Your Place Thai Restaurant

Just stopped through Santa Barbara on a road trip and we picked up take out from Your Place Thai exhausted after a day of driving. The staff was friendly, the service was quick, and the food was yummy. The Panang curry was especially good. Highly recommend.

Good service, nice foods, not expensive. I go this place once a week, but I always satisfied the taste! Love it!

Best pad Thai in sb! So cute, it’s the perfect place for a date night or dinner with friends. The portions are huge also and you will be glad because you will probably try to fit the entire table in your stomach. We had the pineapple fried rice, green tea & veggie pad Thai. Thank you!

They’re pad see yew is delicious! The staff is so nice, and it’s a great atmosphere. Definitely adds a nice touch of diversity to all the other restaurants on Milpas street.

Great portions. Great service
The fried tofu was cooked well crunchy on the outside soft inside. Just let it sit for a bit. It’s hot on the inside
Had the beef satay and pineapple fried rice. The pineapple chunks are really big a little sour but gave great portions of shrimp.
Tom kah. (Soup with the coconut). Really hit the spot. Great blend of coconut and tart.
I would come back.

Three words, BEST. THAI. EVER. Or in Santa Barbara at least! We won’t go anywhere else for Thai! The Tom kha is our favorite!

This is the best Thai food that I have ever had in my life and thai food is my favorite! I love everything about this restaurant, the food, the atmosphere, and the family! My family and I have been going here for years and we have never had a bad experience here. The best food you will ever have. Our favorites are the Tom Kah coconut milk soup with chicken or shrimp, the garlic almond shrimp, and the spicy mint noodles! You have to try it!

I’ve been eating at this restaurant infrequently over at least a decade. I’ve enjoyed some tremendously good Tom Kah and other soups. But upon reflecting about my lunch special today I think that they have apparently decided to rest on their laurels of years past as opposed to continuing to provide the delicious traditional and contemporary Thai food they have been honored for serving through the years.
Given my work schedule until recently (off at 3:30 PM) I was often given to picking up a «Lunch special» which at every restaurant I’ve seen lasts until 4:00 PM… not Your Place. I believe they end their lunch specials at 2:30 or 3: PM; also they do not offer it at all on Saturdays which is not the policy of other Asian restaurants.
I don’t generally comment on the dress of employees because each place has its own standards… however, it was COLD today after the rains and some employees were still wearing shorts, socks & thongs… go see for yourself why it’s not a pretty sight. I mean when I go out to eat I’m NOT into BLING but… I don’t go out dressed as I’m going to dig in the garden … anyway…
The waitress was all business… no pleasantries whatsoever… wanted to hurry us into a decision but … there are some occasions where if you haven’t seen your dining partner for a while… you want to say things along the lines of «Hello! How nice to see you. Thanks for coming out. How are you…» So after we finally ordered we wanted to retain a menu to look at the offerings beyond the daily specials. discuss it with each other, share experiences about eating at other Thai restaurants and even choose future entrees at this restaurant but the waitress kept coming back and asking for the menu. saying that there weren’t enough menus to go around… say what?! You’ve been an Independent named favorite restaurant for ~ the past twenty years… the people sitting in your booths today were the people who voted for you… and you can’t afford to have enough menus to allow some patrons to browse after ordering?! Am I missing something here?
Now to the food. They offer 3 levels of spiciness which is a good thing! My friend ordered mild and was satisfied and I ordered SPICY and well… it was OK. There wasn’t any Siracha or comparable on the table… guess I could have asked for Chili Oil but … it’s never as good as if it were properly prepared with adequate HEAT. I ordered fish panang curry. to my mind that is red curry and my favorite is Yellow which wasn’t on the lunch menu so I asked the server whether it was RED or YELLOW CURRY… she said «orange»… OK… I went with it … but I wasn’t aware of the existence of ORANGE curry but … I have a lot to learn…
My friend enjoyed her chicken curry… the curry sauces were good but I had ordered a FISH curry and was confounded when I received it because it appeared to have a breading?! I could be wrong here but the main concern for me is that they didn’t SKIN the fish before they chopped up the fish so when I took a bite of my entrée, there was chewy, slimy fish skin. I”ve had fish curry other places and have NEVER encountered this problem beforehand. The egg roll served me was burnt. I took one bite and would not eat anymore. My friend who loves egg rolls asked me if he/​she cold finish it… YES… one bite and discarded immediately. The two wontons were also burnt … and when I finally got the attention of the waitress re the plum sauce supposed to accompany those food articles. she pointed to a bottle on the table which we promptly tried. it was some sort of an oil based chile sauce… not exactly what we expected nor enjoyed.
People who complain about the décor may not understand that décor may be part of illustrating the food of the country… and may not be as «sterile» or as minimalist as USA standards… complaining about servers rushing you or serving you burnt food or inadequately seasoned food. is a more legitimate complaint. However, I was seated at the base of the fish tank and the top sections covering the top of the tank looked groddy… Thankfully, there are now a bounty of other Thai restaurants in SB. I encourage aficionados of Thai food to look elsewhere beginning with My Choice on upper State (no affiliation… etc.)

New Fav Dishes … Spicy Fried Rice n Combination Golden Noodle … first time dine in, got there before 6pm is a must lol … After 6pm it is super busy with dine in n togo order

I odder to go and the server was really sweet and fast. When I got home and open the box of food there was a flea jumping around the rice. No joke.
I didn’t even eat the food. I wouldn’t recommend this place.

Ate here after reading that it was voted the best Thai food in the city. Very disappointed. The food was cool and not very tasty. Pleasant enough service, but I will not be back.
Please don’t review this business if you received a freebie for writing this review, or if you’re connected in any way to the owner or employees.

I’ve been to this place twice, I’ve had a good experience both times however I was kind of disappointed in the Thai Salad, the vegetarian curry we ordered was great though! The service was okay, the workers are very friendly but we had to continuously as for items that are normally present at the table.

The thai food here is pretty good but kind of pricey since it IS Santa Barbara. I recommend the spicy mint noodles yum yum! The pad thai isnt good here so stay away from that but the pad see ew is good and so is the tom yum soup :). I went here quite a few times and even tho the service is slow the owner is really nice and attentive.

My first time here. Came for lunch & ordered $ 8.95 lunch special green curry with chicken. Soup was OK (egg drop with tofu) and the portion of the main dish was good size with lots of chicken & green beans. However the sauce did NOT taste like any green curry I have ever had and was quite oily. Had a strange pasty undercooked undertone. I usually want to drink green curry sauce but I actually removed the meat and veggies from the sauce after a bit to eat them. When I did oil pooled on top of what was left…
The salad was tiny and ½ of that was take up by an iceberg lettuce core. Egg roll that came with had a strange taste like it was fried in very stale oil. Interesting that the fried won tons that came with it did not have that flavor so maybe they part cook the egg rolls & let them sit too long? Although brown rice is on the menu when I asked they didn’t have it (@ 12.45).
The place was pretty crowded so I had high hopes but this is pretty blasé food at best, greasy and perfunctory service to match. Sorry I can’t be more positive!

This place is adorable! It’s definitely my new favorite Thai food place in Santa Barbara!
The service is great (the waitresses are so nice) and if you check-​in there is free thai iced tea!
My absolute favorite here is the panang curry!
I would get it for lunch and dinner everyday if I could!
Their lunch specials are a great deal, it comes with an entrée, salad, eggroll, fried wonton, and soup!

This place has been here for over 30 years… I walked in and the place has not changed in all of those years. I think the fish in the tanks are even the same tiny gold fish that have grown up.
I hadn’t been here in a long time.
So, on to the food.
I bit into the egg roll and was confused. Inside were strands of what looked like thin noodles, nothing more and it was lukewarm. I asked to see the inside of my buddies roll and it was filled with what looked totally different with some real veggies and cabbage. I asked for some hot sauce to liven it up but she never came back with it.
Broccoli was hard and stringy, I needed a tooth pick. The shrimps still had the tails on (lazy) and were not deveined (lazy). It wasn’t that good.
I hate tipping for average service and food, so I won’t be back for another 10 years.

Been eating here for years, no idea why I never stopped to Unilocal about it!
Humble, honest-​to-​goodness family run Thai place. Food is great, service is fast, most items that a typical American might want are on the menu. You can call ahead (but you need to know what you want) for pickup — which is my preferred option, as it gets busy on weekend nights!
Standouts, in my opinion, are spicy mint noodles, spicy eggplant, panang curry and the pineapple curry. The Tom Yum soup is delicious, and truly sour — which is excellent.
I love the fish tanks, the funny and unique lights in each booth, and the awkward path to the bathroom — to me these are part of what make the restaurant real.
Prices seem fair and typical of Santa Barbara — I’ve never had any trouble with fraud or been disrespected by the owner. I wouldn’t keep going back if I had — but have been a regular customer for 10 years!

My first reaction to Your Place Thai was thinking this place is surprisingly cluttery. There are cloudy fish tanks in the center, the tables have busy designs atop of them, and a whole host of other decorations line the restaurant. Chintzy and overdone doesn’t create a peaceful environment for me personally, but rather gives me a bit of a cramped feeling. It’s also dim, so the atmosphere is not the most welcoming.
Now on to what matters most, the food. Like Unilocaler Greg W. said, Your Place is a good option. This is because Santa Barbara lacks great Asian eateries. It’s one of the better options, but really just okay overall. Some of the dishes are pretty tasty, but it’s nothing special. My fried fish with chili was flavorful and spicy. The egg roll on my plate was surprising — actually tasted like it could be homemade. The filling of cabbage was plentiful, and not mushy. I would eat here again if I was in the area.

Santa Barbara is limited on choices when it comes to Asian cuisine. E.g. Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thai, etc. Most of these places are mediocre but it’s understandable when your audience is not primarily Asian. Most traditional dishes are tamed for the American pallet. A reviewer said the food «doesn’t taste Thai at all» –This is rather an exaggeration, given that everyone’s post-​meal breath had hints of garlic and fish sauce.
The dishes I typically order here, are: Chicken Larb, Papaya Salad, Tom Khar soup, Panang Curry, and Eggplant with Basil & Garlic.
So far, I haven’t given a try to the usual Pad Thai or Pad See Ew. However, the non-​carb dishes offered here are great. Many reviewers commented on the drab décor. I don’t place a high value on the elements of interior design since they have no true significance or relevance to cuisine. The food’s good and I admit service is a bit slow or awkward. But that’s all so common with authentic, family-​run Asian establishments.
I’ve eaten here about three times in the past 3 – 4 months and there hasn’t been any issues with bland food, spoiled food, fraudulent credit card charges, lack of service, and/​or inauthenticity of dishes. I always see an elderly lady sitting at one of the tables near the register, overseeing things. And she appears to be an honest, nice Thai woman.

Your Place is sort of in this no-man’s land of Milpas where there isn’t a lot of restaurants outside of taquerias and the legendary McDonald’s with the basketball court. Parking is super easy because it’s not a very busy street around the corner. Watch your head! The entrance features a canopy that doesn’t reach very high.
Inside Your Place is dark. The interior design is quaint. There is an awkward corridor to the bathroom but this is fairly common for small restaurants. Bathroom is dirty.
The food is really hit or miss the couple of times I’ve been here. It can be quite good but it can also be incredibly bland. They are sweet people but they should pay more attention to their patrons… I was served the wrong thing and I’m not really sure how the confusion arose.
I sought out Your Place because of the positive reviews but I believe the aggregate rating is more valid. If you love Thai food this might be a good option however.