Little Blue Elephant

I am always very pleased with the food and service! By far my favorite authentic Thai restaurant to eat at in Minot!
The red curry with vegetables and tofu is a personal favorite!

Food was excellent. As good or better than anywhere else in the US I’ve been to. I’ll be back for sure.

The food is great! I am not into Thai food but I ordered a soup made of coconut milk and it was delicious then I have a tuna roll which it was cheap $ 7 good but too little tuna. Next time will order the roll Springs which are bigger and more expensive. My boyfriend ordered just fried rice, good too. Anyway the decoration of the restaurant is very overwhelmed and heavy of plastic flowers but the food is great! It is on the list of my favorite ones.

Love their «Drunkin Noodles», can you say delish?! One of my favorite places out here. Sushi is really good too. Beware though, they never pick up their phone for some reason. With that being said, you can’t call in. It does get pretty crowded during dinner time, so I’d advise arriving a little early.

Called they told me they had phở, it’s a Thai restaurant, two different cuisines… Never again. Looked at the menu and walked away.

Ok, I went here with my two sons. I had the Spicy Chicken Basil, and the others had the Pad See Ew, and the Pad Kee Mao.
Anyway, this place is located inside of a small indoor mall. However, the food is absolutely perfect. Portions are enormous, and beyond tasty.

Good Thai
Menu is large and has lots of options
Price is a bit high
Location is kind of bad-​for parking
Staff is knowledgeable and helpful
Good sushi and selection
Unfortunately they don’t have it every day

good Thai food for Minot.

Saying that Minot, perhaps North Dakota in general, has a serious deficiency in its options for cuisine with ethnic authenticity, may be a stereotyped generalization, but likely hits closer to the truth than many locals would like to admit.
So while pondering the significance of Thai Food, I stumbled across the following, which I think is a pretty accurate description of what one should base their expectations on. In his book «The Principles of Thai Cookery,» renowned celebrity chef, writer and authority on Thai cuisine McDang wrote:
«What is Thai food… It reflects its culture, environment, ingenuity and values. In the case of Thailand, these words come to mind: intricacy; attention to detail; texture; color; taste… as well as good flavor… We not only pay attention to how a dish tastes: we are also concerned about how it looks, how it smells, and how it fits in with the rest of the meal. We think of all parts of the meal as a whole — sum rap Thai (the way Thais eat.)»
Taking all that into consideration, along with a long personal history of enjoying truly traditional Thai cuisine, in both restaurants (coast to coast) and the homes of Thai friends, I will have to say that my experiences at Little Blue Elephant have yet to come close to, «…sum rap Thai.»
However, that being said, when dining in Minot, one should keep in mind the old cliché about: location! Location! LOCATION!
It would seem that, like other restaurants in Minot that offer culinary diversity, Little Blue Elephant has also set it’s menu’s aim at targeting a distinctly «American» palate as well as ignoring the importance of focusing on offering strictly Thai cuisine.
But take heart my fellow «adventurers of the plate,» the experience at Little Blue Elephant is not entirely without merit!
There are only two options for Thai food in Minot. (Little Blue Elephant and Baan Rao,) and between the two of them, your best bet would be Little Blue Elephant.
Little Blue Elephant is a strange little oasis set deep inside a building in the slowly culturally evolving area of downtown Minot. (Be prepared to circle the block in search of parking on the weekends — a problem further exacerbated by all the road and building construction that seems to be without end.)
The menu conjures the expectation of greatness but to say it delivers on these expectations would be misleading. If you are setting your hopes too high, you are destined to be disappointed. However, if you take into consideration that this little oasis is found in Minot and all that implies, then you might find yourself pleasantly surprised.
Little Blue Elephant offers Minotians and visitors a semblance of Thai food with more of a Asian-​fusion influence (think Thai meets Vietnamese meets Japanese meets Chinese,) for a price that will leave you scratching your head.
Like all my dining experiences, I always take into consideration every possible facet — sometimes to the point of sympathy. (If you get a chance, skim the background story found in the local Minot Daily News from a few years ago.)
So where do we begin?
The service, like the food, is somewhat inconsistent. With the service, sometimes you are doted upon, other times practically ignored or forgotten (albeit in a friendly sort of way.) With the food, sometimes the dishes are prepared with surprising inspiration, other times you’ll wish you had just stayed home.
Presentation does not seem to be a priority for anything I have ever ordered here (which even to my own surprise has been more than I want to admit,) but if you accept not to judge a book by the cover, you might be surprised by some of the dishes and appetizers… like the Satay, Spring Rolls, Beef Salad, Drunken Noodles, Curry (red, green or yellow,) Sweet Sixteen, even the Pad Thai — which, depending on the day, might leave your palate a little confused. If you want to make it more authentic be sure to request it to be spicy (and trust me, if you are used to spicy dishes it will still not even come close to making you break a sweat.)
I’ve tried all variations on the dishes — fish, beef, chicken, etc and even vegetarian, which I would like to say that… I really wish they would branch out beyond offering just tofu. The use of seitan, or other variations on mock-​meat would be awesome — as the French might say… Le Sigh!)
If you are brave enough to order sushi (maki — you know… rolls) this far from the ocean — be sure that you order it on a night when it’s not busy — if you take the chance on a busy night, be prepared for it to follow long after you’ve already consumed your main course. Also, on busy nights far too often I have found that they run out of the prepared sushi rice, which has resulted in the weird experience of warm sushi rice, and as another reviewer pointed out, the price does not quite equate to satisfaction. Even weirder… it’s like the second best place to get sushi in town.
Phew! I’ve written a novel here. sorry about that.

One of my favorite places in the city.
They do a deep fried sushi roll that is to die for.
I’ve started and stopped writing a review for this place several times simply because I can’t find the right words to sum up just how much I really like the food here.
So I’ll keep it simple: explore the menu. I’ve liked everything I’ve gotten here and it’s pretty much a weekly visit for us now.
This is the freshest sushi I’ve had in town, with a very good variety.
The rest of the menu has a range of traditional Thai food. Anything can be ordered mild, medium, hot and Thai hot. I generally stick with medium and it’s on the high end of what I can handle for spicy/​hot.
I want to list you some of my favorite dishes, but I think I’d end up copying out half the menu.
They have a very small but friendly staff.
Anyway, give this place a shot. It’s kind of a hole in the wall lost in an old downtown building, but they manage to put out some really good food.

The food is mediocre at best, and the service is roundly awful. We sat for nearly an hour and a half before being served our meal, with not even a drink refill being offered. There is absolutely nothing to recommend this place.

Not sure what the negative reviewers are ordering at this place, but I swear the ginger duck is one of the best dishes in Western North Dakota. Friendly staff and timely service. This place keeps me coming back and never dissapoints.
Get.The.Duck

Certainly not the most flavorful Thai food I have had. The sushi was ok, but in my opinion a little over priced. However, after spending a week in Minot… this was a great thing to have to spice it up a little.

Drunken noodles are superb. Chicken kabob appetizers are great as well as the spring rolls. Massaman curry is a little on the soupy side, its more like a flavored liquid with random things thrown in. Im biased however, I like my curries to be of a thicker consistency and for the components to flow together. Chicken pad thai is awesome as well and they give you your moneys worth!

Today the food was excellent. Their satay appetizer was absolutely delicious! Some of the best I’ve had! I had thai beef salad and it was excellent as well. My daughter had some soup which had great flavor and the husband had drunken noddles that were very tasty. All in all super good this time around!

Friendly staff, relaxing ambiance, clean place, and delicious food! There are so many options on the menu that are all delicious and full of flavor. The prices are all fair, and good portions. I usually end up taking some home! I like the pad thai, masaman curry, thai fried rice, and more! I am also a fan of their sushi. They also have beer & wine! Cheers!

Small staff but terrific service. Had appetizer sampler and noodle dishes. Everything was good, especially the crab puffs and Pad Thai.

They have great food!!! Best Thai in town!!! Love the drunken noodles, and the soups!!! Sure miss his food truck on base!!!

Let me start by saying: If possible, I would give this restaurant 0 stars
I have eaten A LOT of Thai food, this is by far the worst I have ever eaten! I am here visiting from the west coast, where we have a huge Asian Community. I’ve eaten in many establishments that felt as though you are being served by family, the food full of wonderful flavors… lemon grass, cilantro, Thai chili, coconut milk… NONE of these things were apparent in the food I received. Instead I had frozen peas, carrots, and corn in my food… YUCK…the Satay was made of frozen chicken strips, that tasted of Curry, which I am NOT a fan of. I don’t know if they are stuck using local product, or just cooking to the taste of the locals, but I do know that my dinner went into the garbage.
Absolutely NO recommendation from this foodie!

Best Thai food in Minot
Atmosphere: Tables were spaced nicely. Nothing really notable about the atmosphere. Clean.
Service: Satisfactory, not great but ok. My water was refilled once, but no one asked how my meal was after it was served.
Food: It was really good and a breath of fresh air as far as Asian food goes in Minot. I had the Spicy Bamboo which was everything that is great about Thai food. Flavorful and spicy. Could of had a little more meat and rice, but was still really delicious. The amount was fair, but of course being a 6′ 200lbs male, I could have eaten more.
My friend had the Super Sushi bowl and loved it. He said it was the best Sushi in town. This is coming from a guy who always, if not only, eats sushi at Asian restaurants.
The selection of food was fantastic. They offer sushi, noodles dishes, soups, goose and duck, rice dishes, and more that I can not remember. The prices are mostly in the $ 12 range. The goose, duck, and sushi can get pretty expensive, over $ 20.
Would I go back? Yes, I plan on it. Going to be one of my favs.