Sai Jai Thai — Restaurant in San Francisco

The two blocks stretch between O'Farrell and Eddie in Tenderloin has six Thai restaurants to choose from, so after trying Lers Ros, Pak Nam Thai Noodle Bar and Lapats Thai Noodle Bar, I decided to give Sai Jai Thai Restaurant a try. When I stepped in at around 8 pm on a Saturday evening I was welcomed by the strong aroma of grilled pork (Moo Yang). The restaurant itself was about half full with two large groups giving it a lively feel. The menu is standard for Thai restaurants so I won’t go into the details. I decided to get the Beef Noodle soup ($8.25) to-go which as per the menu is rice noodle soup with sliced beef, beef balls, and bean sprouts. I had to pay in cash as I did not hit the minimum needed for using cards ($15 I think but I may be wrong).

After ordering it was a 15-minute wait and I was on my way. I got two containers, a large plastic container with the soup and another small Chinese to-go container with the noodles which was a good start as it prevented the noodles from soaking up all the broth by the time I reached home. The noodles were fine (they had not clumped up) and the broth was very good. It seemed to be very close to the original as I can remember it. Overall, I was very satisfied with what I got.

Price-wise it was pretty cheap. This turned out to be the cheapest among the restaurants that I had tried earlier. Taste wise I think Pak Nam Thai Noodle Bar edges Sai Jai Thai by a whisker so for all practical purposes they are on par. I will be back to try some more stuff off their menu...

So we are vegetarians and ordered takeout. Overall we learned how and what to order that would make our experience for the next time much better. Here is what we observed and learned

(+) The curry wasn’t sweet, had no sugar. Usually most places cater their curries to local palettes and add sugar, which is not how traditional curry is like in Thailand. I was looking for a place that has the authentic flavors not diluted by adding sugar. This one is that

(+) They are able to customize based on request for vegetarians.

My takeaway is that this place has the potential to be a great takeout option for me personally, if ordered correctly. I am giving it a 4 star for that potential and I will be ordering again and will revisit my review based on that experience.

Learned, will calibrate for next time when we order:

Their food by default is very spicy. I like very spicy food, but this one was spicier for my palate as well. I ordered spicy (spice level 4 out of 5) and it was extremely spicy. Normally I am able to easily take in the 4 out of 5 from other restaurants. The 4 at other places is probably a 3 here

For vegetarians they just load huge chunks of deep fried tofu in the curries. That way the proportion of curry to vegetables was haywire. I would order curries and rice without tofu and broccoli next time (those are vegetables that come in huge sizes and takes away from the actual dish you...

Regrettably, my visit to Sai Jai, an "authentic" Thai restaurant in the Tenderloin, left much to be desired. Despite having encountered subpar Thai takeout in the past, this experience stood out as particularly disappointing.

It seems that MSG and salt were notably absent from their dishes that day. As a result, the flavors across all the offerings were astonishingly bland. One dish that particularly stood out was the fried chicken fried rice, which oddly resembled a chicken katsu placed atop Chinese fried rice. Unfortunately, it lacked the characteristic darker hue that signifies authentic Thai fried rice. The absence of salt further exacerbated the dish's lack of appeal.

Even the mango sticky rice, a simple Thai dessert delicacy, failed to meet expectations. The mango's lackluster appearance was a letdown. The sticky rice itself was drowned in an excess of condensed milk. This unfortunate trend continued with the roti dessert, which suffered a similar fate under an excessive blanket of condensed milk.

All in all, my experience at Sai Jai was deeply unsatisfying. The absence of essential seasonings and the mishandling of traditional dishes led to a disappointing meal that failed to capture the essence of authentic...