Finest Thai — Restaurant in El Cajon

Wow, this place has changed a lot during the pandemic. I usually do takeout, so eating in was a bit of a change since the last time I ate in - was a couple years ago....and it's been a while since my last takeout..

All flimsy/cheap paper plates (put your hand under them), utensils, cups, and napkins. The whole thing screams cheap.

The food quality has taken a bit of a hit to. Ok to good. Avoid fried foods, as they are over cooked. Pad Thai was heavy...not sure what they did..but only passable.

Service is nearly self serve. Need anything, you will need to go to the counter to ask. For example, they will bring the food, but no plates at the same time.

............ We just recently found this place, and really liked it. Good value for the quantity and price of the food. Service was very good, but only one server (Monday evening, we were one of two tables while we were there).

Food came very quickly.

I'm not a spice person, wife is. They offer to include the spices on the side if you like, and they have a scale for the food of 0-10, where 3 is a medium.

My only complaint was the wigheads/golden shrimp (different names at different places) but the shrimp wrapped in noodles as a app. They were just a tad small, but then you get 5, probably need one more size up. My issue is more about the balance of flavor, and less...

Finest Tai charges 1.50 extra for sweet and sour sauce on an $18.00 order. At that price point you would have thought it was have been a medium size serving, however the container was so small the staff member gave me a larger size, out of sheer embarrassment that management had such tackey policies. The cashier even said " please dont shoot the messenger " as she was embarrassed to charge the inflated fee. The shrimp fried rice was bland and flavorless top it all off! The rice also contained large onions, which made the meal even more deplorable!The cashier and staff were very unprofessional, and dug rice out of a slow cooker using no gloves. Please take your business to Kips cafe a few miles down, if you want a quality meal and overall experience. I will not spend another dime in this...

I ordered some Khao Piak Sen (Lao Chicken Noodle Soup). From the photo and the description in their menu it sounded like it would taste at the least something close to grandmas cooking. Well I was wrong, terribly wrong. For the amount the total should have only been $5, not almost $10. In the description it says "House noodles made of rice flour". What it should have said is "Pre-packaged microwavable Japanese udon." The green onion and cilantro were a dark greenish brown color, not fresh what so ever. Also to make it more interesting, for a place called Finest Thai I dont think there was a single Thai/Lao person working there. I asked for Khao Piak Sen w/ Leoud and looked at me like I was some mystical creature. All in all, probability of returning or recommending anyone to go...