Elephant Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Maplewood

Was near Maplewood area and saw the sign. Did not know that this had opened there. I arrived and got seated within a minute or two. Ordered a Large Pho & Fried Rice. Wait time was within 10 minutes or so. Not as long as other places. Place was 1/4 or so full at the time when I dined in. About 2 PM in the afternoon. Pho broth wasn't too bad. But, one thing that I didn't like was that the noodle was still hard, so you gotta chew it. They should've let it sit longer on hot broth. Rating for the Pho that I was served was a 7/10. Would've been at least 9/10 for the Pho if the noodle wasn't hard. The Fried Rice was good, for my liking. It felt somewhat authentic to the Thailand taste, IIRC. At least, to me, it felt somewhat nostalgic eating that Fried Rice from Elephant Asian Cuisin, especially when you eat it with the moisten tomato. Would probably taste better if there was lemon, which I don't remember them serving me, it was only 1 for the Pho, IIRC. Anyway, I ordered fried rice from a few different places and they're not as nostalgia on the taste as this one for me. For that, I'll give the Fried Rice a 9/10. Took some photos of the menu & my ordered. For the Fried Rice, I would recommend going and at least trying. Maybe same for the Pho. If you feel like trying out new places, and haven't gone to this Asian place, go and try it out.

EDIT #2: Went back to this place again the following week or two. Around the same time and same day of the week (Friday). I noticed only 4-5 tables with people. So, not as packed. Still same wait time for my food. Less than 10 minutes. This time, I tried the Pho (Large) and Pork Belly Laab. The Pho noodle is better this time. The right amount of softness, at least for me. Forgot to taste the broth before I added my own personal condiments to the bowl. But, tastes about the same as other Pho I had in the past, so, a 8/10. Not a huge fan of their pork belly style that they had in the Pho, that’s all. Now, the Pork Belly Laab. Honestly, I would expect Sticky Rice to go along with any type of Laab, in my personal opinion. It’s just the right combination. Sadly, they don’t serve any rice at all with the Pork Belly Laab. That, and the style, again, is not what I would personally like. I like them to be more chunky and bigger. I would rate the Pork Belly Laab at 5/10, honestly. I didn’t finish the Laab so I took it home and ate the rest later that night. All in all, this 2nd trip, I tried to time it. I probably say I’m in and out in less than half an hour lol. That’s it from me :)

This is an honest review. I would honestly go back just for the Thai Boat Noodle & Fried Rice :)

EDIT #3: Went back there with my siblings. There were 6 of us and we sat at the big table. Our dine in time was 1 hour before they close. There were still a lot of people, surprisingly. We browsed the menu for 5-8 minutes, wrote down all the orders. Took them less than 15 minutes, to bring out All of our orders. I did not take anymore photos, sorry. But, we did order each person an Entree and about 3 Appetizers. All in all, about 9 dish total. Most places I went to, it took at least 20 minutes, sometimes even more and those places weren’t busy as well. Bill came to almost $150. I took a look at the receipt this time and saw the “Gratuity” for $17. A lot of places are doing that now. But, it’s whatever. We were happy with our experience.

No more...

They should have to disclose that they are probably paying people to promote/influence their business. So many “Hmong Celebrities” telling everyone to dine here. Food was very very below average.

Everything was either sweet OR Sour OR both. Thai food is supposed to have more depth. Elements of saltiness, spiciness, and the aforementioned blended to create a feeling of urge to keep taking more bites.

-Spicy and Sour fish? Try sweet and sour. Not eve close to having any spiciness to it. It’s supposed to have an herbaceous aroma with the sting of the lime that hits your nose wanting you to take your first bite to feel the heat from the peppers and the sourness of the lime. -Papaya salad? Try only fermented fish sauce and shrimp paste. Where’s the complex sourness from limes, the sweet and acidic flavors of the tomatoes? -Pad Thai? Tough cuts of beef with only a sweet sauce, not tangy, but sweet. Also noodles that are all broken apart, not one noodle longer than 3 inches. -many other bad dishes from our group, but honestly everything is just bad. How can springroll sauce taste only like sourness from vinegar? Looks like a typical peanut hoisin sauce but my gosh was it sour.

I hope the best for this business as its interior does look nice, besides the flooring. Looks like a clean restaurant that you would want to dine in or bring business clients to, but the food was a mile away from the hype that “Hmong Celebrities” have hyped...

We got seated quite quickly. Parking is shared with other businesses but it's easy to find parking.

The waiter got to us quite quickly to order our food. And the food got to us quite quickly. The papaya salad is spicey if you let them know you want it spicey. It's one of our favorite dishes and the papaya salad here is great! Would highly recommend the papaya salad here if you love eating it. The boat noodles were good! But if you're a boat noodle enthusiast, this one falls a bit behind but it's still a solid boat noodle that is flavorful but it was just a bit watered down. The amount of noodles you get is more than enough to fill your stomach.

The pork skin laab was excellent. You have a choice of eating it at no spice or different spice levels. We got medium spice and it had a good kick to it. At that spice level, its enough to enjoy while not suffering 😅.

The jumbo egg rolls were the biggest disappointment as the wrapping was too thick and the stuffing inside was underwhelming in taste. Was it jumbo? not really.

Service was okay. There was only one waiter serving 5 other tables including us. We didn't get our waters refilled but it's totally understandable as it looked like they were short staffed. Paying was easy.

Overall, a great Thai restaurant if you're in the area. I don't think you would be disappointed. Give them a try and try out different dishes and you may just be ordering them for...