Thai Sana — Restaurant in Ellsworth

What a little gem! I happily give Thai Sana 5 stars because Pat and his crew check all the boxes. Today was my daughter in laws Birthday and she wanted to try something new. She had never been to a Thai restaurant so we headed up the hill to Thai Sana for a taste adventure and were not disappointed. We were warmly greeted by the owner Pat. The space was spotless, bright, cheerful and smelled like we were going to have a delicious lunch. The inside has ornate golden fixtures, bright red covers on the chairs, and colorful  flowers. Exactly what one would imagine for a cute little place like this. Just the fun the doctor ordered on a winter day and perfect backdrop to celebrate. Our party of four, 3 adults and a baby, felt right at home immediately. We ordered Thai tea, hot. Pat brought us a piping hot pot of tea. It came in a beautiful tall white teapot, with three ornate and delightfully fun tea cups. I served up deep orange cups of piping hot goodness, we toasted the lady of  the hour and ordered our feast. I ordered us the chicken satay. Totally on point, tender & juicy. I believe it came with 4 maybe 5 nice sized pieces of chicken, a peanut sauce and some type of onion maybe vinegar sauce. I didn't try the second sauce, not my thing. We got the dumplings. These were little round crunchy, savory balls of yum. They came with a sweet soy, maybe a lite touch of Ginger, sauce on the side. Also I believe 5, maybe 6. They were unique dumplings. They had a coating of sorts that added a whole different texture dynamic, we loved it. I got us the Fried Spring rolls and we loved them. So fresh, cabbage chopped perfectly. Also served with the sweet soy. 5 per order, I believe. I asked for and was given, extra thick peanut immediately. This sauce is one of my favorite sauces on this planet and every little place is a little different. I love it. I liked Thai Sana peanut sauce, just right spice, nice consistency, flavorful but not overpowering. I also ordered the Tom Gha soup, with chicken. I always do, because that is the way when dining at a Thai restaurant. I was delighted. When our other companion joined, she took one taste and ordered a bowl herself. All 3 of us fell in love with it immediately. I love introducing new foods to the people I love. So much fun. The DIL was in heaven, she was loving all the new tastes. Spice level was perfect. (Light-for a super spice lover-but we are in Maine, so I felt it was at the right level.) All three of us loved the presentation. Everything looked beautiful as well as delivering on taste. For our main course we chose to stick to the classic and got two orders of Pad Thai. We feasted on the perfectly sauteed noodles. The sweet and savory sauce melting into the slices of tender chicken. They use shredded carrots, I liked that visually and texturally as well. I added some peanut sauce and touch of soy. Thai Sana nailed it!! We are all so full and had plenty of left overs. Everything was very fresh, especially nice as it is the middle of winter. The restaurant is clean and welcoming and the prices are great, especially for the portions. Pat and the adorable Grandmotherly lady peaking out from the kitchen to say hello, between dishes, gave the whole Birthday such a personal touch. We could taste the love in the food :) Hope this helps my fellow diners and Our local business. Be blessed. Be kind. Be grateful, you're in Maine, the way life should be;)

*Also sidenote for tourists coming thru on your way to BH, Acadia or The Island: At lunch we realized due to its location; Thai Sana would be a perfect place, for a couple or a family, to grab a yummy meal, at a reasonable price, before you get into the crowds and prices our famous and beautiful destination location...

Casual restaurant attached to the Colonial Inn. We were taken aback by the plain exterior and empty parking lot at 5:30 on a Saturday. The haphazard interior didn’t improve our first impression. The chairs are all covered with very wrinkled leather-like chair covers. Shorts and these things do not mesh. Nothing against chair covers but they should at least fit. Our waitress was an elderly woman with a not-so-good grasp of the English language. We had a difficult time getting answers to our questions. We ordered various beverages including one beer. For some reason, she brought two beers. We tried, to no avail, to explain that we only ordered one. And we did get charged for the extra “no we didn’t order it” beer. This is the most expensive Thai restaurant we’ve ever visited. $130 for four meals and one, no two, beers. We just ordered entrees, no appetizers or desserts. On the bright side, the food was, overall, very good. The serving sizes are more than adequate. We had the Panang chicken (which is not on the menu but they’ll make it), the Red Curry shrimp with extra shrimp (which they charge a pretty penny for), the Mango Salmon and the Steak Teriyaki (on the menu offers brown rice which they don’t have). No complaints on either of the curries they were very tasty. The salmon tasted fine but it was a very thin piece of fish. My spouse asked for the salmon to be cooked medium rare but there’s no way they could cook it other than well done. My sister ordered the steak which came in very large, thick strips. It was disappointing. It was mostly gristle and fat with very little meaty flavor. Waste of money on this one. This is a hard one to rate for sure. It’s over priced but the food (with a couple exceptions) is pretty decent. I just...

I live in the Ellsworth area and love Thai food. I used to go to the other Thai restaurant but stopped because they still have no website and I never to have a menu. Love Shinbashi, but thought I'd give Thai Sana a try based on the favorable (undeserved) reviews. Well. Hmmm. Worst Crab Rangoon EVER. I love curry, but finding it in these was an odd suprise. I guess to cover that not only was there no real crab in them, but also no fake crab as promised. Aside from the overwhelming curry they were both too sweet and too salty. The rice was good. Plain white rice, sticky but not too wet. It was even good reheated the next day. The noodle side dish good. Garnished with peanuts, but not bad. The Chicken Mango was mediocre at best. The chicken quite tough, and overall too sweet.. As for the ambiance, I was greeted warmly by the cook. Very pleasant. The dinning room was empty, but it was early. There was no ambiance to speak of. The room looked unused and none too clean. There was no music on. The only noise in the room was from the laptop at the bar with someone speaking in Chinese? coming from it. Very distracting. The hostess sitting watching it was busy picking her nose. Well, to be fair, she was more caressing it than picking it. Not like she was handling food right? Yeeesh! Anyway. If you are looking for good Asian food in the area try Shinbashi. A little more expensive,...