Bangkok Chef

Well, I definitely won’t be visiting this place again anytime soon. Mom and I stopped here for lunch today while I was waiting for a prescription to be filled at Costco. We should have just eaten at the food court there and saved our money and bellies.
We arrived at Bangkok Chef around 12:45 and there were only two other tables with diners. Should have taken that as a warning: empty at lunch time.
I wanted to order the red curry but when I asked for it mild the girl told me that you can only have it spicy. When I asked why she said that everything they make is made in the morning and nothing can be adjusted spice wise. So none of their food is made fresh at lunch and dinner time. They make it in bulk early in the morning and then heat it up when as order comes in. Not cool.
So I ended up ordering the Pad Thai which was one of the only dishes they make mild. It was mediocre at best. Very dry and sour. Wayyyyy too much salt. Mom ordered the papaya salad which she thought was ok, if not a little more spicy than she is used to when dishes are called «medium».
We only ordered those two dishes and ice water and our bill was $ 27 which is a huge rip off as far as I’m concerned. And don’t even get me started on the bathroom… Ew. It’s unisex and the urinal is right next to the toilet, like less than a foot. GROSS. Dirty and unclean, with trash on the floor.
Never again

It’s National Compliment Day so let’s go!
Compliment: Your food that made me laugh!
Compliment: Your use of Costco spring rolls was wonderful! I love those. Deep fried, golden brown, packed with preservatives. Delish!
Compliment: Using old basil (with spots on the leaves) in the Panang pork curry is a great money saving idea! You can’t see it’s old, just taste it.
Compliment: Scrambled eggs stewed in liquid makes for wonderful flavor sponges in your Rad Nah. It adds to the wetness of the rest of the dish; noodles swimming in liquid. A new creation!
Compliment: Ketchup instead of tamarind in the Pad Thai adds a great all American taste and at $ 0.89 per bottle thanks to the extra value book, very economical!
Compliment: Using sugar in all your dishes helps support the third world! It might not taste right but adding just a little bit in every dish adds up.
Compliment: Your fried rice is soooo different! It was a cool, not cold day. How did you know I almost wanted, but not quite craved jook?
Compliment: Not using salt in the fried rice was very thoughtful! I need to watch my blood pressure.
Compliment: Soup comes with every dish, how generous! The house special with the stir fried chicken breast, cabbage, bamboo shoots in a soup of water and «very special» (your words not mine) ginger sauce; so that’s why you gave me a spoon!
Compliment: Because of my last two visits, I don’t need to fight Costco traffic nor find parking in that awful parking lot!
Thank you!

Overall impression:
The food is pretty good but the service here needs some work. And the price used to be the main reason that I came here but now it’s not even cheap. Probably will stick to the other locations.
Average price:
$ 11 – 13 per plate
Positives:
–Bangkok chef food is decent
–granite table tops, generally pretty clean
Negatives:
–service wasn’t great
–prices are slowly going higher and higher
–the parking is weird, but that’s not really their fault
–you have to pay tip at this location and the entrees are also more expensive just because it’s served on a plate
I loved Bangkok chef at the nuuanu and Manoa locations. Food was cheap and they gave a lot of it. Well, you don’t really get that here. It’s sort of their attempt to make the place like a restaurant type of deal where they provide you table service. The only thing is, that basically meant they put the food on a plate and then served you water from time to time. For that, I had to pay a tip AND the food is more expensive.
My biggest problem with the service was that our food didn’t come out at a reasonable time. My entrée came out about 15 – 20 minutes before my wife’s entrée. We even reminded them about it. That was basically it, but for so simple a job, I was pretty disappointed that it couldn’t be done right. I also thought that my portion wasn’t quite as large as it used to be. Sad.
I don’t really like this location. Been here about 3 times too and it’s been about the same. Will stop going here and stick with the Manoa and nuuanu locations.

It’s been probably 6 months since my last visit… and something happened… the prices went up and their papaya salad wasn’t good at all… no mint… no cashews… just a lot of shredded cabbage and hardly any papaya… Not sure what happened but this was my go to place for good Thai food… hopefully the quality is there next time… prices went up significantly.

The food is always fresh and authentic here. The price is a tinge higher than regular Thai food restaurant, but it’s clean and has a lot of dinning room space. Overall this is a good bet if your in the area and want to get a quick and tasty meal between shopping trips.

Greeted and sat down. Took order and came out in 8 minutes. Good service and kept the water glass full.

Unlike the other Bangkok chef, they serve to table but in plastic plates. If you want to dine in its a good place to go. It’s causal and usually quiet. Price is reasonable. Portion is good also. Taste is a thumb up.

This thai restaurant was so-​so, nothing too special in my opinion. We did take out: pad see eew, pad thai, and papaya salad. They don’t operate on a 1 – 5 star (spice) but instead not spicy, medium, or spicy. Portions were ok, maybe dine — in would lead to different portions. Tofu in the pad see eew was dry and over cooked. The papaya salad was by far my favorite of the items we ordered.

I remember when Bangkok Chef had only one location in the heart of Nuuanu. It is a major hole in the wall and very understated. I enjoyed the price for the quantity of food. Fast forward to today, there are now 3 locations: Nuuanu, Nimitz and Manoa.
I have been to this particular location a few times and I just thought it was okay. Last night after a long day of being out we picked up take out. I ordered Pad Thai with Chicken and Panang Curry with Chicken. Meh. Everything was tasteless and my Pad Thai was dry. I had to put a boatload of hot sauce to give both dishes flavor. I will say they did give quite a bit of food but it was just so unsatisfying. Such a shame because it’s a perfect location for take out on the way home from town.
I know there are a lot of BC fans out there but I think It will be a long time till we go back for another dosage of Thai from here. If you go further up on Nimitz you can get take out from Siam Thai. Granted the prices will be a little more but it will definitely be much more palette quenching.

Convenient Pick UP Take Out
Parking available
co-​workers loved the food

I’ve been meaning to try Bankok Chef for quite some time now and I finally did today! I can see how parking can be tricky because there are only a set number of stalls reserved for the businesses in the area but we came right after the lunch rush so there were plenty of stalls to choose from.
The restaurant was very nice and clean! Service was really great!
Food:
I ordered the Pad Ki Mao with Pork and it was so yummy! It’s a thicker noodle and has Thai Basil and bean sprouts. I think it’s better than Pad Thai and may be my Thai noodle of choice from now on! I think I want to try it with beef next time.
My hubby got the House Special with Chicken which had cabbage, red bell pepper, and bamboo shoots. It was also very tasty but the chicken was very dry. Maybe next time he will try it with pork instead. Both of these dishes were medium spicy. The House Special was spicier though.
My son got the chicken wings and they were very hot! Poor thing had to wait for them to cool down while we were eating our meals. Good thing I had my phone with me to keep him busy!
Everything was ala cart (dinner portions) since I ordered the noodles and we had enough left over to save for lunch tomorrow.
I also got the Thai iced coffee which hit the spot for my sweet caffeine fix!
My husband didn’t think much of the food but I really liked it! I think I’ll bring my mom next time. I also really appreciated that the menu had pictures so you would know basically what the dishes are.

I ordered yellow chicken curry rice and Thai iced tea. The Thai tea was a little bit too sweet for me (I actually hv a sweet tooth).
The portion of the curry rice was decent and it was tasty. However, the potato served with the rice was tasteless.

The best item on their menu here: Fried Long Rice. At a cheap $ 8, you cannot go wrong.
I like this location best out of the three locations because it is clean! The food is also best out of the their three locations. Pricewise, you can’t beat Bangkok Chef. All items are basically around $ 7-​$ 8. This is the only «Thai» food place where I can eat all the Thai food I want and not feel like my bill is going to come out to 3 digits. Good deals!
My tummy however, I cannot guarantee that it will not expand three-​fold! Ha!

This is my regular go to, if I don’t feel like cooking. Prices are cheap, portions are big & flavors are consistent. Nuuanu location is lightning fast with to go orders!
Green Curry with chicken is my fav. Hubby prefers Shrimp Pad Thai. The crispy noodle appetizer is huge, light and super yummy.

There are a few stalls fronting the restaurant designated for BC customers. The atmosphere inside is a little on the dark side, but pleasant. The seats are a bit hard, so sitting there for a long period of time may cause some discomfort.
Food always comes out fresh, hot and tasty. Even when it gets back to the office, it’s still very good and hot, but not piping hot. Love the peanut sauce, though, unconsciously, I inhaled a bit of it. Yikes! Definitely will keep coming back

Bangkok Chef provides tasty food and is a good addition to the area. I like the Basil Chicken a lot. It’s tasty and can really fill you up. The portion with this dish is great. I have also tasted their pad thai and that was very decent. The place never seems really busy, maybe due to the weird parking lot that does not have as many spaces as you might think in front of the restaurant.
I like eating the food from here but there a couple of things I would improve and they are mostly cleanliness issues.
1: Please do not wipe utensils on the counter to the right of the checkout/​order area. It is somewhat distressing to see someone wiping the forks etc… with a dirty yellow rag. Even more so when they really start trying to wipe off some sort of residue on the fork over and over then throw the fork into the clean pile.
2: Please do not scrape off residue (probably sticky rice) off the plates you are wiping with your fingernails.
3: Please do not stack up the dishes on each other after putting them all out on the counter. Especially after the fork containers were just put on the counter.
4: Also noticed was the worker that took the cash and gave change, also worked on the plates. Didn’t notice any washing of the hands between the two tasks.
All in all, even if the above happens, it would probably be better off happening in the back rather than in front of the customers.
But again, is the food good? Yes!

Hmmm, this location differs from the other two because it’s a lot fancier. Instead of the «seat yourself» type dining at Nuuanu and Manoa, if you want to dine in the waiter here seats you. There is a small row of bar type seating for those who order takeout and want to dine in. It does appear they have wait service here, but I almost prefer the seat yourself option at the other locations (I myself ordered takeout).
I concur with the other reviewers that the parking lot here is really horribly designed. There are only about 2 stalls directly in front of the restaurant reserved for Bangkok Chef, the rest are all reserved for other businesses. Whether someone actually enforces these reserved parking stalls is another discussion, but who wants to risk getting towed?
The food between all of the Bangkok Chef locations is pretty consistent. Huge portions and I love that you can order individual «plate lunch» style dishes, rather than most Thai/​Asian restaurants where you have to order family style. (Though you CAN order everything family style if you request, but I believe it’s $ 1.00 more since you’re getting a full plate of a dish rather than a smaller portion of the dish + rice).
My favorite dishes are the spring rolls, pork panang curry, and stir fried long rice with pork. :) I have noticed prices here have gone up compared to when I went to the Manoa location. I’m not sure if prices have gone up at all of the locations or just here because it’s fancier…

1. VALUE/​VERDICT: smaller portions but better atmosphere than the Nuuanu location! Service can be hard to get.
2. FOOD: The Spring Rolls ($ 9.75) were 6 in number and nice with the accompanying sweet chili oil sauce.
The Summer Rolls ($ 5.75) were 2 in number, cut in half to make four edible pieces may be better found in other restaurants. While tightly-​wrapped, the very thin rice noodles were dry, the peanut sauce unique in dark color and taste to the Bangkok Chef chain (you may or may not like it) but at least the shrimp pieces were quite reasonable.
The Chicken Wings ($ 10.25) were good-​sized and 7 in number. Rice the way you want it (white, brown or sticky) and sliced cucumbers rounded the dish. This dish might be best suited for those patrons simply snacking.
The Shrimp and Snow Peas ($ 11.80) had about 7 medium-​sized prawns (peeled with tails on) and was generous in the snow peas and carrots department.
The Eggplant Chicken ($ 10.25) we ordered this time with tofu instead of the bird and it was good but somewhat on the salty side.
The Yellow Curry ($ 10.25) ordered today came with pork and it was good. Best enjoyed with sticky rice in my opinion; however, you’re likely going to love the potatoes, carrots, and shredded pork any way.
Overall, one can argue how authentic the dishes are; at the end of the day, folks looking for a Thai-​style meal won’t be disappointed if the portions sizes can be overlooked.
3. SERVICE: While it’s pleasant, it can be a bit of a challenge. With the restaurant about 75% full, the 2 servers were often not available or simply not in the front of the house.
4. ATMOSPHERE: Think modern pizza brick house that serves Thai food. You’ll find a very clean and nice environment. I recommend asking or a table away from the door, as cold/​warm drafts come in quite easily there.

This is one of the better (affordable) Thai restaurants on the island. I’ve been here a couple times and I can safely say that this is my favorite place for Thai when I can’t find Olay’s Thai food at a nearby farmers market. Their restaurant is clean, service is quick, and food is delicious.
Now I judge every place on their pad Thai. Maybe that’s not a good representation of thai cooking, nor may it be the best way to judge, but that’s my go to dish so if I don’t like it, I won’t eat at your restaurant. I’ve tried pad Thai at 4 – 6 places in town around king St etc. and have been disappointed. Not enough flavor, no bean sprouts or crushed peanuts, too pricy. Well Bangkok chef gets it almost perfect. I love the flavor and though I wish their were a few more sprouts and green onions inside, I’m a fan, and not once have I bit into an eggshell! They also have a delicious peanut sauce (sweeter for spring roll spicier for satay), those are my other two favorite dishes.
The staff is accommodating. One time my friend and I didn’t have long to eat so we called our order ahead and it was waiting for us when we arrived to dine in. Yes, the parking can be tricky but just go around to the party city side, there’s a lot more open parking there. And don’t forget to order a Thai tea!

I give this place a 3 star because first of all they should have more parking. All the other parking is reserved for something else. This place is located by best buy on Nimitz.
When you first walk in my first impression is this is a very welcoming place. You can choose to dine in to take out. The lighting is very dim but other than that it’s not too bad.
I ordered the eggplant tofu. Food is a hit an miss. I order the eggplant chicken last time and that was awsome. This time i thought it was less flavorful. However they did a lot of eggplant.