Calgang Thai Eatery — Restaurant in San Rafael

I've known Calgang since I was a little girl–back when it was actually known as Jhan Thong and located in the Northgate shopping mall, where Jhan Thong could practically be considered gourmet. It was so out of place, situated between McDonalds and Taco Bell, and for the first decade of my life this was the only Thai food I knew. My parents would take me to the mall just for Thai dinner–it's that good. Today, the food remains just as delicious. Rich, flavorful panang curry, tender chicken satay, pan fried eggplant, and their incomparable Pad Thai are my personal favorites. And let me tell you about this Pad Thai–deep peanut flavor cut through by lime, cilantro, and chili. If you go to Calgang and don't order the pad thai, then you've made a serious mistake. I have yet to encounter a better tasting Pad Thai. Just last night, I made a run out to Calgang to get a combination plate of Tom Yum soup, spinach salad, and tofu panang curry without rice for my mother. When I returned home, she realized that she had meant to order the Tom Kha soup instead and there was rice (which comes with any combination at no charge). So, I returned to Calgang and explained the mixup. They took back the Tom Yum soup (no questions asked) to exchange it for a Tom Kha and gave me an extra order of the Panang Curry–even though, the mistake was no fault of their own–amazing! My rating is three stars becuase the restaurant atmosphere itself is not so ideal with the to-go counter/register located in the back, which means diners are disturbed by foot traffic, and overall, the space feels a bit austere...

Do NOT get their combination plate. The food literally tastes like it’s been sitting out forever. The pad Thai tasted disgusting and the noodle was partially hardened with the first bite. The red curry was also not good, the chicken was mushy. I tried to take the combo plate back and just order an actual dish bc my partner had the stir fry dish and it was good but the server still wanted to charge us full price for the combo plate even though it sat there untouched after the first two bites. Then he agreed to just charge us half (so like $8 for nothing) since I got the fried rice dish instead. The fried rice was literally wet and not at all like actual fried rice. Probably never...

Glad to have a good Thai place in town, conveniently located near Safeway. The noodles weren't oily like all the other places in Marin and still had lots of flavor. Ordering a combination plate is a great way to try more items. Fish was unexpectedly spicy, which was slightly disappointing (couldn't even taste it because it was so spicy) - but I'll be back to try the other dishes.

Portion sizes are always going to be small in California... I'll accept it eventually. Update: came back to try other dishes! All the noodles we've tried so far are delicious! They accommodated my request for pad-woon-sen (glass noodles) even though it's not on the menu, so that warrants a...