Lee's Thai Food — Restaurant in Falls Church

Updated Response to Owner: Shame on you for not being accountable for your lack of customer service & standards! Instead of trying to improve you made excuses! First of all, I had arrived around 12:15, I know this because by lunch break is at noon. I also know I had lunch on a Friday because that’s the only day I leave the office for lunch. You pointing out the date is irrelevant, what is relevant are the facts: 1. Your place smelled like urine! 2. Your store menu clearly states 4 pieces for the satay! This is false advertisement! You telling a customer to cut up the pieces to make more pieces is ignorant & absurd! You also never brought out an additional piece! 3. Your rude response to a paying customer is exactly why your rating is so low! 4. I’m a highly rated blogger so your pathetic attempt of saying I’m using a fake account is foolish, everyone can clearly see that most of my reviews are 4+ stars. I spoke the truth, you’re bitter because the facts were not in your favor! As you mentioned karma is real so the truth always prevails!

The place was empty during lunch we were the only customers but we got seated in the back & could smell the stink of urine near the restroom! We asked on the menu if the satay was on a stick & about what kind of noodles was used for one of the lunch specials, the staff had no answers to our questions. We ordered the satay which shows on the menu as 4 pieces, when we received our order it only had 3 pieces and one piece was badly burnt, when we asked about the portion we were surprised the owner “Lee” herself came to our table to say the pieces were bigger so they only bring 3 pieces! I should’ve taken a picture before sending the order back! Needless to say there are SO MANY OTHER MUCH BETTER THAI RESTAURANTS nearby! Kiin Imm, Linjee, Sisters Thai, Thai Ghang Waan, Happy Thai, I can go on and on! Don't waste your time or...

I feel compelled to write an honest review since all the other ones were so compelling about the quality of this food - because we went way out of our way to order from this restaurant given the glowing gluten free reviews. We have eaten pad see ew in many places around the world. What makes it good is the brown sauce - combo of oyster and soy sauces, and then caramelizing the noodles. I'm not sure if it's because it was a gluten free order, but this food had neither the sauce nor the caramelization. If the owner says it did, well then I'm mistaken, but there was no color (or taste) to the flat noodles and/or other ingredients. A huge disappointment. The cashew fried rice was okay, but nothing to write home about.

I called in this order at 6 p.m. and was told to come in between 6:45 and 7 pm. I drove 30 minutes to get there, arrived at 6:55 and had to then wait an additional 20 minutes for food, then turned around and got home at 7:45 pm. If you tell a person that the order is ready in 45 minutes to an hour, the food should be ready in an hour - it's pretty lame to make them wait another 15-20 minutes. Anyway, we will not return as the food was sadly not worth it. Gluten free and all.

UPDATE: in the gluten free community it is commonly known that Soy sauce has gluten, but there are brands that sell gluten free - same with fish sauce. To make a traditional recipe without the taste and market it as great tasting is false advertising. I find it suspicious that there are several rave reviews of the GF food, with people coming from Baltimore and Boston (previously) to rave about this food just days after my submission. I’m sorry but I have to stick with my original review so that other GF customers aren’t deceived and can judge for themselves. It’s bad enough that they have this...

Great experience overall. Stopped by for lunch on a Thursday after doing a quick Google search for Thai food in the area. Came in for the first time and was pleasantly greeted. Restaurant was clean. No issues with parking. Did not use the restroom. I wanted to order a soup, but was swayed by the owner's persistence regarding the Drunken Noodles. Instead of getting the Drunken Noodles (with chicken) on the Lunch Special Menu, which would've been a smaller portion, I got the regular dinner size portion. I also got a Tom Yum soup with veggies.

The soup came out HOT and definitely hit the spot. Mildly spicy, so I added some red chilis. The lime/sour definitely came through as well. It was delicious! Next the Chicken Drunken Noodles came out and the portion was big (I ate 2/3 of it). Everything looked fresh. I definitely appreciated the fresh wide rice noodles. You can definitely tell the difference. (And yes, I do get Drunken Noodles from any Thai restaurant I go to. For me, having the Drunken Noodles or Pad Thai, as well as the Som Tum/Papaya Salad gives me a good gauge on the food overall.) I was not disappointed. The food was very good. I will be coming back another time to try something else. I will likely get the Drunken Noodles again to see if it's consistent. It's worth a shot if you're in the area or looking to order delivery. Dine in if you can!

Very pleasant and friendly customer service made my experience that much...