Lotus Thai Hillcrest

Hands down the best Thai in San Diego! Love their lettuce wraps but everything is so delicious!

Was leaning towards a 5 star, but they ran out of mango ice cream. Deal breaker. So usually we hit up Taste of Thai when we are in the mood for some tom ka soup but was feeling froggy and I remember driving by this place a few times. Parking sucks, so be ready for that.
The place was super nice and clean inside. Décor was on point and the tables were put together nicely. Was told it was happy hour, which is always a plus in my book. I am a sucker for a good deal. Looked around and decided on the soup and a few appetizers and some Vegtable Delight.
Food came out hot and with plenty of flavor. The soup had more flavor than most Thai spots I visit but the presentation was also lacking. I like when the soup is under the hot fire. Service was really good and drinks were refilled timely.
Will be coming back to this place again.

The food and service were excellent. Having been to Thailand on several occasions and having been to cooking schools there, I have become very fond of Thai food. The dishes were authentic, and some were new creations (the soft shell crab salad was excellent).
The basa fish was good too, and perhaps they should consider adding more fish or shrimp dishes to the menu (fried seabass or pomfret, etc.). The staff was very courteous and friendly.

Dishes were bland :(Tom Yum soup was lacking in flavor. Curry was watery and had just a few small slivers of veggies. Portion sizes are small for a Thai place this expensive.
Vegetables and seafood tasted fresh, I will give them that. Otherwise you are better off with the other Thai options in the area. There are quite a few.

Greasy, and overpriced for the portions they serve. I called in an order of tofu summer rolls ($ 7.95), but when got home and opened the box, there were only two average sized summer rolls (with no peanut sauce). The Pad Thai I ordered looked like it came out of a pre-​made dinner container at Vons.

So so, the food was ok, nothing special. Prices were decent. But I don’t think I would really come back again. Just speaking the truth.

I have eaten here before and the food is decent. The problem is they move like snails. We went there tonight and after we got seated and looked at the entire menu and even finished our water, nobody came over to take our order. There was not many people in the restaurant, so they cant say they were too busy. I finally had to get and ask them if they were still open or serving diner (it was about 6pm) The guy finally came over to our table about 5 minutes after that and we asked if we could get spring rolls without beansprouts. Turns out everything is pre-​made. At this point we just walked out. Giant waste of time!

It was nice. I got Pad Thai with tofu, but asked for a Level 5 spicy. It was not spicy at all. Like not even a one. and the tofu was only like-​warm. Service was good, atmosphere was good. The flavor was good, just not spicy enough for me.

Upon arriving to this place, my friends and I were warmly greeted and quickly seated. The overall ambiance of the restaurant is very cute and intimate. It was not very crowded when I went which made it more comfortable.
My friends and I ordered family style, so I got to try different dishes:
Fried calamari: I would recommend this appetizer! It is something different and has an interesting taste!
Tofu fries: This appetizer looked interesting & healthy. The taste was mediocre and did not stand out.
Spicy fried rice: good for those who like an extra kick of spice in their food
Thai holy basil chicken: did not stand out very much
Drunken noodles w/​Chicken: Nothing too special– very comparable to drunken noodles I have had at other Thai restaurants
Panang curry: Very flavorful and stood out against all of the dishes that I tried– I would recommend trying this
Sticky rice dessert: One of my favorites of the night, but I would recommend saving room for this one. It is VERY filling and I made the mistake of not leaving enough room in my stomach for it.
Price was reasonable and overall, I’d say this place is pretty average– especially in comparison to all the other Thai restaurants in San Diego.

Panang Curry AMAZING,.
Pad Thai (Tofu)(Level 8/​Spicy) Amazing!!!
Calamari Appetizer Mmmmmm… The pieces are larger than I have ever had & once dipped in the sauce they bring with it,. Mmmm Makes my mouth water just writing about it! ;)
This place is a really cute spot. Never crowded. Always GREAT SERVICE! Always tasty and affordable! Hands down great restaurant!

I’m a little torn on this review because I know this place can be pretty amazing! I came here for dinner on Tuesday night. It looks like it’s new staff (it has been a little while since I’ve been back here) to me. The service was just ok. The staff is nice but not quite attentive. I arrived a little later than my friend because of traffic but when i got there they never brought me water and i had to ask for it when they finally brought us our food. We had also asked for another tea cup (my friend already had one) so I could have some of my friend’s tea but that never came. I’ve had their panang duck curry before and it was the best thing ever. This time it was not good. The curry sauce was good but the duck was EXTREMELY dry. I’m hoping the service and the food was just an off day for them because this is my go to spot for Thai when I’m near hillcrest.

I lunched with a friend here who recommended this restaurant as having good food, and quiet, so we could talk. She was right on both counts.
Lotus Thai is in Hillcrest, on 6^th, right in the middle of the block, on the east side, just south of Robinson Street. Parking is tough, but if you don’t mind walking a block or two, (it’s good for me!), it’s not a problem to find a metered space if you’re patient.
The lunch entrees include your choice of a side dish and a skewer of either chicken or roast pork. I had the pork, and it was delicious! I had trouble getting the pork off the skewer, and, upon trying, the meat flew a couple of feet onto the floor! We laughed so hard we could barely contain ourselves. We called the server over, and he thought it was hilarious too, and they very graciously gave me another skewer (this time, they took it off for me!)
There are many lunch options, and you can choose your own protein with them. I was so happy to see they have duck (which I love) as an option for lunch — some will provide it only for the dinner price.) There wasn’t a lot of duck on the plate, but what there was, was in nice chunks, and not too fatty — yum! My friend had her fav there — the Drunken Noodles, and very much enjoyed it. You also have the option of brown rice.
Everyone was very sweet and helpful, but sometimes, it was hard to get the attention of the wait staff, who spent a lot of time in the back. But, all in all, the food was great, and it was a very nice experience. I wouldn’t hesitate to go back!

Lunch special portion was a little small but still enough to be satisfying. Good price and good food. Not the Best parking situation. Used my passport discount card here, would not go otherwise, Because there are just so many other options out there

Sorry but Bahn Thai kicks this place’s ass. Just go there. Sad sad place. I used to love this place back in the day, but lately the past few times have been terrible. No wonder it’s empty… The food is just very mediocre and too expensive for the small little portions. Usually Asian food is plentiful no matter what the cost.
Service is good.
Green Chicken Curry — Bland flavor because it was a bit watery. Not very good… Or maybe green curry is supposed to be watery? I usually get yellow chicken curry and it’s thicker.
Shrimp Pad Thai — Not bad at all, just a little pricey for the small portion. It was a little too sweet.
Parking sucks, it’s Hillcrest.

Warmly greeted by waitstaff upon arrival. Restaurant very nearly empty on a Friday night.
Halloween decorations were up.
Menu was very interesting, very vegan –friendly.
Food was brought in reasonable time and we thought the dish we had was as good as our other favorite Thai restaurants.
Attention from waitstaff was very good halfway through, then dropped off noticeably.
Bill was very reasonable, but overall not terribly so due to the $ 6 for the pay parking.
One of the two restrooms was out of order, creating a traffic problem. Restroom was clean and properly supplied.
A-​OK

Stumbled upon this place while craving some Thai food in Hillcrest. When we walked in, I couldn’t help but love the decorations inside-​it felt really modern and nicely thought out to match the fact that it was a Thai restaurant.
PARKING: it’s a bit hard to find parking here because this restaurant is surrounded by residential, business and restaurant buildings. Try looking for parking in the front first but if you can’t find parking, go into the neighborhoods.
FOOD:
Shrimp Tom Yum Soup [CUP] ($ 5.95): the soup was very flavorful! It had about three pieces of large shrimp in it, fresh mushrooms and tomatoes.
Crab Fried Rice ($ 12.95): A pretty large portion with shredded crab, pees and carrots. I kind of wish they added basil to it to give it that extra umph but it was still pretty good.
Green Curry w/​Chicken ($ 10.95): The presentation on this was very nice and it was packed with a lot of flavor. It came with green bell peppers, bamboo, chicken and eggplant.
SERVICE: the server here was very nice. There was only one thing though: we felt very rushed. When we sat, she asked us for our drink orders and when we said just water, she asked if we wanted thai tea or anything. It was our first time so we wanted to look at the menus first, so we told her that we just wanted water first and we’ll decide later. When she brought out waters, she asked if we were ready to order. No. 2 minutes later, she came back and asked again. No. 1 minute later, another male server came up to us and asked us if we were ready. No. Gave us another 3 minutes and then she came back to us. We were sort of ready but okay we’ll just order. Lol. She was nice but just a little forceful/​rushing.
Overall, Lotus Thai was good and the ambience was very nice. If I were in this area again, I’ll come back.

I remember when I lived in the Crest I’ll come here with my roomies… And it was always pretty empty… And It’s probably pretty empty for a reason… they are stingy on the portions here! Usually with Thai no matter how expensive or cheap Thai food restro you are they always and I mean always pound on the noodles! It cost nothing to add more starch. Not here, not at Lotus. It was such a big rip off.
We came with a party of 5 and ordered many dishes: green curry, yellow curry, drunken noodles, thai basil dish, combo appetizer and spicy fried rice. The curries were good and decent sizing. The drunken noodles on the other hand was the smallest portion to human alive! It’s just noodles and they didn’t even give us much. Noodles are the cheapest thing you can add on… It literally just had 2 spoon full of noodles. It was the stingiest portion I’ve seen a Thai place give out. Wish I could have a taken a pic but friends touched it before I could. The Thai basil dish was the same thing, we got beef and they give you literally like 5 pieces of beef and the rest a thousand onions and bell peppers. That was our 2^nd disappointment. Curries– no complaints. It was good. Third complaint– The appetizer was stale. It was the combo so it came with flower cups and those were chewy and stale! You can tell its old. It was also cold and gross. Same as the bacon fried shrimp, chewy and not crunchy. The fried rice was okay, the shrimp tasted a bit rubbery though, but fried rice as good.
Quality of food definitely changed since the last time I’ve been here. It’s not fresh and the portions are stingy.
This was probably one of the stingiest and worst Thai food I had in awhile. I’m guessing that’s why they were pretty empty and always have seating. Next time I won’t make the mistake of overpriced Thai food for a few pieces of meat and noodles. I’m making my way to Taste of Thai or even Banh Thai where at least you get what you pay for.

My advice is to stick to the traditional Thai dishes. and not be adventuresome like we did. We ordered the sea bass and the salmon curry, which were listed as «chef specialties» and were about $ 15. To our disappointment, the sea bass was okay but was Chinese stir fry, although the fish filet was whole. (I know because I am Chinese). The salmon curry was not curry but a broth, like a soup, although the fish was whole. We politely said this wasn’t what we expected. The woman who seated us allowed us to order something else, and took away the salmon. We got panang curry with chicken, which tasted great and like Thai food should!
The service in the beginning was slow – it took 25 minutes for food to arrive but after that it was fine.
I was surprised that I got a plastic spoon and plate – not disposable – for my baby girl when I asked for a spoon.
The parking lot that is supposedly «free» is the one for Jamba Juice and Starbucks which is diagonal or so from this restaurant — hard to find parking. The restaurant is in need of an update as well.
I wish I had a more positive experience.

Located centrally in the heart of Hillcrest, Lotus Thai has a lot to offer. Entering through the big wooden doors reveals an enjoyable atmosphere. Tables, booth, and half booth seating surround and fill the restaurant. Seats feel comfortable, tables feel private enough to hold a romantic conversation. During my few visits here the staff has always seated with a smile, made me feel welcome, and remained attentive to my empty water glass.
I’ve tried a couple of appetizers and dishes, and always enjoyed my food. The Drunken Noodles are really great. The Sunshine Salmon is my favorite dish. It is lightly seared with a thin crispy breading, and topped by a lime dressing salad. I paired my meal with a light German-​style beer and found it complemented it well.
They do not have a private lot, however parking has never felt like an issue. Street parking can usually be found within a block. The Rite Aid across the street offers paid parking. There is another paid lot behind Jamba Juice on Robinson and 5^th, they will validate 2 hours in this lot.
They offer happy hour drink and appetizer specials. Normal prices for the area, high quality of food, and an overall great atmosphere.

The food here is solid, though portions are a bit smaller than other Thai places. Price point is about the same. Service was kind of horrible, in ways different than traditional Asian spots. The servers tend to try to clear your table as quick as they can. Just a little advice to the restaurant: stop. doing. that. Or at least ask if we’re done yet! They also took our check to ring us up before we even put a card in to pay. I guess we were taking too long? Rude much. Yes, please come back here we haven’t paid yet! Ambiance is nice, but they dim all the lights when they sing happy birthday which is kind of strange. Spiciness levels are not on 1 – 10 scale. This spot is basically a white-​washed upscale Thai place but it’s what you’d expect of Asian food in this part of town. You’d think you could sit and catch up at a place like this but apparently not.
TL;DR — If you’re craving authentic Thai food with legit spiciness and friendlier service, go to Sab-​E-​Lee. You’re only coming here for ambiance.