White Elephant Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Santa Clara

White Elephant offers a good selection of Thai cuisine, with classic dishes like pad thai and pineapple fried rice, to chicken satay and other fried delicacies and much more. In classic Thai restaurant fashion, many dishes vary in price based off of protein of choice, typically: chicken, tofu, pork, beef, shrimp, etc. The food is well seasoned to my palette—I’m not a big fan of salty food and this hits just about right. I love spiciness that is more than detectable, so while the dishes themselves did not tend to be hot, chili is offered upon request! Both the pad see ew and basil fried rice were good to me and my entire family of five’s taste. The pad thai was a bit lacking, but still quite good. The protein focused dishes we ordered—Fried tofu, crispy fish, chicken satay—were all very good and served with sauces. Slight tangent: My mom had a minor complaint that the tofu was not as aromatic as the tofu she gets from the supermarket, but she’s also an insane chef. Personally, I’m a curry eater and curry they served: I got the red curry—featuring red curry, bamboo, protein (I always get chicken) and veggies. I asked for additional eggplant. This was my favorite, but again I’m a curry fiend and apologist. The curry was deep and rich, thanks to the coconut milk that was very aromatic and fresh—as if the curry was made to order. The eggplant was beautifully braised, soft and custardy. Again, another perfectly seasoned dish that was good both standalone and over rice. On service, we arrived about an hour before closing and dipped into closed hours, but the one waitress was incredibly deft, kind, and patient. My mom is a bit of a hard customer at times, but the waitress was so sweet for taking our order and getting my mom the hot water she wanted. For a restaurant with two staff members, order was insanely rapid. Honestly, the service is on par with the work of a fully staffed restaurant. The restaurant itself is cute and cozy, set up like it’s meant for cozy homely meals to share with a couple...

The Padsewe was sweeter than it should be. The curry is watery, not enough curry on it and the papaya salad has absolutely no spice. I don't taste any authentic Thai flavor in any of the dishes. It tastes like this food is steered towards people who like bland or sweet food. The Thai tea was okay.

Parking was a nightmare. There's people going in and out and their van is parked in front so one less parking, there's about 5 parking spots in front. Be careful when going in and out, it's hectic. They at least bring food out to you.

My wife was ordering food and the guy taking the order kept trying interrupting with the total when my wife was not done ordering everything. Our bill came out to about $50 but we did not receive an itemized receipt so don't know how much everything is. We ordered a Thai Coffee and tea, padsewe, papaya salad with shrimp and yellow curry (wife hated the curry).

Were from out of town and won't be coming back, find a real authentic Thai restaurant, ...

Not ordinarily a big fan of Thai food, but this place blew me away. The Ocean Curry gets five stars plus. Loaded with assorted seafood in an orange curry that is the best curry I have ever tasted, with heat that is just spicy enough. But wait, there's more. In addition to the generous amount of seafood, they also throw in ample amounts of pineapple chunks and lychees. I spent my childhood on a plantation in Hawaii where we grew both of these, and lychees are my favorite fruit. The tangy bite of the pineapple and the sweet flavor of the lychees added unexpected complexity of flavors complementing the curry and fish exquisitely.

The Duck Noodle Soup is also very good and recommended as is the Crab Meat Pad Thai, which is outstanding. We loved the Cream Cheese Crab Meat Wontons too. We will be going back to try other dishes and will update this...