Sang Tong Thai - Kennett Square — Restaurant in Kennett Square

Our group of six was very excited to try Café de Thai - the latest of the BYOB restaurants in Kennett Square, and we were not disappointed.

Let's start with the starters! We tried the chicken lettuce wraps, crab ragoon (which is not something I would normally order) steamed pork dumplings, and soup. Though I did not try the soup, I did sample everything else and it was all delicious. The rangoon and the dumplings come 4 to an order, while the lettuce wraps portion is large enough for a light meal. The starters were accompanied by a standalone set of three sauces to add if you cared to.

For my entrée I selected the Drunken Noodles with Scallops. I was given the option of mild, medium, or spicy and opted for spicy. Depending on your tastes this level is either delicious, or too hot to eat. I found it perfect, though added some additional heat from the selection of sauces. Pad Thai was another popular entrée at our table, and everyone agreed that they'd order it again.

Overall, I'm really looking forward to trying their curry and other menu options. Now, for those of you who've read a few of my reviews, you're likely waiting for the, "…. but," and here it is.

Our server was soooooo nice and so very patient - always with a big smile even though it was clear we would be a handful; however, it would be more helpful if he had a better grasp of English - and this is why. At our table was one person with a nut/legume allergy that's terrifying. She is always very clear about it, asks lots of questions, explains the need for extraordinary care needed - all the while being extremely good-natured about it. Our server was confused from the beginning, thinking she was asking for additional nuts!

One of the people at our table wasn't sure the point was getting across, so she walked over to the person who'd seated us to ask for an assist.

Enter Katie.

This young woman - a senior in high school! - fully grasped the situation and not only ensured our server entered all the special information into the order console correctly, she also took it upon herself to go have a chat with the chef, just so everyone who would come into contact with the food was 100% clear! The chef had the wherewithal to ask whether or not our guest's allergy was airborne as well so that precautions could be taken if that was the case (which it was not, but great proactive inquiry Chef!). I don't recall seeing out server again after the order was taken as Katie oversaw our meal from that point, but did an amazing job on her own.

As a note: the A/C was out on July 30 and it was really warm inside (and 96 outside). That said, Katie kept our water full and brought lots and lots of ice.

We're all really looking forward to going back. You should try it, too! And don't...

My wife and I love almost all Thai food, so we were delighted to hear of the recent opening of Cafe de Thai, the first Thai restaurant in our hometown of Kennett Square. Initial impressions were promising: Thai owner/chef trained in Bangkok with several other restaurants under her belt, extensive if conventional menu, impressive bright new facilities, and some pretty good initial reviews. Nonetheless, since we heard there were some initial teething problems during opening - a common enough problem for new restaurants - we decided to wait some weeks and then come during mid-afternoon when the light traffic would allow the wait staff and chef to give us their full attention. But despite these precautions, the experience was, to be charitable, underwhelming, especially in terms of what really matters - the food. Given the large menu, we can only comment on what we ordered for our modest lunch: a beef salad for my wife, a mixed seafood salad for myself, and a roasted duck with mushrooms entree to share. The short story is that the beef salad had precious little beef and came absolutely drenched in a tart but otherwise nondescript sauce, served on a sparse bed of ordinary greens, a far cry from the tasty, resplendent salads we've come to expect in even average Thai restaurants. The seafood salad was marginally better, mostly because its dressing was applied less liberally, at least allowing some other flavors to come through. After politely expressing our dismay to the waitress (who asked for our opinion), she promised to inform the chef, and we soldiered on in the hope of reviving the meal with the duck entree, normally one of our favorites. Alas, yet more disappointment followed, as the puny serving of 'roasted duck' was not only dry and gristly but served refried with heavily breaded mushrooms and a few slivers of bell peppers - this in the mushroom capital of the world! Once again we were asked for our opinion, which in any decent restaurant would have resulted in a visit from the owner/chef with abject apologies and some amends. But with no such visit forthcoming, we sadly paid our nearly $50 bill (with tax and tip) and left vowing never, ever to return. That said, we would dearly love to have a successful Thai restaurant in town, and might consider a revisit, but only upon strong indications of a major turnaround. As is, we certainly cannot in good faith recommend the Cafe de Thai to...

This review makes me really sad to write, and I very rarely write a Google review. We live in KSQ, and this was our favorite restaurant in town, by far. The food was always just right and Lucky was awesome to her customers. We ordered for the first time since the new owners took over, and had high hopes, as they said they were keeping the same menu—but this is not the same food. It's so so bland. There's no color to it. And the portions used to be so much that we could split a dish three ways, and now, at the same price, it's barely enough for one person. I actually came to Google to see if we just had a bad one-off experience (was actually hoping this was the case), but from recent reviews here, and posts in local community boards, looks like this experience is consistent with what other locals are saying.

To the new owners, you have a chance to really win over the community by simply following the old recipes and keeping things as they were. That was the value in what you purchased, and you're going to end up losing that value. I don't want to see this, and I know many others don't, either. Instead of responding with a templated, generic response to each negative review, I would ask you to really consider what locals are saying, because we want to give you our money and patronage. Those of us who live in town are the ones who re-order, time and time again, rather than just stopping by on our way through. STT was not only the best in town, but the best Thai I've had in PA, and you could keep that going by doing nothing more than maintaining the consistency of the prior owner. Unfortunately, unless things do improve to the standards we were used to, we will not be...