Celadon Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Colonie

My mom and I live in Buffalo, and we were in town last weekend for the Tulip Festival. Was in the mood for Thai food so I suggested we get dinner here. I am not even exaggerating when I say it was a life-changing experience.

Impeccable food. Impeccable service. A staff that seemed like they were genuinely happy to see you, genuinely wanted you to enjoy yourself, genuinely hoped to see you again soon. (I texted my wife and suggested that we make the trip out from Buffalo for dinner one night, and I was not joking.)

I could rhapsodize about any of the items I ordered off the menu, but I want to talk specifically about the red curry. It's a standard dish you'll find at most any Thai restaurant, so it's shocking how rarely you see it done right. More often than not, it comes out like a soup. The curry sauce is thin, watery, translucent, barely tastes of anything. Why is it so hard to find a place that takes the time to add in coconut milk, puréed red bell pepper... all the stuff that Celadon does that no one else bothers with? Why?

Another good thing about this place is that when it comes to spice, they don't mollycoddle you. Don't get me wrong, if you want your food mild they'll give it to you mild. But this is one of the few places I've eaten Stateside where you order food "Thai hot" and it actually comes Thai hot. Being located in a suburban strip mall with a clientele just as white-bread as you'd expect, I came prepared to be underwhelmed. But this place brings the heat in a way you can't get in Buffalo even in the by-immigrants-for-immigrants places on the West Side.

Bottom line? Best Thai I've ever had. Please give this place...

It's a smaller place - from the outside looks a bit like a "holl in the wall" kind of joint, but it's very classy inside. Big windows out front overlooking the main streets of Latham, nice decor, surprisingly enough room to maneuver (even for my mom who was on a walker at the time!) A good selection of drinks (alcoholic and non,) and lots of variety and customization with the food. For spicy dishes you can choose a "level" of spiciness when you order, described a number in the menu, and most rice, curry, and noodle dishes let you choose your protein (meat, poultry, shrimp, tofu, vegetables.)

I was really excited that they had Thai iced tea here, as that was my favorite at the old Blue Spice restaurant that sadly closed years ago. Celadon's iced tea is much sweeter, with the kick of the spices muted by cream or milk. It probably has more general appeal than my old standby "spicy drink," but it's got the same flavors. I assume you could ask for less or no sweetener if you wanted.

Pineapple fried rice with shrimp was very good. About on par with what I've had before, but with a choice of brown rice instead of the typical white, which I enjoyed. The portion size wasn't too big, though I did take some leftovers home, it wasn't the massive box you might get at other east Asian restaurants. Mom got some sort of curry with tofu or vegetables and mild spiciness, and enjoyed that, enough to want to visit again - and she's fairly picky about curry, given she's dating a guy from India, so make of that what you will.

Overall, I'll definitely be returning. If you like Thai food and are in the area...

The service for tonight went downhill. I came to this restaurant several times. In Albany region, I am pleased with their food. They busy tonight the staffs are overwhelmed. I came in standing there for 10 mins waiting for host to greet me. No one came the staff like waving me like they are not doing business anymore, so i walked closer to them to clarify that they are no longer taking dine in and we got in at 8:15pm. Another staff told me to sit wherever we want. It took so long for them to come take our order. But after order the food came out in a timely fashion. But no napkins were served. They also brought in wrong orders to the table and forgot our drink. When we were done we were trying to place an order for dessert. We tried to get attention from any staffs they just walked by and I had my hand wave at them. They really giving me a feeling they do not want to acknowledge us. Throughout the whole dining process no one came to check with us on the food and service. At last the lady staff just came with the check without and follow up. I just need to confront her, she spend so much time chatting with a customer without helping other customers and I have to asked her, Do we look different? Why are we receiving different service? For restaurant service, it’s very rude to just bring the check on the table while all eyes on her. It’s not that we give her a look or give her an attitude. I was simply waiting for her to ask if we need anything or maybe a simple greet of how is the night or food. We still...