Malai Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Long Beach

Having spent a few days at Cape Disappointment State Park just 15 minutes up the road, this was one of the few modern, semi-upscale (not a dive) restaurants on the peninsula as far as I could tell and the highest rated of two on Yelp. We arrived at the front door on Wednesday night, but, oddly enough, they were “Closed”, so we had to find somewhere else to eat in a town with few dining options, even fewer in early spring before the summer throngs arrive.

The Chicken Pot Stickers with Ginger Soy Sauce ($7) were pretty good, coming with seven at exactly a buck a piece. The accompanying sauce was one of two “disappointments” of the evening, a small cup half filled with soy sauce and a little ginger which I could not taste. The other disappointment and a pet peeve was when our entrees both arrived before we were even half-way finished with our appetizer. No excuse.

I ordered my Thai go-to, Massaman Curry, with beef, potatoes, onion and peanuts ($11). It was good, not the best I have had by far, coming with a fair amount of thinly sliced beef in a Massaman sauce that was also “thinner” than most. The flavor was still pretty good.

My wife had Malai Noodles Special (D1 - $9.95), coming with stir fried yakisoba noodles with cabbage, carrot, onion, celery and beansprouts topped with crispy chicken strips and a sweet and sour sauce. The veggies were fresh and the chicken crispy and abundant, a good value at less than $10.

Again, not the best Thai I have had and I love Thai food, but a relative bargain in a tourist town with few decent dining options and even fewer TravelValues.

CombatCritic Gives Malai Thai 6 Bombs Out Of 10 … More...

It doesn't get any better than this. Granted, I've never been to thailand, but as someone who had eaten at numerous Thai restaurants in the states, this place stands a head above the rest. The fresh rolls are mandatory. With peanut sauce. Even if you don't like fresh rolls, you will like THESE fresh rolls. The rice paper is thinner than other places so it doesn't feel gummy in your mouth. The ingredients are crispy fresh leafy greens and the peanut sauce is unmatched. I seriously wish they sold it by the bottle. Next to Sriracha, it would be my favorite staple in my kitchen. All the noodle dishes are great (I've eaten here a few times now), and broccoli and veggies are always crunchy and fresh. The yellow curry is my favorite main dish. The wait staff here is very kind. Food is a bit of a wait (20 minutes on average) but it's okay because I know that they're giving much attention to detail. I couldn't recommend another...

I have never tried a local Chinese/Thai restaurant yet. This one was pretty DARN GOOD. I ordered 2 lunch specials and a broccoli beef. ($9.00 Served from 11a to 3p) READY in 15 minutes and all stored in nice sized, sealed boxes. The lady that took my order spoke broken English. I ordered a pad noodle (L1 on menu) because I LOVE peanut sauce and peanuts. Also ordered the garlic delight with chicken (L8) lunch. Could have been garlicier(?) but had plenty of cooked carrots, mushrooms, broccoli and onion pieces. The broccoli beef was $12.00. Broccoli looked raw but was cooked nicely yet crunchy with well seasoned beef strips swimming in some beef broth. I wanted to make sure I ordered white rice instead of fried rice. It was hard to get that across to the lady over the phone. That was probably my ONLY negative thing about my experience. They have SO MANY choices! See menu choices with pictures taken by customers. Prices may be...