Recently, the Missus asked an acquaintance of Hers, who happens to be Thai, for some Thai Restaurant recommendations. She came back from work, and told me this person recommended Sala Thai. My response: "huh, are you sure?" She responded with: "Well He said first off, that the Owners and Kitchen staff are Thai"
"So what did he recommend?"
"The Pad Thai?"
"Really?"
"Yep, really....."
And so we made our way to Campus Plaza, up the street from San Diego State University. I knew exactly where Sala Thai was located.
We arrived for an early dinner, and was shown our table in the small, and simple, but very clean restaurant.
As we looked over the typical San Diego Thai Restaurant menu, with Americanized dishes such as Crab Rangoon, Shui Mai(!!!), and the usual "pick the meat, pick the sauce" stir fry options, I tried to remain positive. Finally, we found a few items and placed our order.
The Som Tum(Papaya Salad - "Papaya Pok Pok" $6.95):
The Papaya Salad was nice and crisp, but very "flat" in flavor. We ordered all our food at a medium heat level, and the spice level was adequate. But the salad was very tame, lacking in salty, sour, and sweet flavors. The shrimp were fine, but we could have done with stronger flavors, such as dried shrimp or salted blue crab. I started wondering if they make things different here for their Thai clientele?
From the "Wok" portion of the menu, we ordered the Chicken with Garlic Sauce($7.95):
This was the "pick he meat, pick the sauce" item. Slices of fairly dry white meat chicken, with a light sauce, tossed with fried garlic, and various peppers. Not very good, plus the garlic tasted burnt and bitter.
Pad Thai($6.95):
Ah yes, the recommended Pad Thai. On the positive side, this dish used the thinner style rice noodles, which were cooked to an excellent texture. The shrimp and all of the accouterments were fine. The Pad Thai had a decent salty-sweet flavor, but tasted a bit off. We requested some lime, which rounded out the flavor. In retrospect, the Pad Thai was also short on egg and bean sprouts, but was not a bad dish.
Catfish Red Curry($8.95):
I thought the chiffonade of Kaffir Lime leaf in the curry allowed this dish to be thought of as decent. The curry was thick, though not heavy in coconut milk. The heat was very mild for "medium heat", and the sprig of basil was not enough to provide flavor for the curry. The fish was over-cooked, nearly black, making it quite tough. The portion size was pretty small as well, three 1/4" cross-cut fish slices. The curry was okay, the fish not very good.
Based on this meal, I'd say that Sala Thai is your basic San Diego neighborhood Thai restaurant. Nothing wrong with that, but not worth an out of the way drive. The prices are in line with other San Diego Thai restaurants, and service is very nice as well.
Sala Thai Restaurant
6161 El Cajon Blvd
San Diego, CA 92115
Mon-Sat 11am-930pm
Sun 4pm-9pm
Just want to thank you. I had my first meal at Ba Ren tuesday night. That place rocks! I would never have known about it without your Blog. I am reviewing The Dining Room at Jack's in La Jolla tonight. Should have it up by Tuesday, mabey sooner. Chef Tony DiSalvo is supposed to be a stud.
Jack Kress
http://sandiegorestaurants.typepad.com
Posted by: Jack Kress | Thursday, 06 July 2006 at 04:53 PM
Sala Thai is a nice little restaurant who isn't outstanding but does overall a pretty good job.
Posted by: honkman | Thursday, 06 July 2006 at 05:39 PM
Hi Jack - A most warm welcome to you! I've been enjoying your blog. I'm glad you enjoy Ba Ren; there's nothing even close to it in San Diego. I look forward to your future posts.
Hi Honkman - It seems that you just about summed it up for me. I should just do photos and let you do the text, huh?
Posted by: Kirk | Thursday, 06 July 2006 at 06:34 PM
Maybe you could start by saying "A Thai friend recommended me this place, you know" That might make them shape up their act ;)
Sad that it wasn't a out of the world experience. but authentic sounding menus aren't even everything. I went to an Indian restaurant here in our new country town on Weds night, trying it out as it had authentic South Indian dishes such as Chicken Palak and biriyani on the menu. It even had bollywood movies playing on a TV/VCR. Sadly everything was really washed out. I have made chinese fried rice that tasted more like the biriyani (a rice pilaf with meat or veggies cooked in very aromatic spices) than theirs!!!
Posted by: Rachel | Friday, 07 July 2006 at 06:15 AM
Another Thai restaurant washout--bummer! I'm only just beginning to realize how spoiled I was for Thai food back in Seattle. There were some real winners up there.
Posted by: Ellen T. Brenner | Friday, 07 July 2006 at 11:45 AM
Hi Rachel - This was decent neighborhood Thai. That sounds like a terrible eating experience you had...but then again, I bet you make a mean fried rice! ;o)
Hi Ellen - Just decent, nothing to get excited about Thai food.
Posted by: Kirk | Sunday, 09 July 2006 at 12:26 AM
Maybe you can tell me...why is it that in all of the cities I've lived in (a lot) there is always at least one Thai restaurant called Sala Thai?
Posted by: Kady | Monday, 10 July 2006 at 06:10 PM
Hi Kady - Don't have a clue??? Maybe someone out there knows....
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 10 July 2006 at 08:07 PM
Hi Kirk,
Thanks for all your hard work. I really enjoy your site.
I'm trying to "calibrate" my Thai restaurant meter so I'm wondering what your opinion is of Thai House on Convoy and Jade Thai on Friars road.
Posted by: J.P. | Thursday, 20 July 2006 at 10:04 PM
Hi JP - Thanks for stopping by and taking the time out to comment. Calibrate, now that sounds so scientific! I've never been to Jade Thai. But as for Thai House, we visited there more then a few times, and thought the food was pretty good(Americanized Thai). But on our last visit(back in '01), the dishes we had were terrible, and we asked if they had changed chefs. The food to that point, had been okay in spite of the frozen peas and carrots in various dishes, and the super-Westernized dishes. We stopped eating there at that point. So, tell me, is Thai House worth a visit? I'll try it again in an instant, if you recommend it.
Posted by: Kirk | Thursday, 20 July 2006 at 11:28 PM
Hi Kirk,
Personally, I think Jade Thai edges out Thai House by a small margin. I recommend giving it a shot.
J.P.
Posted by: J.P. | Friday, 21 July 2006 at 03:07 PM
Hi JP - Thanks for the rec - I'll put that on my list.
Posted by: Kirk | Sunday, 23 July 2006 at 10:16 PM