Meun Fan Thai Cafe

I swear, when it’s busy, service automatically suffers by 1000%. Saturday night dinner rush and we walked in. First thing they asked: «Do you have a reservation?»
No. Really? For a casual Thai restaurant? I guess so… they had 4 tables in that tiny restaurant with reserved signs. Okayyy… We shall remember for next time. Nothing like no choice, we sat at the only open table for two right by the entrance. Awkward cuz the later guests came in and had to wait for tables, therefore staring at us… nom, nom, nom, nom…
The food: larb for appetizer was well seasoned n tasty; sizzling beef platter was perfect, served over a bed of spinach on a small skillet. We had to remind them to bring the rice tho. Pineapple curry with beef was okay… Maybe better with chicken or shrimp cuz the beef was kinda chewy. Choose yo meats wisely!
The Thai tea n Thai iced coffee were good, tho a bit sweet. The green Thai tea was more interesting, intense flavor.
Service suffered so terribly. We had to wait for everything. Where’s our rice? Where’s my green tea? Where’s the chili tray (a must-​get btw)? Where is our check? I wanted to try their mango sticky rice but I just didn’t wanna wait anymore. They were too busy to attend to any table’s individual needs.
I just have to say, the girl next to our table found hair in her Thai tea. Then she found hair again in her food. It’s like the lottery, she freaking won them all! She ended up having just water for dinner. The cook came out to apologize. Fun and joyyy.
They’ve a good menu tho, just gotta coordinate better during busier times. Perhaps assign one person to refill water, clean plates n such.
They’ve plenty of parking in their lot.

Stopped by here for a late lunch on New Year’s Eve on our drive back to the Bay Area. It was the first time I had Thai iced green tea. Wow! It was unusual and delicious! The Penang curry was the best we have ever had and the drunken noodles were excellent too. Our server was super friendly. All in all, an excellent find in Santa Barbara.

Awesome place! Very friendly staff & attentive! The thing I like best is the ability to order the dishes to your own desired spice level! Other Thai places have not been so accommodating! It’s always busy & not a lot of seating space… could be a good idea to call first! Their wines are nearly all from the Santa Barbara Winery & very good with Thai cuisine! A must if in the Mesa area!

I love this place and go here regularly. The food is consistently delicious and fresh. The waiters are always friendly and nice! If your looking for good Thai food this is the place to go. My favorite is the chicken pad Thai.

Love this place and the food here. I will recommend you to try curry fried rice and thai tea pudding during your visit here. And ofcourse the Thai Ice Tea.

I usually enjoy Thai food so much. This place was such a disappointment. The egg rolls were good and so I thought I was off to a great start. My friend took me there and was treating me .
We ordered the coconut soup with chicken and tofu – the chicken was dried out and they forgot to put the tofu in. We tried with no success to get the owners attention– he also was the only waiter on the floor at the busy lunch time hour. There was one bus girl, very pleasant, however too much for her to handle .The owner– waiter enjoyed talking and socializing with regular customers– very nice, although it was at the expense of helping the other customers. I ate the soup and was not hoppy at all. I had to pick out all kinds of hard pieces of uncooked ginger and other spices. The portion was very small for the price compared to other restaurants of the same ilk on State street. The other restaurants serve much larger and far superior versions of this soup, Tap for example is far superior to this Café. I explained this to the waiter and he said «Why didn’t you tell me the tofu was missing when you received it?» I laughed and said «How could I? «I tried to get your attention for fifteen minutes to no avail and when I finally did I finished it –I was starving And you came by our table with both of your hands loaded with dishes, juggling them to talk to us. I was astonished at his lack of professionalism in every aspect of my experience. He was fine as long as people were complimenting him and schmoozing with him about his wife’s trip to Thailand. If there was one ounce of concern or criticism from a customer he turned into another human being– one of horror and viciousness. He became so self defensive as if he was being attacked — it was ridiculous He acted like a third grader My friend wanted to leave at that point .She felt horrible she had subjected me to this silly behavior and awful food. Also the noise level was unbearable, the acoustics were awful –children screaming and people talking loud– the restaurant couldn’t accommodate this loud noise. I was still hungry. so we ordered a Main dish on goof faith foolishly and it was beyond horrible. Believe me when I tell you we wish we had loved it so we would not have had to deal with what occurred from that time after. We had shared the egg rolls and the small portion of soup so I said lets share a main dish .The main dish was horrible and unlike no other I have ever had in a Thai restaurant .I told him it was not of our liking the spices had an awful taste we couldn’t eat The minute we saw it we knew there was something wrong with it– it was so orange like a pumpkin and no bean sprouts –, this dish is known for bean sprouts. And I told him not everyone has the same taste buds. we cannot eat it –it tastes horrible to us and we have had this dish in almost every Thai restaurant in this City and all over the world –so please have the courteously to believe us when we tell you it is not to our taste buds and liking even if every single one of your adoring customers love it –we do not and can not eat it. Would You please be so kind as to replace it with another dish. He then went ballistic and said this is our number one dish everyone loves it here there is something wrong with the two of you .I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at his point .His behavior seemed insane and childish to both of us and beyond ridiculous. I have never encountered such unprofessional behavior by a manager or waiter or owner in a restaurant in my entire life and remember I am from New York so that says a great deal here. He should have said I am so terribly sorry about the tofu in the soup and we are so busy now please allow me to take this away and bring you another dish that would-​be to your liking. Well he didn’t and insisted we pay for a dish we couldn’t eat and we insisted we would not and were literally thrown out of the place –imagine such rude, crude behavior. This owner-​waiter lacked class in every single aspect of this experience shame on him. Another customer was saying his meal was ruined by all this and I apologized to him because I have class. so we left and went to the excellent Thai restaurant on upper state street to ordered the exact dish and enjoyed it tremendously – . not Tap because they open only for dinner we went to another one and loved it as it was prepared properly beans sprouts and all. I suggest anyone who goes to this Café never complain and if you do not like the dish lie and say it is delicious or the big, bad man will attack you. verbally.
He lashed out at us in self defense .I have never encountered a Mr. Jekyll and Mir Hyde in a business like setting behave like him before in my entire life.

Delicious dishes, a little dinner rush on a Sunday night is always promising. Tip: sitting outside is nice but those little water glasses won’t last long. Ask for extra or sit inside lol! Silly kids, what did we expect. Otherwise, good flavor and medium prices.

I initially avoided this place for a long time because of poor reviews about the management and staff. I finally ate here and have to be honest… the food is very good. Not the best pad Thai I have ever had, but the yellow curry is legit. And I don’t like curry!!! The peanut sauce is outstanding and the food is not terribly overpriced. Also… very clean.

Stopped by to try the lunch special as this spot was recommended by a coworker. Extremely good yellow curry. Spicier than usual but I love spicy. Portions and service was decent but nothing exceptional. I will give them another shot.

This little gem is located conveniently on Cliff. The food is authentic and flavorful. The whole menu looks delicious. We had the green curry with chicken, drunken noodles with gluten and the flavor rolls with lemonade (the fresh lime was a nice touch btw). The server was sweet, but my dining partner did order the red curry, but she gets a pass because my lemonade was always full and my companion did not want to send his dish back. We will be back.

Picked up chicken Pad Thai and sweet rice with mango. The portion size was good, it was delicious. One girl at the counter didn’t understand me, but she was helped out by another girl who promptly pulled up their online menu with photos for me. I came after the lunch rush, the restaurant was clean with pleasant décor.

They have the best chicken Pad Thai and Panang chicken curry I have ever had!!! This is the best Thai restaurant in Santa Barbara by far!

Great soups and curries!
Very clean atmosphere!
If you like hot tea, try the ginger… it’s out of this world amazing!

I’ve been coming to Mesa Thai for years (that’s what us locals call this place). The service is good and food is excellent! My favorite dish is the spicy Thai basil chicken-​unbelievably good! Definitely worth a visit or just get it to go :)

We had an excellent dinner last night. We ordered an asparagus /​snow peas with chicken and steamed rice and Kai Kua with chicken.
Both dishes were excellent. The asparagus and snow peas were cooked perfect. The dishes were nice and hot when they arrived and very tasty. Not too salty, not too spicy although they will spice it up to your preference.
The inside of the restaurant is comfortable and quiet. The servers were polite and timely without be intrusive.
A definite MUST for SB locals. Try it, you will return. We will.

–Very friendly staff
–Wonderful aroma from the kitchen
–Excellent interior and décor
–Food was excellent
I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone in the area.

My favorite in Santa Barbara. Great flavor and when you ask for spicy they don’t hold back! Great menu and friendly far service.

Upon walking in we were not greeted, I’m not sure of it was because we were in workout clothes or what but the service was not the best. We came in 10 minutes before a group of cops and they got served before us! They were getting food before we even got water. I like cops too, but the service inequality was noticed by more than just us. The food itself was pretty good, don’t suggest the curry but I’m just not a green bean fan. You really can’t go wrong with any flat noodle dish or soup. So as my personal non-​professional opinion I would suggest ordering it for take-​out, rather than eating there.

If you’re going on a date, this is a must. Their service is so awful, that the date will seem to go on forever. Well, I mean, don’t do this if its a bad date. But if you want a long date. It’s a must. Actually good food. But worst service out of anywhere.

Beautiful décor and super CLEAN
Friendly SERVICE
Delicious FOOD: order the TOFU salad: healthy and super tasty! The PINEAPPLE fried rice is also very flavorful!!!
2 thumbs up!!! («,)