Thai Corner Restaurant — Restaurant in Lakewood

I personally do not understand the bad review of this place.

First of all, I’m a first generation immigrant here. I’m Asian. I know how Asian foods are supposed to taste like. And I’ve had plenty of authentic Thai food when I was in college. It is probably true if you expect to taste more peanutty flavors, you will not find here.

The food here, arguably you can say it is less authentic, but let me tell you, it’s as Asian as a small quirky business can be while thrive in the US community that is not specifically catering Thais. The posts that complain the food is too sweet, I don’t get it; Pad Thai is just about any other Thai’s place, if not less sweeter. And with taste I don’t think the sweetness is overwhelming.

Ok, with that out of my way, let’s talk about how I discovered this place.

Around 2015 when I was living in Long Beach, I was in search for some healthy alternative takeouts rather than feeding myself fast food like McDonald all the time. I’d found this place on google map and decided to be adventurous to give it a try. The result was not disappointing. The most impressive part, aside from a lot of seasonal greens and healthier food than what I would normally eat, it was the portion and price. I was glad I could find something that’s good portion, relatively healthier, and superb price.

Now, you would say that the price of everything had gone up, but let me tell you a more recent experience. I took my bf there for a dinner date, and the combined weight of two of us excess over 500lb. We ordered two appetizers and two main dish, and I was estimating that this meal would be well over 60. After we finished our food, we were actually stuffed and would not need any food for the rest of the night, the bill came out to be under 50. That was something you have to put in consideration.

And now I do not live in Long Beach anymore, even so, from time to time I bought folks to this small business. Each time I was impressed. Once I took a white friend who’s like, born and raised in Missouri, and he even liked this foreign food, where their people were infamously picky for the food’s taste and textures. Other foodie friends I’ve bought to there over the years have had about the same effect.

Condolences to the grandmother. I haven’t seen her at this place for a long while now. My own grandmother used to chat with her while we ate there. My grandmother had Alzheimer’s. But I was pleased to see the children were helping out in the family business; positive stuff like this made me like life more altogether.

TL;DR: give it a try, and definitely won’t disappoint you. Impressive? Probably not if you’re expecting full blown authenticity. This is Long Beach after all, not like it’s in San Gabriel valley or something.

PS: no, I do not get paid for...

This spot is the epitome of “You got me effed up!” Don’t come here if you expected to be served or get your moneys worth. Food had good flavor despite the portions being small. But service was so horrible we won’t be back and encourage you to not go either.

From the time we sat down, it was at least 5 mins before we were acknowledged. We were instructed to “grab your own menu” by the waitress/hostess/cashier who seemed more preoccupied with their drive thru than their dinning room.

We placed our orders and requested some hot sauce and chop sticks when our meal came. A few mins went by and nothing. We asked again, and the waitress pointed to the top of a trash can where all the hot sauces and condiments are kept and told us we could retrieve our own. My mother is disabled so mobility is a challenge. Nevertheless, she got up and got her own condiments. Shortly after, the waitress came over to our table and took the chili and soy sauce off of our table and gave it to another table!

Lunch specials came with egg rolls which didn’t include sauce. When we requested some she brought one small saucer with a measly squirt of sauce for the whole table. Probably the equivalent of one ketchup packet worth of sauce. Apparently at this restaurant you are expected to share sauce you all are going to double dip in, to help them keep their costs down 😂. We asked for one more sauce bc we weren’t in the mood for sweet & sour saliva. The waitress had it on her tray already. She lowered her tray and said “take it”. Girl what? What waitress expects their guest to retrieve their own menus, retrieve their own sauces and utensils from the serving station and grab their own sauce off of your serving tray?

Now time to pay. We put two cards down and asked the bill be split in half. Nothing fancy or out of the ordinary. But, splitting the bill is something they won’t do bc the bank charges them per swipe is what we’re told. Literally a $.35 charge (if that) per swipe. I’m spending my money to come out and eat at a restaurant, the last thing I want to deal with is feeling like I walked onto an episode of “Extreme Cheapskates” and treated like an inconvenience.

These people take penny pinching to the next level and it’s exhibited in every aspect of their business and how they “serve” their paying clientele. But hey, definitely check them out if you’re in the market for some costume jewelry. They have an entire display case of it for sale in the middle of the dinning room of...

Our Thai spot in Lakewood area. Drove in the area last month and decided to dine in while visiting this time.

Ordered the following:

Thai Corner Fried Rice - delicious and tasty fried rice. Great amount of meat/shrimp. Well balanced seasonings. 4/5

Beef Panang Curry - taste on point but I prefer the curry in the thicker side. Beef wasn’t the cut I was hoping. Tenderness was ok. 2/5

Chicken Curry - sauce was perfect to my pallet. Chicken was tender. You can request how spicy you prefer. I like the sauces thicker so this wasn’t really for me. 3/5

Lunch Special Pad Thai (Shrimp) - delicious and fresh shrimp and vegetables. 5/5

BBQ Chicken (Half) - well marinated chicken. The dark meat was juicy but the breast is kinda dry. Their sauce was so good though. It wasn’t just the sauce they sell in stores. 3/5

Papaya Salad - fresh ingredients with their well balanced homemade sauce. 5/5

Mango Sweet Rice - absolutely on point! Had a lot of mango sticky rice before but never close to this one. Perfect combination of the sticky rice and sweet mango slices. 5/5

Great dining atmosphere and customer service with reasonable price. Not a lot of parking but drive through is available. Highly...