Rambutan Thai

I used to exclusively order from them when I was craving thai food — but there entire menu has changed and when I placed my usual order over the phone they didn’t even tell me that they no longer had eggplant or other ingredients that made the dishes I always ordered. Then when it all arrives the chicken in the curry and the satay were completely raw. Like they didn’t bother even tossing it in the pan.
Such a shame, I’ll never eat here again.

Wow. I am so sad, Rambutan. What happened? You used to be a solid ¾ and since your switch to takeout only, it’s unbearable. Ugh, the inept hostess who took the order through accidental hang-​ups (her ‘oops’) and kept saying ‘I know that’s on the menu but we don’t have that…’ Just awful. Then the food (luckily the same awesome delivery driver remains): so weak, the food. Lemongrass soup with literally three sad chills and one piece of cilantro rolling around two lone mushrooms and limp chicken. Inedible and over salted green curry with zucchini and one tiny sliver of red pepper. I mean, WTH? Ugh. No more Crying Tiger Beef, no more crisp greens with chicken. Weak. Just weak.

A big disappointment.
First of all, prices were double what most Thai restaurants charge, and this is unexpected in Silver Lake. Furthermore, it is the only Thai restaurant that I have ever been to that did not serve family style. Every order is served on a plate with vegetables and a very small rice bowl.
For $ 9, I ordered crab rolls. What I got were three tiny rolls about the size of my thumb that didn’t even taste like crab. (Probably because they were crab/​chicken rolls.)
My panang curry was too salty. My friend’s barbecue chicken was burnt. Another friend’s crying tiger beef was served rare, which is fine, except if you like your meat well done. When grilled beef is being ordered, a waiter should ask how you like it done. My third friend ordered a garlic chicken breast, which he liked. Yay! One out of five dishes was acceptable.
We had 4 entrees and the one appetizer. The total was $ 66 before tax and tip. Really? For Thai food in Silver Lake?

Great service! Even with one guy on the floor… He kept up with water, orders, and changes. Food was decent and came out fast. Great go to place

Worth a try for any Thai lover in LA. Kind of hard to find in a small strip mall on Sunset, so parking can be a challenge. The Thai Tea is a winner.

If I could give ZERO STARS I would. This food is INDIGESTIBLE.
I ordered it at 4:45pm. One hour fifteen minutes later, I call them and «oh the delivery guy doesn’t arrive until 6:00, He’s already left with your order. «Is it fresh?», I ask… «OF COURSE»
6:45, our VERY COLD ‘food’ showed up and it was like trying to eat salmon jerkey in a watery sauce… I know it sounds like I could be exaggerating but sadly, I am not. It must have been reheated multiple times. The sauce dried up, maybe they added water? I called to inquire (wtf??) and got a «huh, sorry» –
I have been ordering from Rambutan for 10 years and to be treated so shabbily, by someone who obviously doesn’t give a shit what kind of hash they sling, kind of hurt.
and what a waste of $ 40.00
NEVER AGAIN.

I really like the food and the server.

Wow. I ordered from them through postmates… Thought, why not? Man I should have steered clear. Ordered the porkchop, beef larb, and shrimp tom yum. Everything sucked. Porkchop was dry as a brick and I had trouble cutting it with even my sharpest knife. The larb was bland and tasteless (blasphemy for a legit Thai restaurant!), and the Shrimp ton yum came with 1 freakin shrimp. They also didn’t pack any flatware or silverware in the package. Wow. Will never order or even think of eating here in person.

Service is very friendly and professional. Parking can be difficult, depending on the day your dining. Overall foods is very good. Menu has been upgraded. They do catering also.

Such a cool looking restaurant, I’m curious if they renovated recently because the colors and decorations felt very contemporary and beautiful. We went on a Saturday evening and the restaurant was not crowded at all, but the kitchen was jumping with takeout orders. Lots of people stopped in to pick up food. The staff was very friendly and attentive. It was one of those situations where I knew I was full, but everything tasted so good I couldn’t stop eating.

All in all, I was quite put-​off by the attitude of the man who took my take away order. My receipt shows ‘server: adrian,’ so perhaps that is his name. I ordered Basil Eggplant with Chicken to go and said I’d be right back. About 10 minutes later I returned. A lady barked at me the price. I said, «that’s with chicken, right?» Turns out the man made a mistake when taking my order.
I have no problem at all with humans making mistakes (except, say, surgeons, pharmacists and pilots, for example). This is the problem I have with this place: they look at me as if they are annoyed with me due to ‘Adrian’s’ mistake, and then inconvenienced that I asked for them to add chicken to it, as I had asked for with my initial order. No one smiled and said something like, «Oops. Sorry. We’ll fix that.» They acted as though they didn’t care, didn’t like their job, their life, nor me.
The dish tasted good, but damned if I’m going to give my money to businesses that don’t show that they value their customers.

1^st experience was good so I decided to return.
Maybe the day was off but my 2^nd experience: whack!!!
Maybe tell them you are using a groupon at the end of your meal.
June was rude and impolite… after finishing our appetizers: soup crab rolls and dumplings (which were still frozen) she didn’t even clear our table. So we had a table full of dirty appetizer dishes and entrée dishes.
Our spicy basil fried rice was extremely oily and the green medley vegetables were blah.
Guess, I gotta try again…3^rd time’s a charm right!!!

So let’s start with the super friendly lady who greeted us upon entry. She wore glasses and a smile well :)
We started with Thai crack or what other people call Thai iced tea. Yeah, I’m addicted.
Next, my friend and I ordered an overabundance of food. Starting the meal off was a papaya salad which I fell in love with while I was in Thailand. Rambutan’s papaya salad wasn’t as good as what I had in Thailand but that is to be expected and it’s on par with the many of US based Thai restaurants I’ve feasted at. My suggestion is to still order the papaya salad. It’s delicious nonetheless.
Next dish was a spicy lime lemongrass chicken soup. This tasted exactly like what I had in Thailand. Healthy too as it’s base is a clear broth. Super super super savory.
Third up on our table was the delectable pork basil dish. This is found all over Thailand and I really wanted to introduce it to my friend. I give a warning to all patrons. This one comes out super spicy so if you can’t handle heat, tell the server first!
Lastly, was my favorite. A chicken penang curry. Yeah, I’ve never tasted a bad one yet and this one was out of this world good. Don’t skip this. Again, this was a bit spicy as well so let them know ahead of time if you don’t like dishes that put your mouth on fire.

Using a Groupon deal, my gf and I decided to go check this place out. Groupons for restaurants tend to make me a little leery, but the deal was there, so we went for it. When we stepped in, there was only one other couple in there, at 8 pm on a Tuesday.
To put it quickly, we were pleasantly surprised. All of the food we ordered, the duck curry, pad see ew, beef waterfall appetizer, and the Thai teas were great. The vibe definitely skewed romantic, which was nice for date night.
The duck curry was probably my favorite. Plenty of vegetables and coconut curry base, and they didn’t skimp on the meat at all. Pad see ew was solid, a good carbohydrate complement to the curry.
The portions were fairly generous — being in Silver Lake, I thought they would go just go high on the price and small on the dishes, but that wasn’t the case at all. We needed a few take out boxes for all the food left over.
Great quiet place to check out. Would definitely recommend, though a part of me would want to keep it secret from everyone else ;)

What happened to this place?
The food used to be delicious.
It had been awhile since I had been here but the Groupon got us going back.
Not only did they automatically put 18% tip on our bill (I had planned to pay $ 15% on the pre discount total) but they also charged us $ 2 for carbonated water from their soda fountain! We opted out of a bottle of sparkling water to save money yet I paid $ 8 for carbonated tap water. Seriously? No other restaurant charges for that.
My green chicken curry tasted like the chicken had been sitting in boiled water for 2 weeks and my salmon chuchee was oily and the fish wasn’t fresh and flavorful.
I love supporting local businesses but my recent experience gave it 3 strikes.

It didn’t say in groupon ’18% gratitude fee will be added’, it said ‘tip not included’. I’m not cheap, but for a service like that, 10% too much. food quality is significantly different when you present groupon, as well as the customer service. Parking is a mess
No wonder it says in groupon, ‘present groupon upon arrival’! When they see the groupon, they tell their cook, ‘another groupon customer, get the foods from the fridge’. For cold chewy flavorless calamary, 5pc oil soaked wonton wrapped shrimp, 1 crab (less) fried rice, tom kha & 2 Thai ice tea (flavored water), I paid $ 20+$ 40 (groupon) so it came down to $ 40 total! What’s the point of groupon then? I could go to Red Corner Aisa, send less than this, get better foods with great customer service. And why would you add 18% gratitude for party of 2?!
First time when I went there without groupon, it was totally different. It’s either groupon or they just don’t care anymore. Maybe they prefer bar customers rather than some Thai food customers

I hadn’t been here in years, so it’s fair to say Groupon enticed me to return. I checked reviews before making a rezzie for suggestions of what to order, and was dismayed by the «inferior» treatment many reviewers reported upon using a Groupon. So I avoided ordering some dishes that regulars reported were tiny or lacking when using a Groupon. That is a huge turn off, knowing ahead of time, that the restaurant stiffs you with a Groupon. I mean, really, it was their choice to offer a Groupon. Do they want to attract more business, or lose more business?
The food was good. The shrimp curry dumplings were yummy. You get a free Thai beer or free Thai iced tea if you check in withOUT a Groupon. That’s what they told me, but I see on Unilocal that some reviewers were able to use Groupon + free check in on Unilocal.And to be honest, the prices were high — we spent quite $$ even with group on.
The prices seem high relative to portion size. Ambience is dark, cave like, speakeasy. You need that candle or that iphone Flashlight App to read the menu. Very sparsely populated. The waitress checked in once, or twice — she came across indifferent/​aloof. For example, we asked if we had ordered enough, if there was something we should order since it was our first time in a very long time… she shrugged and said eh. We knew then we were in trouble. Pet peeve, when the staff can’t even recommend or vouch a dish. Seriously. If we did not have a Groupon, we would have left. The bus boy was the best, however, clearing dishes and refilling water.
They automatically add gratuity with Groupon b/​c they don’t trust you to tip based on the original amount. They don’t trust that we might tip extra for excellent service. No other restaurant has done this in my Groupon experience especially for a party of two. So, when you add it all up – high prices, inferior/​inconsisent service — with the plethora of wonderul Thai places, in no rush to return.

I hate this place. Do not go there!
I bought a groupon online for 50% off at this place. It’s fairly close to my house so I thought I’d check it out. When I checked in on Unilocal,it says I am eligible for a free Thai ice tea. Score. The ice tea wasnt bad, although a bit watered down. I didnt mind, I dont like it too sweet anyways. The skinny older man behind the bar (not our server) said something to our server in thai. It didn’t sound too friendly, but hey I dont speak thai, so I am not here to assume.
Our dishes were okay. I ordered pad kee mow, my friend ordered pad thai. It wasnt bad, but Im definitely glad I didnt pay the full price for this. When we were done with our meal, I showed the guy our groupon. He flipped out! He said we cant combine the free check in ice tea and a groupon deal. Okay, I get it, but did you really have to yell at us in front of other customers? Did you really have to throw your pen in the pen holder? No.
I ordered a dish to go. It was pathetic. Please see pic.

Pros: Friendly Service. Cute and peaceful environment. The sauce was pretty tasty… sweet and spicy.
Cons:small portion, pricey food and drinks (perhaps normal SL standard)
I came for the Thai Snake beans on the menu. But they looked like regular green beans to me. Snake beans are aka Chinese long beans. They are not that much more expensive than green beans but at least they are a bit more exotic — long beans can get up to 3 ft long tastes more chewy and slimmer in diameter.

Not very crowded. Cute, dark, atmosphere.
What we got:
Noodle and veggie dishes $ 10 each
spicy catfish $ 15.
small Thai beer $ 5/​large $ 8
*if you check in On Unilocal,you get the small Thai beer for free =)
We were the only ones there on a Wednesday night, but saw some customers come in/​out for take-​out. I would probably come back if I’m in the area again.