California Thai Cafe — Restaurant in San Diego

My adult daughter and I went here for the first time. It was dinner on Easter Sunday. We were hoping for good Thai food. We walked in and saw only one table (with 3 people) filled in the whole place. At the time we thought we were lucky. Afterwards we realized why this place was almost empty. The seating hostess was a young lady who followed us to the table of our choice and was nice enough, if it hadn't been for her extremely strong body odor and day-old sunscreen smell. And I do mean smell. We ordered our food and she brought us tea as we requested. I ordered Yellow Curry (spice level 1) and my adult daughter ordered Pad Se Ew (spice level 10). We know Thai food. We've eaten tons of it over the years and we know how it's supposed to taste. Of course, there are slight variations between restaurants, but primarily when you order a staple Thai dish, you know what to expect. We also ordered (veggie) egg rolls. They were, predictably, over-fried. They were also tasteless. If not for the dipping sauce, there would have been no flavor. Our food came in huge portions. That should have been a clue right there. In my life (I'm in my 60's) I've discovered that restaurants that serve huge portions are trying to make up for their poor cooking. My yellow curry came with a bowl of rice that would have served 5 people. The bowl with the yellow curry was huge and filled almost to the top. I added some rice and began to eat. I immediately started to cough and choke - it wasn't spice level 1, it in was more like level 5! I soldiered on. I bit into the huge chunk of potato and it tasted off. I've never had a potato ever taste like that. In any cuisine. The carrots in it were ok, the onions were too hard still. I ate about half and stopped. I'm hoping that potato doesn't do a number on me later. 🤞 My daughter had taken a few bites of her Pad Se Ew and pronounced it as inedible. She said the noodles tasted like salt, pepper, and chili peppers, while the tofu tasted like black bean sauce. My daughter mostly eats Thai, Indian, and Vietnamese cuisine. She also cooks it at home for herself and her guests. She knows good food. She refused to eat another bite. I called over the male waiter and asked if he was the manager. He said he was. I told him the problem with my daughter's food (she is 30 but was too embarrassed to complain) and he could see it was barely touched. I asked what he'd do about it and he acted offended and was at first unwilling to do anything. He finally said he'd offer me a discount for our next time there. What was I supposed to do - argue with him? When the young lady brought us the check (by the way, everything was very overpriced considering the neighborhood and quality of food), I saw a card on top offering 10% off to "special guests." I guess in this instance, "special guests" means those people stupid enough to return for more dismal cooking. The card accidentally fell on the floor and I left it there where it belonged. I told her we wouldn't be back. As we were leaving, I heard one of the men at the other table also express displeasure with their meal. What a surprise! Not. I believe with all my heart that this restaurant will be out of business...

Allergy issues! Poor customer service.

The biggest issue was: We got shrimp instead of chicken wings. Also all food was way spicier than it ever was (we were regulars about a year ago and loved the food. We'd eat here weekly). When we called to rectify this, we were told to bring food back and they'd remake it. We drove back across town to return the food, we were not comped. There was no concern for the shrimp vs chicken even when I told them my husband has a shellfish allergy. Also the cashier had a poor attitude when we discussed spice level. Old management we'd order 6-7 and today's 4-5 we're much hotter than before. Family visiting from out of town work in restaurants and said in most businesses we'd either be comped our meals, be delivered new food, or even both. We also understand there is a Thai spicy but friends of ours from Thailand said if you are not Thai typically restaurants adjust accordingly. Even the remade food was hotter than we could handle after asking to adjust spice to a 2.

We used to eat here often but apparently not since ownership changed. New ownership provides very poor customer service. We were unaware of this change and will not be back. The dining room was empty and I now understand why. I can't imagine this place will last long with the way they treat customers.

Price is also higher than it was. $15.95 for a tofu noodle dish that is missing the vegetables is not right. It has increased significantly in the past year and the...

Updating review since new ownership. Pro: they have spruced up the place quite nicely. Con: I came in at the end of 2022. I knew ahead of time there was new ownership and thought I would check it out as online showed they still had a good lunch special. I was immediately greeted but she seemed annoyed when I said I'd be dining in (my guess is because I was solo). When she saw I was looking at the lunch special that was ON their menu and their website, she informed me they did not have a lunch special available until the new year (week away at the time). Ok that's annoying as hell but I figured I might as well stay so I can judge for myself if I would be back. I ordered curry for $16. A little pricey I thought but maybe it's huge portions. She then informed me that rice isn't included and would be an additional $3! Almost 20 bucks for curry! I said nevermind and walked out. I'll come back one more time now that it's the new year to try the lunch special but if it isn't a better experience nor tasty food I definitely...