Titaya's Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Austin

My dear companion took me out to dinner here for my first real taste of Thai (#MyThai). 'Twas Satday night, so the place was packed and we had to wait a little over half an hour, but that ain't so bad, especially when there's a Goodwill and a Half Price Brooks just across the parking lot. The host's time estimate was pretty spot-on, so we came back in time to hear our number called.

We were seated in a nice little corner nook, the likes of which we like a lot. We quickly decided on two First Bites: Sweet Corn Taro Fritters and Tod Mon Pla. The taro root was a little taste of childhood for my dear companion, and something I took to calling Thai fries. They were finer than the French variety, and tastier, too, especially when dunked in the spicy cucumber sauce that accompanied the Tod Mon Pla. Tod Mon Pla is a fish cake dude I absolutely loved. We also ordered a Thai Iced Tea with our appetizers, a fabulous beverage I took to calling Thaiced Tea, the very best iced tea I ever done had. My dear companion don't typically like no iced tea, but she liked the Thaiced Tea just fine. It tasted to me something like rice pudding tea, so I insisted there was rice in the tea, but my incredulous companion had the audacity to fact check me on her stupid phone. How dare she.

For our entrees we ordered Pad Thai with fried tofu and the Treasure Island curry. I'd enjoyed Pad Thai once before at the P.F. Chang's, but this one here was far superior. I was picking off my dear companion's plate all night, yes sir. Them noodles? Them bean sprouts? Them egg bits? Best tofu I ever knew. Dee-friggin-lish. Treasure Island is a turmeric-based curry sportin' a bunch of vegetables (i.e. carrots, peppers, mushrooms) and a bunch of seafoods (i.e. shrimp, squid, green muscles). It came recommended by our super sweet waitress (Gertrude, was it?), and she was sure pleased to see me so pleased with it. It was excellent. My dear companion was picking off my plate all night, yes ma'am. I even got her to sample a squidball and she liked it good for a cephalopod. Only thing I didn't like about it was that the scrimps still had their tails on. I just told them tails to fork off, though. No big deal. It was a lot of food for us, but we cleaned our plates real good. Now, my dear companion started tapping out early, but I ridiculed her for her lack of endurance and stamina, and that inspired her to push herself and keep up with me okay (#FoodCoach).

By the end, we was both stuffed like a couple of fish cakes, but that couldn't keep us off that dessert menu. After much deliberation, we ordered Panna Cotta with a Vietnamese coffee. That Panna Cotta came out looking like a jiggly ol' flan, but you just can't judge a Jigglypuff by it's jiggle. She was a lovely little thing, especially with the accompanying chili candied almond bits and the big wafer crisp disc. My dear companion cracked that disc like Zumbo and took a bite like Rachel, and then she was all waxing criticky bout the balance of flavors and textures. That Vietnamese coffee was incredible, too: a good, strong digestive to finish off our very delightful meal.

The bill was $56.61, which is kind of high, but we did indulge like a couple of gluttonous fatties, and we did enjoy truly excellent service, so we have no complaints about anything at all. Well, not aside from the musky odor wafting off the fellow next to us. But he was dining with a cutie pie; I'd be sweating, too. Lord knows my dear companion would be sweating as well. She's a sweater. I got stories about her sweats, man. But that's beside the point, I guess. The point is this: Titaya's is an excellent restaurant that I highly recommend. And I would love to return some day to sample some more amazing...

!!!WARNING TO ANYONE WITH SERVICE ANIMALS!!

I’m sure they have good food as the place was packed but that’s not what my review is about. I drove nearly an hour with my family just to eat here because the reviews were so good. I had an awful weekend and it was the first time I went out all week. Once we finally got there we were turned away because I had my service animal with me because I didn’t have his “ID Card”.

Let me refresh the owners and everyone else who doesn’t know on both Federal and Texas state law regarding service animals

You are not required to provide documentation for your service animal in any form. Simply declaring that they are a service animal is all you are obligated to do. In fact it is illegal to even ask. Despite this fact, I’m not an unreasonable and understand people lie about this kind of thing so I had shown him the official letter from my licensed therapist which he wouldn’t even read. It clearly declared that he was a trained service animal who’s presence is essential to my well being.

He kept insisting on an ID Card. To clarify to all of those unaware, the websites that sell these cards and “certificates” are all a sham. They provide no formal certification upheld by law whatsoever. If they did, everyone who’s ever had a migraine could get one of these fake certificates that say their furry companion is a trained service animal when they might be the worst behaved animal you’ve ever met.

To actually get a “certified” service animal, they must be well behaved, quiet, and trained to perform one or more specific tasks that are essential in caring for your particular health issue, whether it is physical or mental. After your companion has be successfully trained in performing whichever task(s) vital to your well being, you must have a licensed medical professional of any kind write a formal letter that certifies why you have your service animal and what actions they are trained to perform specifically for the care of your respective health issues.

Shame on the owners for the way they treated me, my family, and my service animal. It was an embarrassing and aggravating situation that made an already terrible week that much worse.

As a note to the owners: I will be filing a formal complaint with the Office of the Texas Governor which handles ADA compliancy cases in this state along with a formal federal complaint. I encourage everyone to look up just how costly the fines are even for first time offenses. I’ve never had such a situation happen before in all of the years I’ve had a registered service animal and recommend anyone with service animals do not attempt to waste your time or money at this...

Food was ok. That is the only reason for the 1 star.. People serving were rude and disrespectful.. Went around 2 pm when restaurant was not busy. Was given a table for 2. Asked for a bigger table. ~6 tables were free. I understand policy but they were rude on how they said no. Because of narrow space put my bag in a empty chair. This is when rude male server came and screamed you can’t keep your bag there. I asked if I can keep my bag until someone came? He left.. I was already upset but kept calm, took the bag out it besides me. Same guy came to take order. I Asked if there are different spice levels. He said “NO I CANT DO IT” for starters. Again understand restaurant policy but they way he said it was too rude Then he asked me for main course as if he was trying to rush us. I ordered something as I felt rushed.. He immediately snatched the menu card and left. We had to call him to check if he had Thai tea. In a min, asked for menu. He starred at us while going to get it. Requested if I can make a change to main course. Immediate response was a rude “NO I can’t. Then I requested politely if he could check. After this the interactions were less rude. He came back and said no we can’t change because they already started cooking. I fills him thanks for checking. After all this experience I really felt bad about service and so thought a tip of 8% is a lot but will also politely send a message that he can’t be rude. This male server at this point stopped us and told we have to tip at least 15% or not come back if we can’t afford.

Reality is I can afford much more but you don’t deserve even the 8% tip. The fact you thought you could demand a tip from customer shows you don’t deserve to work in service industry..

I then asked for manager to an elderly person at the billing. They were all silent. The server lady that initially said no to the bigger table came and started laughing when I asked for manager. Then this rude male server came and said he is the manager and I shouldn’t come back..

Don’t worry, I am never coming back. I can’t tolerate racism at any level.. I remember you mention that you see this less tip behavior from people of my race on a daily basis.. if in fact that is true, then it’s a clear indication of your racism and rudeness from other people as well.

To know that the establishment doesn’t care about about racism was...