Table 1 Thai Kitchen

Great foods and servers!

Positives:
— Food was good, had the yellow chicken curry and they made it with the exact ingredients I liked
Could Be Better:
Service… I was reading the reviews as I was sitting at my table waiting and it all started to make sense.
— I walked in and had to stand around for a while, walked over to the kitchen window before I was acknowledged by the cook and told to sit wherever
— Waiter walks out of the back afterwards… it’s just odd I don’t know any other way to put it
— Another group of customers walk in with the same experience as I did and the same look on their face like… um seat yourself? does anyone work here? I actually told them to pick their own table :) (then of course they thought I worked there)
— Ok seriously how many Asian restaurants charge for a side of rice? I’ve been to 3 different Thai restaurants this month and none of them have charged me for rice, and all of them were cheaper than this place for the main course.
Hmmm, let me think:
— Décor, I think I’m sitting in a remodeled romantic style living room with grey walls and pretty flowers. White chandelier. Wooden chairs the style of a log cabin. One lone long table with fabric chairs. The look of the place doesn’t impact the experience or food… but just makes you think… What were they thinking?
— Same bathroom for waiter, cook, and guests. After seeing the cook walk to the restrooms all I could think about was, I seriously hope he washed his hands and I’d really like to go and ask. Maybe install a door that goes from the kitchen to the back so everyone doesn’t walk through the dining area?
— Rice cooker and utencils out in front… that full in the back huh?
Closing Thoughts:
I’d come here again if I was craving Thai and this was the closest place. Not my first choice.
December update: tried to call to place a to go order… would be nice if they answered their phone. Tried calling over and over and over again… total bummer had to drive further for Thai!

Been coming here for the past year since I found them while taking a lunch break. Its about time i write a review.
Pad Thai is my favorite! Today it was so amazing I HAD to write this review!!! When ordering Pad Thai you must eat it along with a lot of bean sprouts and a squeeze of lime! Sooooooo GOOOOOD! Oh and this dish spicy is even better!
Prices are great in relation to portion size and quality of the food. Many of the dishes are around $ 9 and they have a great lunch special as well.
The décor is simple yet modern classy, definitely romantic enough for a date but casual enough for lunch with friends. It’s probably best for 2 – 4 people per party because the dining room is small as well as are the tables.
I’ve found it to be a clean restaurant and service has been very good when I’ve dined here.
Remember to save room for dessert — their cheesecake is awesome.

Horrible. I can’t say the food is horrible because I never got a chance to try it. I came today, Saturday, at 12:30. According to Unilocal and their website, they open at 12 on Saturday for lunch. However, when I arrive, the place is closed, door locked, and no one inside.
See, I came because I purchased a
certificate and wanted to try something new. I figure I would come back another day. But to make matters worse, when I peaked inside the glass door, I see a big sign by the register, on the wall, that «
certificates are not accepted». What kind of place allows a social media site like
to promote their food and then not accept. This place sounds like a shady place to me.

What? So many stars for this place? I was called a Thai food snob by my friends, but if I’m going to pay $ 12 for lunch, it better be darn good.
Pros:
*Service. It is not fast, by any means. 1 guy taking orders; 1 woman refilling water. They are both very kind, which is why this is a pro, but since there are only 2 people helping out during lunch, don’t expect to make your 1 p.m. meeting.
*Space. Maybe people don’t know this place is here; maybe they agree with my review on the food, but it’s very spacious and the décor is quite appealing.
Cons:
*Food. What? I won’t say the food is disgusting, but it’s not truly great Thai food. Right when my Pad See Ew came out, it smelled pungent — moreso than usual (and I’m used to fish sauce being cooked in the kitchen. This was just wrong). The veggies tasted old, and I should know because I’ve kept leftovers in the fridge for days. My friend got the Crying Tiger, which took about 15 mins to come to the table, and was overcooked. This is also the only Thai place I’ve been to where they don’t ask how spicy you want your food, which is another weird indicator to me.
*Thai Iced Tea. Seriously, HOW do you mess this up? I usually gulp my drink down, but I struggled with this one. The milk wasn’t the true evaporated milk that’s normally used; it was true, seemingly 1% milk, which did not taste good.
Do yourself a favor and try something else… or head over to Spice Thai Cuisine on Muirlands Blvd, which is not the best, but better in comparison.

Unilocalers never fail me. I completely agree with what most people have said here.
Mostly good food, horrible service.
Vince and I came here before heading to see a movie one night, as Vince is trying to get more adventurous with his eating, thus he is starting to put a few toes in the pool of chinese, japanese and thai cuisine.
We walked in, and stood around staring for a hostess or waitress for like 5 minutes, looking like total idiots. Finally a waitress came out, we semi-​shout across the restaurant, «Can we sit anywhere?» She waves her arm without really turning around. I guess that means yes?
We sit down, and it takes 10 minutes to get water and a drink order (there are only 2 other parties in the place at this point). Then another 20 minutes to place our food order. By this time water is gone, no refill. 30 minutes later, food comes, still no refill. Ask for refill, wait another 15 minutes, nothing comes, ask again. Finally get water refill.
Look… us white people need water when we eat spicy food. PLEASE JUST HAVE WATER HANDY.
The food on the other hand was great. I had the yellow curry, and the spice level was perfect. The meat and vegetables were perfectly cooked — especially carrots. A little bit of bite, no mush. I loved my meal. Vince got the crying tiger. He liked it but I think he should have tried something a little more outside his comfort zone.
Table 1 — you have potential! It’s too bad that your complete lack of customer service will have me always going to the thai place down the street instead.

Must order the Phad Thai! REALLY GOOD! Normally Thai places would give you two pieces of shrimp when you ask for Chicken and Shrimp Phad Thai but this place gives you like eight! Drunken noodles were really good too! The portions are pretty big.
The décor is really nice. :)

I somewhat agree with some reviewers who experienced less than satisfactory service at this place, but I think this place deserves a visit at least give it a try and be a judge yourself. I must say the service could be a hit & miss since most of the waitresses/​waiters are new, but hopefully it’s getting better. So cross your fingers when you go in here and hopefully you get one of the better one, assuming you are brave enough to risk it in exchange of what potentially could be some of the best Thai food in this area. If you are still interested… then read on…
I’ve been here 2 times… apparently the food is good enough to entice me to come back …
1^st visit:
Time: dinner Saturday 6pm
Ambiance:
the place is completely empty… dark…not very inviting… we almost went to Jerry’s Sub next door but were really craving for thai that day… so we went in…
Service:
the waiter (Hispanic looking) was very friendly and accommodating
Food:
— phad thai is quite good but a bit different (has more of a strong fishy /​anchovy /​squidy taste, which is fine if you are into seafood)
— garlic pepper chicken is excellent, really tasty
Price /​serving /​value:
— serving is rather small but enough for someone like me (148lb guy), and price is so so for dinner, but they have very decent lunch special menu
— total bill $ 24 for 2 dishes + thai iced tea
2^nd visit:
Time: lunch Friday 12:15pm
Ambiance: quite empty (only 2 tables occupied) for this time of the day in this area where all other places are so crowded… the reason we came here because the wait at Thai Garden is so long…
Service:
not too bad, there were 8 of us and we got our orders relatively quickly, but the food did take a while even though the place wasn’t busy
Food:
— crying tiger is really good! better than thai garden…
— spicy beef salad is quite good (pretty much very similar to crying tiger, except you get much more lettuce instead of rice, and the dressing is mixed in instead of on the side)
— spicy fish salad has also good flavor
So…bottom line is this place could be a good alternative for thai food in this area, but maybe best not to come here unless you are not in a hurry… then saviour some of the creative and delicious thai dishes you will ever had (at one time I stayed a few weeks in Thailand so I know about thai cooking, and this place deserves another chance)
Maybe I’ll go there for the third time this week… who knows… third time a charm??? stay tuned…

Really enjoyable food.
I always order Pad Thai anytime I’m at a Thai restaurant, and it was one of the better ones I’ve had in OC. The Coconut Shrimp appetizer was really good, and I think my fiancé got the pineapple fried rice and enjoyed it.
They had the best Thai Tea I’ve had yet anywhere, not sure what it is that made it stand out, but it’s amazing!

Great food!
Everything we had was very good. This was the best
Thai food I have had in Southern California !
Very fast service and believe it or not the Cabernet by the glass was superb !
I will be back soon !

there’s a fine line between really good customer service, and when you do it too much to a point that annoys or creep ppl out…
i am sorry but as much as i like the food, convenience, big space… i probably would not come back because i don’t like to be ‘over’ taken care of when i just want some peace and quiet w/​o any disturbance during my lunch hour…

This was by far the worst service I have ever received at any restaurant in my life. Here is the story…
I went in tonight, on a slow sunday night with about 3 other parties with my family of five. I believe a new girl was working along with another guy waiter, so we were patient with her and realized it’d be a little rocky but understood since everyone has to start somewhere. We didn’t get our drinks until 15minutes in of being seated and didn’t get our order taken down until another 25 minutes. About 30 minutes in and we finally got our order taken down which consisted of 1 appetizer and about 4 – 5 entrees. We patiently waited for about an hour and 15minutes and still no food, not even an appetizer! We were still patient until a table across from us received 2 entrees before we did, and they were seated after the waitress took our order!
About 1 hour and 30minutes in, we received 5 springs rolls and drinks. Not to mention there was 3 ants in my brothers lemonade, and got all the wrong drinks for the table. The nerve of the waiter saying «well the other table just got soups and an appetizer.» When we clearly see a plate of pad see-​ew and fried rice on their table. So we got up and walked right out of the restaurant.
WORST SERVICE I HAVE EVER HAD!!!

Table 1 Thai has got awesome tasting food. This is definitely a must try if you like Thai food. We came here on Sunday for lunch and ordered the Drunken Noodles with beef and Popular Basil with chicken. The Drunken Noodles are freaking down right good. It tastes very close to a Beef Chow Fun but with that Thai spin on it. The Popular Basil is your traditional Thai basil stir fry type dish and was also very good as well.
I was disappointed that they don’t have the lunch specials over the weekend and if you do come for lunch, I would definitely recommend coming during the week otherwise only come for dinner. They don’t mention on their website that the specials are only served during the week. That could explain why there was only one other table here for Sunday lunch. Needless to say when I come back, I am getting me some Drunken Noodles. Great food and a little pricey for lunch. 4 stars!

If I can just write all guttural sounds as the review here I would. This place is heaven! I’ve been searching for a great thai restaurant and I think I have found my favorite! The prices are VERY reasonable, the meat is OH MY LORD so good. Not rubbery like most the other thai places.
I had the spicy beef salad… nothing else will compare to this now, so thanks Mike for ruining beef salad for me because nothing else will be as good or even come close to yours!
the mango sticky rice was AMAZING and the crème brûlée I want to bathe in.
I wish I lived closer but this is well worth the drive!

Table 1 has top notch Thai food at a very decent price. Mike, the chef and owner, is very passionate about his food and culture.
I’ve been coming here for over a year now. I tried pretty much everything in the first menu, the new menu now has opened up new tasteful adventures.
The food is always good, made fresh. They have good prices during lunch, however it gets packed, and the service (as with any other restaurant during peak time) gets impacted with some delays.
I would recommend going on an evening, Sunday through Thursday. During this time they are only busy with 2 – 4 tables, which gives the waiters and chefs, more time to service you well.
My favorites/​recommendations:
Appetizers
— Mussels
— Refreshing rolls
— Coco Shrimp
Entrees
— 3 Flavors Fish
— Yellow Curry
— Drunken Noodles
Desserts
— Sticky rice with mango
— Basil infused Panacota (you must order several days in advanced)
— Roti with condensed milk

Visited on a Monday night around 6:30. The place was empty, and the waitress said I was the first customer of the day. I ordered a shrimp Pad Thai and a green chicken curry, along with a glass of chardonnay. The service was good, the food arrived very quickly, and the presentation was very nice.
First thing I noticed about the Pad Thai was the overuse of sweet and sour sauce, reminiscent of the kind you buy in a jar. It was overpowering, and enough of a distraction that I almost didn’t notice how salty the dish was. The noodles were rubbery and hard to chew. One of the shrimp had a very strong flavor, like it had been sitting around too long.
On to the green chicken curry. The curry has a very nice flavor. The vegetables are not overcooked, so there’s a bit of a crunch to the zucchini. The eggplant retains its structure, being cooked just enough to soften it. Served with jasmine rice, this was a very tasty dish.
Overall, this place is hit and miss. Avoid the Pad Thai unless you like commercially prepared sweet and sour sauce (and lots of it). Since I’m not from around here, I won’t have the opportunity to give this restaurant a second try. Based on my first visit, though, I doubt I will stop in if I am in the area again.

Ever since I started my new job in Lake Forest, I’ve been excited to check out some of the restaurants in the area. Table 1 Thai was the first place my coworkers took me too and I just came back last week with a friend.
Verdict? The food is pretty good, but not the best. Lunch specials are a tad on the pricey side at $ 8.95+ although it comes with soup and a salad. My friend and I both agreed that the salad dressing tasted very Japanese, like the kind you get with combinations in a Japanese restaurant. You can’t go wrong with Pad Se Ew, which has a nice charred flavor. I thought it was interesting that the waitress asked everyone what level of spiciness they wanted on their food. I’ve never had spicy Pad Se Ew before, but I said 2 (out of 5) and it wasn’t spicy at all.
The next time I came in, I had the Basil Fried Rice with tofu. This time no one asked how spicy I wanted it, so imagine my surprise when it was HOT! My mouth was numb after a couple of bites and it took about 2 refills of water before I could finish half (of my admittedly very large) portion. It was still pretty good, especially with the fried tofu. My puppy Finn agrees — he ate the leftovers that I was eating the next day after knocking the box off the table.
I think you can get better Thai food elsewhere, especially for the price. Don’t get me wrong, the food is alright and the service is good. I guess this is Lake Forest after all. I’ll probably consult Unilocal to see what my other Thai options are in the area before returning.

Yum Chicken Pad Thai! Usually, I avoid Thai places like a plague, because of the over priced food and long waits. Sometimes you want restaurant food that is fast. Well, thank you Table 1 Thai Kitchen you exceed my expectations!
A co-​worker referred Table 1 Thai Kitchen to me. She said, «Go to that Thai place next to Jersey Mike’s» and did not include the name. I don’t like this plaza, because other times when going to Jersey Mike’s or Flame Broiler there is always a crazy rush during lunch time. Lucky for me I was able to find parking the minute I drove in. From the time I placed my to go order to the time I was out the door was probably less than 10 minutes. This is impressive especially with a full restaurant, plus the server was cute. Service with a smile and fast awesome.
I ordered the Lunch special Pad Thai with a chicken wrap. The wrap tasted like canned chicken with a splash lemon and lettuce. Nothing impressive. The Pad Thai was only half a styraphone box. Sadness. that is not enough food. WRONG! I was completely stuffed! This is the first time in history I had Pad Thai that was not 50% to 70% bean sprouts and other fillers like eggs. This PT was delicious and filled with noodles and chicken, easy on the peanuts. Every single bite had a piece of chicken. When ever I eat Pad Thai finding the meat is like a treasure hunt. Okay, maybe I had 2 bites that didn’t have chicken, but that’s not bad for a lunch entrée. PT noodles will keep you satisfied for hours. Only 8 dollars for the lunch specials and every entrée comes with a small appetizer. Most places do not let you get lunch specials To Go, big plus!
Highly recommended. Will come back for more. Next time, I will try the soup and skip the wrap.

This is a decent Thai food restaurant. We ordered the Chicken Lettuce Wrap for appetizers. The minced chicken with added «spice» was ok. I was expecting more of a kick, but instead it had a subtle flavor.
Per rave reviews from Unilocal,we ordered the Drunken Noodles and my personal favorite, Chicken Panang. The drunken noodles, I had to warm up to. They were cooked to a slight crisp, and most of the flavor came from the onions and bell peppers. At first, it just made me wish I ordered the Pad See-​Ew, but the more I ate it the more I loved it. The panang was also AMAZING. I think it’s one of the best panang I’ve ever had!
I wish I had enough room to try their dessert, but there’s always next time.
This establishment also offers an interesting concept I didn’t get to enjoy. They have what’s called «Table 1» where you are seated close to the kitchen where you can stir up a conversation with your chef, where he apparently seeks your advice and/​or judgment. If you can’t get to Table 1, you can also sit at their bar that faces the kitchen and watch your food cooked in front of you. I need a group of foodies to come with me next time =)

Was there a fantastic welcome like Noah C.‘s review? Absolutely not! Instead, I walk toward the back of the restaurant to ask the waitress if we choose where we can sit or they seat us. It was hard to understand her, but she pointed to a booth on the right side of the restaurant. She wasn’t rude. She was just not attentive like I want waiters/​waitresses to be. I guess they don’t like great tips?
Their service was not great, but their food was tasty. The lunch menu came with 2 options. One on the front of the menu (an appetizer) and the second option was on the back (the entrée). I ordered the chicken skewers. In total there was 2 skewers with yellow colored chicken, 4 peices of small toast and tiny cubed cucumbers. I wasn’t sure what to do with it all so I just ate them separately. The chicken was flavored on the outside, but it wasn’t marinaded long, so it was a little bland. There was nothing special about the toast and cucumbers, but it was a simple dish. My entrée was a BBQ beef dish. The beef was cut thin and on the bias, which was perfect because it was served on a salad bed. The beef was moist and delicious and the sauce it came with complimented the beef well.
My girl had the spring rolls and the drunken noodles with the tofu. They were both delicious as well. The spring rolls were small, but tasty. Cooked well and not too oily. The noodles were very tasty with the tofu. It would make a great side dish for my beef =)
Of course, I always get a refreshing Thai iced tea. I also got a bottle of Voss water. It’s rare that I find places that serve this water. They have both sparkling and still. I prefer Voss over Pelligrino or Perrier, so it was a welcome change.
It’s hard to find good non-​chain restaurants in MV, so enjoy it. 4 stars for the food 2 stars for the service = an A-​OK in my book.