Thai Smile Of Rancho Mirage On El Paseo — Restaurant in Palm Desert

Our rule of thumb is to give a restaurant 3 tries before leaving a review. We haven't been here since they opened because the food never really improved and leaving reviews wasn't a thing back then. Our normal Thai Restaurant is closed because of summer, so we decided to see if Thai Smile had improved. Unfortunately, it has not. First, I want to say that Pablo, our server, was outstanding so this review is not a reflection on him. The review is solely on the food, prices and atmosphere. If you like paying top dollar for subpar food then this is your restaurant. We ordered the Thai Smile Appetizer Combo, the papaya salad and the Kee Mao. The entire appetizer combo was fried and mediocre. It's a shame because they had an opportunity to deliver a sampling of their menu to get you excited about the main courses. Instead of making it mouthwatering, I felt like I nuked some egg rolls in the microwave. Our next course was the papaya salad. This salad's texture reminded me of eating jellyfish at a sushi restaurant. The papaya was tasteless and the sauce was nothing. There was no spices or any kind of seasoned sauce to elevate the salad. It was like eating rubber bands dipped in a bland juice. When the Kee Mao arrived we were hoping for something tasty to recover our mediocre dinner, but it wasn't much better. The Kee Mao had some flavor but the unseasoned, overcooked beef ruined the dish. We paid $94 including tip for this meal. If you're looking for a pretentious, overpriced, subpar dinner then Thai Smile on El Paseo is your place! There are so many better Thai restaurants in the valley. It's a shame the good restaurants close for a month during the summer. If you must try Thai Smile, I recommend the Palm Springs location. It's not as pretentious and the food is better. If it wasn't for Pablo's hospitality, we would have walked out. Unfortunately, the people leaving 5 star reviews clealry have not experienced...

We arrived at this restaurant later in the day, but the overall experience was extremely disappointing. All of our main dishes took over 30 minutes to arrive, and most frustratingly, we waited an hour for a shrimp chow mein that never came. Throughout the wait, we repeatedly checked with the server, who simply told us, “The kitchen is working on it, please be patient.” Eventually, the waiter admitted the order hadn’t even been recorded. This was incredibly frustrating and upsetting, especially since we had clearly stated multiple times that the dish was for a 3 year old child who had already been waiting for over an hour. Despite this, the restaurant offered no proactive response. When we tried to speak with the manager, she mostly deflected responsibility, saying it’s the holiday season made the kitchen very busy and asking for our understanding. What made matters worse was seeing customers who arrived after us receive their food while we continued waiting. The most disappointing aspect was the manager’s lack of genuine apology. Instead, she remarked, “You’ve taught me a lesson: not to accept large parties during busy seasons.” This left us feeling disrespected and deeply dissatisfied. We traveled from San Francisco to Palm Springs to celebrate the New Year, but this experience ruined our evening both emotionally and gastronomically. We sincerely hope the manager reflects on this incident, acknowledges her shortcomings, and strives to provide future guests with a better...

Go “Thai Spicy” it so gooooood! And very spicy. Thai Smile has been around for a long time (like decades) in the desert. More recently it came to El Paseo, and they continue the great taste/flavor tradition that started decades ago.

Highly recommend the Kung Pow Shrimp. You can get any protein you like for this traditional Szechuan dish. Also love the eggplant, the cashew chicken, and spicy shrimp fried rice. Their lemon grass traditional Thai soups are awesome too!

Off season, call in early for take out. Sometimes it is dead, and the close the kitchen early. The have a great indoor and outdoor seating. Some parking curb side out front, and a large lot in the rear. Also very cool, they have reserved a pick up/short term parking right out front. It makes take out pick ups very easy.

If you view their menu on their website via your phone, the text is blurry. It works on a laptop/computer. But I have screenshot it here for you in high/readable resolution!

Generous with the sauces. And portions. It’s about $23-30 per dinner entree portion. We got kung pow shrimp Thai spicy (included plain white rice), spicy shrimp eggplant, and spicy shrimp fried rice. It was about $94 bucks. And two people could barely finish after an active day hiking, swimming, and tennis.

Highly recommend! Dining in is great too. The staff is warm, and on top of it. Take out is great. The food was ready EXACTLY when they said it would be. Well packaged for the trip home, and perfectly hot and...