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Sala Thai Restaurant - CLOSED
Rating Details »
- Nearest Transit:
-
Dupont Circle (Red)
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
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27 reviews for Sala Thai Restaurant
I've only gone here for lunch, but have done so several times and this is a good place to have in rotation of work time lunch spots.
The place is no frills and in a basement, but I'll eat anywhere...anywhere...I've only had a handful of dishes and most of them are standard, not exceptional or terrible. The reason this place gets 3 stars is this house special dish, a crispy duck with curry on the side. Plenty of Thai spots have coconut milk curry dishes, but they cook the duck separate and crispy, and put the sauce in a bowl with the veggies...it's the shizzle damn snap!
UPDATE: They overcharged my credit card $80 5 days after I ate there. The situation was rectified, sure, but only after 3 very, very frustrating phone calls.
The circumspection of my previous review no longer holds. Do not go here.
+++++
Pretty weak, but passable if you're in a bind.
I had the Tofu Pad Thai. Meh. It's hard to screw up pad thai, and they didn't really screw it up, but it didn't knock my socks off. Also, I had my friends order for me and it was sitting on the table when I got there. Some people might find that a nice touch; I find it to be distressing. Look: if it's so quick-and-easy to whip up (I was not more than 10-12 minutes behind my friends' ordering it) why don't you bring it to me all piping-hot right as i sit down? As it was, it was sort of approaching room-temperature. Sort of gross. But, again, passable.
I also had some pretty grimy dumplings. Note: they do not have vegetable dumplings. They could not accommodate that order, no matter how hard I inveigled. I'm only a halfhearted vegetarian, but still. If you can't get vegetarian Asian food, you can't get vegetarian. That's a rule. Seriously. Try to apply it to some situation you're in. It'll work.
The singha's were the best thing about the meal.
The waiter had these really gross, long fingernails appropriate only to street-side Guqin players or Colombian drug jefes.
I probably won't got back. But if I was in a crowd of people, and the median opinion was "let's go to this mediocre Thai place I know" I'd probably succumb. Unless I hated the people. Then I'd throw a fit, level broad generalizations about 'all' of their characters, and stomp home.
This town continually diminishes my expectations.
The Sala Thai on P Street is a tiny little place tucked into the P street area of Dupont, and it's a nice place to head to if you'd like to get away from the crowds of folks around the Connecticut Avenue places and actually relax and enjoy your meal without having to shout your conversation. And the food ain't bad either!
The Drunken Noodle dish was spicy, with many fresh green chilies thrown in to keep the heat up. The noodles look like they're made in-house or nearby, 'cause they're super-wide and much thinner than the typical Chow Fun/Drunken Noodle rice noodles you see at many restaurants. The dish is a bit oily, but considering it's a noodle stir-fry dish with meat, chilies and basil, there's gonna be oil there. It's not overly greasy though, just...shiny. It didn't feel like I was eating grease, and the flavors of the chicken and fresh herbs and chilies came through. Plus, there was enough for my friend and I to share and still be content with our light meal. Score!
The waitstaff is very friendly and keeps the water glasses filled without being stalker-esque. Our waiter didn't have the slightest problem with my friend and I ordering one dish and splitting it; not a condescending glance in sight! The place was hopping, but it was a Saturday night *and* it was a restaurant showing March Madness games. Still, we got seated right away and our food came out really quickly.
The only thing that really struck me as a die-hard negative is that this place is accessible only by heading down a handful of narrow stairs, so anyone who needs accessible entrances will be hard-pressed to head in on his or her own steam.
I'd give this place five stars, but since I've only been here once and had one dish I'll get back to you on that one.
Assume for a second that you've never had Thai food before. Assume you've never even heard of Thailand before, and you stumble into Sala Thai thinking that it is some Spanish restaurant and because you are naturally drawn to the color purple.
Also assume that you need your food to be as bland as possible and you are blind enough that you really cannot discern if food looks like an appetizing meal or a tire fire.
Lastly, assume that your goal in eating is simply to fill yourself. Food is only nourishment to satiate apatite, enjoying it is giving into Satan. This goal can only be encouraged, in your assumed mind, if you overpay for beer.
If these conditions are met, you will enjoy yourself at Sala Thai... totally and completely.
I will not be back, unless (as Matt J so eloquently put it) "I was in a crowd of people, and the median opinion was "let's go to this mediocre Thai place I know" [then] I'd probably succumb."
I consider myself a Thai food snob - so be forewarned. I have eaten at scores of Thai restaurants across this great land. In cities, towns, and even hamlets. We were actually hesitant upon entry of the place, staring at the menu on the kiosk, but the "nice couple from Long-Island" that were coming out went on and on about how good it was. We should have listened to our instincts. The wait staff was friendly but that is where the good stuff ends....
When I read reviews of Thai restaurants, I often read about people eating the Pad-Thai, yada yada... To me, Pad-Thai is like a cheeseburger - and while I will agree that a cheeseburger is different at 5 Guys than it is at McDonalds - it is still a cheeseburger. This said, I tend to judge a Thai rest. by its curries, soups, and other dishes - and so at Sala Thai, I settled on a house salad with Peanut dressing, and the Panang Curry w/ chicken - 5 stars spicy.
The portion size of the salad was adequate, however the lettuce was all yellow and the peanut dressing was like a jar of Skippy mixed with some sort of oil. Just not good.
Then came the entree. Panang curry at Sala = some chicken and a couple of veggies thrown onto a plate and forced to swim in more skippy-oil. More not good. My 5-star spicy request was blander than a salteen dipped in water, and when I asked for fresh chili peppers on the side, I received 4 containers of the usual "we are not serious about our food being authentic" condiments.
My wife ordered the pineapple fried rice and decided that the chunks of pineapple had been used in a bar drink and recycled especially for her dish. Between that and the fatty chicken chunks, I think she was able to stomach about three bites.
My son had his usual Thai fare consisting of Tom Kha Gai soup and a side of rice. The soup tasted OK until we discovered odd-tasting light-colored root-like ingredients (Diakon? Rotten Water Chestnut?) which he was content to eat around.
The ambiance was non-existent. A basement coat closet posing as a Thai Restaurant. The upside was that someone had put a big Flat Screen TV on the wall to watch ball games. The downside was that close-captioning covered the top half of the screen, including the the baskets.... it is very frustrating to see the shot, and wonder if the ball went in on a TV that large.
Sala Thai - 2 stars is generous. Skip it.
This place is not good at all. I've had good Thai, and this ain't it. The location is nice but besides that save your money. Pizza Paradiso is right across the street and is 100x better.
I will definitely not return.
Before heading to a surprise party in Georgetown last night and running a few errands in the city we still found ourselves with time to kill. So what was there to do? EAT! Even though I wasn't hungry I thought it would be a good way to kill some of the 2 hrs we had left wandering the city. It was a toss up between pizza or my suggestion being thai. I won obviously ;)
Upon entering the place didn't match the quality of food at all. It wasn't decorated fancy or at all for that matter but still that didn't turn me off. We started with the nights special, crab wontons. Delicious! I loved how the veggies inside weren't over cooked or mushy. I ordered the drunken noodles with chicken and my friend got the tofu pad thai. Both dishes came out quickly and we never once had to wave someone down for a water refill.
I want to say I've been to Sala Thai before in Chevy Chase MD... correct me if I'm wrong because I can't remember. And when I asked the girl that sat us if they had a location in Chevy Chase she was just about as clueless as I was. I knew I saw those napkins/design before.
I would definitely return. Not sure when but give it a whirl :)
Sala Thai doesn't exactly possess what one might call "ambiance." It's a hole in the wall basement joint that often has a funky smell - something like chlorine and a locker room. Appealing, I know.
If you can overlook that -- give it two minutes inside & you'll be fine -- Sala Thai really does have great food. It's hardly ever very crowded, so you always get pretty attentive servce; the servers are friendly and efficient. I usually get the chicken kaprow, which is great here -- my favorite in the city (since the Sala Thai in Cleveland Park closed). They've also got very good fried rice, & for appetizers I recommend the chicken satay (their peanut sauce is amazing!) and the vegetable spring rolls (again with incredible sauce!) I've never been with anyone who didn't enjoy their meal from Sala Thai.
They also deliver. They've been really good about preparing and delivering HUGE orders for our office -- I mean, like, thirty individual orders, always labeled with people's names so we can tell which meal belongs to whom. How's THAT for out-of-the-way service? When we order in for dinner (just a couple of us, not dozens!), their delivery is always speedy. I also often phone in a pick-up order at lunchtime -- always ready within 5 to 10 minutes.
I'm a Sala Thai fan. Can you tell?!
One note, though: Sala Thai in Dupont Circle is NOT handicap accessible AT ALL -- you have to walk down a flight of stairs just to get in.
One of my favorite thai dishes is the crazy noodle, also known, at times, as the drunken noodle. I've had it many times in many variations.
I had heard good things and decided to order from Sala Thai. In my opinion, my dish was small for what I paid, greasy (and not in a good way), and in addition to not being satisfying, way too spicy.
I was very disappointed and would probably not order from Sala Thai again with all the other restaurants that are in the area.
(Pluses: I ordered over the phone and the order was ready (and correct!) within 10 minutes. Also, the place looked clean when I went in to pick up my order.)
In reading through the many reviews of Thai restaurants in the DC area, it definitely looks like Thai food is even more subjective than many other cuisines - two people can have the exact same food but think completely differently of it.
Personally, I love Sala Thai more than any other Thai restaurant I've been to (not just in DC, but anywhere). My favorite dish, the Panang Gai (chicken in peanut/coconut milk sauce) has been excellent almost every time (there have been one or two off nights, but even those were still good). I also love the Mango & Sticky Rice dessert (or the green tea ice cream).
The Dupont Circle location is in the basement of a row house, and the atmosphere is okay, but not great (it's still a good place to go with friends and be able to hang around and enjoy conversation, etc.) - I guess there's just something about the fact that it is a basement with no windows that kind of brings it down just a bit. I've found the U Street location to have a nicer atmosphere (and U Street has outdoor seating). The service at both locations (as well as at the Bethesda location) has always been top-notch, in my experience.
I've definitely been disappointed by many Thai restaurants, but Sala Thai has never let me down.
We went to Sala Thai Saturday night at 8pm and got a table right away. The restaurant is down a level from the street and relatively small - probably seats 40 maximum. The decor was very nice and lighting was low for dinner. Our waitress was pleasant and prompt for taking our order and delivering dinner. We did have a few minutes where we were waiting for the check and no-one appeared but overall that wasn't a huge deal.
We ordered two Chef's specials, the Fried Shrimp Tamarind and Lad Na Talay. Neither one was terribly hot but the spices were still tasty. The shrimp in the Fried Shrimp Tamarind were well cooked but not breaded (which is what I pictured when reading the Fried part). It was all good because the tamarind sauce was delicious. The Lad Na Talay was a mixture of seafoods and some large home-made noodles. The portions weren't huge but we weren't dismayed at all because it was just the right amount.
Overall a nice and relaxing experience and I will return and would recommend it to friends.
I went here on a Friday night at 6:30 or so. Had the appetizer sampler, and was pleasantly surprised by everything I had. The chicken satay on skewers was perfect, great charcoal cooking with a fantastic peanut dipping sauce. The pinkies in the blanket (shrimp spring roll-ish things) were delicious, as were the dumplings, and everything else. A good sign of things to come.
I ordered a dish with beef, eggplant, chili, garlic and basil. It was phenomenal, even as leftovers. Really excellent Thai food. The other dish ordered was a chicken/cashew dish which was also very delicious.
All-in-all, one of the better Thai places I've been to, definitely. I'd certainly go back.
I tend to migrate toward Sala Thai whenever I am in Dupont Circle around dinner time. I like that it is rarely too packed and you can show up without a reservation or fighting to get a table. However, the food is fabulous and always on the mark. The drinks are very strong and you get your money's worth. I love the curries, pad thai, and the chicken satay.
My husband and I split 3 dishes here and all where delicious. Not too spicy, very flavorful and tasty.
We had the pad thai with shrimp, the special crispy duck which was magnificent, and the beef in parsley sauce.
All the items where fresh, nothing tasted like greasy Asian food can taste at so many places, and everything had a wonderful flavor without being overpowering.
This is a great place for tasty food. Also We saw about 6 people there that were clearly Thai, so i doubt people that know about Thai food would eat there if it was bad.
I will say however that I do not think their food tastes overly Asian if you know what I mean, there are no weird strange flavors, everything is mild and tasty enough for any palate. (all the dishes we ordered had 1 chili pepper rating)
I've eaten enough Thai food to know when things are not going well. Unfortunately, Sala Thai definitely missed the mark on my recent visit.
I went in for the first time earlier this week with a friend, and we ordered spring rolls (hot, not fresh), Yum Nua (grilled beef salad w/ spicy dressing and lots of herbs), Basil Chicken and Beef Pad See Iew (sweeter sauce w/ noodles and broccoli).
When our starters arrived, the first thing that hit me was the portion size. The spring rolls were tiny, as was the portion of salad we received. Worse, the beef was cut into chunks instead of sliced thin, which made it harder to eat. The salad was also full of tree-trunk-like scallions that totally overwhelmed the other flavors. . . Not a good start. :-/
The entrees were equally underwhelming. The basil chicken was served with very few basil leaves and a TON of overly-oily broth. It was fine but nowhere as good as it could have been. The pad see iew was equally disappointing, mainly because it was pretty cold and a little greasy by the time we ate it. . . There was also a definite dearth of broccoli on the plate.
In general, the ambiance inside was fine. It's clear that the place has been around for a while, and the men's room could definitely have done with an update (no lights near the sink. . . weird), but it was, again, fine. Nothing egregious, but also nothing to write home about. The service was subpar due to what seemed like inadequate staffing. There were three servers for the whole place, which was sufficient when we got there at 7. By the time we left at 9:30, the restaurant had filled up, and the staff didn't have enough uniformed staff to turn over tables.
This place is not at the top of my list for Thai; for their sake, I hope I caught them on an off night. . .
I've only had one dish there, I get it every time, but friends who are more adventurous speak well of the rest of the menu.
The mango red curry is excellent. We go there for their lunch special, and for 12.95 you get two spring rolls, soup, your entree, and a drink. There's more than enough to take home for later!
The service is good, our waitresses have been very attentive the last two times I been there. The restaurant is in the basement of a building, so it is a little dark. Pretty spartan decor--which is to say there isn't any. The music--must be a satellite radio station called "sounds like the 90's" (good one, Kelley).
If you're looking for some yummy lunch, check it out!
Dupont Circle has too many good Thai options for this place to still be around. I used to get delivery from here until I found out that Bangkok Bistro in Georgetown delivers. Sala Thai's tofu is way way too fried and the pad thai was box-esque. They're in a great location and the people working there are really friendly, but they really need to improve the food.
I am SHOCKED by these unemotional reviews. Maybe it all comes down to what you order, because I am obsessed with this place, despite currently living thousands of miles away.
When asked to fill in "Last Meal" for my Yelp profile, the answer came immediately: calamari and drunken noodle with prawns at the Dupont Circle Sala Thai. This fantasy recurs in various guises:
1. I have, on occasion, actually imagined that I am on Death Row and this is what I request for my final meal. This daydream inevitably leads to a mad bout of Googling, as it is necessary that I figure out whether the prison insists on cooking your last meal, or whether they permit take-out. (Does anyone know the answer to this??)
2. A friend from DC is flying out to California to visit me. I contemplate asking him to bring me an order of calamari and drunken noodle. The plan is derailed once I start to wonder whether the food will survive his 12 hours of travel time.
3. In an early episode of The Simple Life (I only watched one episode, I SWEAR!), Paris's mom has Chinese food from LA flown in to whatever farm the girls are lounging about that day. I decide that if I could have my favorite dish from Sala Thai delivered no matter my location, this would be the primary reason to be a celebutante.
I've lived down the street from the Dup Cir Sala Thai for years. For a lot of that time, it has had very good food. But not these days. Their Pad Pik King was one of my fave things ever, but no more. Still OK for some shrimp dishes, and a great won ton soup, but not much else, alas. I'm sure sorry about this.
I'm slightly unsure of what rating to give this place. I've order from them several times since they are normally quick to deliver and pleasant over the phone. Most importantly the pad sew ew I ordered was great the first few times I had it.
However, the last time I ordered the same meal came slightly burnt. I gave them the benefit of the doubt.. I know soy sauce can burn quite easily right? Ok....
Two night's ago I had my last meal there due to their delivery service. I ordered at 5:50pm and at 7:30pm I hadn't heard anything from them. I called to see if perhaps they were a bit busy and they said that the delivery person had the wrong number. I said "not a problem!" and patiently waited the 10 minutes they said it would take to be delivered. 40 minutes later...... 8 pm rolls around and I still hadn't heard anything.
At this point I was ravaged. I'd eaten 5 Quaker oatmeal granola bars, a few brownies and a rice cake. I was hungry for real food but already full from my impromptu meal of sweets. I called again and the woman said that they'd decided to send me a new meal since the old one was cold. I politely thanked them since that was really nice of them but I didn't see how an extra 40 minutes was justified. In total I waited from 5:50pm to 8:15 pm for my food. I asked to be refunded and did not accept the delivery. They never offered a discount or anything of the sort. At that point I called a different thai restaurant and waited 20 minutes for my warm food to get there without any further problems. All because I was craving pad sew ew.......
Four-star curry, one-star ambiance.
It's a typical basement-level restaurant with very little ambiance. But my dinner buddy and I both had green curry (me, the chicken; he, the salmon special) and both were quite tasty. I ordered mine medium spicy, and it was just spicy enough to make my nose run during the entire meal.
Next time I'm in Dupont Circle and craving Thai, I'll definitely be back.
Everything we had was good, but the Pad Thai was probably one of the yummiest Pad Thai's I've ever had! I would definitely go back for a beer and noodles with friends!
I had dinner last Friday after flying in from California. I thought that after trying a variety of dishes that they were okay. As a group I thought the appetizers were a bit on the small size. The crab wonton were definitely tiny and lacked flavor. A couple of meat dishes presented demonstrated they were a little overcooked. It's not bad food but it's average. Nothing memorable. Three star restaurants are a dime a dozen. To achieve the fourth star it has to be extra special.
I'm actually mostly writing about the U St. branc, which is somehow better than its nearby sister, but after testing 10 or so DC thai restaurants, Sala Thai takes the crown. I'd recommend the yum ped and the larb gai as appetizers, and their drunken noodle is the best I've ever had. The pineapple chicken is great, too. The only thing to reproach is that the amateurish live jazz at the U St. branch is sometimes way too loud, and that their curries are a little sub par.
I was inspired to write a review after finding a matchbook for this place. I wasn't sure what to make of this place, (being that I had just gotten into DC a few days before) but I liked it. They pad thai's amazing. It's got some sort of clear sauce, so it doesn't look as though its seasoned. When I first got the plate, I thought "This looks incomplete. I want my money back." Then I took a bite and surprised. It was delicious. Great place. Reasonably priced and close to the Metro.
the food is good, service fine. Prices are what keeps me coming back.
This place was not too bad, although I didn't get what I was expecting. I ordered the Pad Kee Mao with Chicken instead of Tofu, which is what is listed on the menu. Usually, Pad Kee Mao is made with a certain type of rice noodle, but it came out with a crepe-like rice noodle. That was certainly a change, but definintely not enough to get me to say "I'm not eating this". The sauce that came with the Kee Mao was plentiful, spicy, and surprisingly much better than I am used to. The chicken was really rough which really took off the extra two stars I was going to give it. Generally a good lunch option.
