Smooth Thai

There are times in your life where things just seem to be going downhill. At those times you can clearly see the vast ocean of failures and mistakes you’ve made through out your life.
These are the moments that can really shape your personality, because how you deal with them will affect the rest of your life immensely.
I deal with these moments by ordering Panang curry at Smooth Thai for lunch. This really is the best panang in the downtown area.
The way the panang stimulates all the senses in my body is a feeling i hope every human on this planet can experience one day.
The pad thai is not so good btw
Smooth Thai. Thank you

Bringing to mind the image of a Coppertone beach boy on the surf at Koh Samui, the name sounds so much more provocative than the food tastes that I find it hard to write this review with a straight face, you should pardon the expression. The other deception I’m grappling with is that the name switch that occurred between this place and the operation across the street, Siam Thai Noodle, means my original review below now has nothing to do with the Parc 55 Wyndham restaurant I’m reviewing now. Well, I’m here to straighten that out… get it? ‘straighten’…uh, never mind. So the vibe in here is not Tenderloin tacky but rather hotel ho-​hum where drunken guests come to eat and drink some more (photo:
).
At least that’s what Jamie W. and I encountered when we decided to give this location a try. It was frankly hard to concentrate while the noise level was escalating at the central table where giddy co-​workers were apparently competing with each other as to who could be the most obnoxious to everyone else. I vote for the alpha bald guy whom I’m guessing was paying for the department dinner that evening. He probably needed a smooth Thai to give his massive ego a massage. All the while, Jamie and I were trying a trio of dishes. First up were the $ 7.25 Siam Wings, which were sauteed chicken wings, large size and coated with a thick sweet & sour sauce (photo:
). The sauce was totally unnecessary as the poultry itself was quite tender and moist.
A bit better — though hardly a risk taker — was the $ 8.95 BBQ Pork Fried Rice, which was exactly what it was with the requisite scallions, tomato, chopped onion, and cucumber slices thrown into the mix (photo:
). The high spot was the $ 8.95 Drunken Noodle, quite appropriate since we were surrounded by drunken diners. It was a plate of spicy pan-​fried noodles mixed with ground pork stir-​fried with tomato, green bean, basil and chili peppers (photo:
). That was the only dish we both liked enough to consider a return visit. But not when there’s a large rowdy group indifferent to the rest of the diners in the small room. Nope, that would make me walk right into the heart of the Tenderloin and risk a meal in a dive in the middle of the night.
FOOD — 3 stars… very good drunken noodle, the rest is just decent
AMBIANCE — 2.5 stars… a hotel space too crowded with drunken diners on expense accounts
SERVICE — 2.5 stars… quiet, tends to dart around a lot
TOTAL — 3 stars… OK, what do they mean by smooth Thai?

Good job Smooth Thai!
Met a friend there for dinner recently. I’m such a Thai food snob (as is my friend) and we both really enjoyed our time and meal at smooth.
We started with a couple Singha’s. Hard to get that wrong. :)
We then ordered some fresh egg rolls. They were super fresh, cold and crunchy. Just what you want in a fresh egg roll. The sauce that came with the rolls was amazing!!! It was dark and sweet, topped with chopped nuts. I could have eaten it with a spoon. Really good. In fact, I ordered a second order of the egg rolls.
For dinner I selected the mango salad with prawns. I consider myself a mango salad aficionado and have to say that this was not what I expected. The mango was not green and the prawns were steamed and layed on top. It was chock full of cilantro and red onion. I loved it. It wasn’t what I was used to, but it was a good twist on the typical mango salad and very, very good. (Slanted Door still has the BEST mango salad in the world!)
I’ll eat at Smooth again. Soon!

Hands down best thai place in downtown. I’ve always gotten my food to-​go. They were very friendly and always speedy with my orders.
The best part is that you get a large serving for super cheap. Whether you’re getting thai fried rice or pad kee mao, it always comes out delicious and perfect.

I agree with one of the reviewers… this is a hole in the wall in a very busy area… the best kept secret I would say! I loved it so much I went back 3 days in a row while I was participating in a conference. The prices were just as good as the food… the service off the hook… definitely a place that you should consider when you are looking for places to eat… FABULOUS!!!
Simple ambiance… great place if you want to have a conversation and savor your food and enjoy your company.

For literally being a hole in the wall restaurant in the middle of one of the busiest foot traffic streets in San Francisco, Smooth Thai surprisingly serves up some pretty good food! That being said though, just as a mini disclaimer about this place, I was STARVING when I ate here, and I had zero expectations. Hadn’t eaten in hours, so I was pretty much in that «anything I eat right now is going to taste spectacular» mode. So maybe that might have biased my taste buds a bit.
As I always do at brand new Thai places, I ordered myself a plate of Pad Thai. I gotta admit, I wasn’t expecting much, but it turned out pretty good. I was expecting a plate of boring, bland noodles, but what I got was a pretty solid dish with plenty of flavor. The portion size was just right as well. Finished my plate right when I started feeling full.
Although there are probably plenty of places in the city that are better than Smooth Thai, I actually enjoyed my food here and wouldn’t mind coming back to try out some of their other dishes!

This place was actually a good find. I had passed by it last time I did a solo trip to SF, waking on the way to Farmer Brown. Amazing, I remembered how to get there, so I was walking on autopilot when I realized that you should have a reservation… :/
So I went here instead. I can agree with the others that have said service was slow. But, it was good service. The interior is nice, quiet, a bit dim, and clean. I was going to order Pad Thai, but instead I went for a one item combo, that comes with an entrée that you choose (I chose Drunken Noodles), soup, and salad. I also ordered Thai Iced Tea. The tea was good, I got that first, and I made sure to save some for my meal. You get a choice of soup, I chose Tom Kha, which is a coconut milk based soup, with veggies. It was good, it hit the spot, and I finished it rather quickly… Waiiiiiiting for my meal and finally it came out with the salad on the same plate.
It was so hot. Too hot. But that’s good, I love hot fresh food. But literally, it was spicy hot, but not too spicy. But the temperature of the food was very very hot! So hot that I had to say something! And the waitress told me that it’s authentic Thai food, and that the hot food is actually good for your health. I believe her, because my body temperature was rising! It was a big portion of food, I was hungry when I arrived and I took the rest to go to eat later.
I would definitely go again. I felt happy and I had lots of energy after I left. I think I will try to eat hotter food from now on :)

This is a weird one: it’s upscale medium-​quality Thai food at an inexpensive price, which seems to have brought me back several times whilst passing by the several better-​quality higher-​priced alternatives near-​by.
The hot thai tea is great, bottomless, and each of the dishes I’ve tried has satisfied (mostly). The bill has satisfied (completely). I’ve never had to return a dish, or ask for a correction, and the staff are pleasant and helpful enough that I would have.
Seriously, give this place at least a try. Leave stuffed, happy, and with something in your pocket. It’s not that high-​end super eatery of which you’re thinking, but neither are the prices.
Tip: ENTER FROM THE INTERSECTION of Ellis & Mason, across from The Old Siam, rather than wandering fifteen minutes from the hotel entrance. Seriously.

The service at this place is awful.
Things started off well with the host clearing off a table immediately so there was no wait during a relatively busy lunch hour. Unfortunately we were completely ignored for the rest of the meal, even when the lunch rush died down. It took forever to get our meals ordered, we did not get waters until well after we ordered (which came in tiny cups which sat empty for most of the meal), silverware/​napkins was missing until we asked for them after our food arrived. If we weren’t so proactive about getting our bill and getting out I’m not sure if we’d ever been allowed to leave.
The food is slightly above average for Thai food so I might consider getting take out but never again will I actually dine here.

Scoutmob had a 50% off deal for this place so I decided to try it after work. Everyone was really nice and attentive. I was having dinner alone (lmao, yeah… it’s hard out here for a pimp). I got the pumpkin curry, my personal favorite and its was DELICIOUS. It came with shrimp and chicken… omg.
Portions were huge and since I was getting half off I got green tea ice cream for dessert… I was mistaken because I got a tub-​o-​green tea ice cream!!! ^_​^
It’s worth checking out if you are in the area.

Was craving for Pad Thai when I was walking in the area and had thoughts of going to King of Thai and ran into this place when I got of the 30 Stockton. Ordered a Pad Thai to go and my order came pretty fast since they were not busy. The guy who took my order who I believe is the owner was very nice and friendly. Would come back to try something else on their menu.

I stayed at the hotel here last week, and ordered take-​out from Smooth Thai to eat in my room. There is another Thai restaurant directly across the street, which was really busy looking. I opted for convenience — Smooth Thai was not busy.
It also was not good. My order was very easy — vegetarian spring rolls and pad thai. The spring rolls were fine — nothing fancy, but sort of greasy and what I was in the mood for late on a Friday night. The pad thai, however, was just weird.
I get that thai food take out is not gourmet dining, but at least pad thai can be considered a relatively safe staple. Medium size rice noodles, bean sprouts, tofu, fish sauce, a bit of spice… right? Not at Smooth Thai!
Maybe the place across the street is a better bet. I woiuldn’t try this place twice.

A nice Thai restaurant, located near a bad neighborhood. The restaurant is small, clean and modern looking. I ordered the Thai iced coffee, the pineapple fried rice, fried banana with coconut ice cream.
The Thai iced coffee was good. The coffee was sweet and not too creamy. I agree with the other Unilocal reviewers that The pineapple fried rice was good. It was full of flavor and well made. It was filling. I got the impression that this place knows how to make good fried rice. The dessert was good. It consisted of flour /​tempura fried banana pieces, coconut ice cream, and drizzled with honey. The coconut ice cream had pieces of coconut fruit in it. I liked it a lot. They accepted my Scout mob coupon. Overall prices at this place are pretty good, usually places in hotels are ridiculously priced.

Customer service was good, but make sure they repeat the order back to you. I ordered Thai ice coffee, that became Thai ice tea, fried banana with coconut Ice cream because sticky rice and mango dessert. 1 out of 3 is not too good.

I was feeling cheap but feeling repelled by the thought of my home-​cooked food, I found Smooth Thai on Scoutmob. Two entrees for $ 9 total… Good day? I think so.
I’m pretty obsessed with Pad See Yew and it’s usually a safe bet at new Thai restaurants, but I didn’t want to be TOO predictable, so I ordered:
* Pad See Yew with Chicken
* Thai BBQ Chicken and Fried Rice
The Thai BBQ dish was DELICIOUS. Sweet but savory, my dream combination. Only problem — they gave me pork instead of chicken. Good thing I eat pork now!
The Pad See Yew, on the other hand, was pretty ‘meh’. It tasted ok, but something about the flavor was slightly off. It also was sadly lacking in the broccoli department, a vital part of Pad See Yew’s success. The broccoli was simply the leaves from Chinese Broccoli with one or two flowers in the entire dish.
Definitely not the best Thai joint in town, but if you’re in Union Square and don’t want to pay high tourist prices, this place will do.
Note: The entrance is on Ellis, you don’t have to wander through the maze of the Parc 55 Hotel to get there like I did.

Dropped by here before the movies. Only a block away from Market Street. We ordered the beef satay, duck curry, tom yum noodle soup and thai iced tea. I normally don’t get wow’ed by beef satay, but this place was WOW. Very tender and flavorful. The boyfriend loved his duck curry and wouldn’t stop raving about it. He poured ALL the sauce over the rice and ate every bit. My tom yum noodle soup was good… but honestly, it didn’t taste like tom yum to me. I didn’t taste any kaffir lime leaves. It was more of a hot and sour noodle soup… it definitely threw me off. The thai iced tea was strong, just the way I like it! Cheap, good food in the financial district. Awesome.

Went here on a Saturday night with a group of seven, for a friend’s birthday dinner. It’s located behind the Parc 55 hotel where we stayed at for the night! The restaurant looked packed and busy from the outside! We didn’t make any reservations so we walked in and asked if there was a wait. The hostess said no and led us to a table towards the back of the restaurant! They have separated rooms for big parties!
The food:
For appetizers we ordered papaya salad and «a little bit of everything». We also got pad thai, garlic beef, penang chicken, crab fried rice, and steam rice…
— Papaya salad was pretty good. Not as spicy as I would’ve liked it, but it was satisfying since I’ve been craving it for days! I had Thai food the night before as well and the Thai restaurant I went to «ran out» of papaya salad! So having this with my meal was perfect!
«a little bit of everything» — self explanatory… For a $ 11.95 you get a variety of appetizers… chicken satay, calamaris, tofu, and etc… Perfect choice if you like variety!
–Penang chicken — One of my favorites from here and one of my favorite Thai dishes to eat with steam rice! Because we were doing family style dinner, we chose not to make it spicy. I love this dish spicy, but Smooth Thai made it good!
–Pad Thai — Pretty damn good! Good portion for the price!
–Garlic Beef — nothing special… They give you very little compared to the other dishes we ordered.
–Crab fried rice — Another favorite of mine from Smooth Thai! Smells delicious and tasted great!
Service was pretty good… Food took awhile to come out though. We were expecting our server to bring out the appetizers first, but instead she brought out the penang chicken and crab fried rice first… She didn’t bring out the appetizers till we asked for it…
Our total was about $ 75 gratuity included!!! To sum it all up Smooth Thai is very affordable and their food is really good! I’d be a regular here if I live /​work in the area!

The address listed is kinda misleading. It would be more efficient if you simply walk in from the entrance on Mason and Ellis.
There is only one waitress and she was nice, but also very busy. When we first come in, it was around 12:15 and it was empty. However around 1 o’clock the place was filled up. I guess the patrons there ate a late lunch.
The food is just ok. The prices are ok. Nothing special and pretty much like all the ubiquitous Thai places out there. The only kinda unique thing is you can have «two entrees» lunch. It will be probably about the same size as one entrée, but it’s just nice cause you can try two different dishes in one meal.

My friends and I had a difficult finding this place after looking it up… and it’s because this restaurant is hidden inside the second floor of Parc 55 Hotel… There are two entrances into this restaurant – one from the hotel lobby and another near the intersection of Mason St and Ellis St. The Mason St entrance is much easier to locate!
I came here with a pretty large group so we took up half of the restaurant. Probably why food took forever to come out? The last person to get his food got it after ~15 minutes after the first person got her food… Other than the wait, the service was great.
I ordered the Pad See Ew (spelled differently on the menu), and it was decent. It didn’t stand out from the other Pad See Ews that I’ve had at other Thai places. Even though other Unilocalers recommend the pineapple fried rice, I wouldn’t because I don’t think it was that great.

Overheard a lady at lunch raving about «the best Spring rolls she had ever had in her life» at Smooth Thai so decided to check the place out for dinner. I debated between the fresh and fried spring rolls and went for the fresh. The portion is huge-​2 large rolls in 8 pieces, but I didn’t care for them very much. They were ungainly to eat, particularly the middle sections, and didn’t have much flavor. In retrospect, I feel sure she must have been talking about the fried ones!
Better luck with the pad Thai; the menu says shrimp, but they will give you both chicken and shrimp for $ 1 more. The noodles are not at all what I’m used to in pad Thai: thin, almost vermicelli-​like, instead of wide and flat, but it tasted pretty good and was a reasonable portion size.
It wasn’t crowded at all when I arrived (around 6pm on a Thursday), but by the time I left, it was totally packed and very, very noisy. The interior was fairly nondescript and service was a bit robotic, but the prices are certainly fair.

I love eating here! As I like to call this place: Cheap GOOD food in a fancy swanky hotel.
The bf and I come here practically every time we’re in the city. Everything we’ve order here has been good and the service has been superb. We usually like to order the same items bc they were just that good.
Must Tries:
1. Pad See Ew. Nom! A bit spicy but oh so delicious! I LOVE IT!
2. Spicy Egg plant. Doesn’t come with rice =[
3. Green Curry. You can either get the lunch special kind which comes with rice, or the dinner kind that comes with more curry. We usually just go for former since we like to order a lot of food. There are slices of bamboo the curry. YUM!
The Drunken Noodles are good here too, but we def. enjoyed the Pad See Ew more.
It’s cheap! And, it’s good! Something very hard to find near Union Square. Yea, this place is hard to find, but GOOOOOD LUCK!