Thai Elephant

Man!!! that place makes some great food!!! I got the leftovers brought home and what a treat… I can’t wait to go there!!!

I love this restaurant. Their food is fresh and so are their flavors. The staff are always very polite and helpful and there isn’t ever a very long wait. This is a fabulous place for Thai food in the Tri-​Cities. One of my husband and my «go-to’s.»
Dishes I can recommend: Tom Kha; Eggplant Lovers, Pad Thai, Pad See Ew, Green Curry

WOW! These reviewers need to try out Seattle or Portland. If they think this is 4 to 5 star, what would they think of a stall in Thailand itself.
The food here is not as good as advertised and even worse customer service.

Thank God! Finally an oasis in the food desert that is the Tri-​Cities! While not as phenomenal as the Thai I can get in Seattle, this is worth the drive from Walla Walla.
We had pot stickers and coconut shrimp to start. The shrimp… uh, yuuummm. Crunchy, crispy, slightly sweet coconut outside and perfectly cooked moist tender shrimp on the inside. The sauce was the standard sweet chili and did not disappoint.
The filling in the pot stickers and the sauce were great. However these were deep fried and weren’t crisp… just chewy, dense and overly tough. I like them better boiled like pasta and then fried to a golden brown. They come out crispy but tender.
Had the Massaman curry with beef. Delicious, luscious, flavors… could have been a bit spicer. The rice was great… just sticky enough and tasted fresh, none of that ‘been too long in the steamer’ stuff.
We also had a stir fry where again the sauce was light, flavorful and just outstanding with piles or perfectly stir-​fried veggies on top (cooked to tender crisp).
Service was good. Atmosphere was fine. Would definitely go again. Great food for the money and the best Thai food I’ve found in 50 square miles!

What an experience! I am from a larger city where the Thai competition is fierce. This place for the area is really good. My wife and I shared the Pumpkin Curry with Veggies (it was her birthday and that is her thing) usually I don’t order curry, but since we were planning on going other places after we shared the meal. It was delicious. Actually, I take that back it was phenomenal. For me (her palate is more sensitive than mine) the spice was just right nice even heat and veggies that were cooked just right. Served over a bed of warm white rice and BAM! there you have it. We also shared a potsticker app and again it was just right. The service was prompt and courteous and we received our food without any delay really.
I highly recommend going if you are curious about it, this place did not disappoint. I am sure we will be going back. Her for the curry and me, well I am sure I will find something that I like as well.

Went here for dinner as a party of six. The food was good, but nothing special and the seafood in my curry was very rubbery. After the food was dropped off the waiter never came back to our table to ask how it was or to ask if we wanted more drinks… which we did. They could’ve made a lot more money if the waiter had come back to check on us because we all would have ordered a couple more drinks and possibly dessert. Disappointed.

This is some of the best Thai food in Tri-​cities. The owner is a delight, very kind and exceedingly attentive. You can tell he cares about this place and his customers. The food is simply delicious; the drunken noodles and tom kha gai are incredible. The dining area is small and the atmosphere is warm and comfortable. If you like Thai food, you’ll love this place.

Very good meal. Just right and the red curry is so good. Nice décor and a very efficient staff. I would come back.

Just moved to the area and found a gem right away! The food is flavorful and I’ve enjoyed everything we have tried, we will for sure continue to frequent this place!
The pineapple fried rice is amazing, a must try.

Great flavor and very good service. I had the Pumpkin Curry with Shrimp and it was amazing.

Went here at 5:30 PM. Lots of cars in the parking lot, always a good sign. But when I went inside, only three tables were being utilized. So, what were all the cars doing outside, this was the only restaurant in this little block, all other businesses were closed for the day. Oh well. They had a «special» board with three «specials» on it, but the prices were no different than what was shown on the menu, so I don’t know what was up with the «specials.» One of the «specials» was Pumpkin Curry. The food server was enthusiastic about this dish so I ordered it. Did not disappoint! You could order «spice level» up to «5.» I normally like my food spicy, but to be cautious, I went for «3.» Glad I did! As is typical with Thai food, when it goes in your mouth, you are thinking, «Oh, this is nothing» but then 2.5 seconds later YOUR MOUTH IS LIT UP! The rice was brought to you in a medium sized bowl, but it was OVERFLOWING. So, the rice amount was pretty generous. The Pumpkin Curry was worth it! Great way to eat pumpkin pieces, I ordered it with chicken, which was highly recommended by the food server, I don’t think this would work with beef or pork but who knows.
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Addendum for another visit later: I went here with a friend on a different occasion and I ordered Green Curry on scale of «3» for spiciness. The food server explained that Green Curry isn’t as spicy as Red Curry. The Green Curry was delicious, but I believe that I could have had this at «4» with no problem. I LIKE SPICY FOOD!
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Ok, I know it’s December, and the restaurant was playing Christmas music because of this… but… for some reason, hearing Bing Crosby sing «Happy Hol-​i-​days…» sort of was a detraction for me. I guess I wanted some sort of «Thai» music in the background.
I really liked the Black/​White table settings, against the décor of the inside. Although the inside looked formal, people were in jeans and I was in a sweat suit. I guess no one dresses up for restaurants any more.
No place to park an RV. I came here in a car. If you like Thai food, this one is recommended!

Our go-​to for Thai. The food is very good and we’re always greeted by familiar faces. I have been transitioning to a plant-​based diet and they have always been willing to point out dishes I may want to avoid or accommodate me by leaving egg out of our order. I will miss this restaurant when we move back east!

I’ve eaten Thai a few hundred times all over the country.
This is not authentic Thai food. I met a date for lunch when it was crowded and just by looking at the food people were eating I could tell it was very poor quality. She advised me not to order, but I tried a bite of what she ate and knew she was correct. If you like imitation Thai cooked by Laotians, like most Tri-​Citians do, go here. If you actually have culture and can tell the difference, avoid.

Definitely my favorite Thai restaurant in the Tri-​Cities (and better than most Thai places I’ve been in other, bigger cities). This is our go-​to place whenever we have a craving, which is about once a week. Whether you dine in or get food to go the service is phenomenal. They are always friendly and are willing to go out of their way to make your experience pleasant.
We usually get the salad rolls (which is what I would typically call a spring roll — they have «spring rolls» also which are more like egg rolls in my opinion but that’s just semantics) which come with an awesome peanut dipping sauce, along with panang curry and the pad ka-​pao. The drunken noodles are also delicious. My wife has recently been cutting meat out of her diet so we get tofu in both main dishes so that we can share. It’s always a little crispy on the outside but soft and tender on the inside. They were even nice enough to tell us which dishes had fish sauce so that we could avoid them if we wanted to. I used to get the chicken in the pad ka-​pao and was never disappointed.
I highly recommend Thai Elephant to anyone who likes Thai food.

I’m not much for trying new things… once I find my favorite thing at an establishment, I stick with it but was under the weather so I tried the clear broth soup with chicken and can’t stop raving about it. The portion size was amazing (2 LARGE servings)
Makes me want to be under the weather more often

I have to say that place is pretty awesome. Décor, service, food… all impressed. Even the prices were on par. The only thing that left me a little set back was that they failed to put tomatoes in the Tom Kha soup. When I told the waiter about it, he did ask if we wanted more soup, but when we told him no, and that we just wanted to make the chef aware of the fact, he just walked away and said nothing more. Strange that they didn’t apologise or offer an explanation as to why. But all in all, it was a great experience. We will definitely be back!

Excellent! I road trip for a living and regularly find the best Thai food in the most random small cities — and this is no exception. This is a wonderful little restaurant right off the highway. The atmosphere is nice and casual, there is ample parking, and the staff is extremely friendly and helpful.
The food was outstanding. Fresh ingredients, plentiful portion sizes, perfect spicing. We ordered the green and red curry and left full and satisfied. We ordered them with the seafood combo and were shocked when both bowls came out loaded with shrimp, mussels, scallops, and crab.
For what and where this place is — it’s definitely a 5 star stop if you’re passing through the area. You really can’t go wrong if you like Thai food! The menu has plenty of options to meet your needs.
I’d go back!

I haven’t had Thai in, gasp, 5 months. I wanted to eat out today and with Unilocal’s help settled on this place. The décor inside is beautiful. The service top notch. The avocado rolls with peanut dipping sauce, refreshing. I got the drunken noodles at the highest heat level, #4. I am a heat fiend. This heat level was good, although I probably would have sought a little higher if it was an option, as i like the heat to be a little painful, lol. Took half of the dish home, i swear the leftovers were even better than fresh.

As promised, I gave them another try with different meals but kept the fish cakes. Damn, those meaty fish cakes are bomb. Just a note, if you’re not used to Asian fish cakes, there are NOT like American crab cakes but made with fish. They most more dense and have a unique consistency. They will not be flaky like a fish.
As for our meals, oodles of noodles. Let’s start with the Evil Jungle. Hubby loved the very rich dish but then he loves peanut butter. It’s a creamy, light peanut buttery sauce smothered over thin rice noodles and veggies, not vermicelli noodles though. The noodles were about a quarter inch wide.
My Drunken Noodles were good but it was on the wetter side for my preference. I like my noodles on the drier side, stir-​fried, with a lightly coated sauce. However, it was still flavorful and tasty and I’d get it again. The seafood contained 3 prawns, a half dozen or so mussels, little cut-​up bits of squid and small scallops. The quality was good but I’ve had fresher. The squid was a bit tough but chewable. The shrimp and scallops were tender and tasty so I was quite pleased. The mussels almost seemed smoked since they were on the drier side instead of the plump ones I’m used to but again, tasted fine.
Overall, we enjoyed our dinner a lot more than last time. At least we know the fish cakes are consistently scrumptious. We definitely want to come back and try some of their other dishes. The service also improved and we left satisfied.

We went for lunch on Sunday shortly they opened as a group of 6. We ordered salad rolls with peanut sauce, coconut shrimp and spring rolls. They were all amazing. The salad rolls were incredible when you drizzled the peanut sauce on them. The sweet sauce accompanying the shrimp just made it so delicious and the spring rolls were my absolute favorite. Super crunchy, but delicate and light! They were probably the best spring rolls I’ve ever had in my entire life!
We also ordered the crab fried rice which was incredible. You can really taste the crab and the flavor is just rockin. We also had the sizzling duck (it comes out sizzling and will rock your taste buds), the pineapple curry which came with tasty shrimp and had a little heat, the pad thai which also came with shrimp and was delicious. For drinks we ordered thai ice tea and thai coffee. They were HUGE and awesome. Despite their size, they disappeared quickly. This is one of my favorite places in town and I will definitely be back!!!