to know your neighbor at. Nicole always gets the pumpkin curry, which is to die for good. We also had a few appetizers:
edamame
two fried spring rolls (the crab with avocado sauce is amazing)
fried tofu is pretty good too!
I ordered the shrimp tempura noodle dish, don’t remember exactly what it was called. The tempura was too thick and gooey, I like it light and fluffy, and the noodles were chewy and weird in flavor. Wasn’t worth the 12 bucks or whatever it was.
Also ordered the thai iced coffee, which I thought was going to be simillar to the vietnamese coffee I love so much. It was not. Just really sweet iced latte basically.
I would probably go back to get the curry in season, but other than that, not really worth it. If they had wine it might persuade me to come and have an appetizer and socialize.
Best part was the bathroom. And you know how much I like weird bathrooms. This one was located in the basement. You had to walk through the kitchen, literally walk through the chefs cooking, I almost ran into one on the way out. Then down these creepy stairs into the dark basement. Great stuff!!!

The girl had a hankering for some Thai, so we went out to place on Friday night, it’s been in the Queue for awhile now.
It’s a tiny place and you have to walk through the kitchen and go down into the basement to use the bathroom. I like a restaurant that has nothing to hide.
I thought the Red Curry was great. For $ 9.99, it was one of the best curry meals I’ve had.
The girl had Pad Thai, and it wasn’t anything special, it was the most expensive item on the menu at $ 13. She ordered it medium spicy, but she had a hard time with the spice.
It is BYOB, so you can save some cash and bring a bottle of wine from home, no corkage fee.
The spring rolls were fresh, with mint and cilantro, not bad, not great.
We also split a sticky rice and coconut dessert that we both liked. I didn’t have a hint of heartburn after the meal, which I credit the dessert for, normally I pay dearly for a spicy meal.
The dining room is tiny. Maybe 10 – 12 tables.

The food:
Probably 3.5 stars. I ordered a Thai Iced tea, which was delicious but small for $ 3. The glass is probably only 8 ounces or so. The tea was strong and had a slightly bitter taste, complementing the sugar and cream, but it was still too sweet overall.
For starters we ordered the spring rolls, which include shrimp and chicken inside. It comes with a peanut sauce and a fish sauce. The fish sauce was weaksauce, but the peanut sauce was fantastic. I could eat it everyday!
For the main course, I ordered the shrimp and chicken basil, which was pretty good. My boyfriend got the pad kee mow with chicken. Both dishes were expertly spiced; not spicy enough to cry but enough to leave a tingle on the tongue.
The bad part of the dishes was that the onions — which there were plenty of — were not cooked enough. Raw enough to still be bitter. I think they were thrown in at the same time as the green and red bell peppers, which only need a little time with the stove. Unfortunately, onions need more time so the sugars can come out. Also, each dish came with a mound of curly raw carrot strips. Is this decoration or meant to be eaten? Kind of awkward to do it with a fork, so I left them aside.
If you like to eat a lot, you might want to order two main dishes for yourself. Dishes are kind of small here, but maybe that’s because I am a glutton. Two was enough for the both of us exactly.
The service:
3 stars. Could have been a lot better. We stood waiting to get seated for a few minutes before seating ourselves. In such a small space, I imagine someone would have noticed earlier. However, they built a partition between the dining area and the kitchen/​service area without a window. Bad move.
The server was nice enough, but strangely hurried. First off, she didn’t even bring us water. Silverware didn’t come until after the food. Also, she left bill with us and came back like two minutes later, asking if we wanted to pay yet. Uh, it’s a Monday and I want to relax! And there were like, 2 other tables occupied among 8, so it wasn’t like rush hour or anything.

I am slowly becoming a (safe) fan of dining in the Cedar Riverside area thanks to this marvel. Located riiiight next to those Weiners, Chai Thai is a jewel that really doesn’t look like it should belong there.
Spring rolls: not so much traditional as there isn’t really much meat or sea food in ‘em, but boy… that curry sauce packs a punch.
Laab salad: minced beef with fresh herbs and lime juice. And yes, eat with a side of cabbage. Add a side of sticky rice with it.
Massaman curry: curry that’s more sweet than spicy and that doesn’t make you poop your pants a few hours later? Score!
Green walls: the décor is marvelous. Looks too classy to be in this area (no offense, Cedar Ave!).