Palais Imperial Restaurant

Adequate service, but not great, could use improvement.
Water glass dirty, lip and food prints on it, can’t help but make you question cleanliness.
Servers rushing around but food was slow, prices bit high, but enjoyed the pad thai.

Excellent food. Owner is fun and professional. I always love eating there whenever am in Ottawa.

I used to love this restaurant, until one day I took my family there for dim sum one day and my 8years old son saw a cockroach underneath the HarGao, (both the roach and HarGao were steamed and cooked), I called waiter over showed her this, she didn’t even apologize, told us that she would scratch this item off my bill, and walk away with the plate that had HarGao and the roach. Ever since then, we never went back to that restaurant.

Everything I’ve had here has been great, especially the coconut soup. Oddly enough, they make one the best Kir Royals I’ve ever had!

Good food. Smaller portions.

Yes, I agree. About 3 ½ stars. Ate on a Friday night in a group of 7, and everyone was really pleased with the selection of things that we got. In addition to the tpical dinner entrees, try the green papaya salad. Note that the food runs a little on the spicy side. On the downside, the portion sizes were small for dinner. And inexplicably, they ran out of rice at 9:45 even though they were open until 11 PM. Seriously? How does a Thai/​Chinese restaurant run out of rice?

This is a 3.5 star restaurant for the area. This restaurant GETS A BOOST (at least a half star boost) when compared to Asian restaurants in the Byward Market area since Asian restaurants in this area tend to be not so great by international standards.
A decent Asian restaurant for the Byward Market area. Not spectacular compared to Asian restaurants in other cities and/​or countries. It has 3 kitchens, 1 for Chinese dishes, 1 for dimsum and 1 for Thai dishes. We ordered 2 Chinese dishes and 2 Thai dishes. Quality and taste were consistent across all dishes. Good enough but not truly special or superior.
The service is efficient and polite, and there is AC. The interior is adequate. There were some fringy areas on the carpet, but the overall look was not unpleasant.

I’ve eaten here at least five times now and I’ve never been disappointed. Had the Pad Thai last night and it was excellent. I’m a Pad Thai fanatic and have tried this particular dish at every Thai restaurant I have gone to and would place this in the top 10. There was one reviewer that said it was slightly on the oily side and I would have to agree with that but the flavor balance was spot on.

This place is awesome. Went last night with my boyfriend who ordered an eggroll and chicken pad si ew (I think it’s spelled) and I ordered pa nang curry. I ordered it a 5 on a scale from 1 – 5 in spiciness and they totally delivered. It was cooked with a bunch of chilis and definitely had a big kick to it. Not brutally hot, but just hot enough I had to stop to drink water. The pad si ew was full of flavor and was also fantastic. The servings are also generous and we both really enjoyed it. We are going back, probably really soon.

Nice enough place. I love Panang chicken and that’s what I ordered, but it was more like peanut sauce with very little, if any, red curry. My wife ordered a spicy noodle dish with basil and hot peppers. THAT was delicious, we just don’t remember the name of it. The service was fast and courteous too!

The curries here are amazing. They are thick, rich, and have that kind of heat that takes a few seconds to hit you, but never burns.
I tried 2 soups, the deep fried whole white fish, red, green, and yellow curries, and tofu satay.
Soup: Sweet and sour shrimp — creamy curry with a touch of citris with 4 perfectly cooked shrimps, and baby corn.
Curries: You will like the plate.
Deep fried fish: For the risk-​takers. This whitefish comes swimming in a sweet and spicy sauce. Its a big dish so plan to share it.
The service is great. You will never have an empty glass of water.

Located a short walk from Byward Market, this restaurant consistently offers your typical Thai, but nothing out of the ordinary. The service here is straightforward, without smiles, but improves if you can crack a joke in Cantonese. Useful for tourists is the fact that the menu is written in English, French, Thai and Chinese.
The pad thai, served with a reasonable heap of chopped vegetables, was moderately greasy but probably the best that I’ve had in a while. Of course, the lime and peanuts were not forgotten! Both my sister and I were happy that the pad thai was comparable to the 45 Baht version we’ve had in Bangkok. We’d come here for it again!
The red coconut curry also had lots of vegetables and was decent, although not outstanding. None of the dishes came with rice and therefore, needed to be ordered separately at $ 1.50 a bowl.
A smart choice for large hungry groups, including families, as the back has large tables. Stop here if you want quick, dependable Thai food.

Pretty good thai food. The menu advertises 4 hotness levels. If you ask for five-​hot, you get it (I did), which is nice. I’d say the hotness level for me was a slight brow-​sweat — just how I like it. I had the dry red chicken curry. Rice cost extra if I remember right. The food quality is good, and the service is decent.

This is supposed to be the première Thai restaurant in town.
We tried the Tom Yum with chicken, cold chicken spring rolls, green curry and a stir fry with garlic, basil, red and green peppers. Both entrees were very good, and the spring rolls were fine too. Skip the Tom Yum — it’s not sour or flavorful enough. We ordered the food medium, and it wasn’t spicy, so I would go for the hot next time. The restaurant seems family run, and the skinny owner/​manager walking around intensely adds to the character of the place. Overall, a good experience.
Next time I go, I’ll try some of the many desserts!