Chai-Yo

I feel like we’re on a mission to try every Thai place in the neighborhood, so I was surprised to walk down Polk and realize we hadn’t tried Chai-​Yo yet! I get Chicken Pad Thai no matter where I go because I’m that girl, but this place was fantastic, so I’d be happy to go again.
The restaurant itself is very clean, and our server was very attentive. Sodas come in mini-​bottles sizes which is a little low budget, but we didn’t mind.
Got the fried spring rolls as an app, and they gave us eight! For two people with meals on the way, it was very filling. I barely finished my actual dish once it came, I was so full off the spring rolls. They serve them very hot, so make sure to let them cool a bit.
The pad Thai was good, no complaints, but also not reinventing the wheel. The boyfriend got beef curry with brown rice. The curry was good but didn’t pair as nicely as with a stickier white rice, so probably a good idea to choose that next time.
All in all we had a lovely experience.

Best eggplant stir fry, squash curry –any curry) are great and birds nest thing-​delicious pineapple fried rice… Never disappointed guests always happy too!

My favorite dinner spot on my way home. Pick up and go, large portions. Good customer service.

Immediately after eating here, me and my 3 friends ALL had very bad stomache aches and had to go to bathroom one after another lol. The chicken wings appetizer was very saucy and flavorful, but a bit artificial for my taste. The pad thai was alright, the curry came without rice (like a soup), and their diet
Coke was a mini bottle.
The food maybe warranted 3 stars but this place really had horrible service. The restaurant was nearly empty when we went, and no one was coming to take our order or fill our waters. Overall, not a great dining experience. Standard thai food though.

Despite this being literally around the corner from us, despite all the times we pass it and mention going here for lunch, we’d always find something else. This weekend, we decided to bite the bullet and give it a try.
Generally I like to get one of my regular choices (pad thai or pad see yew) so I have a basis to compare it to. I skimmed through the menu and saw «Cashew Nuts» which was veggies, protein and garlic soy sauce. That sounded amazing to me, so I ordered it with tofu, while my partner picked out his usual of Gra Prow.
Our dishes came out pretty quick and piping hot as heck. We dug in and it was absolutely *delicious*. Lunch sizes aren’t very big, but more than enough for a meal so you don’t feel overstuffed if you eat all of it.
There’s a few appetizers and other dishes that I’m super excited to try, so I can see going here again or at the very least, picking up or having delivery.
Only thing I would say to watch out for is that there was literally no heat to my dish, which for me isn’t that big of a deal. The Cashew Nuts is listed as spicy and says it has whole chili peppers in it. There were definitely chili peppers, which I put aside, but there was no heat at all. My partner found his a bit spicy but not what he normally is used to. If you like your spice, definitely request it as such just to make sure!

Soooo good! Sometimes I dine solo, ok honestly a lot of the time I done solo and the staff here take good care of me, super nice and attentive! The food is delicious and I’ve enjoyed every dish I’ve ever had! Just go, enjoy and have a great meal!

Nothing compare to home style Thai cooking with a touch of Class. That’s how I describe when I dine here. Their Rib Eye salad is simply amazing (learned it from my Thai Friend to ask for the spicy fish sauce) not all will like it. It’s an acquired taste when your living with a Thai roommate .
I keep coming back to here and always ask for the Grilled Salmon. (Wrap with banana Leaves) still the same as far as I remember !!!
Crab Fried Rice. Again little of spicy fish sauce (only upon request) is another killer.
Only if I could eat here everyday! I’ll be doing that!!!

Best curry I’ve ever had. We had a very nice dinner, excellent appetizer which was the fried spring rolls. Everything was hot and fresh and the service we received was wonderful.

I’ve been coming to this lovely little Thai restaurant since it opened years ago. The food is generally good and interesting. I’ve tried most of everything on the menu. The staff is highly efficient and the kitchen seems to have non-​Thai (hard working Hispanic men, many of whom have become great cooks at Asian eateries) cooks and cook assistants — maybe this eatery’s kitchen too will one day become a melting pot of ethnicities and cultures :) — ah, the new America!
Prices have escalated over the years while food portions have shrunken, which is unfortunate but I’m alright with higher prices as long as the monies get passed down to all employees. I wouldn’t mind the higher prices if the ownership had enlarged the food portions while it continued to raise the prices. I want to feel full and delighted without having to buy two orders of each dish or to order too many dishes each time I visited this restaurant where I realize rents have shot up because of the huge influx of tech workers.
This place does not do BBQ well — I had the BBQ chicken recently, and it was dry and tasteless — El Pollo Loco makes far better chicken and sell them for far less. The sirloin steak salad was tasteless and the beef was almost overdone.

Nothing special, but solid Thai food at decent prices. I had the Chicken Pad See Ew. Service was friendly and attentive. Good lunch/​dinner location if you happen to be in the area but wouldn’t go out of my way to come here.

We didn’t came here for dinner but for dessert on a Friday night while we were waiting for our movie. It doesn’t look like people come here just for dessert but the right side of the restaurant (where the desserts are prepare) has plenty of seating. The service was great and the hot milk tea and coconut ice cream was amazing.

There were 4 of us that went for dinner. Service was good. Water refilled without being asked.
We had some appetizers, 3 main dishes and rice. 3 Thai ice teas, 1 glass of wine.
Food tasted OK. Have had better. Didn’t have that down to earth home made good food feelings.
Small portions and over-​priced.

Meh. The décor was nice (though the random stuffed beaver on the drop ceiling was odd) and the atmosphere was really calmibg. My satisfaction stopped there. With a $ 10 minimum per person, $ 15 minimum credit charge and this being shouted to you on the first page of the menu, I did not feel very welcome. I appreciated they could make any meal without fish sauce, but the Squash Curry was billed as mild, and when it was so hot twi of us could barely touch it, the server didn’t give a flying moose. It was also $ 12 for the curry (a fairly small serving), PLUS an extra $ 2 for Jasmine rice or $ 3 for brown rice. Who doesn’t inclue rice with curry??? Nothing was bad, but the high prices, hoity toity menu comments and lack luster service earn it a 3 star rating.

Solid lunch place. Cozy, small seating space — as others said, don’t bring the whole horde along. Had no problems with service whatsoever. In fact, this place seems like the type where they’d go out of their way to avoid any screwups in that department…
Not sure why I am even posting this review, since others have pretty much distilled its essence: tiny place, decent food, not the cheapest but not prohibitively expensive either. Portions are average: could be a tad bigger, but I think I am getting over that period in my life where I need stuff piled on my plate brim-​to-​brim. Unless you’re a lumberjack (and that’s OK), you ought to be full after one of their entrees.
If you’re a diligent Unilocal reviewer, you’ll visit a place more than once before writing a word. And so it was: I went there for a ‘fancy’ dish, and then again some weeks later for a simple lunchtime curry. The ‘fancy’ salmon cooked in banana leaf was alright, had a bit too much soggy onion-​type veggie matter at the bottom of the leaf that the salmon sat on top of. Not something I would necessarily get again. However, the curry they absolutely nailed (yellow w/​chicken and eggplant added for an extra $ 1). Definitely coming back here for more of that.
They also have a bakery next door which sells fancy treats. I will reserve my judgment until I sample more of said treats; the last time around, I chose rather poorly and my experience was partly my fault, so…

This place rocks steady and is the bomb!
Seafood combo plate was fantastic! The kind of place where you look at other people’s orders and wish you ordered that one… TOO! Then again with the next meal that comes out! I smelled someone’s shaking beef and saw thew cilantro on top-​yum!- And I didn’t even have it! Lots of traditional Chinese entrees with seasoning and flavor that is just drool worthy. GO here when on Polk street!
I have a photo to post. How do I add it?

This restaurant is a go-​to for Thai food! Restaurant is small so I recommend coming here with a group of less than 5 people.
Here are my food recommendations:
+ Drunken Noodles– my favorite dish at this place; very tasty dish and comes with a myriad of vegetables
+ Green curry– pretty tasty and done very well
+ Pad see ew– standard dish that is also very good, but I still prefer drunken noodles
+ Pad Thai– can’t go wrong with this choice

Ordered a large lunch order for our production crew and they LOVED it.
Fed nearly 40 people with a variety of pad thai, curry, fried rice, rolls, papaya salad, pad see ew, and other yummy things. Everything was delicious.
Ling — took my order the night before and had everything ready as promised the following afternoon. She is super nice!
Plenty of vegetarian options — and willing to hold or add things to customize the dishes as you want.
We will definitely be back here… and soon!

This is very authentic Thai food from top notch to the very best consistent food served over 18 years at same spot, but with a different warm and cosy seating.
Every time I leave this place I’m always remembering how delicious their dishes are.

This review is for Dessert bar only… HORRIBLE HORRIBLE service. My friend and I walk in around 8:30pm to get ice cream, but the lady behind the register says «I’m too busy, no dessert»…they weren’t closed, she was just busy trying to put in an order from the restaurant.
We kindly ask how long is the wait for dessert, she hastily replies with 15−20min…for a f*in scoop of ice cream?! Never again.

We stopped in here as a larger group during my last SF visit.
The space was clean, comfortable and the service was quick. Food wise my Beef noodle soup was really quite good. Not Osha good, but still fairly decent. Sadly however my golden bags were overdone. The crunch from them made them quite hard to eat and they were pretty much a loss at the table.
My tea was fantastic. Full bodied and comforting, it was really quite tasty and made the experience for me really.
All in all I’d say this is on the lower side of a four star. It’s good and if you’re in the area, it’s great, but if you’re not in the area, it’s basically 3 stars.