Thai Lotus — Restaurant in Cary

Thai food is my favorite cuisine. I've eaten at at Thai spots in approximately 1/4 of the US states and over 20 in the state of Texas alone. The food here is not exceptional, but good. My wife and I showed up initially on the evening of their opening day (I was really excited as this place is the closest to our residence we've ever had) and it was clear they were having a bit of a false start and were inexperienced restaurateurs. We gave it a month and returned. Much better experience on the sophomore visit from the food and service. My wife and I are trying to reduce carbs, which is markedly difficult when your favorite food source is based around noodles and rice. We tend to do Tom Kha and Beef salad a lot towards this effort. The Tom Kha was nice and richly thick with plenty of coconut milk as a good one should have, but it's a bit shy on the sharper items like lemongrass and galangal. The beef salad I had no particular complaints about save for wanting more Thai basil in it, which the best ones I have enjoyed have in spades. My wife wanted it more tart and "limey." As far as spice goes, this place is quite mild. I like it HOT as most aficionados do, so if you want it hot ask for more and probably more on the side.

All in all the place shows promise, and it is possible some menu items far exceed our small sample. My initial impression is this place is coming in as "Thai light," as a lot of the more potent flavors associated with the cuisine are under represented. I want this place to succeed- as it is near my residence and restaurants in the area seem to disappear like David Copperfield has a getaway home in the Triangle. My suggestion is MORE THAI, but the place is still good if trying to cater to the...

Bizarre thai restaurant that doesn’t use fish sauce, palm sugar, or lime in any of their dishes, where these ingredients are staples of Thai flavor.

I’ve been to Thailand, as well as plenty of Thai restaurants in America. I’ve never seen a restaurant this bad have 4.5 stars…

The soups offered are like dishwater, and nothing close to authentic Tom Ga or Tom Yum soup. You can probably DIY the ingredients with white vinegar, water, and chicken bouillon.

The curry (red) was actually okay. But I’m fairly sure they just used canned curries that you can buy whole sale and just simmered it with some water

The worst was the Nam Tok. Never seen a beef salad this .. inedible. The beef pieces are sliced like stir fry and cooked bone dry. The salad is spicy and salty without any of the sweet and tanginess you’d usually expect from Nam Tok. I couldn’t finish it and wanted to return it, but they emphasized that it would just be dumped and I didn’t want to waste the food so I just took it. 16$ (or was it 18?) for stir fried beef tossed in lettuce is an absolute joke.

Pad Thai was served with.. carrots??? Legit never seen this before. No bean sprouts were found and no peanuts on top.

This whole experience felt like a fever dream and a thai food nightmare. Cary desperately needs some good Thai food if this is the...

Chef Floki and Owner Percy are always focused on providing top notch service and Thai food. They have unique challenges that they overcome with constant communication and feedback requests. Most Americans are not accustomed to actual Thai Flavor so they have the challenge of trying to bring authentic Thai food and present it to American Customers in a way they will enjoy and still get that Thai authenticity. The key coming here is determining what level of spice and flavor you can handle and telling the waiter what you would like. If you like Thai spicy their is no better place in North Carolina... You must tell them you want it Thai hot or American hot... This is key... once you lock in on what you like and want their is no better place for Thai food... Highly Advise trying Nom Tok (spicy beef salad), Red Curry w Chicken, Tom Ka Soup w Chicken (incredible), Chicken Larb, Kerpow with pork or chicken, Nam Suk, if you like Thai noodles you can order the Pad Thai or the Drunken Noodles... I love it all but the first dishes I listed are so mouthwatering I can't help but want...