Thai E-San

Hands down the best teriyaki chicken I’ve ever had. I have been frequenting this restaurant for a few years now and have absolutely loved everything I have eaten there. The staff is extremely friendly and accommodating. I highly recommend this place and would give it 10 stars if I could!

Just had lunch here for the first time. The food is as authentic as it can be to accommodate a US city. I had mine Thai hot as I have been eating Thai food for decades including in Thailand. I would not recommend Thai hot if you have not elevated your tolerance for intense spicy hot level of heat. All Thai meals can be made with and without heat and still have great flavors. Overall the food is well worth coming back too, the service was 10 stars from the lovely waitress who took my order. Nice interior and very relaxed eating environment.

On a scale of one to Chiang Mai… this is amazing Thai food. I am always craving warm, make it THAI hot, curry in the cooler months and have been on a personal mission to find JUST the right place here in the valley for THE perfect Thai cuisine. Not only the perfect Thai cuisine, but one that has all the right things: an authentic menu; good ambience that isn’t ‘diner-​y’. with a cold, brightly lit style of décor, great service; and a FULL bar. You would be surprised how finding THAT ONE great Thai place with all of these elements attached, hasn’t been easy! Thai E-​San is warm and inviting, with great service! Our waitress explained the heat factor on the dishes we ordered and made suggestions, as well. On this particular night, I was craving a Thai hot-​pot style soup, initially, but ended up with the Pineapple Curry. My dish had lots of fresh veggies and chunks of fresh pineapple in a lovely green curry coconut milk; JUST what I wanted on a cold desert night! I got a two on the heat scale of one to five, and I was still in need of a tissue for my nose! (Well! Best to know that, in case !) But, not to worry, as the great wait staff never let the water glass go dry. I got a side of the sticky rice for all that coconut curry goodness, so as not to waste the yummy saucy part. I coupled this with a Chardonnay and all was perfect. I even had leftovers for the next day, as the servings – Serve! I highly recommend Thai E-​San. as I write this review, I’m suddenly craving that seafood hot pot again … darn it and here it is closed as its late! Oh well! Maybe tomorrow, as they have a great take out menu. Just remember, if your a two to five sort, bring your tissues !

Amazing coconut soup! Love their curry and they have real fresh flowers at each table! Super great food.

I love this place! The Crispy Chicken in Spicy Cream Sauce is amazing! Very impressed!

The food was delicious… just the right amount of spice. We shared the homemade coconut ice cream for dessert, which was also great. The owner was adorable too. She made a point to come by and talk to us at length about food, travel and Thailand. An overall great experience!

My sister has been here before and she said the food was great and the fact that my parents are very picky eaters, Thai E San serves soups to noodles to rice and entrees!
Me and my friend shared the combination seafood rad nah and the papaya salad with crab E San (if I can recall) in medium as well as tom Kha with chicken that can be shared with up to 4 people since its served in a hot fire-​y pot. We got the tom Kha non spicy since my mom cannot eat spicy but was perfect since they have chili sauce that can be added on the side for those who love some kick! The rad nah tasted perfect as well! As for their papaya salad it was tooooooo salty for me, and my friend agreed as well. I tried a little of my sisters red curry and it was seasoned well! Had a nice sweetness to it, as well as a nice kick!
And of course to end the meal with some mango sticky rice! Small portion for one person, but if you have a doggy bag then it can be shared with 2 people. I made sure to ask the waitress in the beginning if they had it available since usually most restaurants don’t have it since it’s not in season so I made sure I saved room for that yummy goodness! =)

I’ll be back soon!
Parking: There is a small lot in front. I went on a Sunday afternoon but suspect on weekday afternoons, it could be tricky to get in/​out just due to location.
Atmosphere: Super casual. There are a couple TVs inside that had sports on, and there is a sign outside that states «Wi fi.»
Service: The wait staff were incredibly friendly and nice. They also were not annoying at all and did not rush us.
Food: The soup is what I test Thai restaurants with. The lemongrass vegetable soup was delicious, spicy and hot. I asked for medium spicy and that’s exactly the spice I got! I also ordered sticky rice, and it was as it should be. The guy I was with got some kind of pork curry and said it was perfect. He was able to get brown rice with this.
Drinks: I had water and jasmine tea. The jasmine tea was hot and appropriately flavored.

Excellent food, very reasonable prices, convenient location in the Melrose district near the central corridor, and a pleasant and friendly staff makes this my favorite ethnic restaurant in central Phoenix. Even though it’s not a huge restaurant, there is enough space for group gatherings. They also have the best Thai red curry sauce I’ve had anywhere. And, of course, free WiFi is always a plus.

So yummy. My wife had the yellow curry; I had the spicy noodles with basil and chicken. I probably went a little too hot with a 4, but I still really enjoyed it. If you decide something needs more heat, they have the sauces and spices at the table so go lower if you aren’t sure!
The unsweet tea is the delicious Thai version: no sweetener needed.

One of my friends chose this place and it was great! Excellent service, atmosphere and the prices were reasonable. The food was delicious and the restaurant was clean. I will be back!
A solid 5 stars!

C’est un très bon restaurant thaï avec des serveurs très aimables
Je vous conseille d’y aller

Thai E-​San is easily my favorite Thai restaurant in Phoenix and I have tried almost all of them.
Lets begin with the service because it is amazing. The owner is always there and is so friendly and absolutely devoted to great customer service. The staff is friendly and the environment is great! The have sweet and sour on the table (some places are stingy with this and I love sweet and sour sauce) and fill water glasses frequently (a necessity when you order your food Thai hot). The portions are large and I usually leave with leftovers. I usually get the stir fried mixed vegetables with chicken and my husband loves the chicken red curry. The fried spring rolls are to die for! I highly recommend this Thai food and the service here.

Thai E-​San,
I forgive you! Like my sister who told a secret to someone that I didn’t want that person to know and she starts crying and apologizing profusely once I tell her how upset I was. She states that she didn’t know that it would upset me so — I had to forgive her and move on. It was a genuine apology and I still love her… Yes, that’s how I feel with Thai E-​San.
They messed up, but they didn’t know until I posted that review. The owner reached out to me and invited me to the restaurant on her. She told me she researched what was wrong with the noodles and it’s because the manufacturer of the noodles changed the texture/​ingredients so when you cook it, it turns into mush. She had to change the way they cooked the noodle dish to make it back to the greatness I remember it being. She also discussed the service and she has made changes to improve.
She apologized and thanked me for posting the review. She said that she deals with negative reviews seriously and she takes it as constructive criticism to improve. Bravo, Pui (the owner)! Now, that’s a great restaurant owner!
We came the other night and we were served the two dishes we always get: Shrimp Pad Se-​Ew and Beef Panang — both were deliciously fabulous! The service was great and the owner was so sweet and hopes that we come back.
So moral of the story — The owner apologized, it was genuine, and she took proper steps to improve. Like my sister, I have to forgive and move on because I still love Thai E-​San.
Duh, I will dine at this establishment again and again and again.

My bridal party decided to take me here to eat for my bachelorette dinner and when they called to make reservations the staff offered to call and have a stripper come out. I was like WTH kinda thai restaurant are you guys taking me to?!?
For a Friday night they were pretty slow. Place is pretty spacious and big enough to hold big parties. Please check the silverware and cups prior to using it. My girlfriend saw a lipstick stain on her cup.
we got the usual safe thai dishes: curry, pad thai, papaya salad, pad see ew, tom yum soup, etc.
for a party of 6… we got quite a few plates to do family style. the portions were really small. so we each couldn’t either get seconds or get a generous amount. usually in LA it’s easy to do family portions because the amount is pretty big. I zoomed in on my pictures that’s why it looks like the portion is big btw.
to be honest, nothing was really memorable food wise. if you truly had nothing else to eat and was craving thai then i would say come here. they ask if you want stuff spicy and would give you a very big scale to rate from. i believe it was 1 – 10 which is a really big scale to choose from. As a side note: I’m just spoiled by all the food options in LA and it’s truly hard to not compare it to what I’m used to. Therefore my review may be totally different than a local.
staff speaks english really well. dimmed parking lot and inside.
Tips:
–has its own parking lot.
–takes reservations
–cash and credit cards accepted
–adds gratuity for parties of 6 or more.
–small portions
–indoor seating only
–they do catering.

Heat seekers, Thai E-​San and Thai food in general knows how to serve up the heat!
For Thai food, I always order a soup, some kind of noodle, Thai tea and dessert. So to start, I did share with my room mate for dinner so let that be known before I am deemed a glutton. We did the Seafood Tom Yum, Pad See Ew and Mango Sticky Rice.
The Thai tea was good, sweet and strong (I didn’t sleep till 3AM).
Seafood Tom Yum had good flavor, not MSG laden, filled with seafood (mussels, scallops, shrimp, squid)
Pad See Ew with beef, yummy flat rice noodles with strips of beef, savory and spicy!
Mango Sticky Rice was good, though the rice was a bit too wet for my liking and the portion I felt was a bit small for the price point.
For all the food, we asked for Medium heatwise and I thought it was perfect! I do like spicy food though, but there is a burn!
All in all, Thai E-​San puts out solid Thai food. The owner came by to talk to us and also made sure everything was alright with the food. The food tastes pretty authentic to me!