Palms Thai

04/09/04

Exotic game and an Elvis impersonator--how cool can Thai food get?

by Martha Burr at Citysearch

The Scene
You are now entering the Thai-light Zone. In the heart of Thai Town, Palms is the home of the Thai Elvis (aka Kevin), complete with platform shoes and flashy Vegas suits. At first, he seems over-the-top kitsch, but a few songs later, you'll realize he's actually quite good. Thanks to him, what used to be a low-key Thai dinner club scene now attracts a number of Hollywood hipsters.

The Food
While the standards are superior, it's hard to resist the exotic specialties. Wild boar in spicy coconut sauce is chewy, but incredibly flavorful; deer in crispy mint leaves is rich and luscious; frogs legs fried in chili with green peppercorns are heavenly. Carpaccio fans will reach nirvana with the lime-drenched, basil-tinged, chili-infused raw beef salad. Milder thrills are found in the coconut-chicken soup or delicate fish broth, full of snapper floating in aromatic lime leaves.

04/25/09

Great food, lousy service every time

by garyandleo at Citysearch

Have you ever been sitting in a restaurant and could not get anyone to wait on you? Have you ever had to take out your cell phone, dial the restaurant, and ask them to send someone to your table as every member of the wait staff acted as if they could not see you?

Well, if you havent, please visit Palm Thai for a unique experience.

We have been eating there for a few years now, and it has never been because of the exceptional serivce. However, the food is very good, well priced, and local to us.

Now, we have grown used to the wait staff being rude and innattentive, but, this last vist (and it is our LAST visit) was the topper.

We were seated quickly enough, and then ignored for at least 10 minutes. We asked one of the staff who was pasing our table if we could get some drinks; he paused, glared at us, and told us he would "find our server". Our server eventually wandered over to our table a few minutes later, took our drink order, and left. Once our drinks returned, we ordered. Now the food itself comes quickly enough, and is always very good, but, it seems once the food hits the table, the wait staff can no longer see you. No follow up on how the meal is, no refresh on your drinks, just nothing. I always have the feeling they want to rush you out of there, regardless if it is crowded or not.

So, we tried to find our server, but she was nowhere to be seen. We again stopped another staff member, asked for a drink refill, as well as some additional white rice, and was again treated to the same hostile glare followed by the familiar but useless "find your server" answer.

another 10 minutes of more passed; we had basically finished our meal, and still no drinks or rice. That is when we decided to call the restaurant and ask for our server to find out table. That call did bring several of the wait staff to us, loaded with drinks, rice (no longer needed), and PLENTY of attitude.

So, it has finally become clear to us that while Palm Thai has wonderful food, the sour, rude, innattentive, and hostile wait staff has made it easy for us to decide never to eat there again. They clearly do not care about the customer whatsoever, and there is no lack of other Thai food choices in Los Angeles.

• Pros: Great food
• Cons: Terrible, terrible service

04/04/09

Would go back again!

by gwliu at Citysearch

I really like the food -- can't wait to order the hot chili paste clams again! Service was good, except for a little mix up: server/ cook ended up making our spicy curry mild, and the mild silver noodle salad spicy. Nevertheless, the flavor was still great, so we didn't bother saying anything! The dessert was a little pricey, $5 for a couple pieces fried banana but they were AMAZING with coconut ice cream (which we ordered separately for $3). My friend spoke Thai so maybe that made a difference with the service in comparison to some of the negative reviews below. I can't say since I've only been there once, but that will definitely change soon!

• Pros: Good Food
• Cons: Zero Ambiance

02/20/09

Three Trick Pony

by TMelara at Citysearch

Every time i go to Palms I order only the Pad Thai noodles, Garlic beef and Fried rice. How can you screw that up? Really it's no big deal. If your looking for a quick asian food fix that's in-expensive, this place is for you. The service is absolutely, positvely, with out a doubt, undisputedly, hands down.....TERRIBLE! The waitresses and buss boys are rude and impersonal! I almost did not leave a tip! If you happen to stumble to this place make sure you let them know you want your food brought out all in the same time. If you want dessert make sure you tell them in advanced because there so anxious for you to leave they bring your bill right away. In all honesty don't go! This place does not live up to the hype and I don't think I will ever go back after my last, terrible experience.

• Pros: Thai Iced tea and concluding your visit
• Cons: Terrible Service, Learn how to speak thai before you go

01/25/09

I don't get it

by sheridanm1 at Citysearch

I don't understand why so many people rave about this place. I've been here a few times, thinking I maybe just had ordered the wrong things. Time and time again, though, I have been completely disappointed. Take my word for it...go somewhere else for good Thai.

• Cons: bad food, service not so great either

11/19/08

Variety of delicious dishes

by jimmypeace at Citysearch

I love this place, they have so much variety of dishes! Everything is way so good!! Great place to do family style and share!

• Pros: Variety of delicious dishes

11/18/08

Tasty Food

by usha at Citysearch

I have been to palms thai many times. I like the food there especially chicken dishes. I like chicken stickers. Food is not spicy though. If you like spicy food you need to mix chilli paste. They have a live music. But always crowded and noisy

• Pros: Quality of Food.
• Cons: Always crowded and noisy.

10/15/08

Best Thai Food in LA

by temy at Citysearch

I love this place and count it as one of my favorite restaurants. The food is really extraordinary and the elvis impersonator is a nice bonus. Love the pad thai

• Pros: Food, Service, Elvis
• Cons: Can be Noisy

10/10/08

This place is so-so great

by 1usranger at Citysearch

This place is great. I'm not Thai, but I've been to Thailand once and ate rice everyday. Oh, btw, the rice is great.

• Pros: great eats, friendly service
• Cons: none

10/05/08

Best of....

by HealthConsciousilismo at Citysearch

One of the best Thai food in Town. A citysearch perennial "Best-of" winner. What can do they do wrong? I loved this place.

08/10/08

Not impressed. Use low quality cheap rice

by pearline at Citysearch

Thai food is one of my favorite, and I have had been to many thai restaurant. I have to admit I'm a bit picky when it comes to food. I ordered the Coconut soup with chicken, and the Paneng curry with beef. Those are my favorite thai dish and I always order those everytime i try a new thai restaurant. My bf ordered a pineapple fried rice. The biggest problem is the rice... both the steam rice and the pineapple fried rice, they used some very cheap quality rice that has very odd texture... almost powdery, with no substance. It might has to do with the recent rapid increase in rice price. The cashew and the chicken in the pinapple fried rice also had a very odd texture to it. Taste was ok. But everything just felt off in your mouth. And for the Penang curry. It was too sweet. I ordered medium spicy, but it wasn't really spicy, just sweet. And doesn't have the proper penang curry taste. The coconut soup was the only one that wasn't disappointing. A little bit on the sour side, but still acceptable. Thai ice tea was good though. Their price was cheap at least.

• Pros: cheap, can accomodate big group due to table set up
• Cons: food, not a romantic place