King & I Restaurant The

Probably my fave Thai place in Rochester! The food is always served hot and fresh and comes out so quickly! Service is prompt and the waitstaff are all extremely friendly and accommodating. I’ve been here with large groups before, and the service has consistently been excellent.
I usually get the pad Thai or basil yellow noodles (boring, I know), but both are delicious. Their fresh spring rolls are also very good. You really can’t go wrong with pretty much anything on their menu.
Also, I must say, I really enjoy their décor. Lots of odd paintings of olives swimming in martinis and other animated fruits and vegetables. Also, lions.

I loveee this Thai restaurant!
I am surprised this restaurant is not rated 4 stars and above, but their Sesame Chicken, Phat Thai Chicken, and Evil Jungle Prince Chicken are my favorites!
You can’t miss the Tom Yum soup either. (I usually get the chicken soup)
I am not sure if there’s any other Thai restaurants around Rochester, but this spot is my #1 out of all Thai restaurants I’ve tried in NJ and NY (Minus NYC) so far.
I will be going back again this summer when I’m in Rochester for friends’ graduation! :)

I keep hearing good things about this place but have been disappointed time and time again.

I cannot say enough good things about this restaurant! My wife and I frequently come here because we have yet to have a bad experience with the service or the food.
Parking is always easy in the lot. If you have to wait for a table, it’s usually not a long wait. The host knows us and takes the time to get to know us and check in on us during our dinner. Even though sometimes there are language barriers with the servers, I’ve never had an issue getting exactly what I wanted. Service is very quick and efficient.
I usually order the Phat Boun Sen with shrimp and the Fried Shrimp Spring Rolls, which are delicious! My wife likes to order a different dish each time, and so far has not been disappointed by anything. The Sesame Chicken has a great flavor. Make sure you’re clear how spicy you want your food because they can definitely make it spicy! If you have room for dessert and it’s in season, I would highly recommend the Mango Sticky Rice. The combination of fresh mango over sweet rice is delicious!
Make sure you take a trip here for some great Thai food!

Got to say the King and I wins the prize for best Thai food in Rochester. I’ve hand the kang phet duck, the pad thai (yum!), and the panang shrimp. Panang shrimp was my favorite. The sauces do tend to be on the sweeter side, but they still taste great. Note to self — skip the duck next time. Not really duck-​y enough and was somewhat dry.
You can pretty much make any combo of meat and sauce that you want. Everything (even pad thai) comes with noodles.
The servers do tend to be curt.
Lunch specials from 11 – 2:30 all week, even on weekends!

Somehow can I come over and study turned into can we go on a date? Thus lead me to king and I. The food was absolutely delicious and spicy. It was everything I could ask for in Thai food. Reason for the –2 stars is the service was quite slow and the drinks are outrageously prices. I would come back but just for take out.

Nope. Sorry. I just don’t get it.
The ambiance and service were great. They obviously use quality ingredients.
But is is the furthest thing from authentic Thai I’ve had.
The Tom Yum soup was overly sweet, like an identity crisis between Thai Food and Chinese Hot & Sour Soup.
The curry (with a «spicy» warning) fell flat and flavorless.
The ground chicken dish tasted like it had traditional, sweet, thick Chinese sauce poured on top, nothing like the bright and fresh flavors one expects at a Thai place.
We had been so excited to try it… Bummer.

King and I is not my favorite place for Thai. To be honest, I’ve experienced so much better in Rochester that it makes my trips here a disappointment.
How can food come out so quickly after you’ve ordered? It must be pre-​made in large quantities. And there seems to be a feeling of «feed them and get them out the door as soon as possible.» I feel rushed, and can’t talk to my company. There’s no doubt this place is always filled with people, but you never have to wait too long for a table because food it rolling out of the kitchen and down into peoples’ bellies faster than you can believe.
Spice… it’s lacking. But sweetness is king here. I don’t like overly sweet Thai food. I want something more savory, with a kick that makes my nose run and eyes water. Figuratively of course. Please know that I can handle the heat. I want it. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t ask…
That’s really all there is for me to say. I come here, when friends want to eat Thai. I’m sure I’ll be back… it’s inevitable. But like the two star rating says, «Meh. I’ve experienced better.» And I have.

Good fast place for lunch. Nothing amazing, but I haven’t yet been disappointed.
Not sure I’d go there for a nice sit down dinner, but for lunch break. perfect.

This place is an absolute factory of amazing food, which can be seen as both a positive and a negative aspect when it comes to restaurants. The menu is gigantic, with different curry options across basically any protein you could think of. They also have a really helpful flavor guide so you don’t have to ask your waiter/​waitress a million questions before making your decision.
The negative aspect of having a food factory feel is that the process feels extremely cold and unfriendly. Our waiter didn’t really speak to us all that much and was a bit hard to get a hold of when we needed him. However, the food was good enough that this wasn’t the biggest issue in the world. Oh, and who doesn’t love a place that has really good Thai Iced Tea? THAI TEA IS AMAZING! Sorry, I’m having hanger cravings right now thinking about this meal.

Pretty decent Thai food, the menu doesn’t really tell you much about what you’re getting. For example I got the Lan Yam but in the description it just said noodles with sauce. So you’ll have to ask the waitress if you’re unfamiliar. (It turned out to be a soy-​based sauce with eggs and chicken, with a wide noodle).
Service is super friendly, and even though they’re usually busy, the food comes out at an appropriate time, no long waits.
Quality of the food is fine, its a good place if you’re craving Thai, not sure if there are other places, but this place is the most popular.

Everything here costs money! I ordered Thai iced tea in the beginning even though the price was not too friendly. When it came, it was kind of small and you need to pay for refill. My boyfriend wanted some extra rice. We need to pay for the extra one. I went to a lot of the Asian restaurants. It had never happened before.
When we told them that we want to pay separately, they messed up my card and my boyfriend’s card. We do not want to waste our time to argue with them. It was a pretty bad experience. We will not go there again.

First timer here… Never had Thai food before but heard great things.
Right off the bat the place looks like a hole in the wall.,. But once u get inside its not bad… Could use some updating of course.
Told the server we were new to Thai. He just said, «ok.» Disappointing that he didn’t recommend anything. He also did not explain the 3 sauces on the table. (By the way, how often do u think they change those spoons, #Never)
We ordered number 227, Pad Thai chicken… SO GOOD. Also ordered number 228 beef Phat see eu… Bland. Spring rolls were yummy! Fyi– No free refills on soda.
I was sooo surprised how fast the food came out. I read 3 Unilocal about this place and BOOM, there was our food. They don’t seem to like like lingering patrons though…
Lastly, take out was soooo crazy busy. Non stop!

The King and I can be hit or miss, if you don’t know how to order. The first time I went here, the food was tasty, but sort of bland. It tasted like something was missing. After that, I ordered everything with lots of added spice, and that made everything taste so much better. Make sure you order your food with lots of spice too. Order a coconut based curry if you’re worried about handling the heat. The coconut fat stops the spice from being painful.
Service is always very fast. It only takes a few minutes for food to come out.

King Andy is the King of Cuba. His last name is Garcia. He was awesome in Ocean’s Eleven. Quietly menacing, I would say. And he’s a hottie.
But this place has nothing to do with him. This is a Thai restaurant just across from the man goo and near one of the best little Indian places ever (Bombay Chaat).
This must be one of my least favourite restaurants in 585, if not ever, which is quite a feat since I have never eaten here.
I confess, I’m a huge fan of Thai Tea. So I came in here to get a Thai Tea, as I often do before actually trying a Thai place (just to feel it out) and the experience was horrendous.
First of all, the service was incredibly rude. The place was packed from wall to wall, not a single table was empty. Insanely huge lunch crowd so clearly everyone loves King and I. So I guess that makes them think they can treat this long-​haired kid coming in asking for a Thai Tea to go like absolute dirt. I mean, he’s not even eating here right? Wanker!
Well guess what, I’m a paying customer too! And that brings me to the next problem.
The price! Oh my goodness, I think this was the only time I’ve ever paid over five dollars for a Thai Tea. Insane. It may have been just less than five, I can’t remember, either way, it was outlandish. But it doesn’t end there.
The size! It was in one of those tiny little baby size water cups… are you kidding me? A cup of caviar would have cost less! It was miniature, and horrendously overpriced (much like Saigon Café on Niagara Falls Blvd in Amherst, NY).
And the worst part was — it tasted like absolute crap. Like pee, actually. It was either old and spoiled, or just incredibly bad. It was definitely that bottled refrigerated kind with all the preservatives in it, not fresh made.
The only reason they do not score a 1 is because they are family owned. Their food may be amazing but I won’t ever find out because of this crappy experience here.

The King and I is known for high quality Thai food fast, and they rarely fail at this. I usually get the pad Thai veggie, and it’s always too notch. Prices are reasonable and staff are friendly (and funny).
The only negative I can think of is sometimes they are too fast, and you might feel rushed if you feel like taking your time. But really, is that worth not coming here? You get good food fast. 5 stars.

If you are in a hurry this is the place to go for a good Thai meal — you can easily get in and out in under one hour. We often go here before a movie at the Regal. It is always entertaining to see how long it takes them to take our order– often seconds after our butts hit the seats.
The food is always solid — we like the fresh shrimp spring rolls, the Pad Thai and the Thai Sesame Beef. The beef has a great marinade though sometimes the beef can be chewy (I think they’ve been using cheaper cuts lately).
Overall the servers are friendly and of course very fast!

I know I gave The King and I four stars over a year ago from awesome experiences in the past, but after my most recent visit some weeks back I see no reason to change that rating even today! The quality, or perhaps more importantly, flavor, still exists as strongly and as pungently as it ever has in all of my visits here. It may not be the most authentic light Thai flavor that you’re used to from true southeastern Asian dishes, but their Americanized version still has all of the spices and foreign flavors you desire from something that’s more than your average everyday Americanized Asian food.
They use thai basil, coconut cream, lemongrass, ginger, and other curry spices with a very heavy hand and I absolutely love every last ounce of it. Most of the sauces are thick as with their Evil Jungle Prince or Prikpao concoctions and they’re perfectly viscous enough to envelop every last protein that might be on your plate. The meats (like the duck, beef, or chicken) are wonderfully glazed, are almost always juicy, are cooked extremely well, and suck up all of the flavor that’s there for you on the plate. It is all just absolutely. delicious.
Yes, it’s a bit sweet. Yes, it’s not as funky or acidic as authentic Thai food should be. But my goodness, the Americanized Thai food they cater to our Western palettes is all awesome nonetheless. No, I will never give up those classic otherworldly flavonoids, but this is just a perfect balance for me of East meeting the West.
Never change, King and I. Never change.

Probably a «safe» go to for quick Thai eats. The thing about Thai food in Rochester for me is that there are particular dishes I’d prefer over other places. Like let’s sayyy, I love the Chicken Pad Thai at Kind & I, but I prefer the Thai tea at that ‘other’ place on Park ave. And for everything Thai I PREFER King & I over that disgusting joint on RT-​441.
Speaking of the Pad Thai, It’s probably made with the best sauce IMO. Even if it does not taste authentic, it has that nice balance of sweet and salty from the awesome combo that is sugar cane/​palm sugar, fish sauce, tamarind and lots of paprika. I like how the tender chicken and scrambled eggs just soak in the flavor! I also like the thin rice noodles they use. Probably one of my favorite in texture for most dishes… like PHO! The other Pad Thai in Rochester I like is from Mings. Similar in color (the redder the better) and flavor.
The regulars beside the Chicken Pad Thai (probably the only chicken dish I eat in restaurants besides wings), are the squid tentacles, pork satay (I LOVE their dipping sauce) and the seafood Tum Yum soup. The soup is probably my favorite in the area. I love the big pieces of shell fish and the spicy and sourness of the broth. The mushroom doesn’t hurt :-)
Now, you can call me a creature of habit, but no one has come close to sell me out of King & I for any of the dishes I’ve mentioned.
I often get told it is not authentic and that it’s obviously made by Chinese people. This is in reference to the owners being Chinese. I cannot say if that is true as I can’t judge if something is being «obviously made» by someone of another culture other than «Americanized». I’ve met some of the kitchen staff which happen to NOT be Chinese, but they are probably following a standard recipe anyway. *SHRUGS*. Either way, for me, it’s probably more comfort than anything to get a Thai fix here since they are consistent with the cooking. So they get bumped a star for that.
I hear so many negatives about how King & I is gross and icky and horrid and stuffz. Well, I haven’t keeled over dead yet!

King and I is a great Thai spot in Rochester. I came here a few times and I will back really soon. The dining area is large and can host a large number of guest without long wait times.
The pad thai is not the best and is something that I will probably not order again. A alternative to the pad thai and taste better in my opinion is the pad see ew. Pad see ew is rice noodles that taste like something that is homemade. I will probably stick with the curry dishes which are AMAZING. I highly recommend the Evil Jungle Prince Curry. This is probably my favorite dish and it as not as spicy as everyone assumes. It has a sweet taste for some reason. The chicken satay is okay, the peanut sauce is good but the chicken is a bit on the dry side. If you are at this resturant a drink to try is the Thai Ice Tea especially if you have a sweet tooth.