The Friendly Thai

Whatt this place doesn’t exist anymore! Too bad, I Will miss the mango salad and coconut chicken soup.

Went in and waited 10 min. Nobody came out to seat us. We left.
The décor inside the restaurant is too messy. The place looks dusty too.

This was my first Thai food experience in Toronto, and I have to say it was the worse Thai food ever!
I would highly recommend NOT going here. Bad Food and service.

I wish I would have read the reviews before I went to this place. Instead, I ended up there on a limb at 1am in the morning due to the simple fact that nothing else was open in the area at the time, aside from Mc. Donalds that is.
The funny thing is, as I was sitting down waiting for my order, I noticed the interior of the restaurant and the sad décor that hangs on the walls. That’s when I decided to whip out my blackberry and read the Unilocal reviews. It was no surprise to me how bad they were, and right then and there I even considered leaving without my order, but instead I decided to give the place the benefit of the doubt.
Unfortunately, they were quite accurate. There was nothing about the shrimp pad thai that was enjoyable, not even the shrimp. It was bland and soggy. I didn’t nearly eat half of it. I actually put some sweet chili sauce on the slimy concoction at a sad attempt to add some ‘flavor’ to the dish. Yep. It was that bad, I’m not exaggerating. I took one nibble of the veggie spring roll and then threw it in the garbage. I actually felt like I was going to vomit immediately afterwards, and that’s no word of a lie. I wouldn’t even feed my leftovers to a homeless person. End of story.

I don’t go here anymore. It seems the place is always looking for staff and during our last visit we waited for 20 minutes and our drink order hadn’t even been taken. Then a couple walked in and their order was taken immediately. Not impressed. I won’t go back.

So far I have never been disappointed with the food here. I love my Coconut Chicken soup and my Pad Thai. I have tried a few other dishes here as well. The staff are usually very friendly.

Ordered delivery… took an hour and forty five minutes to arrive and was cold by the time we got it. Not that it mattered, nothing tasted fresh, my red currry chicken only had two (small) pieces of chicken and consisted mostly of bambo, I’m a human being not a panda bear. Pad thai tasted like ketchup, was slimy yet the vegetables were dried out.
Springs roll soggy and strangely tasted like barbecue sauce? check. «Vegetarian» Pad Thai had eggs? check.
Won’t be back.

Bland mediocre Thai food — the only reason this gets an extra star is because the service was warm and attentive.
With the kitschy interior and the music, I think this really isn’t a ‘Thai restaurant’ per se, but more a ‘bar that you can order Thai food — not that it’s a good idea, but you can”. Think about it along those lines, and you’ll do fine.

This place was okay. It’s a Thai restaurant but plays jazz music. Their mango salad was good and so was their pad Thai but everything else was unmemorable.

For some reason, whenever I have ordered delivery, the food has been kind of bad. Not, inedible (still eating leftovers three days later!) but just … dry. Like, you’re getting the reject food. We ordered fried tofu which came to us cold; curry pad thai which was a bit dry, like it had been sitting out for a hour and a spicy fish which was fine but full of bones. Although, fish do have bones.
In restaurant the food is fine. Big portions and a good variety although it will not be the best food you’ve ever eaten ever. That’s fine.

I went to this restaurant with a group — we made a reservation for 14, but the group ended up being larger than that — 21 in total. I’ve never given a restaurant a 1-​star review, but I’ve also never had a worse experience at a restaurant in this city.
We were seated quickly, but some of our group was left outside — the restaurant was full. The seating we were given was spaced throughout the restaurant, even for our initial group of 14 (we were on time for our reservation). The rest of the group was eventually seated without issue.
Our drink order wasn’t completely filled. We had asked for a round of water and a few beers and glasses of wine. The water never arrived, even an hour after ordering it. One of the glasses of wine was incorrect. The beers were fine. Asking for more water was the same story.
We made our food order at the same time as our drink order. However, it took over an hour to deliver the first dish — and one of the dishes — mine — never came, even after everybody at my table had finished their meals. After finding the owner of the restaurant and telling him that I still hadn’t been served (pineapple chicken fried rice), the food still took another 30 minutes to come out of the kitchen. Several of the other dishes that were served were served cold. Other than the fact that it was cold and took far too long to be finished, the food was fine.
One of the waitresses — not the one serving our table — quit mid-​shift and ran out through the front door. Of the other waitresses that were there that night, only one of them was properly trained.
Initially, after complaining, the owner offered me an offensive 10% discount on my meal and drink, but he eventually relented and gave a 100% discount. Not once did he apologize for his restaurant’s inability to handle the increased demand.
I still tipped the waitress because I felt bad for her. The management can be blamed for this situation — not enough staff (trained or otherwise), poor kitchen organization, and poor service — are all a result of the management’s inability to predict staffing levels for a night that they know they’ll be receiving a large group.
Our group won’t be coming back to this restaurant, which might be good for them, because the way that they handled tonight’s increased seating tells me that they aren’t able to handle a full house properly anyway.

Overall, a mediocre Thai restaurant, with a few bright spots.
Atmosphere: Kitschy, tacky décor. I sat right next to/​facing the window, so I could look out at the street rather than at the odd, out of place seeming oil paintings and random lights. Service, however, is really pleasant. My waitress was extremely friendly and attentive.
Food: The food is… just okay, with one shining exception: the Med Ma-​Muang Phad Pak: basically vegetables in a creamy coconut sauce, topped with cashews. It was really, really good, and the only thing I would go out of my way to eat again. Perfect balance of spice with the creamy coconut– delicious! I also tried tofu fried with lychees, cold rolls (classic and vegetarian), spring rolls, and the pad thai. Nothing but the coconut cashew vegetable dish was memorable. I should add that a friend of mine really enjoyed her coconut rice dish (apparently this place does coconut well).

This restaurant is by far the worst restaurant I have encountered, please avoid.
I ordered takeout from this restaurant since they left flyers in my mailbox and of course, my other neighbours, I thought, hey, why not try it (regretted it so much!)
I ordered chicken fried rice and curry pad thai. They would charge you different price from the menu (not much, 1 dollar or so). If you realize it, the waitress that has a nice voice would give you different excuses. She would say, hey, you have the wrong menu. But if you ask her to provide the right menu, she would say no problem, and then give you the exact same menu that you have. I thought the girl just made a mistake at first, now I know some people are born evil…
As for the food, how dare they charge 10.99 for chicken fried rice, it’s dried and not fresh. The pad thai is really wet, the quantity is big, quality, on the other hand, is not so good. Also, I seriously doubt if they have a clean kitchen… I had hair in my pad thai… I will never buy any food from this restaurant… and I think the restaurant owner should seriously consider changing the waitress over the phone… she is evil…

I hate to give any place one star, and perhaps I should try The Friendly Thai again before coming down on the restaurant so hard, but I don’t think I will go back.
The first thing that hit us when walking in was not the hideous décor (hideous in a non-​campy way), it was the smell. The restaurant smelled a bit like a bathroom. I don’t know why, but it was almost bad enough that we considered walking out before we ordered.
Speaking of which, despite being one of two tables of diners, it took ten minutes to get water and for the server to take our orders, then at least twenty minutes for the meal to come. The food was, well, it was not good. It was shiny and greasy and nothing tasted fresh. After lunch my stomach felt a little off, and it felt that way for quite a while. Lunch was about $ 12 each including tip and water.
Back to the décor – oil paintings of I don’t know what on the walls, interspersed with strings of Christmas lights. The problem with oil paint is that it shimmers and clumps on the walls and makes the place look dirty even if it isn’t. The restaurant was so dark I could barely see my fellow diner, which perhaps wasn’t such a bad thing, as it meant I couldn’t see the walls that well either.
I’d rather go to Na Siam up the street. It’s not sit-​down food, but it’s consistent and the restaurant doesn’t have that same smell or décor.

Went here for lunch with my lady friend. LOVE the décor, but I like that kitschy type of thing: D
SERVICE: Great! our waitress was attentive and pleasant. Even though it was terribly busy, she made time to take a picture for us. Speedy delivery of food and cheque.
FOOD: Average. I had the cashwew nut chicken lunch special. It came with a tasty spring roll and small green salad. The dish itself was well seasoned and the chicken was plentiful. The onions in the dish were quite large and undercooked as were the peppers. The sauce was spicy and very tasty. My friend had the spicy beef noodles and loved it!
Overall, for lunch specials startng at $ 7 that include a spring roll, salad and a big plate of food with rice, you cant beat it. I would go back again.

Worst. Thai. Ever.
A dead giveaway should have been that the side salad came with French dressing, but the place looked nice and they had a lunch special…
Perhaps had my friend and I not been to Thailand and had super yummy food there, or even had I not had the most delectable Sukhothai (on Parliament) we wouldn’t be so quick to judge. But come on. FRENCH DRESSING?! Not even a house vinaigrette that tried to be faux-​Asian of some sort?
For a while now, Ive heard tell of Toronto’s really bad Thai scene, of Pad Thai made with ketchup, but I thought, no, surely it’s just sarcasm. Ladies and Gents, after today, I can attest that this is no myth. It was, in a word, awful.
Never going back.

Me and my boyfriend stopped in this place cause we were starving on thanksgiving but couldn’t eat a full meal so we decided to split some pad thia… well it was alright.
The décor in the restaurant are extremely tacky and out dated. Its really small and not very cozy.
Our server was really nice though which was unexpected but the manager (or owner) was a complete dick. If you see him in there hes and older Indian guy, total douche. He was yelling at her in the restaurant and since its not big, the whole restaurant could hear him. Completely disrespectful. He was being a complete asshole to her and you could see that she was really frustrated with him. When we left we told her we though he was a douche and she laughed and smiled…
Just based on the way the employees are treated i would never go back there.

Don’t do it. The «famous» mango salad is flavorless. The chicken satay is mealy and bland. The dipping «sauce» is all chunks. The spring roll wasn’t hot and the green salad is tinier and more pathetic than what you get from cheap sushi joints.
The only upside is friendly service.

I’m keeping you at 4 stars Mr. Thai. Not just because you’re friendly or really anything above average but because you’re consistent. I can always rely on you for those nights I don’t feel like cooking.

So, it’s 9:30 pm and you are hungry while walking around Yonge and Bloor. A lot of places are closing and you are starving.
You walk south past the Friendly Thai searching for food…
After realizing there is only questionable fast food joints and sex shops, you turn around and go back, not being in the mood for cafeteria sushi or constricting leather.
At the Friendly Thai, the menu is large and they do have tasty drinks… and $ 3.00 beer.
They have dinner specials under $ 10, which aren’t too bad.
Coconut rice is good.
They also have fried bananas which are always fun.
Server was super friendly.