Bua Luang Thai

One of about 6 Thai food places within 1 mile. Spacious décor with «new age» music in background. Food was good, and might have been better if hotter. Some veggies were raw. Entrance door was propped open (cold outside) allowing cold air in and easy access. Server was hurried (we were the only patrons), and was totally disinterested in us. Food arrived quickly.
Leftover was put in overly small container for its volume. Overpriced with huge tipping suggested (on tax also), on receipt. There’s better out there locally.

Really like the ambience, service was good. I had the pad Thai, flavor was good but it was kind of dry. Would try it again!

This was middle of the road Thai for me. It wasn’t amazing and it wasn’t awful. The one except was the Thai iced tea that I thought was quite good!
Our dinners were the seafood pineapple fried rice, Penang curry, Pumpkin curry, chicken basil and duck. I would not do the seafood pineapple fried rice again (little too fishy and not flavorful enough). But the others were decently tasty.
Note: they included a 15% tip on our group of only 5, so be sure to check the bill to make sure you leave whatever kind of tip you would like.

Great food, great service. I wish the portions were a tad bigger for the price but overall, a great meal.

I’m a regular lunch customer and an occasional dinner customer at Bua Luang. It’s a bit pricier than other local Thai places — a lunch special consisting of an entrée, an optional side, and a small salad costs about $ 15 before tips. However, the food is a bit better than other run-​of-​the-​mill Thai restaurants. Dishes are always tasty and consistent and ingredients seem high quality.

save yourself a horrible experience of worst thai food .
first surprise was the tea we ordered, without a warning we get a small cup loaded with sugar
was undrinkable, way too sweet, $ 3.50 for this small undrinkable liquid. sweet potatoes fries were greasy with no taste, as if they were frozen and shoved into a microwave and served to us, truly awful .
the favorite thai soup, tom yum goong was with NO flavor, with huge chunks of vegetables
that can hardly fit into your mouth… so very disappointing. eggplant dish was also smelly…
of some weird stuff, eggplant was in huge chunks with NO flavor and hard .
NEVER again !

I’m disappointed in the fact that I have had a poor experience here. I will own up to most of it being my dietary choices of having a plant based diet…
I have dined here twice. The first time I went during lunch. I ordered the pad thai. I emphasized that I don’t eat meat (vegetarian), and I was clear about no fish sauce. The waiter assured me it was ok, and it would be vegetarian. He understood enough to ask me if eggs were ok.
I enjoyed the dish… sadly.
The second time I went (a few days later), I ordered the same thing. The waitress said ok, and then returned to inform me they couldn’t make it without the fish sauce. I informed her that I had it the other day without it, and she said it was not possible. I instead order something else, and it was sub par. I appreciate the the waitress for being forthcoming about the pad thai.
I can honestly say that it was your average thai food for an above average price.
The atmosphere is what saved the restaurant from getting a 1 star rating, and the waitress added two stars for being straight up.
I’m sure they have great plant based dishes, but I will not dine or recommend this restaurant because of their failure to meet the customer needs.

I’ve been here many times over the years; first dish I had was the pumpkin curry, which is quite nice. As Thai restaurants go, I’d say it’s above average for a few reasons. I always have a good experience here; it’s reliably good. It’s on the small side, not a large impersonal «popular» place, and the staff is friendly. The menu has your standard Thai dishes, options for the timid, plus a few items for the more adventurous There’s always at least one or two dishes that I remember and want to have again.
Bua Luang is excellent for dining out with friends because there are dishes to suit everyone, multiple options, decent sized servings, pleasant ambiance, and good service, and they don’t rush you out the door.
Last night we took some friends from out-​of-​town, one of whom follows a gluten-​free diet. The waiter were very patient with her questions and adapted those dishes that could be changed and warned us about those that couldn’t. My friends were completely thrilled and really loved the food, especially the Masaman curry and Pad Thai noodles. (Note: all the curries are gluten-​free.) We lingered and chatted after our meal (it wasn’t crowded) and they continued to freshen our drinks.
Usually I don’t go to restaurants that have less than 4 stars average on Unilocal (you can’t please everyone) and noticed that Bua Luang is under-​rated. I think Bua Luang deserves 4 stars but I’m giving 5 stars just to bump up the average rating.

Maybe I should’ve gotten beef panang curry instead of veggie. The tofu is Hodo Soy, local company that makes tofu, except I think I don’t like the texture of unfried Hodo Soy in thai food. I think I’d prefer it fried, hell, I think I’d prefer everything fried. The sauce was good, I just want to warn you of the fresh tofu in case you’re expecting it to be fried and crunchy and delicious.
I also had PED KRA PRAW (Duck): Sauteed boneless duck with spicy chili garlic sauce, mushrooms, eggplant, Thai basil and pepper. The eggplant was so undercooked it was inedible (there’s really nothing worse than eggplant you can’t chew through). It also smelled super funky, I thought maybe it was the lotus root but I don’t think it’s supposed to smell funky anyway?
The mango salad was ok, basically I spent $ 40 on delivery and I feel like I deserve $ 35 back. Maybe this place is popular because of how fancy it is… I’m not interested in my rice in the shape of a friggin heart, I’m interested in deliciousness.
I’ll stick to Da Nang and White Lotus if I want something fancier.

A handful of items are gluten-​free and can be vegan as well. In particular, the curries are gluten-​free. To my disappointment, though, the fish sauce could not be taken out of the Pad Thai, so I couldn’t try that.
But the Panang Curry with tofu (soft, not fried) and brown rice that I got was so good! One of the best Panang Curries I’ve had in a while. Very flavorful from lots of basil and fresh vegetables.
Service was pretty good, too. Our server was able to tell me what was gluten-​free and vegan. We got water refills regularly. Our food came out relatively quickly after we had placed our orders.
My family all seemed to enjoy all their dishes as well, and the dishes were all prepared with nice visual presentation, too.

We ordered the yellow curry and it was just awful. The «sauce» if you can even call it that, was runny and smelly. Yes, smelly. I couldn’t figure out the odor. It’s supposed to have coconut milk in it but it was some strange broth with some seasoning.
When I asked the waiter about it he was very brusk and not nice. 99.9 was left over, and when I complained he didn’t even ask us if we’d like anything else.
First and last time…

I have been going to Bua Luang for over 15 years and it is definitely a Thai staple in the Albany/​Berkeley area. They use fresh, organic ingredients and the service is always friendly and attentive.
Some of the tasty dishes I have ordered over the years: the fried, vegetarian spring rolls, the chicken satay, the yellow curry with chicken, the pad prik khing and the paid thai with prawns.
The only downside to the place is that it isn’t the cheapest Thai food out there, but it is worth the hip ambiance, friendly service and organic ingredients.

What I ate: pad Thai, pumpkin curry, basil fried rice, Thai iced tea
Visit date: February 14, 2015
First time? Yes.
I was craving some Thai food so we decided to try a new-​to-​us restaurant in the area. We ordered the pad Thai, pumpkin curry, and basil fried rice. I have to say, I wasn’t a big fan of any of the dishes (the flavors were not bold enough in the pad Thai or the curry), but I did appreciate the basil flavor really coming through in the fried rice. I’ve never had basil fried rice before and thought that this was a good first time. We had ordered our food to-​go. I’m wondering if eating at the restaurant would change my perceptions on their food. The restaurant is tastefully decorated and the staff is friendly. I did, however, enjoy my Thai iced tea.

3.5 stars. Had dinner here because the usual restaurant that I go to was not open. The place is somewhat fancy — nicer than any Thai place that I’ve been to. Nice décor and the tables were nicely spaced out. I liked the décor and the ambiance. Attention was definitely obvious with the food presentation and the dishes that were used. The prices, however, is a lot more than other places. Ordered the beef phở, chicken pad se ew, tamarind shrimp, and basil duck. We didn’t get our beef phở order since it was not put in. The tamarind shrimp was good but there wasn’t too many shrimps for the price. Basil duck was delicious. Chicken pad see ew was pretty good. Service was friendly but I think they were overwhelmed that night — forgot to put in one item we ordered and gave us a salad in the beginning that we did not order.

We live in Napa and were travelling to Albany for other business. Since our favorite food is Thai and this came up with an overall 5 stars, we decided to give it a try. We ordered the stuffed chicken wings which were very good. The problem came with the Tom Yum soup which had little flavor at all. Then came the bigger disappointment with the House Specialty Thai Fried Rice which again, had no flavor and only micro bits of crab.
Lunch was $ 30 and not worth it at all.

Located on Solano Ave in Albany, this Thai restaurant felt a bit more «Americanized». Upon sitting down I noticed there was a fork instead of chopsticks so I decided not to keep my hopes up for a bomb meal.
My mom was craving pad Thai and our usual place was not open yet so we decided to give this place a try. Her pad Thai was not the deep orange color I was used to seeing but she said it was good nonetheless.
I had a lunch special, chicken pumpkin curry with chicken Tom yum soup. Pretty average. Flavors were mild but I think I’ll stick to my usual Thai spot.

I went for lunch. They were located on lower Solano Ave in Albany, CA. I found free parking on a side street.
The lunch menu didn’t really appeal to me at the time, so I ordered off the regular menu. I ordered the Mango Salad Thai Hot.
Half of the plate was iceberg lettuce wedges and the other half of the plate had shredded mango, large chunks of tomato, 5 shrimp with the tails on, sliced red onion, shredded carrots and red cabbage, and cilantro with a sweet lime dressing. Beautifully presented.
This was one of the few Thai places that can make a dish Thai Hot. It was almost too hot for me and I like Thai Hot. The server said to ask for one step less than maximum next time.
I had ordered a Thai Iced Tea and really needed it to neutralize the heat of the salad.
I will be back after I’ve eaten at every Asian restaurant on Solano Avenue.

Pretty fuggin good y’all — best thai I’ve had in the whole bay area in 2+ yrs and that’s something. I’ll be back — lots of entrees and apps and salads (ooh my) to try still. And wut wuuuut? They have hella gluten free options, ya’ll and it’s still fuggin yumola. I lurved meself some prawn laden pad thai, I’ll tel yah whut!
TIPS:
–order soups without tomatoes (wtf is up with putting ¼ tomato slices into soup?
–get extra lemon or lime to squirt all ovah that dish = +3 flavor boost!
More on my next visit!

The yellow curry is totally delicious! One of the best I’ve ever had. And, it comes with a lot of sauce.
The cook has good energy. You can feel it in the food. And the servers are really sweet. But not in a fake way.
The way they serve their rice, shaped like a heart, is indicative of the heartfulness they put into their food.
Beautiful food and people.

Little place on Solano. Parking wasn’t great, but wasn’t terrible either.
Service:
Service could definitely be improved upon. The servers didn’t seem very friendly, but they weren’t rude. They were not attentive to the needs of the customers and needed to be constantly flagged down for anything.
Food:
Pad See Ew — Delicious! The flavors were there and the textures was perfect. Very well made.
Mango Sticky Rice — Absolutely loved it! I would be back just for this dish. The rice was lightly sweeten and complimented the light tartness of the mango very well.
Overall:
Would definitely be back to try other dishes!