Sawatdee Thai Cuisine

When friends like Nicole Leigh S. and Carlos H. offer strong reviews for a restaurant, I pay attention. I wish I had paid closer attention because those strong reviews where more than five and six years old. I wonder how they would have rated the meal I had last night.
It’s not that I can say anything particularly bad about the experience. I just can’t say anything good other than perhaps that the service was friendly enough. We went right for the «Chef’s Specialties» on the menu and the kindest thing I can say is that it might be time for a new Chef.
The Amazing Eggplant was anything but amazing. We were warned that it ran on the sweet side, but it was still rather flavorless and the eggplant was unusually soggy. The Two Friends Penang was equally disappointing. The shrimp was over-​cooked and a bit rubbery, and the flavors were quite muted. We hoped to salvage the experience with a nice dessert, but even those offerings were uninspired at best. We just passed.
Considering all the choices available for at least decent Thai fare in the Tampa area, I just can’t see how this particular venue can warrant a return visit.

Everything we had was amazing. Definitely get the coconut soup and the masaman curry chicken

Best Thai in Tampa! Lunch specials are great,
Prices are low, food is delicious, service is always good. My boyfriend and I are regulars here.

Such a cute restaurant! Great for any casual date. I ordered the pad Thai to go, with vegetables. It was amazing! The pricing is typical for any pad Thai dish and as usual, the price ranges depending on what meat you choose. Go check it out!

The first Thai restaurant I ate at and still the best. Have tried several of their dishes but always come back to the pad Thai. Only real gripe is they don’t have a soda fountain and only serve cans. A lot of places are like that but it is still annoying. Delicious food though and good prices

Visited this quiet Thai restaurant on a Sunday around noon after a matinée movie. My spouse had the drunken noodles and I had the veggie panang curry. Both of our dishes were delicious. The drunken noodles were some of the best noodles I have ever had. I typically do not eat pasta but I will be back for the noodles. My curry was good and mildly flavored. I look forward to dining here soon.

Amazing and authentic Thai food. Lots of Vegetarian and Vegan options too!
Very clean restaurant and great service and servers. They have become my local favorite!

Checked this off my bookmarks today. I’ve been wanting to come here for a long time now. Located in a busy strip mall, parking can be scarce. Luckily, I pulled right in.
We were seated right away, and ordered the appetizer sampler, and I had a coke to drink. The coke is a 12 oz can, and they charge $ 1.50. That really bothers me. Most places sell a can of Coke for $.50 and make good profit. This place has a 200% increase, a practice I call gouging. Also, it’s amateur. Unfortunately, it’s common among alot of Thai restaurants, so it’s easily overlooked.
The appetizer was just a bunch of previously frozen items deep fried. Even the Gyoza was deep fried. To me, this is cutting corners and really brings down the quality of the meal. They did bring out a free soup that was really good!
My entrée was chicken Panang Curry, hot. It was good, and the spice level was perfect. I liked the added cabbage. I can’t remember ever having it this way, but it was good. The curry was thick, like it should be, and the flavor was good & strong.
They do some things really good, and some things not so good. I think a 3 star rating is appropriate. I will go back to try other things on the menu, next time I’m in that area.

The best thai food I’ve ever eaten. Their pad Thai is to die for so flavorful and just the right amount of spice … But the service is awful ! It’s a small restauraunt maybe 15 tables in total with usually one server. Certain people can handle it. The darker skin male and short haired female are great servers but the thai lady just sucks. She’s sweet just not waitress material. I was there two hours on my lunch break try explaining that to my boss.

I was in a state of high anticipation for trying out my first meal as a result of the reviews I read here. I went at lunch time, fortunately before the lunch crowd arrived. The restaurant filled up quickly with what appeared to be mostly regulars. Good indicator.
The soup was beyond description! The flavors were to die for. And the spring roll was crunchy and tasty. Then came the entre (I forgot the name but it was pork based.) I was greatly disappointed. The pork was a little tough and flavor was almost absent. It was very disappointing. To cap off lunch I had some wonderful coconut ice cream.
The service was friendly and quick.
To be fair I need to have a few more meals.

The food was ok but the service was SLOW. We waited for over an hour for our food. It was probably because they were so backed up from the to go orders. Then we waited another 30 mins or so just to get our checks. Maybe togo food might be a better experience.
Also we ordered ‘thai hot’ but the spiciness felt more like ‘mild’. Im assuming its because the order was not communicated clearly to the cook.

They are my go to for Thai food. I have gone to other places and ALWAYS come back here. I absolutely love the staff. They are the nicest, sweetest people. I have not found a place in tampa I prefer to them. Locally, I won’t even consider the other places. I love how they take the time to learn their customers. Their Thai tea is delicious, and I’m sure you’re thinking how hard can that be. I promise you, it is possible for an establishment to make blah tea. Their soup is my favorite. I order it almost every time. Actually, if I don’t order it, they actually ask me if I forgot to!

This is one of the best Thai restaurants for me. No other compares to it. The staff is so nice and friendly. The food is always on point!
My biggest recommendation is Thai tea, fresh spring roll for appetizer and the mussels with veggies for entrée. Everything is always scrumptious!

This is my first time attending this restaurant the food is amazing you wouldn’t be disappointed with anything on the menu. The service was outstanding. More people do take out. You would notice that if you dine in.

Best Thai food around the USF area. Go for lunch for a cheaper experience for the same quality. I believe they have $ 8 deals for your choice of an entrée including soup, appetizer, and dessert (of their choice).

I’ve tried many Thai restaurants in the Tampa Bay Area & I’m sad to say that this was definitely my worst experience out of all of them by far.
I ordered to-​go on a weekday for lunch; the standard entrée I order is my favorite dish, pad Thai. Most places take about ten-​fifteen minutes, but having worked in the food industry for five years, I patiently waited for thirty minutes.
The noodles were undercooked & it honestly just didn’t taste good. I’m not one to exaggerate, that was the first time I’ve never finished my pad Thai. I tried to eat what I could, but threw more than half of it out.
I was hoping the food would make the wait worth while, instead I got the worst pad Thai I’ve eaten thus far.
I’d like to reason that there was a different cook or that mistakes happen, but I’m definitely not willing to go back after that experience.

Sawatdee is great for a quick Thai fix especially since they have an affordable lunch special. The special includes a list of multiple options where your protein (tofu, chicken, beef, shrimp, etc.) dictates the price as well as an appetizer, soup, and dessert. Keep in mind the appetizer, soup, and dessert are predetermined items so if you want something else, you’re going to have to pay the price (no substitutions).
I ordered the pad see ew with fried tofu because it’s my favorite Thai noodle dish. I like to try how different restaurants prepare it and it tasted like your average pad see ew. Thick egg noodle, egg, broccoli, and carrots typically construct this meal but no carrots in this recipe. It was satisfying to eat yet I have had better. No bold flavors.
The predetermined appetizer are two fried wontons. That’s it. With a spicy sweet chili sauce so I don’t see the point in advertising it as an included appetizer, let alone let it carry the title.
The soup choices were either a house chicken or vegetable soup and by that I mean broth. there wasn’t anything other than that to make it worth getting.
I ordered the Tom Kha soup for the same reason I ordered the pad see ew, it is my favorite Thai soup. It was pretty average and I’ve definitely tasted better. Once again no bold flavors and lacked any kind of spice. Just straight up coconut broth with some chicken, onions, and mushrooms.
And finally for dessert, I had one small Thai fried donut with some sort of flavored glaze on top. It was pretty good I’ll admit. Not much else to say because it can’t be hard to screw up frying a donut.
The service was great, very helpful young guy, but I don’t think I would go out of my way to return when there are possibly tastier Thai alternatives in the area. Overall just a very okay experience.

I’ve been craving some pad thai and I’m new to the Tampa area so I decided to give this place a shot. The lunch menu is great; for 7 – 9 bucks you can get a generously portioned entrée, a soup, appetizer, and dessert. For the non-​entrée items, I was a bit disappointed. The soup was a clear broth with little to nothing inside, but it took me straight home so I couldn’t be mad. The appetizer was literally 2 wonton wrapper wedges deep fried with duck sauce, like the stuff you get at Chinese restaurants for free in the beginning. The dessert was a single, sad Thai donut with some condensed milk drizzled on top.
Although I gotta admit, the pad thai was really awesome and exceeded expectations, but that was for sure not a 3-​course meal. The price made it worth it though!

My friend suggested this place for lunch and since I had never been I was open to trying something new. And then I read the Unilocal reviews … and I got scared. Nevertheless we went anyway. I will preface my review by saying I am not a Thai food connoisseur but I enjoyed it.
I had a hard time deciding what to order because I do not often eat Thai food and quite frankly our waitress was very helpful with explaining the menu items in a way that I could understand, so at the suggestion of my friend I tried the fried rice. It was very different from the Chinese version in a good way. The lunch portions are small but nothing is more than $ 10.
I would come back again to try some of the other menu items especially at lunch time due to the affordable pricing. This is a small quaint restaurant but the turnover was pretty quick during my lunch visit.

I do a lot of Thai. Probably because most of what I eat out are things I can’t cook. Thai is a challenge for me because I still have not mastered that damn brown sauce. Without a good brown sauce Thai is feeble and weak. Like a limp noodle. That’s what I get most of the time I attempt Thai, limp noodles.
One of the first things I noticed, upon entering Sawatdee during the daylight, was that they had a special menu called a «Lunch Menu.» I had always heard about such things but had never experienced one before. It was crazy. There were things on the menu that weren’t on their normally like free salads and tofu and little donuts. All at no cost to you. This was the life.
Our meal started with a bowl of soup, a fried piece of tofu with dipping sauce and some egg rolls. Neither the soup or tofu was spectacular. Both just served their purpose. The soup was light and full of veggies while the tofu and sauce gave me something a little more substantial until the main course appeared. The egg rolls were pretty good, the surface was dry and crispy not weighed down by oil or grease (as is sometimes the case with egg rolls).
My normal Sawatdee (and Thai in general) order is the basil or the garlic. The basil is sauteed tofu with Thai special sauce (there it is, that damn brown sauce), basil, onions, bell pepper and bamboo shoots. The garlic is tofu, Thai Special Sauce, garlic, black pepper, carrot, cabbage and broccoli. Craving something different I decided to try the Panang Curry. With tofu, zucchini, cabbage, broccoli, bell pepper and basil in a base of coconut milk I was very impressed (more impressed than I thought a curry could ever make me). The sauce wasn’t overwhelmingly coconut (or overwhelmingly anything for that matter). The spices were gentle enough to allow the vegetables and tofu to shine through. It made me want to go home and attempt my own version.
J-​Fur went with her old stand-​by, the Pad Thai. This is what really sets Sawatdee apart from some of the other Thai places in Tampa. Thai Ruby’s Pad Thai lacks any taste at all. I felt like I was eating second hand chewing gum. Ploy Thai’s is just a bit too saucy. Lemon Grass overpriced theirs. Sukhothai overegged. Sawatdee (and the Buddhist Temple) are the only places that we’ve visited that consistently deliver a good Pad Thai to your plate. This pleases J-​Fur (and me, because I get her leftovers).