Chai Oriental

R.I.P Chai Oriental
I’m very sad that this is closed. My Mom would regularly shop here for rice and other Asian ingredients since I was in middle school and now it’s gone

5 stars but they shut down. :-(
Vietnamese restaurant coming soon… But who cares.

MY KINGDOM FOR SOME PRIK PAO!
You would not believe how long it took me to find this stuff. I visited maybe 4 – 5 other asian markets with no luck. Not much ambiance but I’ll take the great prices and genuine help that they gave me while answering my crazy questions. I just wish I had more time to try out some of their kitchen lunch meals.

Love their2go food nice if they had fresh meet there but I know there’s a lot of competition around some items I couldn’t find but I cook with lots of ingredients.

Love this place. The food is as close to being in Thailand via stateside! It’s like you close your eyes and imagine yourself walking outside your door and you order food from a street vendor in Thailand. The people are super nice! And you can do all your shopping while they cook up your food! You can also call your order ahead!

This is a good asian grocery that covers the basics of many asian countries. The customer service is excellent. i have learned a great deal about cooking asian food at home from the old woman that sometimes helps out her son, who is the owner. They have excellent good quality fresh noodles and asian vegetables.

I was looking for some shrimp chips and I found them. I wanted to try them and I found them here! I asked for help and the man there took me to the correct spot and helped me get the Calbee Shrimp Chips. I will have to try the hot food there next time. You will need to buy more then 10 dollars to use your debit card which kinda is frustrating and kept this from a 5 star.

The Spicy Noodles that I ordered was delicious! While waiting for my dish to get cooked, I did a run through in the store to grab snacks for my sons.
The owners Gang (I hope I spelled her name right) & Jimmy are such a nice couple. Very friendly!

Like everyone else in these reviews, I had an EXCELLENT experience here. I wanted to try my hand at making a basic curry, so I decided to stop here and grab the ingredients I thought I’d need and some lunch for my better half and I. The place is pretty unassuming; I walked in and got a terrible impression at first look. I thought to myself «This place has 4 ½ stars on Unilocal?What’s the deal? Nobody is even trying to help me.»
After wandering the store for a bit, the customers that were waiting on their lunch cleared out and the only guy in the shop was finally free of his kitchen duties. He bee-​lined to get a drink, but stopped on his way to ask if I’d like help. I explained the kind of curry I wanted to make, and the guy outright helped me get my stuff together! I had grabbed some of the most disgusting fish sauce known to man (as he described, it was basically a fish tossed into a blender), he introduced me to palm sugar (thank you!!!) and gave me some pointers on which brands are better than others for various items.
The pad thai and Panang curry I got were both good. I’d say I’m a bigger fan of Kinaly Thai in San Marcos, but this place has great food and it’s a bit less expensive. All said and done, I walked out with all the ingredients I needed for my shrimp and pineapple curry (except the shrimp), plus 2 meals’ worth of food for 2 people for $ 30.
Just like Ahnold, Ah’ll be Bach.

Tasty meals!
The food tasted like something someone’s grandma would make. Very homey and authentic seeming. No weird combinations like «diced carrots and peas) where they don’t belong at all.
We ordered Sweet Soy Sauce fried rice with chicken. We were idiots apparently and had no idea what «Chinese broccoli» was. It had a texture like a mixture of spinach leaves with a stalk more like broccoli stalks. The taste of radishes mixed with broccoli stems. The fried rice in general had a savory and sweet flavor. It was very tasty. The chicken was really tender and tasted very fresh and juicy. The whole thing tasted like every ingredient had come together just moments before we ate it. Loved that. It was unique for thai fried rice… different than what you’d find in any other thai restaurant around. Everything had a very home-​y kind of vibe and flavor.
We also ordered Spicy noodles with vegetables I thought, but we seemed to get just tofu and the regular ingredients. I think that was due to a weird miscommunication on our part. Other than onions and cilantro, noodles, soft (amazingly ‘clean’ flavored) tofu, and the like it had another mystery vegetable. Looked like leafy greens topping something with the texture of celery stalk, but wider. This dish also had delicious little bits of egg in it. It was a little sweet and somewhat spicy. It was fantastic but I think I liked the fried rice better. Who’d have guessed it?!
I meant to take pictures but we dove into it too quickly in a famished mid-​afternoon breakfast kind of way.
The guy who helped us was pretty friendly. Nothing over the top, but nice enough.
I’ll be back to try more of their dishes. All of them are priced around 6 – 8 dollars for an entrée with few frills and extras. No apps at all. That’s fine, my butt said it didn’t mind my mouth NOT being able to wolf down some fried spring rolls. :) I’ll bring friends next time and let them test it out. They love thai and the more authentic stuff has eluded them thus far. Can’t wait to see what they think too!
Oh, by the way this place is located at the far end of the same plaza with Tasty Pizza. Keep going… you’ll get to it eventually. It’s set back a little deeper than the other store fronts in the strip so it’s hard to see.

This is a little hole in the wall market which doubles as to-​go thai take out. Its cute and has some soups, sauces, snacks, candies, and even some dishware. But as far as a thai restaurant goes I’ve had better. First i wanted to substitute the chubby rice noodle for a thin rice noodle but the cook wouldn’t do it, next i ordered 2 of the same exact dish, 1 had a greater amount of food in it then the other. What’s up with that? The dish had too much basil, which this basil was very overbearing and taking over. It had a pungent taste. I asked for extra broccoli and instead received extra asparagus stems. Also there is sooo much garlic and onion in the food. I definitely wouldn’t eat here if your planning on seeing your bf/​gf afterward.
It’s a cute tiny little shop, i give them credit for trying. It’s probably one of the better thai places in Escondido, but If you want to try some amazing thai food in SD, I recommend Bangkok Bay Thai Restaurant in Solana Beach. The best in SD!

Love this place. Everything I’ve ordered has been delicious and made to order. Great place!

The couple that run this place are absolutely amazing people, not only are they the nicest people but they have everything I could want to make an authentic Thai dish right there around the corner from me!!! LOVE it! My son and I also love their food there — pad thai!!! Yum!!!

this is a mom and pop, hole-​in-​the-​wall treasure with a wide selection of asian (and most especially THAI) ingredients. went about lunch time (no, that’s not a coincidence) and restocked my pantry with SWEET DARK SOY SAUCE, COCONUT CREAM and YELLOW and PANANG CURRY PASTES.
late wednesdays (that’s why i shop on thursdays) they get in fresh rice noodles for PAD SEE-​EW.
my kids love MISO soup so i picked up MISO paste, firm TOFU and dried BONITO FLAKES plus a fresh GREEN PAPAYA and dried shrimp for SOM TAM (GREEN PAPAYA SALAD). the couple working there (the owners, i would assume) could not be nicer or more helpful.
and here’s the best part — they have a counter where you can order a variety of THAI salads, soups, curries, stir-​fries and rice and noodle dishes all cooked to order. the ambiance is somewhere between eating at the nicest ever street-​food stall and at somebody’s house that’s really an amazing cook. today i had the PANANG BEEF CURRY, a dish i’ve had at dozens of THAI restaurants and would say CHAI’s is my favorite.
do you remember that old adage about don’t go food-​shopping when you’re hungry ??? well, they must have been talking about somewhere else. show up famished and leave very, very satisfied. this cooking is THAI-​soulful.

So I spent the day working in San Diego. I was making my way back to Palm Springs (I always take the back way) and realized I hadn’t eaten for over 8 hours. I refuse to do fast food. I went slightly off my beaten path to get into civilization. I quickly came across the sign for Chai Oriental Foods. I notice they serve Thai food. I figured I’d just order some tofu phad thai (can’t mess that up!) I strolled around the store and picked up a couple items. I noticed the guy working the wok with my order in it. It started to smell SO good. I was starving, so I ate some of it in the parking lot — yum! I got to smell it all the way home and had more later that evening and it was even better. I still have at least a third serving for today. I will make the effort to go back when I’m in the area. What a great little store.

Love this little place — beats the hell out of driving all the way down to 99 Ranch Market for some Asian essentials. I’m a big fan of Thai food and I always come here for kaffir lime leaves, galanga, lemongrass, and coconut milk when I need them. Supermarkets are carrying a lot of Oriental ingredients now, but the price for roasted sesame oil was only $ 3 here (compared to $ 9 for a bottle of the same size at Albertson’s).
Really nice selection for such a small place. I’ve never tried their food but other reviewers are saying it’s pretty good, so I’ll have to give it a shot.

I am far from an expert on Asian markets, but this is the best Asian market I’ve been able to find without having to drive down to San Diego. Whenever I come here looking for something specific, I can always find it, and the people here are very friendly and helpful. Prices are reasonable — we had two grocery bags worth of stuff and spent about $ 35.
You can find canned/​jarred anything here — I was especially pleased to find jackfruit! The reason for 4 instead of 5 stars? I wish they had more of a selection of fresh fruits and veggies.

I have been to this store countless time but I haven’t been since they opened their kitchen. I am a very picky eater when it comes to Thai food as my mom is probably one of the best Thai cooks in San Diego. I came here expecting to be underwhelmed and disappointed as most Thai places do not measure up.
My first trip here I ordered the Thai Boat Noodles with beef. I was pleasantly surprised with bowl of soup I was served. It was spicy. It was sour. It was post a picture on Facebook good. It was Bangkok street corner good. I left with my tongue burning and my tummy full. That is as good as it gets.
My second trip here I ordered the beef lad nah. I ordered it to go and took it back to my office. I was delighted to see that the gravy and meat were packed separately from the noodles. The veggies were crisp and fresh. The noodles were soft salty and crispy. I may or may not have licked the gravy bowl clean. The ONLY thing missing in my opinion were little salted brown beans but that may just be a matter of taste.
I will be back and I will be back often.

Great take out Thai food and Asian market…
1. I was debating about writing this review because I didn’t want everyone to know about this fabulous gem. Yah I’m selfish.
2. The thai food they cook here is sooo good and sooo cheap (please don’t raise your prices!) It’s only takeout and it closes at 6:30pm.
3. They offer a good variety of Asian ingredients. I always find what I need when I have to make lumpia, pancit, or curries. The owners are very friendly too, always saying hi when you walk in.

If you’re looking for that «back alley fresh» Thai TO GO experience come to Chai Oriental Foods.
This tiny market already had so much to offer. We pick up our curry from here. Now, they offer a full menu of Thai TO GO. I ordered the Spicy Noodles and the Tom Yum soup. It did take a while to cook my meal but it was completely from scratch! While I was looking at all the goodies the store had to offer, I could smell my food cooking, Mmmm. When I got home, the food was PHENOMENAL. I’ve never had Tom Yum prepared in this way. Very fragrant with lemon grass and the broth was hot with a little bit of sour. Keep watch for those Bright Red/​Orange pieces of bird peppers (I think that’s what they are).They are very hot!
I can’t wait to come back.
Other stuff to know —
— The owners want you to succeed in cooking Thai food. Don’t be afraid to ask if you have any questions. I found out that not all coconut milks are created equal. Different dishes require different milks.
— For a small shop, there are so many things to look at. Durian Candy anyone?
— They do have Thai cooking utensils (wish I knew about this place a year ago).
–The family that owns this place are very very friendly!