Chai Thai Noodles Hayward — Restaurant in Castro Valley

Food Critic - Poor Customer Service As a food critic, this was the worst customer service I have experienced in a long time!! My party of 6 was first on their waiting list. We had waited for 45 mins. In that time frame, they had seated 7 groups of 2-4 people whom came in after my party. None of the staff came to check up or inform anyone in my party of the time frame. Therefore, we had made all the effort to check in with the staff to see how long the wait time would be. After the first time, we waited 10 more mins. At this time we decided we didn’t want to wait any longer so we had asked to have our order to go. One of the hostess went & grabbed two menus and “slammed” it on our table (I had seated myself at the bar.) In trying to give them multiple opportunities to readjust their poor customer service attitude, we decided to look through the menu & at least order something to go so I can review the food. When we were ready to order, the original waitress came to take our order which at that time, she said they had a table ready for us. At this time it was way too late. She then proceeded to tell us that a to go order or done in would both take 45 mins. Wow, it would have been good to know that from the beginning. Now we have spent 1 hour in the restaurant waiting for nothing. The staff needs more training in how to inform customers more consistently & to at least check up on waiting customers.

So yes, 1 star for poor customer service. I never made it to tasting their food, but with a wait time & poor customer service like that, I wouldn’t waste my time again. Rude staff & poor customer service is not worth my time in my line of work. The staff did not seem to care if we stayed or left. After reading several reviews regarding their “poor customer service,” I understand where all those customers are...

I have been eating Thai food since I discovered it in Manhattan in 1980. I have been saddened by the the bastardization and wimpification of Thai food that has occurred in the US over the last 20 years. It is almost impossible to get Thai food that rivals the food of the past.

Not a problem any more! I was stunned by the combination of strong flavors, well balanced heat and fresh ingredients at the Chai Thai Noodle restaurant. A real blast from the past, I actually had this strange, fleeting flashback, like it was 1985 again and I was eating at the Siam Cuisine in Berkeley or the Kahn Toke in SF or the Weang Ping in Oalkand!. Flavor, people!

The red curry was exceptional. The Pad Kee Mao was fantastic. Fried calamari, very good, not greasy at all. Other dishes were all very good. Portions somewhat better than average, never got to taste dessert as a result. Real honest-to-goodness sticky rice available in individual servings--once standard, now very rare in what passes for Thai restaurants in the US.

The medium spiciness heat here is what most Thai restaurants would call hot or very hot--in other words, medium. If you are not used to real Thai food, don't go above medium heat in your order. But if you lived through the Thai food revolution in the US as I did, or have visited Thailand, go for the gusto!

I would call the place a bit on the upscale side, especially given it's location across the street from the 99 cent store and next to the tattoo parlor and payday advance service. By 7:30 on a Wednesday it was packed with people, line out the door, mostly Asian. Multiple types of craft beer available at the bar or tables. Parking can be difficult on the streets near...

Looking for a Thai rest to celebrate our wedding anniversary and knowing former rest Thai Garden was open to business again we decided to come and leave our money here. A grumpy older waiter greeted us as I noticed this place had been remodeled. Dark floor, dark walls, dark ambiance, this place was as dark as the older waiter's mood. I made this comment...." Wow, this place is different" and he replied in a rude way.... "what, from 3 years ago?", I noticed his tone and just kept quiet. A young waiter took our order and I thought he was going to be nicer. Food was on our table in a back snap just to find out that the fried calamari was half way hot (do they just microwave them?) and flavorless. Tom Kha soup was too liquidy with no flavor. Pad Thai was just a beautiful soggy/mushed mess. Nobody came by to ask if everything was right, a young lady came and refilled our glass of water, the one star goes to her. We finished our flavorless food and asked the young waiter for the check, we waited and waited and waited for the check. Hubby told me we should stand up and go directly to the cashier. The older grumpy waiter was in charge and I told him.. "we asked for the check like 10 mins ago", and with a nonchalant tone he was "I'm sorry".

Of course there was no tip and we're not coming back to this awfuly dark place with hair-rising customer service and horrible food.

As you can tell our horrible experience was from the beginning to the end of our visit to this place.

The customer service, food and ambience of Thai Garden was superb. I even wrote a 4 stars review for them.

Chai Thai Noodles deserve 0 (zero) stars.

(Lets see if Yelp HQ removes this...