Khao San Thai Kitchen — Restaurant in Salinas

This is a very small restaurant. My experience started off on the wrong foot. You should know they don't have restrooms for customers. No music. No water. Only bottled Costco water for $2.50 each. Table service happens after you order at the counter. The person who rang me up brought the food to the table and checked in on me regularly. The floors, windows, and tables were clean. The windows are lined with bright multicolor neon lights.

I ordered spring rolls, panang curry, a side of rice and a water for $30 (20231019). The pandemic and inflation have me all messed up on value for eating out but it felt expensive to me.

So how was the food?

The spring rolls were good. Not standout great but certainly good, stuffed with fresh, crisp ingredients. The generous serving of peanut sauce in a plastic container on the side was better than others I've had with fresh crushed peanuts on top.

The panang curry with chicken was pretty tasty. I got level 3 spice and it was just enough to kick it up a notch but not overpowering. I probably could have gone with a 4 but didn't want to risk it. The curry sauce was the perfect consistency, not too thick, not too runny. The chicken meat was great, no gristle and tender. The veggies were good, not soggy. So the food basically counteracts the atmosphere. In other words,...

The food was really good. I came in while waiting for a tire to be fixed. Immediately the wild behind the counter greeted me and was super friendly whole I waited. She told me what everything was, asked me what I liked and told me what they were making next. She gave me samples of some of the different food. I got noodles and just as I was leaving they brought out the pad Thai noodles and asked if I liked that, when I said I did she brought me a separate plate of them while I was sitting outside eating and gave me some water for my dog. This is such a nice little restaurant, I wish I lived closer but I absolutely plan to stop again next time I'm traveling. I thought the price...

3 stars to be polite. I'm from Sacramento so we have an abundance of South East Asian cuisine to choose from, I'm south east Asian myself so I have high expectations also. The sticky rice hit the spot bc I missed home so much. The sour sea food tum yum soup was so satisfying! For the papaya that I ordered... I prefer Laos style (I'll leave it at that, if you know then you know) the thai fried chicken was such a huge dissapointment.There was no flavor in the batter or crisp. Not even salt 🥲 To make matters worse the meat was dry! The curry was alright, too sweet for my liking tbh. Thai teas tasted like powdered Thai tea (no hate, it still tasted like it) and I added tip....