Thai Bistro

I am shocked why no one is commenting on the service provided by their server. What is wrong with their demeanor??? I have eaten Thai food from different continents and at home past 20 years, came to Calgary for a visit from Los Angeles and I feel I have the right to say this place sucks in every way. Their food is less than mediocre! What they cook is not Thai for sure. The eggplant chicken was so dry, eggplant is in big pieces and basically raw, fried rice is fried to a crisp (2 times), the duck had an awful smell to it, again dry. Best bet to get the red curry, panang or the papaya salad. I will never return here ever again. The place is very depressing even though Thai food is supposed to be «comfort food».

Had a groupon for a dinner for four and made a reservation but our fourth couldn’t make it. The server said we couldn’t use the groupon so we asked to speak to the manager since there is no fine print saying you must have four and we were fully prepared to order whatever potential minimum number of dishes that would account for four people. The manager completely refused saying it is not about the amount of food ordered but the number of people through the door. We reminded him that by turning us away because of one missing member he was in fact loosing 3 customers instead of gaining a potential one more, who will be influenced by whether we were treated fairly or not. He refused to accommodate us, mentioning that this same scenario had already happened 3 times prior that evening — meaning he has lost 12 – 16 customers instead of gaining any. We walked out and will never be back.
Went to Ruan Thai instead and had a great meal.

Impressed. I came here and used the Groupon voucher last month on a cold snowy day. I didn’t know what to expect but trying out someplace new with a voucher in hand, what could go wrong and honestly how much risk was I really taking? :)
After reading the last 3 reviews (all one stars), I can see they had a bad experience, but I think their experience was isolated to say the least. There’s give and take with Groupon deals; always read the fine print.
We entered the restaurant, was greeted by the waitress and seated right away. Oh, we called ahead and made a reservation because if I remember correctly, you had to do that. Nonetheless, we were seated promptly and were excited to taste more thai food Calgary has to offer!
The restaurant is clean, has plants and the table settings were nice.
One of the first things I noticed was they had quite a few more items on their menu compared to most thai restaurants I’ve been to. Period; not just in Calgary. One of the things that stood out was the Tilapia — a very healthy white fish you’ll find at other restaurants and also popping up in north american cuisine restaurants too in the last couple of years I’ve found. The best thing was, it wasn’t very expensive and from how the menu described it, it was definitely going to be ordered that night!
We ordered the Penang curry with chicken, 2 jasmine rice and the fried tilapia. All I can say is that I the food is delicious! I ordered a penang curry to go for lunch and except for the rice, only fish bones remained… there’s only so much rice one can have especially when you’re on a diet! The tilapia had an asian-​style salsa which I love and is very popular to have on fish in south east asian dishes, it just compliments the fish so well I found. You must try this if you love fish. Keep in mind that there’s a lot of bones, so be prepared to spit or pick out the bones while you’re eating away.
The waitress was always around and checked on us consistently without fail. The owner/​manager was very kind; genuine.
It was a cold night when we went there, so the restaurant wasn’t exactly full when we got there; I think about 6:30 abouts? The food took no more than expected and all in all I was satisfied and left with a smile :)
Thanks Thai Bistro!

I loved the food, service, and staff. they only lost a star because the dishes took to long to prepare.
I recommend it

My friend and I came here for a late dinner last night post-​CIFF.
Note that I have a very low tolerance for spicy food, so typically, I leave the Thai/​Korean/​Mexican and sometimes Indian restaurants for very special occasions (read — if I absolutely have to). I didn’t «absolutely have to» last night, I suppose; but it was 10PM on a Saturday night up 17^th and everywhere else seemed busy. Also, we wanted to try it out since it’s fairly new (in the area, although I understand there is another location in Chinatown).
My friend ordered a large #10 Tom Yum (chicken) — a hot and sour chicken soup with mushrooms and lemongrass while I ordered the #42 Ka Nom Jean — steamed rice noodles with green curry chicken. I found the portions pretty small for both (the curry and soup came in small bowls), but I’d say they were still filling.
The green curry was really good even though I thought it was quite hot. It was spicier than the Tom Yum actually, but I managed through it (with just one glass of water — which is really impressive for me!). Service was also very friendly and the food was fast — but that might be because we were the only customers there.
I’d come back, though, definitely. Maybe something a little less spicy next time.

This is a second outpost of Thai Bistro in Chinatown, opened in what had been the O Shima space for the last three years. Though I’ve become partial to the newly-​opened Khao San Thai Kitchen a block or so east, and also though my experiences with Thai Bistro in Chinatown have been mixed, I still decided to give this new location a try yesterday. I got an order of the fish cakes (which Khao San doesn’t have on the menu, so it didn’t feel quite like cheating) and their spin on chicken with basil (#62 on the menu, listed by its Thai name which I don’t have in front of me right now) for take-​out.
Food was ready in minutes and as I live steps away, so was I. After a nice brief chat with the Thai owner, I paid my $ 17 and took my repast home. First noticing: This is a lot of food, easily enough, with rice (I made this myself but it’s $ 1.95 on the menu), for two people– for $ 17. Try that at any other Thai place in town. The fish cakes have always been great at the Chinatown location and were here too, with that oddly rubbery but addictive texture and a really nice dipping sauce of sweet chili and cucumbers. Two big cakes are just $ 4, a steal. The basil chicken was fine, but needed both salt and heat– needed more fish sauce and way more chili but I’d hope this can be rectified on ordering. The PORTION was big– as I say, with rice (and you need rice with basil chicken, it’s not made for eating by itself anymore than would you eat bolognese sauce without pasta), it could easily feed two. In a city with consistently overpriced Thai, this is really refreshing.
All in all, I’m thrilled. Yes, we lost two of my favourite restos, O Shima and Jaro Blue, but we got two good new Thai places in a neighbourhood that had had zero (and no, Thai Tai is not Thai but rather a Vietnamese sandwich shop). That’s a trade up, I’d say.