Sen Yai Sen Lek

This is hands down, the best Thai food I’ve had in the twin cities. The different dishes are like the ones you’ve had at other Thai restaurants, but SO much more complex and flavorful. Once you’ve had their panang, you’ll never be satisfied by any other. I’m just sad I live so far away from it. Any time I’m even close I’ll be stopping in.

Why isn’t Sen Yai higher on the minneapolis list for vegan Unilocal?vegan vegan vegan! They are super savvy to help you get your vegan on. Just ask!

Best Thai food ever. I love eating here. Khao Soi and red curry specials are my favorite. Although I’m a vegetarian, I’m never limited with options. Joe has now become a dear friend. He’s so awesome. He’s great with my one year old! I look forward to seeing him every time I go there. I love this place. Best Thai in Minneapolis.

This is my favorite place in both of the Twin Cities. I don’t know why I haven’t reviewed it before!
I usually get Curry when I go here. Their curries are strong and flavorful! I’ve had most of their appetizers, and about half of the dinner menu. (My favorite thing is the Khao Soi. It’s amazing, and makes great leftovers!)
The food is always fresh. They compost and use locally sourced ingredients whenever available. Their staff is always wonderful. They have rotating featured artists, and although simple, their bar program has something for everyone.
I can’t sing this restaurant enough praises! I love SYSL!

This use to be my favorite Thai place in town but the service is so bad I had to stop going. I gave them many chances because I love the food but I’m done! I undertand service standards vary specially in ethnic restaurants. I’m certainly not expecting a fine dinning experience here but, there are many things that need improving; No one is ever at the host stand, the service can be extremely slow and the staff has not sense of urgency. There is also a bartender who has the loudest voice, I can hear her from the dinning room! this is basic stuff! use inside voices and respect the dinners time, I grew up in a LOUD house hold so I don’t think I’m particularly bad when it comes to noise but this person manages to irritate me every time. overall sad to let this place go but there are many other places in the neighborhood to put up with bad service.

Not the worst take out experience of my life but probably not one I’ll be repeating. The pad Thai was bland and overwrought with tofu. The fresh spring rolls (wait, are these supposed to be fresh spring rolls?) were the oddest version of rolls I’ve ever seen. The outside wraps were very tough and thick and the sauce was awful. I had to abort my plan of actually eating them. And to top it all off, this place is expensive!!! I’m glad I tried it out just to check it off my list but I’ll be going back to Karta Thai from now on.

Today I read on thrifty hipster that at this restaurant they had dollar off tap beers and half-​price appetizers. I decided to treat myself to dinner and went and got three appetizers and an entrée. Obviously I didn’t eat it all in one sitting, however I figured I could take some for lunch tomorrow. When my bill came the appetizers were all full price. I inquired about the appetizers being half-​price and was informed that the appetizers were only half price if you bought a drink (alcoholic) and one drink equals one appetite rice and two drinks equals two appetizers for half-​price and three drinks equals three appetizers for half-​price so in order to get an appetizer for half-​price you have to buy a drink. I don’t particularly agree with this and the way that they do happy hour here. I think it encourages drinking which is not cool. The food is pretty good, but nothing out of this world so I doubt I will be returning.

The space is spacious, open, bright and cheerful, so points for the layout. The service is prompt and friendly, so that’s great too.
The food though, did not really shine in my book. The food portions are huge, so perhaps that justifies the $ 10 + prices. You won’t find anything under $ 10, very spendy if you order more than one thing.
The chicken laab, and papaya salad was just OK. Really bland taste. Not as flavorful as it should be –where’s my Thai food? Overpriced for these two dishes.
You can find local craft beers on tap here, so that’s a plus. However, the price point and bland food means I won’t be back here.
I would say that this would be a place I’d recommend for the timid American who has never had Thai food before and is afraid to try the exotic cuisine. This would be the place for a newb to get their feet wet because the unremarkable flavors will treat them gently. Maybe your grandma will like it?
It’s like the Mexican food of Chipotle, or Taco Bell, but for Thai food.

Doesn’t quite hit the spot. Food looked great visually. Taste, on the other hand, was a little bland. Dishes seemed to cater to Westerners, yes as in Americans. I would not say this is an «authentic» Thai restaurant, but food was ok. I had the Beef Laab. It was definitely tamed down in flavor.
Would I go back, probably not. There is, however, competition across the street which I’ve yet to try…

Nothing short of wonderful!
After my long and sad search for fantastic Thai food in the Twin Cities, I have found THE perfect spot. Coming from an Asian background with home made Thai food incorporated, this place is nothing short of authentic.
Let’s get down to brass text, Sen Yai Sen Lek’s food was outrageously awesome and fresh. The ingredients tasted fresh, the presentation was appealing, and the flavors man… THE FLAVORS are so bomb. I had ordered the Pad See Iew and my boyfriend ordered the pork Issan dish and both were just out of this world. Even the Thai Iced Tea was made correctly and wasn’t a canned version just popped over ice.
Claps to you Sen Yai Sen Lek!

Food was not made to order. Everything was thrown together. I love Thai food, but this was pretty sub par and not cheap. I’m kinda fat so I would normally eat the food even if it’s not that good… but the spring rolls were pretty gross and the dipping sauce made it inedible. The pad Thai should be called sad Thai, because that’s how it made me feel. :’(. The curry was the best thing but the noodles looked like they were cooked this morning. I don’t think fresh means what they think it does…

My new favorite Thai. Imagine drinking a Surly Furious with the most fresh, crispiest, tastiest, most aromatic Panang Pad served by the most gracious host and hostess followed by hot jasmine tea and a most succulent Mango and Sticky Rice! Well, that’s what I am enjoying right now! Yes, I wish it had cloth napkins and a table cloth. But that being said, this was great!

Cute Thai place that has more of an urban setting vs. a thai restaurant. It was cute and quaint. We started with the fried spring rolls and they were delicious. They had mushrooms in them and that was a new concept for me. My spring rolls I order are usually fresh and do not have ground meat and mushrooms in them but these we fantastic!
I ordered the Pad Bai Gra Pow for my meal which was okay. I was a little disappointed with the heat on this. It was supposed to be hot but it was actually more sweet than anything. Everything was prepared with the right amount of crunch and not over cooked but my dish itself, seemed more like a stir fry my grandmother, who is Irsih, would have made. It was bland and lacked heat. Next time I would order this with extra heat vs. the way it came. For dessert had the mango and creamed/​sticky rice. The rice was really wet and more of a porridge. I did not eat it.
Overall very cute and great app. Do note that you may want to kick up the heat if you are a true thai lover. My friend got the pad thai 4 spice which I tried and I would say it was a 1 – 2 on the heat scale. We were both sort of bummed bc we were craving hot and spicy. Considering we do live in Minnesota, we maybe should have specified we wanted it really hot.
I would go if I was in the area again but there is Karta and Royal Orchid right here too and Royal Orchid is my favorite so I guess I am a little biased.

Very delicious Thai. I love Thai food. I travel the US in search of authentic Thai food that I had while traveling in Asia. This place is close to the top of my list in the US. Pad Thai is authentic, although, not spicy enough for my taste. Pad See Ew is the perfect blend of sweet and savory. And the red curry is solid.

Look at my reviews and you will see my ethnic food obsession. This is great Thai food.
The pad thai is great. Huge portion and great flavors. The Khao Soi is amazing. Its a coconut curry soup dish. So damn good. Also recommend Nuea Yang Naam Tok. Or the daily curry specials. You cant really go wrong but those are guaranteed to be top notch.
The green thai chillies they have in their spicy cart when you eat in are HOT. I love it spicy and just a few of those will definitely do the trick.
The best part is they source their food and produce locally.

Central Ave doesn’t stop surprising me.
We had a curry craving and needed something spicy — sen yai sen lek came through. The pad thai was really good and classic. The green curry was AMAZING and they weren’t shy about making it spicy :) which I appreciated. I was impressed with the flavor and freshness of the food — will be back.

Came here last week with a group of 6. We had made reservations being it Friday/​7PM — glad we did, but with 4 or less you wouldn’t have had to wait too long to get a table. We ordered a few bottles of wine throughout the night — nothing fancy, but good for the price. I ordered the Pad Kee Mao (with Shrimp). It was delicious! Had the perfect amount of spice… enough to make you want more (literally I ate the entire thing…), but not too much where your lips are raging with flames. Service was great. The restaurant has a calming ambience, clean and friendly.
We live in the neighborhood so I will definitely be ordering takeout in the future!

Great place, delicious food. The chicken skewers where fantastic, and the Tom yum soup is what I’d want to come back for. We came on a week night, so 3 of us ordered and ate in 30 minutes. Crappy parking on the street

Food was good, service was bad.
Four of us met for lunch today. The food was good. But the server was pretty pathetic. In addition to being super slow, our server made several mistakes. They’re also pretty expensive. I expect excellence if we’re dropping 90 bucks (plus tip) for a lunch like this… meaning: casual, small portions.
First, she took the order of appetizers from one side of the table but walked away without taking the order from the two people on the other side of the table. Weird. We had to flag her down and get her back.
Second, she forgot the extra cilantro in my wife’s Tom Yum soup and she forgot the side of peanut sauce for my Curry Lunch Special.
Finally, she forgot to have the cooks make the Nuea Yang Naam Tok without any onions. It actually came out with TWO kinds of onions, both green and red. Good thing my friend isn’t allergic to onions or he would have been a dead man.
There was only one other occupied table. What’s the problem with remembering stuff when there are only two tables?
Everything tasted good. But the server was an idiot. We tipped her 30% even though she didn’t deserve it.
–Daddy Maxx Retro

I love this lovely NE gem of a restaurant in the winter! They use all local ingredients, especially meats from ethically raised animals. It took me forever to come visit here, since they always seemed to be closed when I showed up. Once I had my first visit, I have been here at least once per month! True disclosure, I have only eaten the same 2 meals, since they were so delicious! They are the Khao Soi (curry soup) with tofu and the Pad See Ew Gai (stir fry). The Khao Soi has some wonderful spices and perfect for a cold winter night. The Pad See I had to try for the Chinese broccoli and wide noodles. Neither disappointed me and I even had some to take home for another meal. Once I did share the lettuce wraps appetizer. Let’s just say, I didn’t even finish it. The meals here need no pre-​course.
The service tends to be pretty slow here, but it seems more like they are always understaffed. I have waited at the front door to be seated for more than 10 min multiple times without even seeing a server. At that point, I typically go to the other side of the restaurant and sit down at the bar to order food and drinks.

Bonus-​Buy $ 100 worth of gift certificates and get $ 20 for yourself!