Sala Thai — Restaurant in Santa Cruz

I'm writing this review after visiting them for the second place. This will be a must visit for me everytime I visit Santa Cruz. Breaking down the review into different categories,

Ambience - Very zen like with all the house plants at every nook and corner of the restaurant. If you are a house plant enthusiast, you will be very busy trying to name all the plants while you wait for your table. Can't get enough of the greenery.

Vegetarian Food - Very delicious Thai food with plenty of vegetarian options. Thai food in some places despite not containing meat will be made with Oyster Sauce. This place has the option of skipping the Oyster Sauce to make it truly vegetarian. I tried their fresh rolls, Thai curries and my favorite remains Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao). Portion sizes are smaller than standard American sizes. You can order one dish per person. They already have Vietnamese Pho with vegetarian broth.

Price - Nominal, not high end

Parking - Plenty of parking on their own parking lot, easy to find.

Wait times - Both times I was seated within 5 minutes

Verdict - 5/5 in...

Stopped for the first time with my girlfriend after spending time at the boardwalk. We were greeted and sat right away. We ordered the red curry with chicken, chicken pad thai and the chicken laap salad. The food was pretty good, however the chicken in all the dishes was pretty dry and a little overcooked. While the food was good, the service was lackluster. There were only two servers/hosts and neither seemed to know what the other was doing. I flagged one down to ask for the check and some to-go boxes, and he acknowledged my request. It took nearly 5 minutes before I got either as he was more focused on ensuring the table with people he knew personally was well attended to. I get it, he knows them and wants to make sure they get excellent service, but at least let your co-worker know another table needs their check and to-go boxes.

Overall, if I'm craving Thai food the next time I'm in Santa Cruz, I'll give Sala Thai another try, but first impressions are hard...

I have always liked the Thai House but the last time I went the guy serving my girlfriend and I, an older gentleman, was very rude. He presented us with a menu and when I asked if they were still doing the lunch special, 30 min before it was over, he became really upset with me. He tossed menus at us and walked away. He came back 3 or so min later and told me to hurry up because it was almost over, even though according to the menu I had 25 min left. Once the food came he tossed it on the table accross from us. I asked for Chili sauce at one point and he said "chili sauce?" then turned around and walked to another table muttering to himself and flung it at me and said "heres your chili sauce" Im pretty chill but he was being a jerk. I tipped none the less and am going to go back today hoping that he chilled out or got fired. Good food, careful of the...