Plearn Thai Palace

I’ve been going here periodically for the noodle dishes. I decided to stop in for lunch today; I wish I hadn’t. Way too salty, didn’t taste fresh at all. I couldn’t finish. Server was friendly, I wish the food was just as good (it wasn’t).
It will take me a long time to get over this one. For now, I’m taking an extended hiatus from this spot.

Absolutely delicious Thai food with wonderful and sweet staff

I came here on Sunday for lunch with my husband. We were seated immediately and noticed a gross smell originating from the kitchen. It didn’t help that there was a floor fan in front of the kitchen directing more the smell in our direction. We tried to reserve judgement until after we received our food, but I was already judging.
Roti appetizer– On a dirty plate. Roti was burned and too oily. The bed of shredded cabbage used for plating was brown and looked very old. The dipping sauce was watery and gross.
Panang curry– Too sweet and watery. The veggies in the curry were old and not fresh.
Thai ‘drunken noodles’- Oily! Again the veggies were old and limp. Not fresh and on a dirty plate.
The service was good so I’m giving 1 star (also because 1 star is the minimum needed to write a review). Overpriced for the type of food served. I am shocked that this place is still in business!
Go to Kacha Thai Bistro instead.

We were looking for a new Thai place and were drawn to Plearn due to high rating — and, since we were getting a to go order, also happy to see on website in bold: to go orders «parking in rear.»
It is somewhat of a false advertisement they have parking in rear for to go orders. There are 2 designated spaces for Plearn — neither are marked «to go» only. We had to park tandem while we picked up the order — no one else was in the restaurant picking up orders, so clearly the parking had been taken by regular customers.
Most important, though, is the food.
My threshold for a Thai restaurant is how it makes Pad Thai. This was the most bland Pad Thai I have ever eaten — consisting solely of rice noodles and chicken (which was extremely dry). There were no peanuts, green onions, lime, or bean sprouts.
The yellow curry was a bit watery; the potatoes pieces were larger than the size of a full spoon — it turned out tasting more like potato yellow curry than chicken.
The saving grace of the meal was the steamed filet of sole (Chef’s Special) — full of flavor and pretty preparation — topped with ginger, red pepper, green onion.
Despite the sole — there are too many other choices in the area that are far better. We definitely will not be returning.

The pad thai is amazing! I love the thai tea aswell. They are really nice and took my order the second time i called even though I called during the break time (I didnt check the hours and didnt know they were on break) :(i felt bad. They are sooo sweet! My favorite thai place in walnut creek so far!!!

Best Thai restaurant I have been to so far. I tend to think most Thai restaurants are pretty good and satisfying, but the dishes at Plearn are just so flavorful and delicious! We had three different salads: papaya, calamari, and shrimp. All three were different, but sooo tasty and addicting. We ordered the Pad Thai as well and we agreed it was the best we’ve ever had. I have no doubts the other dishes here are excellent. Very friendly service. Can’t wait to go back!

I have been coming to this place for years now, maybe it’s the nostalgia added in, but the food here is always tasty. Is it trendy, avant-​garde food? no, but that’s not what I come for.
Food: recommend the Panang curry, mango salad (seasonal in the summer I think), tom yum, and pad thai recommended.
Service: always good, never had to wait a long time for food.
Ambiance: cozy classy, its a bit dim in parts
It can definitely get busy here on Fri/​Sat nights. Easy walk from Broadway Plaza-​area parking in my opinion, close to the bars and such on Main. Come if you want so good, solid thai food.

So yummy! We ordered dinner through door dash. Best item on the menu is the basil fried rice– the BOMB. Pan nang curry, pad Thai and chicken sat Tay were all very good too. Highly recommended!

It’s ok, though not very authentic. Flavors seem to be muted, not too sour, not too sweet. Portions are small. A plate of shrimp pad Thai was $ 14. The papaya salad portion was skimpy. There were 4 adults and two 6 year olds there for lunch and our bill was $ 128. They charged us 18% gratuity for 4+2 for lunch. They charged gratuity on AFTER tax total. That irks me…, so their gratuity is really 19.5%.

Fantastic Pa-​ram, peanut sauce, yellow curry, sticky rice. best delivery in Walnut Creek (through Door Dash)

Love the Pumpkin Curry so delicious. Service is good, friendly and attentive. Small but cute restaurant.

Wanted to try a different Thai place in the area and decided on this place downtown for a dinner. My boyfriend and I were looking forward to trying this place out for the first time after reading some good reviews.
PARKING: Downtown is always tricky when it comes to parking. Street parking is free after 8pm or try one of the nearby parking lots for free parking.
FOOD: Looks like the lunch specials here would be pretty good, but we came for dinner. We TRIED to order some dishes that we wanted (i.e. mango curry and basil chicken), but they were out of mango and basil. So there were two dishes that we wanted but couldn’t have.
What kind of Thai place is out of basil!!! Outrage.
We had to settle for some other dishes that were mediocre and they didn’t even try to compensate for the fact that they were out of mango and basil and we had to settle for dishes we didn’t necessarily want in the first place.
Tried it once, and we’re good.

Terrific lunch spot — had the Pat Thai. Asked for it spicy and they probably could have added a little more, but the service, the food, and the location were all great.

First time here, even though I pretty much eat downtown WC 5 days a week.
The food was absolutely delicious and the ladies were very attentive and sweet. Such great customer service.
Prices are very reasonable.
I will definitely come back!

Wow.
Bomb yellow curry,
Really good sum tum
And crazy good Larb (chicken)
If you have been to Thailand and know what’s up, they brought it here!

Plearn has been our go-​to Thai place for years now. Tonight, they had a bad night. I’m changing from 4.5 to 4.
I think that they changed the Pat Thai recipe, which is a crime, because it was borderline subpar tonight. Plus it took like 15 minutes of neglect before we got the check.
We still love you, Plearn, but pull it together.

This restaurant was a great find! We were looking for good food and a quiet atmosphere. The staff was attentive and waited on us immediately. The food was prepared and served quickly.
The final customers left and we were the only remaining patrons. The owner learned that we were friends from college and had not seen each other in nearly three decades. He brought hot tea and allowed us to stay and talk long after the restaurant closed, was cleaned, and the staff departed. He was so kind and accommodating.
What a lovely and delicious dining experience.

Came here on a whim while meeting a friend for dinner.
Not a very big dining room, but it had its charm– the music was a little odd — I think at one point we were trying to figure out which Britney Spears song was being played on the violin.
Service was prompt and friendly from the minute we walked in, to the minute we walked out.
I ordered a thai iced tea, and the yellow chicken curry. Everything tasted as it should, with just enough spice and flavor.
Wouldn’t call this the best thai food place in town, however, I’d definitely come back again.

I will give this an on the low side of 3 stars. At the same time I wouldn’t consider not coming back based on the one dish I had today. I went against my own standard though when it comes to trying a new Thai place. I have always ordered the Pad Thai. My reasoning? If they can’t make a decent Pad Thai then I probably wouldn’t return.
Today I ordered the rice noodles with seafood, muscles, squid, shrimp and baby scallops. The sauce was quite tasty, the noodles were all stuck together so it made for some thick bites at times. The scallops were hit and miss. One would be tender one would be rubbery. Same thing with the squid. The shrimp and muscles were cooked well. This is why I wouldn’t base not going back on this one dish. If I return it will be the Pad Thai for sure and I will not deviate from my norm again. Enjoy!

Plearn is a small Thai restaurant in the heart of downtown Walnut Creek. The inside is small and on the night we went, packed to the max.
We were seated right by the entrance which isn’t usually ideal, but just the fact that the server took notice of it and offered to change our seats if we wanted, made us more comfortable sitting there. Speaking of our server, he was amazing. He was extremely friendly, always smiling, checking up on us periodically without being overbearing and was just all around amazing.
We started with two appetizers. The Kung-​Tod and Sa-​tay. The Sa-​tay is always a must at any Thai place we go to. Skewered marinated chicken served with peanut sauce and cucumber salad. The chicken had a nice char on it but lacked in flavor a little. The peanut sauce is just peanut sauce, not much variation there. The Kung-​Tod was served HOT. Really really hot. A plate full of deep fried vegetables and prawns. Yes, it tasted amazing of course. The shrimp were some plumps suckers and tasted amazing. The vegetables were also pretty amazing but then again, they were deep fried.
For our entrees we ordered the Panang, Pat-​Thai and Kang-​Keow-​Wan. My choice, the Panang, is a red curry dish that I ordered with beef. The curry was delicious and out of the two curry dishes I did prefer this one. The beef was tender and the vegetables tasted good. It was just an all around great dish, in my opinion. My favorite dish of the night was the Pat-​Thai. I’m not a fan of this dish anywhere else, and I was a little reluctant to try it here. However I’m extremely happy I did. The dish tasted amazing and has completely changed my take on Pat-​Thai. Everyone loved the Kang-​Keow-​Wan, however it was not my favorite curry out of the two. Green curry with the same mix of vegetables the red had. Bell pepper, green bean and zucchini. Again the curry was of course amazing.
It is very easy to see why this place is so popular. Amazing food and fantastic service is all it takes to make a good night, great.