Sompun Thai Restaurant

(sigh) Another one bites the dust. Sompun is no more.
First Thai restaurant I ever ate at, over 30 years ago. What a shame!
You will be missed!
:-(
Excerpt from My Daily Find: Now there’s another restaurant opening just down the street in a few weeks — The Tuning Fork has replaced Sompun, a longtime neighborhood favorite Thai restaurant. According to one of the partners, Joseph Kuras, The Tuning Fork is a «combination farm-​to-​table restaurant and a gastropub.» All food, drinks, furniture, art, etc will be sourced locally. «Our chef will utilize the Studio City Farmers Market to create delicious and seasonal meals,» says Kuras. «Beer and wine will also be mostly from California, and our house ales will be brewed for us by our friends at Golden Road Brewery.»

This restaurant is delicious and the service is great. This is a family owned restaurant and they work very hard to make each customer a happy one. The owner, Tal, is one of the nicest women I have ever met. The spicy beef salad and yellow chicken curry are my favorite! Please give this restaurant a chance. :)

I love this place. We don’t come nearly as often as we’d like but every time it’s solid Thai food.

It’s been almost two years since my last review of this restaurant. That doesn’t mean
that I don’t go often… on the contrary… we eat there at least twice a month.
I have still not found a better Thai restaurant than Sampun. Always fresh, always
authentic…same owner for 30 years… that tells you that the food must be good and that the owner, Tal, is doing something right. In this tough economy…30 years says alot. Still great food at great prices.

I’ve been wanting to try this place for YEARS and yesterday when a friend recommended meeting here for lunch I finally got around to it. I had to laugh at what some of the folks said about the older, completely indifferent waitress. Every word you read is true.
But if the food rocks I can overlook bad service. It didn’t. There are, more or less, give or take, about a BILLION Thai food places in LA (maybe more). This was, by far, the worst I’ve ever had. The blandest, most flavorless, uninspired Thai food you could possibly imagine. Really, nothing positive about it. The salad was lame. the entrée wasn’t worth eating if you had been starved for three days. I had the Chicken with Dry Red Chili. I don’t think I even ate half of it.
How this place got solid reviews or managed to stay in business all this time is beyond me. The 1 star? That’s because there was plenty of street parking right out front. Now I know why. If you’re in Studio City and you want really good Thai food try Original Thai BBQ on Ventura by Laurelgrove. The parking near there isn’t good but the food is.

Positive people win, Negative people lose. True, this Thai place looks more like a French bistro than anything else — it’s a pretty white cottage ambiance with a blue-​painted ceiling for that faux sunroof effect. Now the food…
The food here puts «Thai BBQ» chains to shame. THE BEEF PANANG is a darker, spicier affair. THE CHICKEN GARLIC & PEPPER is unlike anywhere else — it’s not cut up, but full multi-​piece filets with tiny crushed peanuts on top; must dip in sweet & sour sauce. PAD SEE EW are giant, spongy but seasoned noodles perfectly drunken — order with shrimp or chicken.
Now if you negative people find the service rude, then why don’t you make a damn humorous connection with the old woman. My 80-​year old Alzheimer’s father cracked flirtatious jokes persistently, made her laugh and smile. Hey, if you want authentic thai food maybe you should come to a grandma’s type of place. Good attitude? Then come here.

Authentic Thai food, the chef was the one that brought out the food! Been here a few times, very clausal environment, moderate prices, friendly service
Street parking, read the signs.

I really wanted to try this place based on the great reviews. I already love the Rustic Spoon in Toluca Lake but this is closer to home so I really wanted to be my go to thai spot. Last night we stopped by and snagged free street parking out front which is always nice and a great start.
The restaurant was clean and bright and had two other people in side. Once we were seated more people arrived and in the end in seem to turn into single friends out together date night.
We shared the veg spring rolls which were presented as two big spring rolls each cut up into four pieces and packed with veggies. There was a nice sauce loaded with peanuts to drizzle over. These were tasty, not oily and a nice golden brown.
We both picked noodle dishes called PUD thai with shrimp and PUD see ewe with chicken which is the same as PAD. The dishes came out while we were still eating the spring rolls so I was able to take a good look at my dish — Pud see ewe — before digging in. It had some regular broccoli and a few leaves of chinese broccoli, some carrot and a piece of celery. I am a fan of veggies but there could have been more broccoli! The noodles were a little less brown that I would have liked and once I dug in I realized why.
TOO SWEET and not enough any other flavor.
I tried adding some other soy sauce and asked for some chili condiments but nothing could save it. The flavors just weren’t there. I was pretty disappointed and didn’t really eat it. I even declined a take home box :(
Friend thought the Pud thai was lacking also.
We liked the artfully folded napkins in colorful material and the drinks selection were good. Wine is served in individual bottles — tres cute! Service was friendly but I guess I will stick with the Rustic Spoon for the time being.

After reading some of the less favorable review, I was a little bit skeptical when I tried it last night.
We were surprisingly impressed by their Fried Fish, which had a light sweet/​sour chili sauce over the fried fish. The fish was very tender and fish.
The chicken satay and pad thai which had good reviews on Unilocal,were not too my liking. I’ve had better ones.
This is a Thai restaurant which is authentic and you have to order traditional Thai dishes — things that are stir fried like Garlic Chicken, Curry and etc.
I would definitely go back again.

Green Eggplant Curry! I love this place and
have been coming here for many years!
The Curries are divine, balanced and full of flavor.
Must get the wild brown rice, nutty and full
of texture.
They have a Thai Stick that’s fun to start with and
The Pad Thai is great here!

Just by looking at the menu, I knew this was going to be one of those «angel wings, pad thai and curry» joints. Not that these are bad things and are in fact what we ordered. Let’s just see if they can do them well. We started with the aforementioned angel wings. These were on the skimpy side. I’ve had more stuffed ones in Culver City (that just sounds dirty). It was way weird to me they served it with ketchup which I ignored it in favor of the fresh pickled peppers and hot sauce condiments on the table.
The restaurant was nice enough to increase the soup size since there were 5 of us. It was a light soup and not very spicy despite its glowing red color.
After thinking about the meal, the chicken green curry turned out to be my favorite. The curry was spicy enough for some to give up after a couple of bites but just enough for me (when did I turn into the bigger spice queen of my family?). I liked all the veggies in it and the eggplant was a great sponge of flavor.
I have a friend who is a great connoisseur of pad thai. I bet he would give this a B-​, weighted for effort. It wasn’t bad per se but it didn’t even come with lime wedges. This is when my cousins started talking about a local Thai restaurant chain that I don’t think much of. Could it be that restaurant is better? No, I don’t think so. I just had a sneaking suspicion we shouldn’t have ordered «angel wings, pad thai and curry.» Well, maybe just the curry.
We wanted a vegetable dish and the only veggie dish we found without some sort of protein was a mixed veggies plate. I cannot recall the last time I had such a thing. It was basically vegetables in some sort of soy sauce mixture. It was like a plate of garnish.
We had hoped the best dish would be the deep fried soft shell crab but alas it was way too oily.
Next time, I’ll stick with Thai restaurants in Thai Town.

Am I really up at 9am on a Sunday morning not even having my cup of jo’ yet and writing this review? Was I so disappointed in my experience here that this is the first thing I’m going to spend my Sunday morning doing?
HELL YES!!!
This place was AWFUL! I have never in my life had such HORRIBLE service and the food should be fed to dogs (or people without taste buds). I am so utterly in shock by all the 4’s and 5’s here… so, let me break it down… why the 1 star? Why the long face?
Upon walking in on a Saturday night I noticed there were only 2 tables seated. Sweet I thought! We pretty much have the whole place to ourselves! Well, we stood there, and stood there until the older woman sitting towards the kitchen decided to remove herself from the laptop screen she was so easily fixated on. Really, this is our server? The woman who can’t pull herself away to seat us? Hmmm… ok I thought– go with it– let’s hope the food is better than the service.
We were seated– menu’s plopped on the tables, water served, server takes off.
And we are ready to order… again though with the waiting– by gosh… she’s right back on that computer– it must be super important because she is just straight up ignoring us. My boyfriend gets up and she comes running to our table… «oh– I’m sorry. Are you ready?» Yep. We’ve been ready, but whatever– the computer is far more superior than your paying customers that are here in real life.
Order is taken and the food doesn’t take long to get to us. I order the Pra Ram and my man ordered the Minty Noodle.
Ew– GROSS! That is the soupiest and oiliest peanut sauce I have ever had… I tried to eat it. I really did. However– It. Was. Just. Too. Icky!!! How is this authentic? Why the hell would they even serve this? Considering the service is a complete FAIL– so is the food! The Minty Noodle at least had flavor but the texture and consistancy of it felt like you were ingesting snot (I’ve never ate snot before… but, I’m pretty sure this is what it would taste like).
I sat there upset but kept my cool. My boyfriend excused himself to go to the mens room. As he was away the server came back. Wow– there she is! Ha! I asked her for to-​go boxes (I don’t know why, it’s not like this is going to taste any better once I get it home) and here is how the rest of the conversation went:
I kindly asked her, «Mam– is the constancy of your peanut sauce always so soupy? I really didn’t care for this meal.»
Waitress: «Oh, you wait. Let me go get you our BETTER peanut sauce. When the cook cooked this down he added too much oil. It gets oily»
Me: «Better peanut sauce? I don’t understand mam, if you have a better sauce then why wasn’t I served that to begin with?»
She runs off– comes back with a small dish of peanut sauce– throws it on the table and runs off again.
Really? Now your going to toss some ‘better’ peanut sauce on the table as we are getting ready to leave? As our food is packed and ready to go?
My boyfriend comes back and sits down. He see’s the small dish on the table with peanunt sauce… «What’s this?» — «Hey babe, yeah– apparantly this is the ‘better’ peanut sauce.»
The waitress comes back, completely ignores me and then proceeds to look at my boyfriend and explain to him why the sauce was so bad. Umm… EXCUSE ME!!- why are you talking to him about it? DId he order it? Did he eat it and is he the one complaining about it? NO– so… Sompun Thai waitress, why the dis-​respect? I was nothing but nice to you and now your ignore me?
WOW!!! I interruped her and asked her why she was replying to him and she threw our bill on the table and ran off again.
She is great at running off. I think she should quit her job as a so called server and join the Olympics.
So. Here you have it. BAD FOOD AND BAD SERVICE– your one stop place for disappointment and dis-​respect.

I’m a sucker for authentic Thai food — so when I came here for lunch the other week, I felt I’d hit the jackpot. Their chicken sa-​tay slid right off the skewer and into my mouth; so delectable. And, not gonna lie — I’m gaga for the cucumber salad that comes alongside and it did not disappoint. For the big items, we ordered the beef with garlic and broccoli as well as the pad thai — both were great.
For dessert, we couldn’t resist the mango with coconut sticky rice; absolutely out of this world.
Sompun Thai is a small, family business that just seems to get everything right. The staff is small, but incredibly attentive and friendly. I can’t wait to come back!

Sompun has AUTHENTIC THAI cuisine — -What better way to celebrate Thai New Year (4−13−11)???
When I invited my mom to try Sompun — she immediately agreed! Her and my father used to frequent the first location in Santa Monica back in the days (40 years ago!!!). Fast forward until now — she agreed that they still serve up the same authentic recipes. wow!
FOOD: 2 thumbs up!
* Kanom-​Buerng-​Yuan= kinda like crispy crepes filled w/​coconut meat. It’s a very rare Thai dish to find in the States.
* O-​Lua shrimp: another rare Thai dish. You often find this dish made w/​mussels («hoy-​tod») instead of shrimp.
* Kao Soi= indian curry noodles filled w/​yummy goodness!
* Thai coffee= very goooood!
SERVICE: 2 thumbs up!
The owner is AMAZINGGGGG — such a sweet lady! Mama bear says she takes after her late mother!

Yumyumyum!
The first thing I love about this place is that their menu has epic amounts of spelling mistakes. But also really cute comments on the dish in its description. It is wildly entertaining. Their service was really fast… we WERE the only people there but they were on top of everything. There was lot’s of parking and a good experience overall.
Spicy Sompun Shrimp special– green beans, shrimp in a really good chili sauce. This was not spicy in the slightest, it was actually pretty sweet, but I loved it. The boy did not– so if you don’t like sweet foods do not get this. But it’s a win in my book.
Eggplant with Mushrooms and mint — the eggplant wasn’t particularly good, but it had a ton of other veggies with it that came in a good sauce that made the dish good. Don’t set your heart on the traditional Spicy Eggplant.

I got the lunch special. Delicious won ton soup — and then sweet and sour chicken with steamed rice. The sweet and sour chicken is breaded, and really really sweet. It needed some veggies or something to cut the sweetness. Still good, I took half in a To Go box to finish later. One friend had the chicken curry which he said was a mild spicey, just the the right amount — and the potatos and veggies on his plate looked really good, so I have to try this next time. Two friends got Salads which both looked fantastic, and they said the salads were really good. Very good Thai food is a somewhat hidden location, Ventura Place which is just off of Ventura Blvd.

We don’t get it. Just starting to explore our new ‘hood and this was the first Thai we’ve tried. As the rating suggestion says: Meh.
Started with pork Larb. a little salty but otherwise pretty good.
Then the Mint Noodles with Beef. No idea what they were thinking. There was a sweetness to it that shouldn’t have been.
Also had the Panang Curry wih Chicken. Had some sort of squash in it, I think. Again, not quite right.
Service was indifferent, as well. Hope we find better or we’re going to find our selves heading back to Thai town when the craving hits.

Wait, what… FIVE STARS??? Oh no you didn’t, yes I did. I have given five stars to a place, and a Thai place for that matter. Born and Raised from a Thai family, I usually agree with my mom about Thai food in the US… there are simply not many «great» places, most of them are good or just okay. But this place is great, it has great balance of flavor. Not too sweet (as most americanized Thai food is), salty, or hot. This is good Thai food with a refined spice level. I wish the food was a bit more spicy (but sadly, I have yet to find a good spicy Thai place anywhere).
We had started with Kanom Buang Yuan, which is this egg crêpe with veggies and dried shrimp inside. No other restaurants do this, hell not many street vendors in Thailand know how to make this well. The crêpe was paper thin, crunchy and the stuffing was fragrant and well seasoned.
Next appetizer was Hoy Todd, fried clams with an egg and flour batter. Which is an amazing dish if done correct, AND IT WAS!!! There is just the right balance of crunchy fried bits to the soft parts with the egg and clams mixed in. Top that with the dipping sauce they had, oh man… it brought me back to the little street vendor in Chinatown when I had it in Thailand.
Our main dishes were pretty good, there was this Thai style tempura shrimp dish (well seasoned, the batter soaked up the dipping sauce). Another stir-​fried dish with pork butt and Chinese broccoli, not too salty… fresh ingredients, well executed. Curry Pirrod, which is suppose to be this extremely spicy curry, wasn’t too spicy… but it was fragrant (meaning they used fresh curry paste, not canned stuff). It had a nice balance of flavors, subtle spiciness.
Khao Soi was next on the list, its egg noodles with a sweeter northern style curry. This was a kick ass dish, the curry was sweet and fragrant. the egg noodles with it were just amazing. Add all the other garnishes, mix and you find yourself enjoying a great curry dish. My only gripe is I wish it came with more crispy noodles as a garnish.
The home-​made coconut ice cream, had just the right level of sweetness. The sherbet-​like texture is how it should be, just like coconut ice cream is in Thailand. It’s not too creamy, but you definitely taste the coconut milk, and subtle sweetness. Yummy in my Tummy, I was stuffed.

My favorite Thai food in town…
Start with the Tom Ka Kai and chicken larb.
Try the yummy Sompum noodles.
I’m not a fan of meekrob, but all my friends love it here.
You must have the garlic & pepper shrimp!
Yum-​tastic!
The decore is so-​so, but the food is consistantly great and the staff/​owners are the sweetest.

«I got heaven in my mouth and I think I’m gonna swallow,» said my coworker after eating their amazing coconut ice cream. This isn’t just any coconut ice cream, it’s AMAZING coconut ice cream. It’s apparently homemade and has essence of a shaved ice texture, but more creamy. It tastes so much like a real coconut that I had freakin’ flashbacks of chugging coconut juice during the Vietnam War to survive in the harsh heat of the jungle and then coming home to Jane Fonda insulting my efforts at war. And yes, I was negative 20 years old at the time. That’s how coconutty the ice cream was.
Backtracking a little before dessert, the food here was equally amazing. I haven’t been here enough to try too much on the menu (actually I popped my cherry today), but I ordered their Fried Fish (cod fillets), which came with a sweet & sour sauce. Delish. My coworker had the Shrimp with Garlic and Pepper, which he also liked. When I asked for Sriracha sauce, the owner gave me her homemade chili sauce, which she claimed tasted better. And she was right.
Prices are reasonable, depending on what you get (on average $ 7 — $ 10 unless you get seafood, which is slightly higher – the most expensive thing on the menu looks to be anything with crab = $ 15) and the staff is really friendly. Nice, clean café type of environment too. And it’s on Ventura PLACE, not Ventura Boulevard – Don’t go through what I went through to find it.
Overall, I loved it and I would bathe in that damn coconut ice cream if it was socially acceptable. Wait, is it?