Zab Zab Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Monterey

Maybe because my husband and I are from LA, which has an abundance of authentic and tasty Thai food, but we were underwhelmed by the flavor and service of Zab Zab, unfortunately.

It was a Thursday night on 12/28/23 at 6:45pm approximately that we arrived. We were seated almost an HOUR later and got to eat 15+ minutes after. It was soooooo busy and we thought we had come on a good day. We looked up this place on Reddit and it was recommended but maybe it's because most were local opinions? I'm assuming Monterey doesnt have a lot of Thai options.

We assume a waiter/waitress had called out on a shift because there were only 3 servers from what we could see for the whole place, servicing inside and outside.

What I really didn't like is that while we were waiting for our table, one waitress had us look at the menu and actually order before we even had a table. However, it turned out to be a blessing because our food took forever to come out after being seated and we heard other patrons complain about the wait as well - yikes!

After being so hungry and the food finally came out, we had a bite and looked at each other. The food was... mediocre. We both had ordered dishes from "the wok." It had no flavor or spice, in my opinion. The sauce could have stuck better to the vegetables and protein if they threw in a bit of a cornstarch slurry to thicken it up. I'm not a professional chef but having cooked many meals from around the world at home, I was disappointed. The wait times made it way worst but the servers were trying their very best against such a numerous crowd.

We probably will not be back but the ambience was nice. Tables could be physically smaller outside (i.e. square or rectangle instead of bulky, circular ones) to fit more parties but that's also...

Something has changed. Maybe a new chef, or supply chain issues for ingredients or hopefully just a bad night for them? Have eaten here a few times but this time food was so bland it misses the point of eating Thai food. Overall the food was very light or completely missing key ingredients. (1) Pad Khee Mao noodles: had the best flavor of our four dishes but was bland by typical Thai standards. Needed more onion, garlic, chili and basil. (2) Spring roll appetizer: "marinated" tofu had zero flavor. Lots of peanut sauce needed to save it. (3) Pok Pok green papaya salad: almost no seasoned plum sugar and lime. Zero chili powder and just a few plain peanuts (not roasted per menu description). It was placed over plain romaine lettuce as a filler (50% volume of the dish was lettuce). (4) Tom Kha Soup w/ chicken- This was the biggest disappointment of the night. Plenty of chicken but watery coconut broth with only a few straws of lemon grass. We figured out it had no identifiable lime, galangal root and chili (per description on menu). Zero zip.

Like many places nowadays the prices are significantly higher post-pandemic. But until they stop skimping on the flavors it is not worth it. Please put the "zab"...

Cute, cozy, no-frills Thai restaurant with a super friendly staff and all your favorite classics dishes cooked to perfection. I visited Zab Zab for dinner after a long day of exploring the Monterey Bay Aquarium, so we were absolutely famished. We tried their tom yum soup, cashew stir fry, mango coco curry, and pad see ew, all of which were delightful. The tom yum was refreshing and creamy, with a great balance of coconut milk and spice. It had a generous portion of veggies and tofu, and the fire pot it was served in was super fun. My second favorite had to be the mango coco curry — it was refreshing and fruity, yet perfectly savory and slightly spicy. It was a bit sweet from the fruit, but that helped balance out the other spices and flavors. The shrimp was tender, and I loved the chunks of mango inside. You also can never go wrong with a good cashew stir fry or pad see ew — all of them were cooked well and tasty. I do think the pad see ew and, across a few dishes, the tofu could have used a tiny bit more seasoning, but it was...