Salad King Restaurant

Go a lot with my best friend. So many choices, pretty cheap for a restaurant downtown. service is ok, I guess because it’s a busy atmosphere, so I don’t mind.
It’s loud because there’s a lot of people obv, it’s that great.

Been here upwards of 15 times since May 2015. Nice atmosphere, good food, sizeable portions and fast service!
Thai Fried rice (3 chillies) with vegetables is my favourite. Also would highly recommend their spicy fish, and the golden coconut curry thing (the name escapes me right now).
Service is usually pretty good, although when it’s crowded and you obviously look like a student (e.g. toting a sizable rucksack) you tend to get the short end of the stick, but no biggie, food more than makes up for it.

I’ve always wanted to try Salad King, as I work near this place, but I only get a 30 minute lunch break. I decided to use my free credits with the Ritual app, so that I could order takeout.
The process was seamless and took me 1 minute to complete. The estimated time they gave me initially was 20 minutes, but it got reduced to ~12.5 minutes from the time I ordered. When I arrived, everything was ready to go — I literally walked up to the counter, told them my name/​I ordered via Ritual, they gave me my food, I dipped — We’re living in the future, confirmed.
I ordered the Pineapple Chicken for $ 9.75 but got an additional 20% off for using the app. They gave me the chicken, sauce, veggies, pineapple in 1 container, and a buttload of steamed rice in another container. The meal itself was okay — nothing to rave about, but the portion size was pretty substantial. The sauce tasted like sweet fake syrup. This dish was recommended as one of the most popular on the app, and so I ordered it impulsively — next time I’ll check Unilocal first.
Though I was underwhelmed by the food, the service was efficient and worked flawlessly. The long tables in the restaurant are perfect to eat a casual lunch with friends. I will likely give Salad King another chance to reclaim its throne which resides on my taste buds.
Use my Ritual promo code to get a free $ 10 credit to a buttload of restaurants/​cafes in the DT core:

The Islamic noodles aren’t offered on the new menu anymore but they’re what I always come back for. I tried something new this time around with Vermicelli and was not disappointed. Anything with coconut curry added with some shrimp is always a popular one. And round of your meal with their mango rice dessert and your stomach will be satisfied.
Honestly how can you go wrong when the food is great, service is better, and the most expensive thing on the menu is $ 10.50?

I LOVE this place!
It’s fun, casual, youthful, modern, stylish, fast and inexpensive! It’s really one of those places no one in my family (incl. extended) complains about going there, and we have some real negative Nelly’s. I love a bunch of great dishes there. The service is great, staff friendly and knowledgeable about the food so they can help you choose. I would recommend this place without hesitation. Bön appetit!

Have you ever wondered why a place with only two salad dishes on their menu would be called Salad King? Hahaha, just a thought.
Not to be confused by the name, this is indeed a Thai restaurant. The décor of this place is made to look like a modern canteen.
We had a party of 8, but they would not seat us until a majority of our party showed up. Kind of silly since we arrived at 4:30pm, and it was not busy at all. We had 6 people and they finally seated us. We had stools where we sat with no storage under them, so we ended up having to hold our jackets and put our bags on the floor etc. I didn’t really like that.
The service was shotty to start, but got better as our meal progressed. It took a little long to flag down someone to come and take our orders. Food arrived quickly though, and it was pretty good. My husband and I had the green chicken curry and pad thai to share, both with 3 chili spice level which was enough to make me sweat a bit. We also had spring rolls and skewers to start. Both were really good. The server told us that the spring rolls were freshly rolled and the shrimp spring rolls were bought frozen and advised us to order the spring rolls instead. Appreciate the honesty.
Overall, good place for Thai food.

Friday night, I was looking for a casual dinner, decided to hit up a favourite Thai spot of mine: Salad King. It was not too busy (but it can have a big line ups on some nights) and managed to be seated quickly.
Take note: if you want back support in your chairs the common eating area’s seats don’t have back support and can cause discomfort or discomfort with unknown people sitting beside you. There is areas with cushions padded seats but they seems to always booked or filled up:(
Anyways we sat there for 10 minutes before we got water. We actually ordered before we got water which is a restaurant faux pas in my eyes and even our waiter seemed confused that we didn’t have water (but it was no biggie) as he quickly went to get it for us.
Ordered off the «secret menu» which isn’t really a secret it was a special that was popular and kept around even though the promo placard were taken down. The Islamic Noodles is a combination of a delicious saucy noodles with carrot slices, onions, broccoli, chicken and egg bit.
The food is the reason why I keep coming back and I do recommend this for its price, quick service and food for something causal and fun.

We ordered coconut chicken soup, rainbow chicken and pad Thai with chicken.
Each dish served had the exact same chicken segments, very similar to the pre cooked stuff you buy at the supermarket. It felt as if the chicken was cooked in a huge pot and just thrown together as an afterthought. The seats have no back support and I felt as if I was eating in a school cafeteria.
The food is sub-​mediocre and you can easily find better Thai food in Toronto
Avoid this place and save your money. You’ll thank me in the end.

When my boyfriend told me we were going to «Salad King», I expected a salad restaurant. What I experienced was much, much better. You have to head up a flight of stairs to the second floor to get to this little hole-​in-​the-​wall, but the climb is worth it.
It’s a very open, clean, and spacious layout here. All of the tables are metal, and the paper menus also double as placemats. You can select the spicyness of your meal via the amount of chilis you have added to your meal. You can apparently go up to 20. I don’t want to know what happens if you select 20.
Food wise, imagine McDonald’s speed, yet relatively good quality. I was susprirsed how quickly our food arrived betwee ordering, and it being placed down on our table. My boyfriend got their Penang curry soup with white rice, and I got their spicy chicken (standard 2 chili sauce) with white rice. It came served in a very liquidy red sauce, and I was skeptical that it would be good; I was wrong! I cleared my whole plate, and left very full, and very happy.
If you’re in the mood for some fast Thai food, check this place out. If you want a more relaxed sit-​down experience, you may want to go elsewhere. This isn’t the kind of place where you sit down and chat with friends for an hour and a half; you sit down, order your food, demolish it, and head out.

This place is so busy all the time! I came here for lunch since our group had a reso for a group lunch. Everyone loves their green curry. I went with their cashew chicken with white rice shrug was just okay. Nothing special.
Honestly this isn’t my go to Thai place. I prefer Khao San Rd but for a quick Thai craving I’ll stop in here. I find their prices are higher than it used to be when I used to attend Ryerson. Some lunches the service is bad. They barely notice you. Had to flag them down. Their portions are pretty big as well so I guess that justifies the price?

Hmm, I really enjoyed the food at Salad King during the summer (although not authentic) but I can’t say the same for what I had last week. This may have been because it was boxing day and it was extremely busy because many restaurants were closed that day. Service was however good!
My friends and I ordered the green mango salad, thai basil noodles, panang curry, and mango sticky rice. The flavours that I experienced before were not there and the food wasn’t that great. Most dishes were OK and didn’t come out that hot. Additionally, the rice that came with the curry was not fully cooked. The mango sticky rice was probably the best part of the meal.
It’s unfortunate because I enjoyed my visit during the summer. Hoping that it was a one day thing!

Located smack in the center between Younge and Elm Street, very busy street & confusing to find. You got to take the elevator within the building or the stairs to get to the second floor where the place looks like a cafeteria and not an actual restaurant.
It reminds me of a high school cafeteria with lots of people bumping into each other. Small and low tables. Really awkward how the table is super long and you dine with the rest of the crowd connected. It’s Super loud and not comfortable at all!!!
The food: I’ve had wayyy better thai food!
The Bangkok stir fry dish was dry!!! The noodles were undercooked. There was a huge lack of seasoning and «sauce»
My friend had the islamic noodles. He said they were fine. I think it’s stupid to have a type of noodle that has nothing to do with thai cuisine -.-
It’s so NOT authentic if that’s what you’re looking for. Listen to me and Skip this place!
The portions is fairly large for the price. However, they lack a huge amount of their points on the quality ! Thinking back, i really regret choosing this place over a Japanese ramen house :’(mehhhhh !
Service: it was real rude! The chick serving us didn’t seem to have any enthusiasm. To be honest, She didn’t look like she wanted to be there ! She took our order quick but we only got it after 25−30minutes of waiting! I was really hungry and didn’t like how long it took. Especially when it seems like theres 30 people in the kitchen.
Overall, I was really disappointed… And don’t think I’ll be coming back here.

Finally got the Islamic Noodles ($ 11) with two chilis. Reminds me of laksa soup; if you feel under the weather, I’d recommend this in a heartbeat!

You know that saying: «Thai food is Asian food for white people»?
I really never understood that line — the flavouring on Thai cuisine is really intense (I mean the balancing of sweet/​sour/​salty/​spicy — not this odd perception that Thai food has to be spicy). Even though Thai food is made for Western cutlery (no chopsticks!), the individual portioning (most Asian meals are ‘family style’) and there’s less focus on ‘offal’ meat than most other Asian cuisine — I don’t understand the popularity for Western palettes.
However, Salad King has pretty much perfected the Thai formula for a Western audience — it’s pop and tries to be all things to all people. If you doubt me, check out the line-​up for this Salad King on any given night.
While Salad King isn’t bad by any means — it’s really mall food court Thai served in a slight nicer dining room. The portions are big and most people don’t really care that it’s relatively bland (adding spice to a dish is the same as drizzling hot sauce on anything).
When I’m hungry, I usually grab takeout from Salad King — the off-​menu Islamic noodles (chicken pad thai with a coconut curry) is the go-​to. It’s not the best Thai, but the portions are big and their takeout system is down to a science. It’s perfectly serviceable, but not much more beyond that.

3.5÷5
Salad King is like a better, bigger and more authentic version of Thai express. Fast food style with servers, longer menu and less personal space. The food here is good and affordable, convenient location too, but nothing stand out. It is great that they offer decent choices for vegetarians and have spicy level to choose from. However I noticed that their cooking are quite inconsistent.
This place is always busy during lunch/​dinner hour. Most of the time you would have to share table and sit between other customers. Not sure if they do reservation, but if I am reserving a table might as well go to PAI or other restaurant.
One thing I have to point out is the chili count (spicy level). There’s a few times my friend and I ordered food with 3 chili, but mine turned out very mild (1chili?) and his tasted like 6 – 8 chili. That happened a few times already. Get your things together salad King, there’s this chili count for a reason!
Their golden tofu is what I usually order, very well made. The pad Thai is also decent.
I had the evil jungle prince here once before, expecting mostly eggplants in it since that’s impression the description gave. The dish came with lots of onions, lots of green peppers, a couple of other vegetables and a few tiny pieces of eggplant (evil indeed), tasted watered down too. Yup, pretty disappointed. That takes half a star away since you took my eggplants.
I would recommend salad King for a quick tasty meal, but if you want gourmet Thai food this is not the right place.

Salad king never fails if I want decent priced Thai food. It’s definitely not as good as say. Pai though (my fav. Thai restaurant). And it’s not the most authentic either. But when you’re hungry and on a budget, this is the place.
I usually get some kind of curry here, but this time I thought I’d try the infamous not so secret item. Islamic noodles $ 11 with veggies. This dish has I think some sort of peanut based sauce and it was really delicious. And i wanna add that this dish was HUGE, you’ll definitely have some leftovers. My bf didn’t like it though. He had the golden curry with shrimp 10.95 and I thought for that price, they should’ve added more shrimp.
Great food here but I really dislike the communal seating.

SALAD KING IS NOT SALAD, ITS THAI FOOD!
If you go to Ryerson, Salad King is definitely a staple to your diet.
This place gets packed all the time! Dinner on a Friday night can mean 20min + wait times. Seating is packed and place is loud.
Everything here is delicious. I’ve tried their tomyum soup, green curry, pah thai noodles, siam noodles,. You can also choose your spiciness level. Beer towers for groups of 3+.
Whether you’re on a student budget or not, portions are big and will leave you with breakfast/​lunch for the next day. Cheap good food fast.

Good location just upstairs. Good atmosphere. Decent food.
It’s great if you’re in a hurry to catch a movie or show. One thing I was not a fan of was the communal tables and how the people sitting around you were so close. Practically no privacy. I remembered sitting next to a couple who looked like they were on their first date.
The chairs have cubbies for you to put your jacket/​bag if you need to.
I was disappointed in the street noodle soup I usually order. The last few time I went, the portion was just right. Right amount of soup, noodles, vegetables and shrimp. However, during my most recent visit, I thought it was way too many noodles. What made it even worse was the girl over at the next table ordered the same thing as me and had the write proportion. I was not so pleased.
Overall, the food was good and portions were on the heavy side. Thought there was too much noodles on one plate.

This place is hands down my favourite Thai place, ever! It’s delicious, it’s quick and it’s cheap.
I first learnt about this place years ago. I was doing a coop term near the Eaton Centre and the local lunch stop amongst my Ryerson friends was here. In and out in less than 30 mins and completely satisfied.
Back in the day I would order their Thai green curry (beef), 3 chillies and it hit the spot. Tried and true. Then one day I tried their phud Thai, 4 chillies and holy heck I was converted. More recently I discovered their Siam noodles (chicken), think of a spicy peanut butter curry sauce over noodles. Drool. Granted, the actual physical appearance resembles something you might find at a washroom in the local bar, but the taste is incredible. If you like rice noodles, and you like peanut butter and you like curry, this is for you. You will love it. Trust me.
I once went here with a friend that ordered phud Thai, 10 chillies — yes, he is Sri Lankan. He said it was perfect spiciness for him. I can only do 3 chillies and my brow sweats.
The seating is not the best. Half the restaurant has private tables and the other half has bench seating. You often have to sit next to strangers, but the turn over is quick. And hey, some of the conversations around you can be hilarious.
If you haven’t stopped here before, you’ve got to go!

Salad king was the best! They now raised the prices between $ 1– $ 2 that it is changing from affordable for students to on the higher end of fast Thai food. The serving sizes definitely decreased usually my staple is the Thai fried rice but now it looks ¾ of what it usually is and definitely less ingredients!
I would recommend the mango sticky rice which also went up to now $ 4! It used to be $ 2.50!
This is still an option but there are much better restaurants in the area that cost less.
On the bright side because of the increase, it is much easier to find seats and the noise has definitely been reduced.