The Boat
Categories: Thai, Asian Fusion [Edit]
1390 Fullerton RdSte 105
Rowland Heights, CA 91748 (626) 913-5573
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Private Lot
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: None
67 reviews
Rowland Heights, CA
"ok so i thought i would give coconut bay another try. wow i was VERY impressed. it was def a better experience than the first. the…" read more »
61 Reviews for The Boat
Ate here twice, the food was pretty good.
service was kind shitty, like my brother ordered one thai iced tea, and she brought two out. i was like, .uhh we only ordered one, and she looked at me and said with attitude, uh.. its only like a dollar. i was like bitch wtf? but other than that the food was pretty good.
Ordered the pad see ew, radna crispy noodle, and the woonsen, all were pretty tasty. the prices are pretty good too.
so i rate this place 4 stars based on food and price
service can be good or bad, just depends on the waiter
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this place is about the same as coconut bay or banana bay
since its owned by same owner as coconut and banana bay
its cheap and good food
Chili's of Thai food. You won't get bad food nor great food. Infact, you'll probably find it more like Thai comfort food. I usually go with groups since this place has a little of everything for everyone.
Not bad! It wasn't the best noodles I've ever had, but it was definitely comforting after constantly eating really heavy American food for the last four days. They have a huge variety of food that was a mix of Chinese and Thai food. It's amazingly cheap! We got two chicken noodle soups, one beef stew noodle, one garlic pork clay pot, three thai iced teas, and one hot ovaltine all for 33 dollars!!! TELL ME THAT'S NOT CHEAP!!!!!!
I thought the service was really good. The waiters were friendly and joking with us. I was told by my friend that the service is usually pretty shitty, but I was pleasantly surprised at how nice they were. They're open fairly late too. We came in around 11:00 and the place was still busy. It's in this plaza that has a ton of different Asian restaurants and stores, and it was totally packed when we got there. If I was back down south, I wouldn't mind coming here again.
Food is pretty good and super cheap. We ordered 6 items and it was only 40 something dollars. That's super cheap compared to the bay area.
Tried their pad see ew and that was pretty good. Their spaghetti rad na was also pretty spicy and good, but nothing stood out. Fish cakes, a must in every thai restaurant and that passed muster, but not memorable. They did have something called fish and curry custard. Interesting, but not delicious. Just good. Very solid restaurant. I would come back just for the pricing.
The place here isn't the best for customer service, and what Asian restaurant is?, but the food and quality are pretty decent. I like this place's Pad Thai the best because they automatically give you the flat noodle instead of having to specifically ask for it. The chicken with mint leaves is good too. It's in a convenient location and it's great to get to late at night to avoid crazy Chinese soccer moms during the day time.
Not sure whats up with the low ratings some users have posted but in my opinion you cant beat a decent tasting thai place open til 2am! I had ok service when I went at 12am . Ordered the calamari, pad thai, and thai iced tea. The menu had tons of other stuff but for a late night meal i just felt like something simple. It definitely hit the spot! I couldnt believe all the people young and old running around the mall around the restaurant, sure was lively for a 12am on a sunday night. Overall I had a good experience and would definitely return with my thai-late-craving food friends!
I was in the area on a Friday evening so my friend recommended that we meet here for dinner. Overall the food was pretty decent. Nothing spectacular, but it hit the spot. The menu was huge, but I was very decisive with the green coconut curry and she had the katsuya noodles. We also split a plate of the fried calamari. I don't think I would travel just to eat here again, but I would definitely recommend the food, it was cheap, and the service we had was pretty good.
The Boat serves a big variety of dishes -from Thai, Chinese, to some fusions and much more. I usually visit The Boat when it's late and other restaurants are closed. Their food satisfies my cravings and the restaurant itself is nice -with a large fish tank as the restaurants' center piece. The times I have been to The Boat, I have had decent service and I leave full and content.
I am basing the 5 rating on the reasonable prices, quality of food and the variety on the menu.
Usually for under $8 you can get one of the best Vietnamese/Thai/Other Asian inspired fusion dishes you will ever taste in the states (not every dish is 5 star). When I lived in Santa Barbara, it was necessary for me to drive here once a week to get the PAD KEE MAO, SINGAPORE NOODLE, GARLIC PORK IN HOT POT, BUTTERFLY SHRIMP and CALAMARI- simply the best. Their wide variety of boba does not disappoint either.
This place is open late too, either 2 or 4am.
BTW, for those people who are not accustomed to bad service at Asian restaurants, most reasonably-priced restaurants have bad service. Service is not a factor in my rating scale. Also, if you are not happy with the service, tip less.
I need to eat some PAD KEE MAO tonight.
This place was certainly cheap enough and the food was pretty good, but then someone at my table ordered something and it turned out to be the smelliest thing ever! Luckily, I was already done with my food, but she could barely swallow it without gagging. It was really bizarre! I wouldn't necessarily go back here.
Lets face it, you don't go to asian places for service, its all about the food. Which is strange cause in thailand, at restaraunts the service is amazing, except for the fact that the you feel a little guilty cause they make you feel like some kind of superior figure to them. Anyways... I think the boats service is passable and I really have no complaints. Its really good thaifood. What I really like is how they make my favorite fried fish and with the usual mango salsa like side they have, they add green apples that gives it an incredible flavor with the fish. On Christmas, my whole family was going to have dim sum, but that took forever. So we thought, hell! we're thai, lets just have thaifood. and they accompanied my entire family and I was greatful for that. there was like 13 of us. and the had an area all ready. So service, they did great, I left happy.
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i think this place goes down consistently in flavor, service, portion... or maybe my tastes are just bored, tired, fed up with mediocre food.
i remember i came here in college and it was delicious, but that could be because i was coming from sd where there is no good asian food. i mean occasionally run into korean food made by a grandma or really really fresh sashimi...but i'm just digressing.
anyway, in recent times, i go to boat, and i get a heap of trash. ok well not complete trash, but like 2-3 stars worth, like edible, sometimes flavorful, but mostly i wouldn't come back again unless everything else closed, forever, everywhere. maybe its because i work in hollywood now, and thai town is like 5 mins away and $5 and a whole lot more tastier and more thai-ish.
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One star only? (In best Gob Bluth voice:) Come On! I went to The Boat today with my gf tonight. As a certified Thai chef, she thought the food was fine! The pork satay is just as good as anywhere else. The papaya salad has the right amounts of dried shrimp, peanuts, and spiciness. Compared to other Thai restaurants, The boat's Kai Yeow Ma (fried mint leave with preserved eggs and ground pork) is not too sweet. The waiter also brought our food out in a very reasonable time.
That's 3 stars out of 5. Average. But not bad.
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i liked it but it was nothing special.
Holy Bejesus on Bikes and Tricycles.. Red Alert people Friggin Red Alert!
The king of suck if ever I have been to one. Its not the ambience, its not the service... that's right you got it... that one last possibility..
the food!! Shhhheeesssshhh
My gal and I We ordered three dishes, Pad Thai, Fried Rice with Shrimp and Singaporean Rice Noodles...
To gauge the suck level of this joint... when the Rice noodles first arrived... it was super yummy until when I dug into a fork full of noodles on the edge and I noticed they were ice cold.. like right out of the fridge.. and boom it hit me. This order wasn't prepped as I ordered it and cooked then.. this plate of crud was nuked and sent to me! Alas no wonder the food arrived in 5 mins flat!!
Then the pad thai and fried rice arrived at the same time. The pad thai was bland... but the fried rice was a friggin crime.
You could tell from the hardened rice on that this stuff had been sitting out for a while and the moisture from the rice was gone so instead you would keep biting into hard crusty pieces of rice because yep I think they nuked and pre-made the fried rice eons before the order was sent.
This is one of those joints that really ticks me off. They mastered the art of getting your food fast by freezing everything and nuking food to get it to you with the pretense that its made to order.
I can nuke my grub at home damn it, I don't need to pay the joint and tip the staff to nuke food that could be eons old and sitting around befrieding all matter of bugs and critters.
Two thumbs down ... way down... I'm jabbing at the soil here people. Please avoid this hellish joint....
Banana Boat management.. if you ever in your effing life eyeball this review. Realize.. you can be fast and fresh charge two bucks more a plate or whatever it is... But serve dishes like that and you are viable to one day food poison some innocents and they will take you for all you are worth.
Wise up and realize that any trade that serves its client should be proud of its creations and services.. You guys just took spot one on the Hall of Shame. Ugh... I think my tummy is feeling weird... oh no......
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Reasonable price, average service, and typical thai food.
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I'm not sure who owns this joint, but I'm pretty sure he or she is not Thai. I can't think of any sane Thai person who would open a restaurant which serves Thai food as bad as this place. The most important Thai food bar none is of course "PADTHAI". If your PADTHAI tastes bad, your restaurant will not be successful....this is THAI 101. If your food tastes bad, at least your service should be good. If your service isn't good, than at least the food should be Fast. If you don't have neither than ...well...open a place in a busy Chinese mall where none Thai can come enjoy your fake Thai food. Go eat real Thai food people. Ask Jamie S. where you should go...she's a Thai Specialist.
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Hmm...The Boat. I have a lot of good memories here, but not about the food; we would often come here with large groups of friends after a night of partying because its cheap. Thats probably the best thing about this place. The food is nothing special. I can't really recommend anything because everything is just so-so. Its ok for like lunch or something, but I would just suggest heading down the street to Banana Bay.
ps - if your going to eat here, don't waste time looking for parking upstairs, just park in the underground garage.
Service is: Average
Food is: Average - Good (depending on what you order)
Ambiance is: Average
Prices are: $
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Food is average and service is poor (then again I agree with Katar, who goes to Asian places for the service?). Found a hair in my Pad Thai last time I went and was looked at strangely when I asked them to take it back. And I still had to pay for it. Can I give negative stars?
I'm going to make this review as short and to the point as possible as I do not want to waste anymore time with this company.
Pros:
- Decent Thai Style lengthy menu
- Quality of food is good when you're lucky
Cons:
- Long waits for food
- Unfriendly and English-lacking waiters/waitresses
- Inconsistent food quality
- Random mixups
- Bad delivery services
Major Complaint:
- DELIVERY SERVICE SUCKS!
Let me explain: They advertise they deliver to nearby homes and businesses with a flyer menu. If you get lucky and try to order, they will deliver fine with no problems. However, almost 50% or more of the time, you will notice they give you excuses such as driver's not available, driver is sick, driver just left, or anything in that category. This is inexcusable because when you advertise for delivery, such as pizza, they ALWAYS deliver during operating hours, regardless! I understand it's a small business but if you cannot keep up with the simple demands, I suggest you stop advertising it fully and stop wasting peoples time of looking through the menu and find out they will not deliver. It's just ridiculous and angers me just thinking about it. I have stopped ordering from them for delivery until they shape up their services.
This company's menu is the same as The Cove (San Gabriel), Banana Bay (Rowland Hts.), and Coconut Bay (Rowland Heights). It might be different owners but there is a growing trend of lack of service. Customer BEWARE!
Before Banana Bay, this place was my favorite of all. The dishes used to be awesome. It has slightly dropped so far, and the parking is terrible at night because Life Plaza is the spot!
I believe I have tasted most of the in the menu. Continental fried rice is still my favortie among its competitors.
Still, The Boat is very affordable and serves decent thai food.
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Perfectly acceptable place to eat when it's 11pm and you're not sure what else to do. The Boat plays Top 40, has a fishtank, is decorated in silly zingy colors. The sign promises "exotic" food, but it just looked like Thai to me. There's a BIG menu, though, big enough that there are tabs on the menu like binder dividers. As a vegetarian, I'm always getting shafted, but even though the menu didn't have too many straight-up veg options, many dishes' descriptions included that they could be made vegetarian. They can also make your food without fish sauce if you ask.
Nobody was floored by their food. I had pad see ew, a favorite, and the disappointing amount of tofu seemed undercooked, but the noodles were fine. My friend's pad thai tasted too much like lime and seemed uninspired, like the cook threw it together and shrugged that it was good enough. The friend who got a vegetable dish liked hers well enough. I was weirded out by the leek cakes, my friends liked them. The only dead animal dishes at the table, some kind of shrimp on a skewer with a crazy forcefield of dried noodles surrounding it and chicken satay, were, I was told, no good.
So no, The Boat isn't great, however, there's enough of a variety that you can bring a bunch of people and everyone will be happy, it's cheap, and most importantly, it's open until 2am on weekends. If you want soap and paper towels in the restroom, though, you should go earlier.
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Okay so the food isn't THAT great and the service is kinda slow. but i mean if you're craving thai, this will do the job.
the spicy chicken curry is pretty good.
prices are cheap too.. i mean most dishes are under 8.
the best part is that they are open for those late night cravings.
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very disappointed at what I ate here.
Pad thai, Pad See ew, Fried Fish w/ spicy sauce, Shrimp fried rice, chinese veggie, string beans.. just not tasty..
only stuffed chicken wings are okay.
They need to change their oval dishes. Way big for the food.
Good God, the snack lobby area is amazing. I loved by snacks here and having a healthy staple of thai snacks for my apt. Anyways the food here is either a hit or miss alot of the times, there doesn't seem to be a good consistency to their quality of food. Their noodle dishes are average, and well I ordered a couple Thai beef dishes (Nuah Nam Tok, and Nuah Pad Ka Proa) and those have turned out really good or way too salty on a couple of occasions.
Service is good, and did I mention those snacks....yummy. Maybe I will give it one more chance later.
My friends and I decided to eat here since the place we were planning to eat at was closed. The food was very good but the service was slow. All of us got some sort of fried rice or pan fried noodles. All of us agreed that the food hit the spot but the drinks were way too sweet. We just ordered sodas so I'm guessing that the soda machine was running out of soda and just pouring out mostly syrup. The food is cheap (plates running around 6-8 dollars each), but the service left a lot to be desired. We went on a thursday night and it was pretty dead with a couple of other tables up but not much. We sat there for some time waiting for someone to help us when 2 guys were just standing near the register not doing anything at all. After they took our order, service got a lot better with food speed, refill speed and finally the check. Overall, just like most asian places, service is not priority while food and prices are.
Another favorite late night spot for Thai food is The Boat in Rowland Heights (located off the 60 fwy, inside Diamond Plaza). The food is good and inexpensive, and they're open late.
The service kinda lags, especially when they're busy...and they do get busy, especially on weekends. Every business within that complex seems to be full of Asians at night regardless how late it is...which explains the terrible parking situation and overcrowding over there. In which case, I usually just park, order to go, and bounce so I can enjoy my meal at home minus all the unnecessary noise...
Went here this past weekend after a friend who comes here every week said how good the food was. We got there around 7pm and hardly anyone was in there, so my group of 6 was seated right away. Our drink orders came right away so one star for that. When our food finally came, but only 4 orders showed up. It took about another 20 minutes to receive the other two orders, by that time everyone was already done eating....minus one star. We all ordered either the pad thai or the pad see ew and found it to be very bland and oily. The only saving grace for this place are the desserts they have. The fried taro balls with the peanut sauce and fried banana were both very tasty.
I'd say that you're better off eating at one of the other restaurants in the plaza and just coming here for the desserts they offer.
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Besides their awful service, their food is actually pretty tasty. The portions have been reduced in the past couple of years but every order is definetly enough to fill the hungiest person. I like their BBQ chicken /w tomato fried rice...it is very good! Their pad-thai and other traditional thai dishes were decent, I'm not too sure about their soup noodles but I've have mixed reviews. I think, actually I have no clue but it seems like "The Boat" is under new ownership. The Boat used to have an identical menu to Banana Bay but now its a little different. Out of the two, I'd recommend Banana Bay...although their service sucks too but who cares. You're paying $6 for good food.! enjoy!
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I don't see the big deal about The Boat. I think both The Boat and Banana Bay are overrated and have rude service and their food isn't that great either. The prices aren't even good here! Sure they have a huge menu, but it don't come cheap! The Boat has oily and by far one of the worst Thai food I've had. Especially the Pad Thai. Their Pad Thai depresses me. It's that horrible orange color that it is at many places, it's too sweet, barely has any ingredients and it's super oily to boot. Like the rest of their food. The Pad See Ew is the same and so are their soups. I don't like coming here, but I always end up getting dragged here by someone or another. The Boat makes me sad and angry just by looking at it. I have yet to find a really good Thai place in the Rowland Heights/Hacienda Heights area.
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The Boat makes me happy. I've been going here for years and I think they've been consistent in their food and service which has always been great. I have yet to bring a friend here who hasn't liked it. They do get really busy but I've never felt neglected while dining here. The prices are hard to beat and everything is fresh. My favorite dishes are the Pad See Eew with Tofu, Tom Kha Kai (Coconut Chicken Soup), the Hainam Chicken, and the BBQ duck salad.. mmm! Parking really does suck in the plaza where this restaurant resides so try parking in the underground garage. If you're looking for authentic Thai food in a quiet restaurant with lots of privacy, this place isn't the place for you. But the food is good, service fast, and you walk away satisfied and stuffed.
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The food is very satisfying. Since I can't drive to north Hollywood whenever I want this is closer to OC. I like the stewed pork hock over rice. I've had the same dish in Thai Town and this comes pretty darn close. I only gave it 3 stars b/c of the slow or nonexistent service.
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Maybe it's just me. Or maybe I just want to fill up my "Against The Grain" list on my personal Yelp list.
I felt different about this place compares to the other reviewers. Granted I am there during weekend dead hours (between "after lunch" and right "before dinner"). Therefore I don't experience the rush hour of jam packed crowds of young Asian yuppies.
The place is not bad at all in terms of seatings. They have the big tables at the bigger dining hall while the "couples booth" is reserved for the smaller gatherings of young couples or less than 4 people seatings. Luckily I always get stuck with the less than 4 crowds so I can grab a table right away.
Let's be honest about the food, it's Thai food that is catered to the Taiwanese crowds. You can tell that they prepared it to the likings for the people that visited Diamond plaza (obviously majority of them are not Thai). Just like the other popular pseudo Thai place down the street (Banana Bay), it's not totally authentic Thai food.
However, it's still very good with many of the popular Thai dishes. The pricing wise is not bad at all. Majority of the dishes are around $5-$7 with desserts coming in at less than $4. Their bobba tea drinks are excellent also, considering Ten Ren is right across from them and Life Plaza is around the corner that does the same thing.
The service I have gotten are excellent and very attentive. I get checked on regularly with friendly service. That I think was the big surprise from reading the other reviews. Maybe the dead hours are much more easier to handle for the staff than the rush hours, but it's still much better than expected.
There's plenty of dishes you can order from the normal Pad Thai, to other noodle and rice dishes. Surprisingly their won ton noodle soup was excellent. I also would suggest getting the BBQ noodle soup as it is one of my favorite in there. The combination of BBQ or chicken fried rice would be a good choice. Down it with any choice of bobba tea drinks and get a fried banana as your desert, it would be a pretty good meal right there.
The parking will be a bit*h at this plaza at night and the lanes of traffic is horrible. Be warned if you don't like young adults who acted like pretentious cool for their own likings because they will come in force at night.
Yes, as you can tell....I hang out with them. Ha!
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Good food, good selection on menu, large portions, never a wait (the times ive been) and price isnt bad. Continental fried rice is good and very filling and you cant go wrong with any of the traditional thai dishes
parking sucks and is theres usually a crowd of people in the area.
The food is very similar to Banana Bay but I prefer the later. The quality of the food and setting just seems like a down grade from Banana Bay (they pile dirty dishes in the hall way by the bathrooms and the food tastes ).
I've had FRIED TARO at both The Boat and Banana Bay and they're about the same. I got the PAD SEE EW (vegetarian) and it was just OK. Dishes are about $12-$15
If you like Thai/Maylasian food then you will enjoy this place. The prices are reasonable. The services is a hit & miss can a deal. Sometime your server is right there & sometime you can't find your server but otherwise the food is yummy. My favorite dish is the Papaya Salad (if you like spicy salad) and Pad Thai. When I'm there with a big group (4+) I would order Chicken Satay & Fried Calamari or Angle Wings. The Tom Yum Kai soup, Hainam Chicken, Thai Fried Rice, Rad Na or Pad See Ew, and for dessert if in season Sticky Mango. It's the BEST!
The wait is long. The place is packed with kids / teenagers, but once you get through the ruckus, the food is really good. You can't go wrong with Pad thai here, it's delicious and the Thai tea is good as well.
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So I just recently went to this place. It was a couple days ago actually. One of my friends kept talking about how good the food was and how she'd been craving it, so I gave it a shot, but was a bit skeptical because the place had a B grade. We went in at about 2 pm, and there was no wait. We were quickly seated and had our order taken. I actually thought the service was decent, even when seated at the back corner. The three of us ordered the Pineapple Fried Rice, Garlic Shrimp Fried Rice, and the Pad See Ew. The Garlic Fried Rice was the best, but still didn't live up to the hype my friend created.
Halfway into our meal, my friend found a hair in her Pad See Ew. We all cringed a little. I guess you can say that really put the EW in Pad See Ew. When we told the waitress she apologized, and my friend reordered the same thing over again. About 5 minutes later, a new plate came out. I just hope it wasn't the same one. Overall the food was okay, and pricing wasn't bad either. But with a B grade, and a bad first impression, don't count on me going back to this place again.
I ate here once wanting to try something new. The food was average. Did not leave any impression on me to come back or not.
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