Chao Krung Thai — Restaurant in Los Angeles

Before we get to the actual service and food, let's talk about the environment, historically and now:

THE DECOR & ENVIRONMENT: Pre and Post Remodel

The Chao Krung pre-remodel was a lovely, intimate, classic Thai restaurant with an intimate back room and a lovely old mural on the wall. The whole vibe was genuine (not faux) vintage Thai restaurant and was perfect as is.

A couple or maybe a few years ago, Chao Krung was remodeled. The aesthetic isn't bad or unpleasant, just not very unique. It's modern with sealed concrete floors and big glass windows, seemingly edison or maybe halogen styled lighting, and a modern looking bar. Ceilings are seemingly much higher, post remodel, and the overall vibe, while just fine, is a bit colder, but not bad at all. They've continued to remodel and at the window front on the bar side, they took out individual tables and replaced them with a cliched communal table. Whatever....

THE FOOD & SERVICE:

Post remodel, I've enjoyed a few meals there. The curry dishes are tasty (offered in yellow, green, and red varieties) as are other dishes.

The service, up until the last time I ate there this past weekend, was friendly and nice as well. I don't know if they've changed ownership, but the service was impersonal, totally lacking in basic attentiveness, and just generally sub-par. The food wasn't great, either. I wouldn't go back. For quite some time, particularly post remodel, the food is made with quite a bit of sugar, in fact too much in my estimation, and that hasn't changed. The overall difference I noticed in my recent visit is the food just wasn't very good; that's all.

THE PRICE: Very nominal and even cheap, e.g. Pad Thai is, if I correctly recall, $11. Personally, I'd rather pay a couple dollars more elsewhere for better quality.

THE BEER: The house craft lager on tap is rather good. Nice and light, but with great taste and of rather good quality. However, Chao Krung doesn't serve Singha now! I know they used to serve it, but not anymore. Keep in mind, Singha is THE Thai standard in beer offering at any Thai restaurant. My only other option was some other brand I had no interest in ordering.

OVERALL: Chao Krung used to be good. But I won't eat there again. Los Angeles has too many other options to settle for sub-par performance in...

Um. Hmm. Where do I start? And forgive me that there are no images to accompany this review, like I normally do with my other reviews. At one point I was just too focus to get the check and leave.

Yeah, you heard me. I wanted to like this place. I enjoy Thai food. Loved the idea that it was femed owned, family-run restaurant. But... sadly, I was disappointed. A friend of mine found this place as I agreed to take her out for her birthday dinner and... yeah.

The only things I were okay with were the shrimp and pork dumplings, although didn't really care for that random crunch out of nowhere. And the Tom Kha coconut soup was fairly good. Everything else... no. A quick. The eggrolls which took forever to come out where chewy like overcooked steak. Which freaked me because that was simply the wanton paper I was trying to bite through. Why was it so chewy?! The garlic wings...? A big fat no. Like, they were broken wings of wings and also overcooked. Ugh. Inget that some places don't also serve rice with their soup, but nothing is served family style. The soup might be the closest example. I was surprised by how all thr dishes were individual order and nothing was offered for family style. The Cucumber salad... mid. Like, that was just it. The chicken satay... tasted and looked like the chicken you'd get from the frozen food section at a grocery store. I couldn't believe they had the nerve to serve that. And it sounds like we just had a bunch of appetitizers, well yeah. Didn't know what we could or couldn't share and just decided on appetitizers at first until we noticed that even the appetitizers weren't hitting.

For those these eat here regularly, you must not have tried any other Thai restaurant in Los Angeles and that's a shame. I can name three restaurants that taste wildly better than anything I was served her, and I at least of those places serves more for less.

I normally enjoy going and supporting small businesses, but this wasn't it. I would encourage whoever their chef or brains behind the menu/recipe to close down for a year or two, work out the kinks, improve the dishes and come back later. This truly cannot be an LA staple unless everyone who's eaten there has no taste buds. And to the people who order for...

Oh Chao Krung, what have you done to my old beloved haven on Fairfax, Chao Krung?????? :-(

Chao Krung "used" to be, until recently (2017?), a small charming restaurant with almost-clubby vintage dark wood decor going back to the 1980s, I think. There used to be two rooms w/ a small tiki-like bar taking a good chunk of the second room.

Food was solid, very good sometimes. The waitresses polite, charming and efficient.

A lunch buffet was offered at a great price.

Chao Krung was just a gentle oasis and time capsule. Life was perfect....

No more.

The two cozy rooms have been joined into a big open one. The decor is now all cold and modern. The atmosphere, "trendy"... In other words, EVERYTHING that was special about Chao Krung (one of LA’s oldest Thai restaurants) was removed.

:-(

Please either put the restaurant back the way it was (it's ok, we all make mistakes, this is your New Coke.)....

...Or change your name. Because the new place doesn't deserve to be called Chao Krung. It's just Yet Another Thai (YAT) place w/ probably good food - but it's not a special place anymore. I'm very...