White Elephant Thai Cuisine Calgary — Restaurant in Calgary

Worst Thai food experience on all facets. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend dining at this establishment. Our visit was marked by numerous issues that significantly impacted our overall experience.

To start, the signage was inadequate, making it difficult to locate the entrance. Even the family before us made a remark about the confusion they experienced while trying to find the entrance. And all three times trying to find the right entrance way, the staff were unhelpful and unfriendly when we sought guidance. They were also slow to seat us. We had to bring our presence to their attention because of how nonchalant and inattentive they were. Additionally, the place was not aesthetically calming, with tacky orange yellow and red wall colors and cheap seating that failed to create a pleasant ambiance.

The most crucial disappointment was the food and service. We ordered the papaya salad, which was not fresh and lacked the authentic flavors we expected. The stir fry had overcooked chicken and undercooked vegetables, resulting in an unsatisfying texture, like eating cardboard. And you could tell from the flavours that the chef’s skill was lacking. The curry had extremely poor-quality stale meat, was also severely over cooked you could barely knaw through, and was overly spicy despite our request for a very mild version.

The service was bad as well. It took an extended period to get the waitress’ attention, despite only one other patron (family of four being there), and even then, she showed little attentiveness to our needs. We asked for a mild curry, which the waitress confirmed, but it arrived super spicy, indicating a lack of attention to detail, respect and actual care for the customers’ request.

Moreover, the dishes were not the cheapest, at $24 average per entree yet they did not reflect the kind of quality that justified the pricing. This was a significant letdown.

Additionally, the presence of pallets outside the restaurant made parking difficult, as they were haphazardly discarded and not even moved and we had to physically navigate around them. It was an odd and inconvenient situation that further added to our frustration.

Furthermore, the staff, including the chef and staff, would barely acknowledge you and seemed uninterested in as mentioned before, acknowledging or helping customers. Their demeanor created an unwelcoming atmosphere.

Considering the issues with signage, unhelpful staff, lackluster ambiance, disappointing food quality, and very subpar service, I strongly urge you to avoid dining here. It was the worst Thai place we have experienced, and the high rating it seemingly holds is misleading. I do wonder if it appears that there may have been changes in ownership. This was a regretful use of our hard-earned money, and had it been up to me, no tip would have even been given. While I believe in tipping, the combination of such poor quality ingredients and terribly cooked food and service did not warrant it, especially given the high prices charged.

I encourage you to explore other dining options where you can have a more satisfying and enjoyable experience. It is important to find a restaurant that values customer satisfaction and delivers on the promises of quality food and service.

Save yourself the disappointment and seek out alternative choices. There are certainly better Thai restaurants available that provide a more pleasurable dining...

I want to preface this by saying the food was good and I enjoyed it. The problem is the zero service we had, or lack there of. I went on March the 9th around 6pm. The man "serving" us did not give us menus or cups for our water. We had to call someone over to give us these things after waiting around 25 minutes. This can be given a pass on it's own due to the amount of customers dining in at the time, but the service gets way worse.

Our server takes our order after being seated for around 35 minutes but forgets to put it through to the kitchen. We waited another 20 or so minutes and ended up asking where the food was and that was when the order was put through. Waited another 20 minutes for the food to arrive. During this whole time, no waiter or waitress had visited our table once to check up on us. We had to call for someone to refill our water and afterwards the water was left unrefilled until we left.

To preface this next issue, Our whole table had ordered our own dishes to have. When bringing our food, the waiter who took our order did not remember what anyone had gotten and so had to explain the dishes. He explained it ambiguously and poorly, saying "spicy noodle pork and beef" instead of "spicy noodle pork spring rolls and beef main protein" or something similar, resulting in dishes being mixed up as we were left guessing which dish was whose. When we realized something was wrong, all he said was "I think your friend has your dish" and walked away.

I need to make this very clear. Not a single human walked up to our table to check up on us. Everything we needed, we had to call someone over for. It took over an hour to get our food. When we were seated, the restaurant was full. By the time we got our food, the whole restaurant was EMPTY.

Never in my entire life, no matter how bad the service, have I ever tipped less than 10%. This time I did not leave a tip because there was literally no one for me to tip. Worst service in my 25 years of life on earth. Not worth gambling the service here....

DO NOT GO! Extremely unpleasant experience. Very rude staff. Disgusting foods. The plates weren't even fully cleaned up. Unreal long wait time and they can't even get the order straight. The staff doesn't speak much English and is extremely distespectful to the guests. We are a group of working individuals travelling to Calgary from Northern Alberta. We wanted to try Thai food and tripadviser-ed this place. When we got there it was 6:00 then the guy said there was no table and we have to wait 20-30 mins. We finally got in at 6:50. Don't tell us 20-30 mins when in reality it takes 50 mins.

FINE! we came a long way. The waitress sat us down there was another 30 minutes wait before the waitress came over to take your order doesn't matter if you wave or put up your hand. All the waiters there ignore you on purpose!!

Goddamit OKAY. We all came a long way and were all starving. We will suck up to this service for this once! Got there at 6:00. Got in 6:50. Placed order at 7:20. The rest you will NOT believe we kept asking how much longer the food will be we asked the server 3 times went up to the counter 2 times. The people that came in the door late than us already got their foods. We finally got our food at 8:20. This is such a horrible dining experience. Went to talk to the manager the manager said "sit down, if you still talk then get out". Wow. This is unbelievable. Was told to get out of the restaurant for waiting for our food for 2 and 20 minutes.

DONT ever try this disgusting place. Doesn't even have enough dining chairs. they did not even clean their utensil and plates properly. There were some sticky leftovers left on the cleaned plate when they brought them over. This place does not deserve any customers and the Asian business owner needs to learn some manners. Absolutely hate this place. Will not recommend anyone. At the end they still messed up one of our orders. What a horrible night. By far the worst Thai place and the worst service place we have ever been...