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Grand Pu Bah Thai Restaurant
Category: Restaurants Thai Thai [Edit]
88 Division St(at Henry Adams St)
San Francisco, CA 94103
Neighborhood: SOMA
(415) 255-8188
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 11 am - 10 pm
Fri 11 am - 10:30 pm
Sat 5 pm - 10:30 pm
Sun 5 pm - 10 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Trendy
- Has TV:
- Yes
- Caters:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
366 reviews for Grand Pu Bah Thai Restaurant
Review Highlights
"And I love their pineapple fried rice."
(in 25 reviews)
"Oh my god the Golden Carrot appetizer is awesome."
(in 13 reviews)
"I tried the sweet basil leaf with grilled salmon."
(in 5 reviews)
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366 reviews in English
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Review from Christopher L.
San Francisco, CA
11/6/2011 2 Check-ins Here
Food: 3
Drinks: 4
I work about half block from this place, and try to make a visit anytime I get (which equates to either me forgetting its existence or I don't have time). Buuuuuut... I digress.
Come here not for the food, some dishes are good, others you can just skip. Go of the bread n butter Thai dishes. But come back for the drinks, and come back for a casual meeting with a coworker, friends, and fun! -
Review from Scott C.
San Francisco, CA
12/5/2011
The food is OK. Nothing to write home about but at the same time not bad. They really do bring the heat so be warned, if you order spicy, it is going to come out spicy.
If just evaluating food, I would say that this place is a 3 star place. I cant identify anything unique or special about the place.
I am downgrading the rating to two stars because the service was so bad, I would have preferred going into the kitchen and getting the food myself.
It took forever to get drinks, food and then the check. And we werent the only ones. Others next to us had to ask for just about everything because it was taking so long.
This place is right in the middle of a bunch of office buildings so weekday lunch has got to be a big piece of their business. If this is the case, I would think that throughput would be critical, but the managers of the business have yet to figure this out. -
Review from Jesse G.
San Francisco, CA
12/4/2011
The short of it: place is pretty, food was good (and plentiful), and the staff is nice, but we left feeling somewhat p*ssed off for poor customer relations. The long story follows.
We were leaving the Concourse around the corner and it was almost 5, so I checked to see if I had any 'groupons' for places nearby. I found I had purchased a TravelZoo coupon for an appetizer (up to $14), two entrees (up to $22 each), and two glasses of wine (up to $10 each); it also said in big letters it had a 'promotional value of up to $78'. We decided to go over to see if they would accept the voucher by just showing it to them on my iPhone. We got there just as they were opening, told them about the voucher, and they asked if I had made a reservation. I said we hadn't, and they immediately pointed out that they weren't supposed to accept the coupon without a reservation (?), but that they would this time, but wouldn't next time (??). (I should point out the place was empty, and was pretty much empty for our entire meal.)
They sat us down and when we asked for two glasses of wine, one worth $11 and the other $12, the waiter quickly pointed out he woud have to charge the extra buck and two bucks--no matter that the appetizer we were getting was only $7, $7 less than we were entitled to. Same thing with the entrees; we got one worth $16 and another worth $23, but the waiter pointed out he would have to charge me the extra dollar for my entree.
In the end, we ordered one extra appetzier, one extra glass of wine, and one dessert, which we understood we had to pay for, but after ordering so much beyond the value of the coupon, we were expecting they weren't going to be nickel-and-diming us with the drinks and the plate that were one or two dollars over their price. We ended with a pre-tax bill of $95, but they only applied the coupon towards $65 of it. If you add the price of our appetizer, two glasses of wine, and two entrees, it would have been $70, still under the $78 promotional value, but they thought it would be better for them to charge us those 5 bucks, nevermind that we were already paying 25 for extra items. And probably more than the money, it's having to put up with, "well, that'll be one more dollar" or "That'll be 2 more dollars" each time you're asking about an item.
They seem to not have gotten the memo about keeping the customers happy, instead of telling them they're a nuisance for not having made a reservation (when the place is empty), or charging them an extra dollar for one item when some of the other items were $7 cheaper than their promotion allowed. -
Review from Letitia L.
San Francisco, CA
1/23/2012 1 Check-in Here
Overpriced, portions are small (I got the lunch combo with side dishes and was still hungry after). I'd eat here if someone else were paying, but otherwise I'm never coming back.
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Review from Denise R.
San Francisco, CA
2/5/2012
The food was decent, not bad but not among the best I have had. The thai tea creme brulee was especially delicious. It was kind of hard to get the waiter's attention, but if you are willing to just get up and ask for the bill and other things, the service is fine. Ultimately, it was the price and the portion size that left me extremely disappointed with the place. A plate of five prawns cost us ten dollars. That's two dollars per prawn. Ridiculous. If you have a small budget like myself, I would stay away. You can get the same quality food (probably even better) for half the price somewhere else.
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Review from Nerinna V.
Campbell, CA
1/26/2012
Garlic Lamb!!! We loved it so much we ordered a second plate of it....no kidding! It was tasty and slathered with fried chopped garlic. The sauce that came with the lamb was spicy and tasty as well.
Tried this restaurant because of a deal from Travelzoo which included a shared appetizer, two glasses of wine, and two entrees. We ordered the sizzling shrimp appetizer and that was delicious. We also ordered the shrimp curry from the Chef's recommendations and that was also good and tasty but overall the Garlic Lamb was the best. Giving a four stars because when we first arrived we waited a while for someone to come to our table and I ended up having to get up and asking someone to take our order. It was good, the ambience was great, music was god, but I have a feeling we'll only come back if we have a craving for garlic lamb. -
Review from thomas c.
1/12/2012
Not-bad thai food in kind of an upscale restaurant.
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Review from Joshua B.
10/23/2011 1 Check-in Here
Coming from Seatle I have pretty high expectations of Thai restaurants (we have a zillion, most of them really delicious) - so I was seriously underwhelmed by Grand Pu Bah.
The service took a while even though there were few others in the restaurant. The calamari we had were totally over-fried, and the duck rolls were bland.
So while it's perfectly serviceable for a Thai restaurant there was nothing that stood out for me or made me really want to come back. -
Review from Vino L.
Berkeley, CA
1/30/2012
Love: The ambiance-modern yet ethnic (LOVE the pillows in their booths), the orchids (I am so unhealthily in love with orchids), and the service- the waiters are so nice and funny! The food is good, but as far as Thai food goes, it definitely didn't impress. The pineapple fried rice was good (but wasn't served in a pineapple grrr). The papaya salad was the best thing I ate here- very fresh and wonderfully spicy. The eggplant was average- could have skipped it. The potato and coconut somosas were good - very unique and the the coconut taste was present yet subtle which made the somosa not too sweet. I felt that the dishes were slightly overpriced and that the portions could have been bigger! I went here with a large group of people for a friend's birthday and they were very accommodating from accepting reservations to bringing the food out fast! Overall, go and enjoy the ambiance and order the pad thai and samosas, and you'll return happy!
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Review from Charlene K.
San Francisco, CA
Updated - 11/4/2011
I love the atmosphere and elegance of decor. I've come again and this time had a much better experience! Our service was friendly, quick, and upbeat. The food was delicious! I would have liked my spicy dish to be even more spicy, but just let them know how spicy you can take it. Otherwise, the spicy is pretty safe.
Recommend spicy basil chicken with jasmine rice. Tom Kah the Soup. and Soft Shell Crab appetizer. Fried Banana for dessert.Listed in: Eat, Dining Out
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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10/7/2011
I love Thai food. It's not the fastest service, nor the nicest staff, but dishes are beautifully… Read more »
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Review from JAMES C.
Honolulu, HI
9/20/2011
I have had a lot of Thai food in my life being a resident of Hawaii and having family from Bangkok. The food at The Grand Pu Bah was extremely ONO (delicious in Hawaiian)! My friends and I were in town for a business convention and chose the restaurant through a social media coupon site so we didn't know what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised by the ambiance and friendly staff that greeted us. It was late on a Monday night so the crowd was light.
We ordered a bunch of different things including a half dozen oysters that came with a trio of traditional Thai sauces, Tom Yum Shrimp soup, Tuna Tartar that came with light crispy won ton "chips" that were the size of oranges in diameter, chicken pad thai, and our entrees were from the "chef's specials" list: a garlic lamb dish (the name escapes me but the memory of the taste does not!) and a pumpkin curry with large shrimp....with sides of sticky rice. Oh man was EVERYthing absolutely perfect...
I highly recommend the lamb dish if you're a garlic lover and don't overstuffed yourself with appetizers because we regretted not being able to savor the entrees and didn't have room for dessert!!
Our waiters were really helpful with making choices and they are all Thai(I'm almost certain) so it makes the experience that much more authentic :). It's really a modern fusion there...very hip, clean, and comfy. Great for couples or medium sized parties.
I will definitely make it back every time I visit San Francisco! -
Review from stephanie i.
San Francisco, CA
I normally head here for dinner with friend who happen to be regulars. So yes, when my Thai friend orders dinner, she always orders the best! My faves - I'll always try the Volcano Chicken (though we ask them not to light the whole chicken on fire since it tends to dry out the inside), sticky rice and papaya salad. I could live on this alone. For cocktails, I absolutely love the Sai Thai (spelling?) it's the cocktail with a spicy kick - amazing if you like your cocktails spicy.
Never been for lunch, but I never have to wait to be seated for dinner around 7ish.
Oh and before I forget, this is a relatively large space, so dinner for large groups? I'd say there's a good chance that they can accommodate you. -
Review from Marc S.
San Francisco, CA
11/27/2011
Nice, fun trendy place with a lively crowd. Tasty food, great drinks, somewhat small portions. Very good service.
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Review from Hana D.
Belvedere Tiburon, CA
1/17/2012
We found this place on Groupon and keep going back. The lychee duck is amazing and the lemongrass scallop risotto is to die for! Its kind of in the middle of nowhere but there is parking everywhere!
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Review from Malou B.
San Francisco, CA
9/1/2011
Cholo took me here for dinner when I told him I am craving Thai food. He said his sisters brought him here and he liked it and he was hoping I liked it too.
We just played my first 9hole and this is his treat. We ordered drinks first, he had his lager while I had my mojito. He ordered Pad Thai while I ordered the Lychee Duck. Not that I am comparing but service is great just like Osha Thai. Everyone is pleasant, as in really pleasant. Cholo got upset because the Server didnt know how to pour beer in a glass so it bubbled up, he said that nicely that he will just do it instead.
This is fusion Thai, very pricey than regular ones and portions are smaller, which is okay because he wants to take care of his hollywood figure. My Lychee Duck surprisingly was delicious sans the soupy sauce which I usually get from other Thai restaurants.
We drank and dined and chitchatted and giggled and enjoyed every minute of it.
I recommend and he told the Server, "we will come back". -
Review from k.d. w.
Chula Vista, CA
9/22/2011
I think the Asians might be prejudice.... I stood there and 2 minutes later two couples walked in... they seated them....then a group of 3 walked in they seated them....then they said are you picking up? Really?
but OMG the food was GREAT!!!
The 2 stars is for the lack of good service! My service was horrible entire time and nothing upsets more than bad service. This place can easily get 4/5 stars by food alone.
They listed a dish as being apart of the TravelZoo deal, but didn't honor it, great way to loose customers. I felt it should have been honored, then correct your mistakes after. They wouldn't even allow me to pay the difference after explaining the mix up of a 32 dollar dish. How about taking Customer Service Classes, at the rate youre going you will have to keep giving out coupons on TravelZoo. Customer Service all around sucks! -
Review from Michele J.
San Francisco, CA
6/23/2011
What a disappointment this was! It was my first and last visit, which is too bad because they are fairly close to home and hubby's work, and parking was super easy.
Golden Carrot appetizer was fantastic, and we thought we were in for an amazing experience. The signature dish, the Pu Bah, was very delicious, but the portion for the price was way out of line. $14 for 1 very small crab leg and one very small crab claw? Are you serious?
The Pad Thai was a whole different story. Good amount of food for the price, too bad that the 2 of the 4 shrimp were spoiled, and that the noodles were over cooked and tasted like someone dumped a jar of peanut butter on top along with a cup of sugar. I ultimately ended up in the restroom throwing up what I had eaten.
They did take the cost of the Pad Thai off the bill, and were gracious and attentive, but spoiled food for their prices just doesn't cut it in a town like San Francisco with so many great restaurants. We will stick with Koh Samui and The Monkey for our Thai from now on. -
Review from Lynnette N.
San Francisco, CA
5/3/2011
On Saturday I went here with about 15 other ppl for a good friend's bday and sadly it was a great disappointment. I yelped this placed before I went so I can order something good.
Most of the time when I eat, I have a feast. Ppl spend $ on materialistic things... I spend $ on FOOD! Food makes me happy. well of course Big Daddy makes me happy always!
The first thing I did when I sat down was order a drink, I wasnt looking for liquor but their drinks tempted me and I got their mojito. For $10 the drink made me somewhat sick. lol The flavor was off and the liquor taste was all right. I ordered the a dozen raw Oysters, Lychee Duck and the Crazy Crabs.
We got the Crazy Crabs first and breaking into the crabs the outside tasted the bomb! My taste buds was dancing around, it was sweet, spicy and garlicy all together, but once I reached the meat, it was another disappointment. The crab meat had no flavor and it was way over cooked. The meat was so so stuck in the shells there were times I just wanted to give up. What they should've done was crack the crab before they cooked it with the sauce so the meat would've been super flavorful. $42 for the Crazy Crabs... so not worth it.
The Lychee Duck was not bad, but there was not enough Lychee. If you're gonna give me canned lychee the least you can do is give me more. Why be stingy? Its from a damn can!!! I'm already paying $18 for this!!! Feeed me damn it! The sauce was too little for me to eat with my rice, too many bell peppers and not enough duck and lychee! Give me my damn refund damn it!
I guess the only good and satisfy dish was the dozen Oysters, but how can you even fuck that up right? It wasn't served traditionally with lime, cocktail sauce and tabasco, but they had their own unique lil side dishes to put on top and it was somewhat amazing. Citrusy, spicy and with fried onions. Not bad at all. Forgot the price to this one but I'm sure it was a leg and an arm as well.
Two stars only folks... way over priced and nothing near satisfying. Our bill for our group was about $700. Crazy right?!!! I guess we did have a feast! lol Sorry bad experience here and maybe I will come back for a 2nd try cuz I try everything twice, but then again do I want another hole in my pocket for just OK food? You tell me! -
Review from Hayley H.
San Francisco, CA
9/1/2011
This place has the best pad thai and pineapple fried rice in the city! Great ambiance and even better bartenders with almost every kind of drink you could ever want. The food is kind of expensive for a Thai food place but worth the money cause it's fantastic. Great place for a first date or any kind of date. The specialty dishes are great as well but I can't say enough how you need to try their thai street food selection.
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Review from Jennifer T.
Alameda, CA
11/3/2011
My friend and I came here for a belated b-day celebration. The atmosphere is very elegant and cater to the business lunch crowd. Food was good, despite being a bit small. My friend ordered the pineapple fried rice with shrimp, which only came with around 4 pieces of shrimp! I can't believe it cost $3 extra for so little shrimp. I ordered a chicken noodle dish. The food taste the same as other cheaper Thai restaurants I've been to, so you're paying extra here just for the atmosphere and location...
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Review from Michelle L.
San Francisco, CA
3/24/2011
Grand Pu Bah is close to my office and it's fairly easy to get a table for a large group so we end up here at least once a month. However, from now on I'll find another nearby restaurant to suggest for employee-farewell lunches.
You see, I draw the line at raw chicken.
The service has always been incredibly slow and unfriendly, but the last time I went with a measly group of 4 people the service was stunningly bad. The restaurant wasn't even packed and it took more than half an hour to get all our food. Meals almost always come out one at a time at Thai restaurants, but not with 10 minutes between each person's dish!
Worse than that, the chicken satay I ordered was raw. Not undercooked, but pink, rubbery, slimy raw, under a thin layer of quick pan fry.
When I was finally able to flag down a server to take it back, she snapped up the plate without even an apology and it was never replaced.
At the end of the meal I reminded our server about the raw satay and she obligingly took our brown rice off the bill. Huh? Ok...
Needless to say, with all the Thai restaurants in this city, I don't feel the need to go back to this one. -
Review from George N.
San Francisco, CA
11/2/2011
Grand Pu Bah is in the complex we live in. All in all, the food is slightly above average, but I only order off the Thai street food menu because I see no reason to spend that much money for Thai food/Asian fusion. If I'm going to spend $50 per person on Thai food, I would much rather go to Chez Papa up the hill.
Ordering in from Pu Bah is typically an adventure. I'll give them credit - they are fast with take out orders, though they get our order wrong almost every time. We've only been overcharged once but normally they just get the order wrong and we live with it to avoid the hassle of going back down to dispute something that's essentially unverfiable. There is clearly a language barrier issue going on here and we let it slide.
Another of qualm of mine is that the quantity and quality of the food prepared varies drastically. We never know if we are going to get a ungodly amount of bean sprouts to overcompensate for a lack of ingredients or a 3/4 order of larb. Sometimes we get frustrated and swear to move on, but it's so convenient for us after a long day of work.
Pu Bah is the epitome of a Yelp three-star and has all the flare of a restaurant near the Design Center, etc. Not a bad restaurant, just a pain in the rear with some management issues. -
Review from the k.
San Francisco, CA
7/6/2011
Dollar Oysters! And they come with an awesome chilli lime dipping sauce and crispy shallots- not to mention they were super fresh!
Mango salad with crispy oyster mushrooms- delish, great crispy crunchy texture and an added pop of the oyster mushrooms, light, tangy, and spicy with a great rich, nutty finish from the cashews. A bit over dressedbut the fresh lettuce and mango compensate and it was not soggy.
Pours on the wine could be a little bigger, esp on the second and third glass... but serivce was very friendly and attentive.
I did not have any entrees, but did finish up with the potato coconut samosa. It was well fried and I love the coconut flavor. It came with a cilantro creme fresh, that could have used a bit more cilantro. -
Review from Simmi K.
Cupertino, CA
5/3/2011
Went here with co-workers for lunch and it was pretty much packed. The food was alright but the amount of food was really small! And, that's saying something because I usually can't finish all my food in one sitting.
I finished my whole plate! Staff was friendly, service was good, and our food was out quick. -
Review from Jen H.
Interesting to see an unusually high standard deviation of yelps over a number of elements, from parking to value to service to food itself. I can only say my own experience was quite good and that I'd come back for sure.
Sizzling Spicy Prawns: 2 stars.
They were kind of wimpy shrimp, not prawns (scientific classifications aside), and despite being marked *** (a recommended item on the menu), this $10 so-so dish is not a repeater.
Singha Crazy Crab: 5 stars.
Very spicy, very flavorful. Not a 1st date dish for the shy, but amongst good friends & fam, this is a winner. Savory heaven, plus you get to put your mouth on fire.
Lychee Duck: 4 stars.
Lots of nicely de-boned duck with exotic flavor combinations; the lychees really cut through the fatty richness of the duck and curry. Unique dish I haven't seen anywhere else, really good.
Spicy Curry Noodle: 4 stars.
Solid good, nothing out of the ordinary, but the basics are nicely executed.
Service was thoughtful and friendly, plates came out nicely paced and our water glasses were never empty. Parking IS a pain in the butt. -
Review from richard b.
San Francisco, CA
10/6/2011
WTF !!! AWESOME !!! 3.5 stars ?? People have we all been going to the same restuarant ??
Lets take a check here at what we want from a restaurant night out shall we...
1. Great food.. got to be top ofbghe list surely ?? Isnt that why we go to restaurants and pay the astronomical prices , otherwise we could just stay in and burn our kitchens down trying to recreate what the restaurants do so well.. ah to have a personal chef :-) one can dream..
2. Atmosphere.. i was for just a second, really just a second torn here that it should be service, but no it shouldnt ,it shoud be atmosphere. Arent we more worried about having a great atmosphere with our great food than wether the server is smiling ear to ear. After all its ghe people in a place that make a great enviroment rather than the few staff.
3. And here we are staff, yes as nice as it would be if possible a smile from ear to ear.. :-)
4. Drinks. Now i know a lot of you are thinking this should be higher on the list and in some situations i would agree, but here there is a great ( i know i keep using the word great, it becomes more obvious the more you read on) drinks menu. The cocktail menu and the quality were ... here we go, youknow whats coming... awesome, ha !! With a nice wine menu as well.
5. Restrooms, or loo as we English like to say, come on just something clean and nice smelling , with a door that locks ! And they did, well apart from the locking door .. but hell i`m a modern guy, and if someone were to walk in on me i would count that as a bonus to my evening.. and add it to my list. Yes yes its a fairly short list i know....
So it came to pass i went to Grand Pu Bah and had a Grand time. Grand place, grand food, grand drinks, grand service and i have to add grand price. We booked through this service called Savored where at a great
selection of restaurants you get a 30% discount on total food and drinks bills.
I promise you will like this place, let them know i recomended them to you, not that they will know who in am but in my venture for world domination , as they sayall pr is good pr !!!!
ENJOY !! -
Review from Michele D.
San Jose, CA
10/20/2011
I like authentic Thai food but I also like this interesting French and modern twist to Thai food at Grand Pu Bah. A few weeks ago, my husband and I had dinner here and loved this place! The food, service and ambiance was awesome. I rarely drink wine and asked for the waiter's recommendation and he was the only waiter/waitress who made a recommendation that I liked. I even finished the entire glass of wine which I never did before. If it was just based on that first time, then I would give this place 5 stars.
We went back with my cousin, her husband, my niece and nephew for dinner. For the most part, the food was still awesome. The sticky rice was a bit dry and the snapper had too many bones. The service was still friendly and helpful. Too bad there isn't a way to give this place 4.5 stars. -
Review from Novalina N.
San Francisco, CA
12/15/2010 4 photos
Thai restaurant with a romantic ambiance. The place is also very big, you can sit far far away from other people and have your privacy. The location is kinda in the middle of nowhere or maybe it's just super quiet at night.
We ordered the tom kha ga, mango salad, fried calamari, red curry, and pinneaple fried rice.
Fried calamari is alright. Mango salad is too one dimensional, SOUR. Tom kha ga is too sweet and filled with too much carrots and zucchini. It irks me when Asian restaurant substitutes Asian vegetables with carrots, zucchini, or bell pepper.
Pinneaple fried rice is not bad, the portion is very very small though. Red curry is not bad either.
Overall, the place is meh. Unless you absolutely need to pick a Thai restaurant with romantic ambiance in the middle of nowhere, I'd suggest to venture Thai places in the Tenderloin instead. -
Review from Jaime J.
San Francisco, CA
4/5/2011
Over the weekend, my friend and I went to Grand Pu Bah because she thought she had never been there before, which was slightly awkward. It was actually our second time eating here, but we were with other people for our first times (she immediately remembered after we were seated near the windows, and in the same spot she sat in before).
We quickly got over the "hiccup" after revealing how each of us had been here before, and after laughing it off, we ordered the Tuna Tartare appetizer, then the Pineapple Fried Rice, and Yellow Curry with Shrimp. The portions were perfect for two, and tasted great, with the right amount of spicy seasonings. Although we were more than satisfied, we decided to finish dinner off with Fried Banana with Ice Cream, which my friend never had before. I've had it many times in the past, but she liked the fried banana more than the ice cream (or, "sherbert," as she put it).
It was the start of an amazing weekend, and a perfect way to make new memories at a nice restaurant. -
Review from Ellie C.
San Francisco, CA
5/8/2011 1 Check-in Here
Ugh. Someone who tried to do the whole "fusion" thing and failed. And who also lacks basic skills.
Staff was friendly and attentive.
First off, they served risotto made from rotten rice to a person of the party I went with. Remember FIFO (First in first out) and dates in your pantries.
I had their tuna tartare, pad thai and thai ice tea creme brulee.
tuna tartare: um..I couldn't distinguish any flavor from it..especially the tuna. :(
pad thai: are you really a thai restaurant? how can you mess up the best sellers of all thai restaurants? too citrusy and over cooked rice noodles. Cut back on the lime and add the lacking flavors to your pad thai.
creme brulee: it took them 1/2 hour to bring us our creme brulee. WHY? it should have been baked & chilled already then all you have to do is sprinkle sugar over it and torch it. And thank you for burning the sugar, not carmelizing it. The flavor was there, you just lacked basic knowledge.
in all: seriously over priced (which I'm not suprised, because all the people I saw that night were yuppies) and under average food. -
Review from Olivia Vanessa R.
Daly City, CA
2/18/2011
I'm curious as to why this place is averaging about 3 1/2 stars when this restaurant deviates from the other 104328908 Thai Restaurants scattered through out San Francisco.
Firstly, upon entering Grand Pu Bah, one is greeted with stunning visual opulence, the place cascades with marble finishes and asian fusion art instillations. I'm particularly fond of restaurants that pay explicit attention to detail because it serves as a reflection of how they present their food and what they take into consideration. Of course, like many things that can work both ways as a showy restaurant (i.e. Rainforest Cafe) may be strictly theatre and atmosphere rather than quality food. I assure you that is not the case here.
I came here on a casual dinner date with a girlfriend and I'm sad to say all we had were drinks, 3 appetizers and one gorgeous sampler of desserts. I guess this review doesn't count until I come back and have one of their delightful entrees. I shall. :]
Don't come here expecting fruity watered down liquor, expect to get wasted. They have a beautiful fully stocked bar, from exotic liquors to several different dessert wines. I was so drunk off the Ambrosia cocktail I FORGOT TO ORDER DINNER.
Adrianne & I had the oysters, fried tofu with peanut sauce, crab cakes and some satay. The presentation of the food was well thought out and looked up to par with it's never ending montage of flavor. They aren't sparing with their portions, the plates were huge and enough to share amongst three, which I thought to be unheard of at a place of this caliber.
I don't know what our dessert was from the menu but it was a surprise, compliments from the chef kind of thing. In our dessert sampler we had a decadent dark chocolate and raspberry cake drizzled with chocolate syrup and decked in raspberries, creme brulee, A generous helping of pear and ginger ice cream.
Lots of parking :) DO NOT, I REPEAT DO NOT DEPEND ON YOUR GPS TO GET YOU HERE PROPERLY.
Only four stars because I can't give it five without trying the pineapple fried rice and some red curry. -
Review from Venetia Y.
San Carlos, CA
10/5/2011 1 Check-in Here
Great atmosphere. Authentic Thai food with an incredible flair.
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Review from Stacy H.
San Francisco, CA
4/6/2011
This place is terrible.
3.5 stars for ambiance. Negative stars for food.
My boyfriend and I got the papaya salad, spicy curry noodle with tofu, and the soft shell crab to share. It was $42 with tip. The food was awful and portions for the prices were ridiculous. Atmosphere is nice and dark, I would go to Grand Pu Bah for drinks but definitely not for food.
Review of the dishes:
Soft Shell Crab: $12 for two tiny pieces, it was outrageous they would charge so much for the amount of crab we got. On top of that, the crab was not that great.
Papaya Salad: Osha's papaya salad is SO much better. This salad was awful, I mean REALLY terrible, it smelled like cheese (yeah I know... disgusting).
Spicy Curry Noodles (with tofu): We asked for this plate to be spicy and it was painfully boring with no spice at all. On top of the bland taste, the noodles were like sheets of jelly, I hated them. -
Review from Darius D.
San Francisco, CA
6/12/2011
Way overpriced. For example, I ordered the Fresh Rolls appetizer (notice the plural "Rolls" in the name), and received 1 fresh roll cut into 4 pieces. Cost: $8. Seriously? Didn't even get peanut sauce.
My friend ordered the Mango salad. Taste was quite good. Yet we literally only found 2 pieces of mango in the salad, and the portion was again quite small for $9.
I ordered the Grilled Flank Steak. Again, very small portion for $18 and was cold when delivered. Presentation was nice I suppose.
Add in a few beers, tax and tip, and I dropped $80 yet left feeling unsatisfied and wanting more.
Food looked great. Taste was about average. No value whatsoever. -
Review from Amanda M.
Los Angeles, CA
3/31/2011
Dainty and delicious oysters
ALL dishes are so flavorful...almost TOOOO flavorful
Spice is nice! I came with a bunch of old Thai people and the dishes were even a little too spicy for them!
Innovative and surprising fusion dishes and cocktails
Fresh seafood served with Thai dipping sauces
I've had a lot of Thai food before but their seasoned crab dishes were soooo good and the seasonings were very unique!
A bowl of rose/herbal water with cloth napkins are provided to clean your hands after eating crab! Works wonders compared to the usual lemon-y water/wipes!
And dude, they have a well stocked bar, including absinthe and my favorite Hendrick's gin :) I also fully appreciate any Asian restaurant with a menu that is void of all grammatical and spelling errors. The mark of a great restaurant. -
Review from Tonie C.
San Francisco, CA
1/16/2011
Decor - cool, understated, modern
Service - attentive, but not cloying, friendly, but not fake
Food - interesting, nice presentation, worth a second visit
The story - We had my birthday party here. They managed to serve 35 people without a hitch and they didn't make a big deal of us reserving a table for a big group. They had another large group earlier in the evening, they were leaving as we were arriving, but everything went very smoothly. I would recommend them for group dinners. Very few places in the city will let you hold a group dinner without a big deposit AND do a great job of it too.
The bonus - at the end of the night there were a few of us left and they brought us a champagne toast to finish off the night. This little extra touch meant a lot to me.
It's also a pretty easy neighborhood to find parking. -
Review from Hungry J.
San Francisco, CA
9/26/2011
I am a usual here, and I love the food! However, when I dined here last week, I had a woman named Tukta as my server, and she was extremely rude to us. Not sure if she is always like this, but why be in the restaurant industry if you're not willing to respect your clientele?
-
Review from Erin B.
San Ramon, CA
10/2/2010
I'm not a Thai food expert, but this place was extremely good. The Spring Duck Rolls were flavorful and I enjoyed the plum dipping sauce, although I preferred using the garlicy sauce from my Sizzling Prawns appetizer to dip, instead. The Sizzling Prawns were indeed sizzling and perfectly cooked. Although, I thought $10 (maybe $12?) was too expensive for only 4-5 prawns. It's not like it's lobster.
They offer a Pumpkin Curry dish and as long as the word "pumpkin" is in the title, I'm eatin' it. I ordered it with chicken and it was awesome. If there were a straw in arm's reach, I would've started sipping the leftover sauce.
I also tried the Green Curry dish with seafood- also very good, (but I liked the pumpkin better.) The seafood was supposed to be a blend of scallops, calamari and shrimp, but I think I only got one or two shrimp, one scallop, and a million calamari (which I don't really care for unless it's fried.)
Although the area seems somewhat vacant and industrialized, the ambiance inside is very nice; modern and clean. I love the open kitchen and the large windows.
I assume this place is mostly kept in business by the Adobe employees and other smaller businesses within walking distance.
Overall, a very pleasant place to get some excellent Thai food, as far as my ammature Thai taste buds could tell! -
Review from Jason B.
11/8/2010
I was tempted to go with the chef's pumpkin curry special, but I might, just might, be all pumpkined out. Loyal readers know I've been on a pumpkin binge of epic proportions.
Besides, something else looked rather intriguing. The rainbow curry, blending potatoes, grapes, pineapple, cherry tomatoes and bell peppers, was unlike anything I've had before. It was culinary go time.
Happy to report they all work together nicely. Could have used more curry and less rice, but I tend to say these things when I just want more of whatever is delicious. -
Review from Denise F.
San Francisco, CA
11/29/2011
If youre looking for a good Thai place to grab lunch this is it. My co-workers and I have grabbed lunch here and enjoyed it. During lunch it can be a little loud but the service is quick and the food is good.
