The Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Lancaster

My mum and I were in Lancaster last Friday to visit the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve and needed a decent place to eat lunch afterwards. I searched on Yelp and found this place had a high rating and positive reviews so we decided to try it out. Located on the corner of Sierra Hwy and Milling St, across from the Metrolink Station, The Thai Restaurant was easy to find. They have a small parking lot behind the restaurant which fortunately had two spots open when we pulled in. If the lot is full, street parking should be easy to find. The restaurant seems to have joined two storefronts together; it's a bit small and was surprisingly busy when we came in.

We were seated pretty quickly by a lady when we entered, but then we had to wait over 15 minutes for someone to come over and take our order (and even offer to give us water). The man took our order and he was really nice and explained that they were really backed up since it is just the two of them and the lady was out for a while on a delivery. If I had to guess I would say they were the co-owners and might be mother/son? I'm not sure though... he took our order and brought us our waters pretty quickly. It was another long wait to get our food, but now that we knew why everything was taking so long, I didn't mind. The table next to us got a bit impatient waiting for the check to come--they seemed to have come on a lunch break from work, so I could understand their needing to go back to work ASAP. One of the men in the group mentioned that he's been here a few times before and they've never been this slow, so hopefully that means usually the restaurant is on top of things.

My mum and I ordered the following: (Mum) PAD THAI: Rice noodles prepared with shrimp, chicken, baked tofu, bean sprout and egg. -- Very classic Thai noodle dish. This was my mum's first time having Thai so I suggested that she get this. She got it with peanuts on the side so I could have some before she mixed the peanuts in. She thought it was too much on the sweet side, but I thought it was fine (but that could be because I only had a little bit, whereas she had to eat the entire dish). (Esther) CHICKEN CURRY: Chicken prepared with coconut milk, potato in curry sauce. -- I'm used to Thai restaurants calling this "yellow curry" but this place doesn't do that (even though they have red and green curry). I'm thinking it might be because they don't want to give you the option of beef? The red and green curries have a beef and a chicken option, but this one obviously only has the chicken option. Since we were there at lunchtime I got the lunch order of it, which is a bit cheaper and also comes with a small salad. The salad was nice and refreshing, and I liked the curry. I had already started eating it when I realised my bowl had only chicken and there was no potato. While I waited for the guy to come back into view so I could flag him down, I kept on eating... Finally I was able to get his attention and he whisked away my dish to add the potato. Cue another wait, and then finally I had my dish back with potato on the top. I think he also added a bit more chicken, which is nice.

Overall this is a solid option for lunch in this area, especially if you are in the mood for Thai food. The seats are a bit uncomfortable, the decor is interesting (paintings done by a family member), and the service can be slow (if it really is just the two of them, I don't think they should offer delivery), but the food is pretty good and the prices aren't bad. Our meal came out to a little under $17 before...

This is a terrific restaurant for any city, but it seems even more special because it's in a small town. I adore Thai food and never pass up an opportunity to visit new restaurants.

I appreciate that the servers are always friendly and accommodating. Substituting milk for coconut milk is never a problem, and I don't even get a weird/confused look when I ask, which is common at American restaurants.

The vegetable curry is outstanding! I've visited 3 times so far, but I discovered the vegetable curry on my 2nd visit and now I have trouble ordering anything else for the entree.

For appetizer/soup, I highly recommend the sour soup. For dessert, you absolutely have to try the mango with sticky rice. Mango isn't always in season (it's January as I write this, and mango isn't in season), but the sticky rice is more than good enough to stand on its own.

The decor is warm and inviting. As is the case with many Thai restaurants, there's lovely art on the wall, but The Thai Restaurant has the added feature of an exposed brick wall that gives the dining area a rustic feel...

We have been driving by this place meaning to try it for years and finally got to last night. The decor inside is very unusual and interesting. We were not bored trying to figure out what some of the art was. It was empty when we got there at 5 but it filled up fast after we sat down.

Anyway, they let us sit wherever we wanted. I like when restaurants do that. We started off with spring rolls which were fantastic. I ordered the cashew chicken without water chestnuts (the dish’s name escapes me) and my husband got the beef and broccoli and we got a side of chowmein. It came out rather fast and they got the order perfect. Everything was delicious! The chicken had a nice kick without being overly spicy and the rice was perfect.

I’m kicking myself for not trying this place sooner. Servings are large, so we had to take some home. The service was great too. Our server came by several times to check in on us. Hubby got some sticky rice and mango to go and loved it. We’ll...