Lotus Thai Cuisine

Don’t ever go to Lotus Thai in Wallingford. Absolutely horrible food, horrible service, and the waitress was completely rude who literally scolded me for not having cash. I’m so angry. My water was never filled and they never asked what spiciness level I wanted. Disgusting.

I love Lotus.
Let me refrain…
I LOVE Lotus Thai.
The food is light and delicious.
This little gem has been my Thai food go-​to for years.
I love the décor, music, and kind family owned vibe.
I highly recommend it!

We were there on Christmas Day ! I was glad they were open. but :-) the ladies room was gross. and the food was cold for the most part. the glasses were dirty.
it was not busy so there was no excuse. the waitress was friendly enough (I assume the owner) but didnt’ come back for additional water or to check on us.
i would go out of my way for it again.

I have a weird relationship with Lotus Thai.
The main reason I keep coming back is their Yum Po Tak salad. I fell in love with Thai seafood salads earlier this year, and theirs is my favorite. I love the seafood they have in it, that they remove tails and shells from the ingredients that have shells/​tails, and the citrus dressing. I’ve tried several other places since, and those salads are just not as good.
The hard-​to-​love part is the service. I’ve had some awkward exchanges in the past and always find the restaurant empty when I stop by instead of getting delivery, and the worst time was probably when I walked in to find the cashier napping.
At first I tried to make some noise so somebody in the kitchen would come out, but eventually saw her laying down on a long seat behind some tables (in the dining area). After a minute or two, she woke up (looking a little confused) and put her shoes on to take my order. I enjoyed my salad, but I was very weirded out by the experience.
I’ll probably continue buying the salad from them (because I love it so), but will stick to take-​out and delivery.

The food is decent but my biggest issue is this: Fridays are date night for my daughter (who is a toddler) and I. We;ve gone here twice, we usually roll in around 6 and it’s empty, so empty, as in, not a soul. The service we get there makes it feel like we’re putting them out. We’re gone before the dinner rush comes, if there is one, but I certainly don’t feel welcome.

First time out in Wallingford for a late lunch as my girlfriend and I came upon this street corner Thai Cuisine Restaurant. «Let’s give it try!» Great customer service as we entered until we left the doors. The authentic food was tasteful and they provided great proportions! I’ll definitely be back.

I feel so bad writing this review because the restaurant itself is cute and festive and the people who work there are so nice, if not especially talkative. There is a mint green and lotus pink coloring scheme going on here and all the table settings are laid out in preparation for customers.
Most of the time, this restaurant remains empty and I feel so bad! The location is great, right next to the Guild 45^th Theatre, and this place should always be bustling with pre– or post-​movie diners but it’s not.
We ordered the spring rolls and the beef salad. Both were perfectly edible but so lackluster in execution. My spring rolls were full of mostly vermicelli noodles and shredded iceberg lettuce and the peanut dipping sauce tasted bland and diluted. I had to use so much sauce per bite to make the flavors more concentrated that I ran out of sauce after eating only one spring roll. The owner/​server lady was very attentive though, and quickly brought another dish of sauce. The beef in the beef salad was tender and the dressing was quite nice but the tomatoes and iceberg lettuce didn’t taste fresh.
I want this place to be a success! Can’t they hire another chef or just experiment with recipes or take a Thai cooking workshop or something?

I hate writing negative reviews, but I just have to write one for Lotus.
Don’t get me wrong, the people who work there are extremely friendly and very nice, but the food is definitely sub par.
Every time I order takeout from Lotus, I’m always hopeful it’ll be better this time around. I’ve been disappointed several times. The Pad Kee Mao always has an odd flavor, the noodles are soggy, and the vegetables taste freezer burned. And the meat is always questionable. The other dishes I’ve tried (which include the Phad Thai and the Spicy Noodle dish), were pretty bland.

Ok, I was walking around in Wedgewood a bit late looking for some take out grub. My phone was on the fritz so no Unilocal.Saw this place, and walked in and ordered pretty much standard thai fare… pad thai and yellow curry. And I gotta say even it really wasn’t good. Now I hate writing a negative review here, cause the old lady who took my order was real nice.
But the only way I could eat the pad thai was after dunking it in Sriracha. Now I could probably eat my flip flops if they were dunked in Sriracha. So if you’re every in Wedgewood, a bit late, looking for take out, without a phone, skip this place and go across the street to Jhanjay instead. Print this review so you can remember when your phone goes out.

Ten years ago I loved this place. Everything has gone south since, I still love the old lady, but she is clueless. This place has a sweet moldy musty smell to it, kinda like my grandma’s house some time ago. This smell I let slide. Got my won ton soup that I did enjoy eating, it was very taste, maybe not so fresh, but… Then I switched bowls with my GF, not bad, but not good. Noodles with beef, unfortunately the sweet musty smell had absorbed into the noodles THIS SUCKS the whole rest of your afternoon… Yuck who the heck wants to taste their grandma’s musty house the last of their day?

Lotus Thai got me to break my Unilocaling slump! It’s been a while, but I just had to. Maybe it’s because I’ve been deprived of basic delicious Thai food for months now and I just endured the last exam from a very school filled summer, but this place totally hit the spot!
I ordered the dancing squid. It had mostly bamboo shoot strips that looked like egg noodles, basil, jalepeno, squid rings, carrots, and a really tasty sauce. I got it in level 5, of what I assume is max heat. It was a good heat, I could have taken more.
The friend had drunken noodles, chicken, level 5. It was ok. Nothing to write home about. Pad see ew over drunken noodles, based on this experience.
Service was bad. It took at least 5 minutes for us to even detect life in the kitchen. Flagging down the lady wasn’t too bad. Then the bill came before we finished eating and she checked twice if it was ready to be paid. We’re not going to pay while we’re still eating, that’s all I’m sayin’.
Otherwise, this experience was great. Total hole in the wall. There are way flashier and cuter looking Thai places in Wallingford but I’d totes go back to this place.

Awesome place. Came here the other day after a bad experience at a neighboring restaurant.
The staff was very friendly and helpful in suggesting some of the specialty dishes.
The place was clean, and well lit. We sat at a window table and enjoyed our lunch at a very reasonable price, and were will filled up when we left!
One of our new favorites in Wallingford. We will definately be back.
Thanks Lotus Thai!

I rarely comment on Unilocal,but my experience at Lotus was extremely bad and wanted to share with the world. I have had food from Lotus twice andd the first time was good (not great) so I gave it another shot (regretfully). The 2^nd time was aweful… apps were dry and tastless (my dogs even turned up their nose) and the rest was not much better.
Sorry Lotus Thai… you will never get my business again.

I was disappointed with the Thai food here. The Pad Thai tastes to me like it was made with ketchup… which I would consider to be a huge Thai no-​no!
The staff was friendly, but the quality of the food in a city full of other Thai options leaves something to be desired.

As usual, my boyfriend wanted Thai food for dinner. We came here on a Sunday night for some grub and it was very empty. I guess it was a Sunday night…
PROS:
1. Really friendly waitress. She was funny, smiling, cracking jokes, attentive. etc.
2. Two different menus. One for the typical Ameri-​Thai food, and the other had more authentic, lesser known dishes that the true Thai fan would enjoy.
3. Typical prices.
4. The spicy udon noodle dish my bf got was really, really good. The sauce was tasty.
CONS:
1. When you ask for 5 stars, apparently it’s a 1 star. Both my bf and my friend ordered 5 star dishes, and they said they were not spicy at all. They had to add lots more hot sauce to their dishes.
2. I ordered brown rice with peanut sauce, and the sauce was lukewarm.

Well, the atmosphere was super gaudy — so by default it HAS to be good, right?! You know it’s a good Thai place when there are more pictures of the king ca. 1970s and gold everywhere.
I thought the food was delish! The panang curry was really good. The server was attentive and nice. For sure would go back.

Came here to grab dinner before watching a movie next door at the Guild 45. We had originally planned on going to May for Thai, but it was closed for the New Year. We figured why not and give Lotus Thai a try. The place was clean and we were seated promptly. LTC has a wide selection of dishes. I actually think it has too many choices for us non-​natives to choose from. (70+ dishes?)
We ordered the following:
1. Crab Rangoon for apps. The CR was so-​so and I wouldn’t recommend it. It was dry, very little cream cheese, and the portions were small. I give it… 1 star.
2. Tom Yum — hot and sour soup with chicken. This was a sinus clearing experience. It was tasty with strong flavors of sweet and savory. I highly recommend it. I give this 4 stars.
3. Panang Curry — This was A-​ok. The curry and the oil separated rather quickly upon being served to us. It wasn’t very appetizing to see a puddle of oil and curry on different sides of the dish. LTC needs to do a better job mixing it. I give it two stars.
4. Phad Plig Hking — A stir fry chicken with green bean in a sauce with shredded lime leave. Excellent. I would recommend this. Good amount of heat and flavor in this dish. I give it 4 stars.
I give this place 3 ½ stars. I may revise this up/​down upon trying other dishes.

Less than .5 star if it was a choice. Yes, the waitress with the nose piercing last Wednesday night – 9:15pm is plenty of time to take an order, be served, and pay our bill. Before even seating us, she looked and her watch. As we were sitting, she asked if we knew that they will be closing at 10pm. We ordered only wonton soup and fresh rolls. We got very salty wonton soup and veg eggrolls. My friend asked if the fresh rolls could be made. Ms. Lazy said that it was too late to make the fresh rolls. Fresh rolls should be easier and quicker to make than the egg rolls, right. AND like we did not notice you chitchatting with the table next to us the entire time we were trying to dine. Looks like other Unilocalers agree with me-​Service Sucks!

Great food. Questionable service!
I thought the food here was good. After I was recommended to come here by a friend I thought I’d try it out.
I prefer my noodles not over done and they had a good texture.
The spicy eggplant and beef was tasty.
But really. the service sucks! The waitress didn’t care if we were there or not. After spilling water on my shoes I figured she might be tired or she might be having a bad day.
So we paid our bill and left.
Would I eat here again? If I had no where else to go. Fortunately there are so many Thai places in Wallingford I will be trying another place.

Want to know what it feels like to be inside an ornament box? Doesn’t everybody? Then come on down to Lotus. The restaurant is bedecked in Christmas lights and shiny objects of the red, green, gold and silver variety. I don’t think there was a square inch of the wall, windowsill or shelves left uncovered by something shiny, colorful, ornate and so on and so forth. I was sort of disappointed when I didn’t hear any Christmas carols playing while I ate there. I did get to hear an awesome instrumental version of Happy Birthday float over the speakers, though. Confused? Yeah, so was I. And apparently the workers thought it was funny, too, since they all laughed and talked and then laughed and talked about it some more. Kind of loudly and kind of right by my table.
So, don’t come here for the atmosphere. Instead, come here if you’ve got a hankering for some tasty Thai. I’m a novice when it comes to Thai food and I rarely find myself hungering after it, but what I do know, is that I liked my food and cleared my place. With that said, I thought the portion of my garlic chicken something or other was a tad small. I was happy we ordered an appetizer (crab rangoon, hello, delicious) because my meal alone was a bit sparse. However, the portions of the noodle dishes seemed to be large and in charge. It varies, I suppose.
I don’t find myself in Wallingford very often, but the Lotus’ proximity to the Guild 45^th may warrant another visit in the future.