E-San Rod-Sap

Hole-​in-​the-​wall Thai places can be the greatest thing since Phibun ordered the creation of a new national dish: Pad Thai.
This place is hidden so well in the plaza that you could easily drive right past it without realizing it. The signage is basically non-​existent. As you walk in, there are maybe 8 tables seating between 2 – 4 (so I wouldn’t recommend bringing the extended family if you have 42 cousins). One nice thing is that they open at 10am, which is about an hour earlier than the competition within a 5-​mile radius. You know, for breakfast Thai food. I have that early morning craving more often than I’d like to admit.
I’ve also had takeout from here. Pricing seemed a few dollars more expensive to get the food to go rather than eat there ($ 17 for two to eat in, and $ 23 to get it to go), and the amount of food seemed comparable so I’m not sure why there is the price difference. I tend to stick to the rice noodle dishes like Pad Kee Mao and Pad See Ew when I come here. Both tend to be mostly noodles without much in the way of vegetables, which is kind of a bummer as a vegetarian. Service is short and prompt, nothing overly friendly but we weren’t ignored either.
The menu seems to have a lot of dishes that you don’t see at other Thai places, so I would put the unique selection in the plus column, but I’ve never actually tried any of them myself.
They also feature a takeout bar where you can select from the available entrees for a combo meal if you’re in a hurry.
The neighborhood is a little «sketch.» I probably wouldn’t go here by myself unless I was getting takeout. Last time I was there, a homeless guy had parked himself out front and there was another guy who appeared to be selling things out of the trunk of his car. Of course, it’s not as bad at 10am when I tend to get my breakfast Thai cravings, so no problem there. Just something to keep in mind. All in all, AOK.

Very traditional Thai-​laotian food. Servers were really nice. Cash-​only. Crispy rice salad (Nhem Khao) was very good with a generous amount of rice. However, I would have liked it to have been crisped more. The larb was ok. Lamb soup had a nice gamey flavor that wasn’t overpowering. Overall, a cheap and filling meal. So far, the only place in Anaheim that serves decent crispy rice salad (the BEST I’ve had is in San Diego).

This hole in the wall restaurant serves delicious Thai-​Laotian food. As mentioned by previous reviewers, this is a cash only joint. I really enjoyed all the food that we ordered.
House Noodle – the broth was rich and flavorful. I really like the (fried?) chopped garlic pieces floating in the broth.
House Ribs – the ribs were crispy, yet tender. Also it was a surprisingly generous portion for an appetizer.
Pad See Ew – it was wonderfully homey tasting. I liked how they included Chinese broccoli in this dish. It was a nice change from the usual regular broccoli in pad see ew.
Thai Iced Tea and Thai Iced Coffee – both drinks were very concentrated, which I appreciated.
I would definitely come back to dine here again!

With no English sign, one can easily pass over this hole in the wall Thai-​Laotian restaurant connected to a mini-​market. I passed by it the first time and had to double check the number to locate it. There are about 10 tables available for all diners, whether you ordered from the express deli or off the menu. There’s a steady stream of diners coming and going, so food should be good here.
Express Deli: 2 item combo was only $ 5.95 and 3 item cob $ 6.95. Sounds like a great deal with a variety of goodies to try! However, I found the food at express bar too salty for me, not sure if I ordered the wrong thing (tom ka kai and chicken larb) or it’s just been sitting there too long that the sodium prevailed.
The menu has pretty standard Thai items with reasonable pricing, there are also special items not on the menu that you can order if you know the secret menu. Need to try this next time.
TIP: Cash Only and there’s an ATM by the register if you forgot to bring cash.

Authentic, value priced, hole in the wall is the best way for me to describe this place.
The best deal is to order from the items from the counter that are already prepared. Items vary from curries, Laos sausage, ribs, chicken wings, glass noodles, etc. There is so much variety it’s the perfect way to get a taste of everything.
I also snagged an awesome shabu shabu hot pot at the connecting market next door for $ 10!
Both places are cash only.

Simply Great! Like aforementioned, there is no sign in the English language to indicate what this place is, but do not keep driving by!
Went to lunch with coworkers today, one of which had been here multiple times and their significant other is Thai (she says its legit, so it must be right???) As I always do at new Thai restaurants I went with Pad Thai. My coworker warned me that I would fall in love at first bite, he was correct. I would say that E-​San has probably the best Pad Thai I’ve ever had, it makes other places looks bad.
Nice tangy sauce, thin noodles (lots and lots of noodles), bean sprouts, green onions, crushed peanuts and some lime. Yum! You will not be disappointed! The people at the counter speak very good English so do not be intimidated! Went in and ordered to go, I was out of there in less than 10 mins.

It’s Soooooo good!
One of the best tom Kha soups I’ve had.
And the pad Thai was good too.
Will definitely come back for more

Came here on Sunday at around 2−3pm with a packed house! The lady was super sweet and tried to seat us as quick as possible, looking for different spots to place us. They just installed this bar/​counter next to the window and offered us to sit there but we opted for a table in the corner next to the TV.
Got my usual pad kee Mao beef and Thai boat noodles. No complaints here. Food was good as usual and the woman serving us was really courteous and sweet. The Thai boat noodles is now $ 6.95 and the pad kee Mao is $ 7.95. Bill came out to be $ 16 for both dishes.

Had the Chicken pan-​ang curry and the pad-​thai to go. The curry was not great but not awful. I think it was appropriate for the price. The pad-​thai was the same. Many times, I had to take out bones still attached to the chicken.
Things to note:
CASH ONLY. There is an ATM next to the counter.
I didn’t see a sign at the store front in English, and had to look at Unilocal pictures for reference to find the front door.
I walked in and nobody greeted me and people were staring so I awkwardly stood around for a minute or two before walking to the back of the store to find their register. First time visitors may have to figure out how to get seated.
Overall ⁵⁄₁₀ would rather not do again.

As authentic and spicy as you can get.
Ordered medium spicy and we were burnin’
padPrik King was super good. I ordered it with Tofu and got home to find big shrimp mixed in with the tofu. Not sure if they charged me extra, probably… Also ordered green curry with shrimp which was really spicy and good. Wish it had eggplant instead of some round green veggie which had a similar texture.
If you order take out, make sure to grab your utensils and napkins because they forgot to include them. We’ll be back for more.

I had never had Laotian food before trying e-​San. I’m really glad I decided to give it a try! I stopped by this place on my way back from LA to Orange County to meet up with a friend for lunch. It was a Saturday around 12:45pm. It took me a while to find the place, but it’s located in a small strip mall with mostly Asian stores. Parking was easy to find. This place is not fancy by any means and is connected to an Asian market, but the food is authentic and fresh. Between the two of us, my friend and I shared the crispy rice salad as an appetizer, the kao piek (homemade noodle soup in clear broth with chicken, cilantro, garlic and green onion), and the kao pad ka paow moo krob (spicy fried rice with crispy pork). The food was pretty good. The Kao piek had homemade noodles, which was nice, but it was a little too starchy and bland for my taste. The ka paow was recommended by the waitress and was good, but the crispy pork was mostly just the breading and not any meat. The crispy rice salad was the most interesting. It is a cold dish, full of flavor, but don’t get it if you don’t like sour dishes. It comes with lettuce so you can make your own lettuce wrap. And the portions are pretty big.
All in all, this is a good place if you want to try Laotian or Thai food and don’t want to break the bank. The prices are really cheap for the portions and quality of food. Our meal cost about $ 14 each after tax and tip, but we got to try three dishes. Definitely reasonable. I’d come back to try their lunch combos, which look really good and are also very cheap.

I love the kapiek with crispy pork! It’s a very good comfort food! It reminds me of our filipino dish arroz caldo with chicharon but with the noodles.
PS dont be deceived. Dont be like me. I am kind of spontaneous when it comes to food, i go on Unilocal and find a place to eat at. I am very judgmental though and to me first impressions are my weakness. To be honest i was doubtful at first because of where the restaurant is located. Im not gonna say more about that because that’s not relevant. It is a mom and pop’s place, so if you miss grandma’s cooking type of thing, then this place is a go to.

As someone who is Lao, I’ll say that the Kao Piek at this restaurant is 100% authentic! I’ve been to just about every Lao place you can think of to try and find it, and here it is. The noodles are made of a special flower and are HAND MADE. I’ve never been able to find a bowl of kao piek outside of my mom’s kitchen, unless I’m in Laos itself.
The service here is nice and friendly. For a small restaurant it can be busy!

I’ve been wanting to try E-​San Rod-​Sap ever since I read Felix L’s glowing review of the place. As it is not close to my place of work I’ve been putting it off for quite sometime. Finally a couple of weeks ago I decided to change that and made the drive for lunch. I was able to find the place easily without any problems as there are lots of pictures of its entrance on Unilocal but without that it would be impossible for anyone to even know that it exists let alone find the place. For the un-​initiated this is a combined sit down restaurant + steam table operation that is linked to a grocery store. You have a choice of getting a two ($ 6 with tax) or three ($ 7 with tax) item combo that comes with rice from the steam table of ordering from the regular menu. I decided to stick to the steam table so as to sample a large cross section of their offerings.
When I walked in the place was about half full which I took as a good sign. I walked over to the steam table and asked the impatient girl behind the counter, descriptions for a couple of items by pointing to them. I finally settled on the red curry and stir fried catfish combo. This turned out to be pretty good. I was expecting some different taste but apart form the uniqueness of the catfish dish which is not available in other Thai restaurants it was your regular red curry and stir fry. Don’t get me wrong it was great just not the different that I had expected.
After my first visit I’ve been back about half a dozen times to try most of the dishes from the steam table. During the second visit I decided on the chicken larb and green curry combo. The green curry was your regular great tasting green curry but the larb was intense. It almost had a raw chicken taste that would shine through each bite. I’m not sure if this is how its supposed to taste but it was sure different. I don’t think I will be eating this again in a hurry. Next I went for a coconut curry based chicken dish and a bamboo shoot based dish. The coconut curry based chicken dish was one of the best that I’ve ever had and the bamboo shoots turned out to be pretty tame almost tasteless in comparison to the curry dish. I tried an innocuous looking vegetable and egg dish that turned out to be intense. The egg tried its best to tame the tart flavor of the vegetable whose name I don’t know but failed to stop the puckering with each bite.
Last thing that I can mention is that they are cash only so carry some when coming here. I think I’ve worked my way through most of the items from the steam table (at-​least ones that I can eat) so the next time I’ll start trying things off their regular menu and report back.

The Panang curry might be the best I have ever had. The Pad Thai might be the worst.
The place was hard to find because the name is only written in Thai, but that’s a good sign.
The service is not friendly. Maybe the lady was tired, but I honestly don’t care much about service when I am eating ethnic food. If the food is good, you can be as rude as you like. I’ll be back for more curry.
Cash only is lame, but their prices are very low compared to the competition, so I can’t blame them for not wanting to give the credit card companies a piece of their small pie.

Since I work down the street I love coming here to pick up some lunch or even dinner after I get off work. When I’m feeling semi-​healthy/​guilty the tofu pad Thai is my prime choice. For under $ 7 you can’t get that price anywhere else and the portions are relatively big. I’ve also ordered the chicken larb (mild spice because I’m a wimp), chicken satay and the short ribs. I highly recommend the chicken larb and short ribs. The chicken satay was okay.
After hearing countless recommendations from the bf and friends that the chicken pad see ew was the best I finally wanted to check it out myself. I ordered 2 to-​go for the bf and I to eat at home. When we opened the boxes we were disappointed to see that the dish didn’t have that distinctive dark soy sauce color and when we tried it – it was bland. That sweet flavor was completely absent. Even the bf said it was horrible. The chef must’ve been lazy or something cause I was really looking forward to tasting what everyone’s been raving about.
Aside from the chicken pad see ew, I’ll still be coming here… unless otherwise. I may not have enjoyed that particular dish but I still love the tofu pad Thai, chicken larb and even an occasional Thai iced tea.
This hole-​in-​the-​wall restaurant is cash only and the parking sucks. Be wary.

Without Unilocal and word of mouth, how many people would have walked into this building in Anaheim without an English sign and expected to find the best Thai and Lao food in town? Definitely not me.
This place is somewhat of a hole in the wall. When approaching this restaurant, look for bright green squigly Thai characters on the window. There are two options when you step in, pick from the steam table with over a dozen options, or sit down and select made-​to-​order Thai rice, salad, or noodle dishes from the menu.
I noticed that Rod-​Sap has numerous specialties on the board, such as homemade Lao sausage, Isaan pork jerky, papaya salad Lao-​style with crab and fermented fish sauce, nam khao tod, and kao piek. There are more specials on the weekends. I really wanted to try items from the special menu but since I was in a hurry, I chose three items from the express table.
Gaeng Kiaw Wan — This was one of the most bold green curries I’ve ever had. It came loaded with boneless chicken, tender eggplants, and bamboo shoots in a thin sauce. The curry had more of a soupy consistency compared to the thick nature of curries, so it was easy to soak into rice. Rod-Sap’s green curry contains some Thai chili for subtle heat and a generous amount of galangal and lemongrass for sour notes. Whoever prepared it did not have a heavy hand with the application of coconut milk, so there was a very delicate balance between sour, sweet, and spicy flavors.
Pla Duk Sod Pad Ped — I am a seafood fan so I ordered a serving of catfish cooked in red curry paste. Although the fish was complemented with almost the same ingredients as the green curry, the red curry paste was much more mild compared to the green curry. This catfish dish yielded a large collection of bones and was a little too dry in my opinion, I thought that it could use more sauce to enhance flavor.
Gaeng Naw Mai — When a grandma brings out a fresh pot of homemade Laotian soup, makes eye contact, and winks, I knew I had to try it, despite warnings from the server about how exotic the soup would be. I’ve had sour Thai soup before from Isaan Station and LaCha Somtum, but turns out none were as explosively pungent as the preserved bamboo shoot soup from E-​San. The soup itself was significantly more briny and fishy than spicy, and I could taste some flavors of pepper (enough to make you cough) and fermented fish sauce (enough to make your lips pucker). The bamboo shoots were a little bitter, but the baby corn and black mushroom toppings were manageable for my Chinese palate. This soup is definitely an acquired taste for people not familiar with Laotian cuisine, and not for the faint of heart.
Rod-​Sap is definitely a hidden gem in Anaheim for authentic Thai and Lao food. Customers can order as basic as Tom Yum Goong and Pad Thai, or for the more open-​minded eaters, go for the authentic Lao house specialties listed on the chalkboard. The prices are very reasonable, most items cost $ 7 and under and a 3 item combo from the steam table is only $ 6.50. I can’t wait to try the Isaan and Laotian dishes cooked by a grandma the next time I return.

I will always always always be a huge fan of this authentic Lao restaurant.
Food is always fresh, made with love and prices are so reasonable.
Try their food out!

I have always loved Curry in general so this review is just for the curry that I had. At roughly $ 6 for a bowl of curry and rice, this thing definitely fills you up! I got the yellow curry which is freaking amazing! Lots of flavors to it and it has kind of a sweetness to it because of the coconut but it is amazing. This thing fed me for lunch and the next day as well. You can even bring it home and add more rice and chicken to get another meal. But then again, I’m tiny so this was 2 meals for me. I would definitely come back to eat some more curry!
NOTE:
–CASH ONLY!

First things first! If you notice lots of Thai/​Laotian patrons, you can be fairly confident you are on your way to goodness. This was absolutely true here.
And as anxious as I was that I may burn my lips and tongue off from the not so mild interpretations of ingredients, I was ultimately pleased that the chef practiced restraint with ours. Many of the dishes were able to be on the reasonably low spicy meter! Whew.
First on the scene was the order of Crispy Rice Toss Salad. A huge platter came, filled with a crunchy rice tossed with unnaturally pink meat (pork), roasted peanuts, cilantro, ginger, chile, and lime juice, and a pile of romaine lettuce leaves and whole leafed cilantro to create a lettuce wrap, if you must. I used the lettuce as a scoop, along with my spoon, since it was rather rigid. I was in so enamored by this dish, I had a difficult time moving on as our plates of food continued to arrive. However, I recommend you eat it while it is fresh. I ate the leftovers a day later, and found all the flavors had strongly developed and were a bit too much at that point. I loved this dish and would order it every time.
Our second choice was the House Ribs. Bone-​in, bite sized pieces of marinated, then fried pork. These were very meaty, very tender, and incredibly tasty thanks to the marinade. It does not come with a sauce, nor does it need it. These would be something I would drive long distances to get. Which I will have to do, gladly.
The Skewered Pork with a house sauce that was slightly spicy. I thought this house sauce would resemble a satay sauce, but it turns out it was not at all peanuty. That is not a bad thing. It was excellent, a blend of chile, lime, sugar, fish sauce, and who knows what else. The 4 skewers of meat were gently grilled, and nicely marinated. I do however want to experience the Pork Jerky before I would return to this dish.
Pad Thai. Very different and sweet, this was a decent serving of noodles that were just ok in my book. I was hoping I would love this. I only liked it.
Thai Tea. Typical. Good.
Then came the Coconut Ice Cream topped with lots of roasted salty peanuts. This was a lighter, more icy version than I have had at other Thai restaurants, but quite good. The coconut milk shined, however I did not discover chunks of young coconut in the mix, something I would have loved. The amount of peanuts that topped it were so generous, it verged on obscene. But I love that kind of stuff. This was quite good.
That meal was so tremendous I will eagerly return, and this time with the whole family and friends. Highly recommended.