Cafe Talesai

01/08/09

Really Great Thai on the Strip

by jay2002 at Citysearch

This place is down the road from our office. Really great Thai - fresh crunchy tasty. They've gotten me addicted on their lunch through delivery, and then closed for months to renovate (why? it looked very nice before...). Now they re-opened which is great. The atmosphere inside is actually quite high end feeling, but without the drama and chaos of other high-end asian places. Its more subtle. I'd say a great place for a 'better' thai experience, whether in or out.

• Pros: Great Thai Salad - fresh and crunchy
• Cons: Not cheap, which hurts when you do delivery

06/09/08

Most unaccommodating Thai restaurant I've ever been to.

by tikidoll78 at Citysearch

LA has so many Thai restaurants it seems like it would be impossible to ever eat at all of them. I have been to more than I can count and I have never had a problem substituting tofu in a curry listed with meat or most other dishes. When I opened the menu at Talesai, I was eying the massamun curry, only it was listed as containing lamb, so I planned to ask for a tofu substitution. Massamun is one of my favourite Thai dishes so since this place was pricey compared to most Thai places, I was keen to try it.

As it turns out, I could not try it. When I made my request, the waiter just said "No" and pointed to the red curry which was already vegetarian and told me I could have that. When I tried to ask again "You can't make this with tofu?" he just plain ignored me! The only pre-existing vegetarian entree was my only option. We ordered a tofu dish for an appetizer so there was indeed tofu in the building, so they were simply being obnoxious and unaccommodating.

The food itself was good but not mind blowing. The service was poor by that one waiter who was rude to all of us, with another waiter who was nice. For the price and their unwillingness to help, I would not recommend this restaurant. There are a million other places to try in this town.

• Pros: Nice setting, attractive decor
• Cons: Poor service, not many vegetarian selections and unwilling to make thing vegetarian.

12/05/06

Best Thai Food In Town

by erikiki at Citysearch

Talesai is far and away the best thai restaurant in LA. The staff is great, very polite and not at all pushy. The food is AMAZING. I recommend the Hidden Treasures and Pad Thai Noodles. The portions are not very big but everything is very tasty. The martinis are delicious!

• Pros: pad thai noodles, street parking on this part of sunset is pretty easy (they also offer valet)
• Cons: NOTHING!