Cafe Equator

Food is good and consistent. Service off and on. Waitresses are usually only concerned with bringing out food, we don’t ever see them much after our food is out. Will be back because there’s not many other Thai options in lakeview/​metarie.

If you are craving your authentic Thai cuisine dishes, this isn’t your place… Overall I thought the staff and food was just «slacking and lacking» … Go find your hole in the wall… Usually much better…

I ordered lunch to go from here and it didn’t even taste like Thai. Order Pad Thai Chicken with glass noodles and it didn’t even look like Pad Thai and there wasn’t even a lime. My boyfriend ordered the Pad Kee Mow with beef and it tasted nothing like it. I couldn’t even taste basil. I worked in a Thai restaurant for years and by far I was very disappointed. The only thing that came out right was the Thai Tea. I probably will not be coming back.

I’ve been coming here for 15 years and I can’t get enough. The food is so wonderful our whole family is addicted to it. Best pad thai I have had anywhere in the country. Flavorful curry and to die for coconut soup. My husband loves the authentic dishes on the menu, but I can’t do anything that spicy. I can’t give it five stars because it seems like everytime we go the prices get higher and the portions get smaller. So it’s become more of a special occasion place and not an everyday place.

Lunch special is pretty great (around $ 10). I always get the drunken noodle or pad Thai. You get a spring roll, edamame, and a fried noodle ball with it. There are plenty more options. The Thai tea is tasty too. I’ve had the tilapia basil rice dish and it was not right. The curry was served on a plate… like why is a liquid based dish served on a plate? The fish was very thin, so when it’s fried it was like a chip! For dessert I’ve had the mango sticky rice and it’s incredibly small portion!
Service is mediocre. Sometimes they come and tend, sometimes they don’t.
The parking lot is small, sometimes have to park across the street or on the street.

Best Thai food in town. Great coconut soup. Great satay w best cucumber sauce around! Favorite dish is the pad soon zen w shrimp. Also shrimp equator. Lunch reasonably priced, dinner a bit pricey for the entrée only… that’s why only 4 stars.

Its nice inside but the food was just average to me. Seafood Pad Thai noodles were a lil salty. Shrimp shumai, –good but for $ 7? Tom Yum Goong soup was good for my hangover. Did not like the shrimp Panang curry. Not bad food, just didn’t live up to the prices.

The food isn’t good or worth the price. The one waitress there was really mean (or maybe she was discriminated I and my friends). Everyone has a bad day but the way she had showed her anger was unexpected as a waitress.

I recently went to Nola and while there we were looking for some good eats around the area we were in and saw this on Unilocal.I was a little skeptical given it’s rating on Unilocal,but nonetheless we tried it. For a Saturday night, it was pretty dead with only 3 other tables besides ours. The server was nice and attentive and remembered our orders without even writing it down (granted it was only 3 people, but still impressive). I had the pad see ew with chicken which was tasty, but nothing spectacular. I think it was a tad bit over priced for the quality of the food. Overall, I would only come back if I was in the area and craving Thai food.

The service was good, coconut soup great. Fried rice was okay, the atmosphere was inviting and the server was sweet.

This is currently our go-​to Thai place. I would’ve given them 4 stars but at our last visit I really loved my dish. I got the veggie paneang curry. It was amazing. almost on the verge of being too-​peanut-​y but I was okay with that.

This is not my first time being there.
The service was okay. We stopped by for lunch, so of course, the efficiency of serving our meals are the priority, in which case, it was timely and efficient. The server was kind and nice. However, the previous time we visited here, we discovered that our glasses were not cleaned… had fingerprints and lipsticks all over, but as there was really not many Thai restaurant in town, I decided to give it one more try.
I ordered the fish cake as my appetizer. My coworker ordered the chicken satay. The fish cake was alright. It was a little fishy. I know that fish cake is supposed to be a little fishy, but the taste of it is just a little «fishyer» than it usually is. The chicken satay, on the other hand, was amazing. The chicken was so tender and full with flavor.
As my lunch entrée, I ordered the Basil eggplant with chicken. The flavor was good, but it was a little too salty for my taste. The lunch special is really not much food either.
Overall, my experience was okay. I will come back when I crave for Thai food again, but it’s definitely not my best Thai food experience.

After a whole weekend of eating fried fish, fried shrimp, fried oysters, fried fries… I mean it was all good but just that grease was building up in my gut and my mouth. Just gaah.
Anyways, we managed to use Unilocal to find this Thai restaurant and seeing decent reviews we checked it out and was not disappointed.
The ambiance is quite nice, it has a classy darkened feel but each table is well lit… The service is a little slow, partially due to the fact that it seems like a family run establishment and the they just have one (maybe two) servers — at least on Saturday night they did so it’s a safe bet that that’s pretty normal. It wasn’t super busy, about ¹⁄₃ of the tables were taken, but they split up the space with a pretty high wooden separator — which is likely part of why the service is a little on the slow side — they don’t see it. But the server did swing by a few times during our time there. A touch less than I wished.
The food was good, I had a beef salad (that didn’t say on the menu it had cucumbers and tomatoes — when some others did explicitly say that — so I was disappointed that it had it but the flavors were superb so just let it go.) And the green curry — which the server asked if I wanted it ‘authentic’ so I said yes — and discovered that one of three things is true — 1. I forgot what green curry tastes like in Thailand. 2. My taste buds for Thai food has shifted so I like slightly ‘Americanized’ Thai food more. or 3. Thai green curry is different in different establishments within Thailand as well as outside of Thailand and Café Equator’s version is just one that I don’t love. — Whatever the case some sugar and some vinegar made it pretty good.
One of the things that I most appreciated was I asked for some ‘Prik Dong’ which is large chili peppers pickled in vinegar — and without really batting an eyelid they went back and made it for me — it wasn’t pickled as they had just made it but I am super impressed that they were so accommodating.
I’ll likely be back if I’m in New Orleans again.

I love Thai food. When it comes to Thai food I have pretty high standards since it seems that New Orleans loves to charge over $ 10 for every single entrée! It’s so much more expensive than a low key Vietnamese restaurant. Anyways, I digress.
Equator is a perfect after shopping lunch date spot. Right next to lakeside mall, it’s prime location for a nice bite after shopping.
The Tom Yum Soup is delicious, at $ 5 for a 12 ounce cup of soup. It’s tasty but I try not to always get it.
The Spicy chicken wings are salted and fried wings that have a slight amount of seasoning, paired with a separate sauce that is interesting and delicious! I wish I had sticky rice to go with it.
The Pad Kee Mow, drunken noodles is always a delight.
My boyfriend got the Ultimate Fried Rice. He was hesitant at first because it looked really really plain and sad. However the flavor was jam packed! It had a lot of flavor without being overloaded on salt or soy sauce. Not your plain fried rice take out.
We got the mango sticky rice for dessert — always a pleasure, but since mangoes aren’t in season, they didn’t have the same portion it normally would during mango season. However, the price remained the same. That sucked but it was still delish! My main reason to come back is because it’s in Metairie, so close to the mall, and it satisfies your Thai craving. It isn’t OMG THE BEST THAI FOOD. But it isn’t OMG THIS PLACE SUCKS. It’s just good. Plain good

Quickly seated and approached by our server. Good atmosphere. Good food. Good price. I would go back.

For Metairie this is ok Thai food but really I think I’ve had some better Pad Thai at some Vietnamese places. The lunch portion is very much on the light side of a serving size for the price. I would far rather go to any of the Thai places in Orleans Parish but if you are trapped in Metairie this is one of your few options for Thai. The parking is also pretty limited and challenging so be prepared for that.

Came in for a work lunch, place smelled good upon arrival. Restaurant was not very busy and had lots of open tables, but the hostess tried to stuff the 4 of us into a tiny booth. We asked if we could spread out to the adjoining table and she said no. We had 2 men with us who then had to squish themselves together uncomfortably. By the way, the entire roll of tables remained empty during our entire visit.
My coworker ordered a diet coke and it was flat. She told the waitress and she said they wait for 5 separate complaints before they call in for service?!?
I ordered the Tofu Lava lunch special for $ 7.99. Food was flavorful, but portion was tiny (think child size). I put a picture of my plate on this site.
Overall the food was good, but I don’t think I’d come again because lack of service and the small portion size. You can do better.

I have been seated quickly every time I have come here. The wait staff is nice, and friendly with just the right amount of attention given. I don’t like it when they hover and don’t like it when they don’t stop by, and I am happy they are right in the middle!
The eggplant chicken said that it was medium spicy. I think that it was a mild spicy, for which I am VERY happy. I loved it! Great flavors, great texture.
The thai iced tea (I don’t even want to think of the calories) was perfection on a warm day.
The mango and sweet sticky rice I ordered to go was just like I have had in the past at other locations. I am in love with this desert. I wish I could have it every single day.

I’ve tried many Thai places in the New Orleans area, and not one even compares to Equator. The lunch specials are out of this world… so much for around 10 dollars an entrée! Their pad Thai is absolute the best. I love asking them to add veggies to it, but it really doesn’t need it because it is already so filling. Soups and appetizers are delicious, as well as their specialty teas. If you do go here, don’t be surprised if you start craving it… A LOT.

Not impressed. Tried this place once months ago and was disappointed. Food, very average. Prices not great for the portion sizes. Took a 6 month hiatus. Returned for takeout this time to see if anything had changed. Once again, lackluster thai food. Big disappointment considering how many good reviews it has. And to top it off with a cherry, I found black strands of hair in my food. Will not be back, I’ll stick with LaThai on Prytania.