Sab Lai Thai Kitchen

This is a good Thai place. Food is delicious and not too expensive. Staff is very friendly and the ambiance is nice. We had a great evening here. Overall, this Thai is good value for money.

Me and my friend came after going to a club. We trusted the Unilocal reviews so came to get some pad se ew. After waiting 45 minutes we finally got a super tiny dish. There was zero customer service and the food was mediocre. I was disappointed in this place and will probably never come back.

No complaints about this place whatsoever.
Food was great, service was fast.
Literally in the heart of Gaslamp so everything is pretty accessible from this spot.
Portion sizes were perfect for 2
Prices were reasonable.
If you want something fast before heading out to the bars, this is a good place.
It was pretty empty when I went, not a bad thing at all, since I really don’t like crowded or loud restaurants :)

The food was great, but agree with the horrible service. We were the only customers in the restaurant and had to wait 15 – 20 minutes to get our order taken. There was a waitress who was lying down in the booth across from us and looked like she was taking a nap. Not once but twice she got up and laid down again talk about being unprofessional

Good Hot Thai Basil. The deal on lunch $ 9.99 for a small bowl of soup, an egg roll, rice+entrée, salad.
Wonton soups is okay, not the best that I have seen.

I was happy with the delicious food, not too greasy.

I had a friend come to visit from out of town. I picked her up late from the airport and headed here.
As soon as I walked in, I noticed the nice décor and got excited. But I was soon disappointed when no one was there to greet us or seat us when we entered. We sat ourselves. A few minutes later, a lady passed by to drop off 2 menus — without greeting us or saying a word.
We were really hungry and there weren’t many options this late at night so we ignored the lack of attentiveness. Another lady came and filled out water glasses. She didn’t speak either. We got our order ready and waited, for 5… Then 10… Then 15 minutes. The restaurant was not packed at all.
We waited 23 minutes… And no one came to take our order. We left. Very disappointed with this awful behavior. I have never walked out of restaurant before.
Thank you for helping me welcome a first time San Diego visitor. (*sarcasm).
If any managers look over these Unilocal reviews, this happened today. 12-​10-​2015 at 11:10pm.

After work I usually go here with my friends and order the pad see ew for togo.
From what I was told and experience, Thai tea comes free with the orders from here (which is always nice)!
Note to people dining here or ordering food, their spice level is a lot higher than of those other thai places that I frequent so be very specific as to what spicy level you would like to achieve for your order. I usually just tell them Level 4 spice, not too spicy!
Their service is quick which is another plus for me!

Went on black friday. All but one table was full.
Order: veggie soup, yellow curry with tofu (mild spicy) and brown rice.
Review: cool ambiance. Horrible radio station with sooo many ads was playing. Terrible food, like water and yellow coloring. Waiter took forever to bring stuff out. Did not check on us at all. Brought out white rice then corrected himself. We were literally the only ones there and waited a good 20min before getting up to find someone to pay for the damn food. Heard so much about this place but it sucked.
Verdict: People have told me they liked it but I will not go back. From the terrible food to the exceptionally crappy service this place was a disappointment. (We still tipped because nt tipping is just rude. I mean maybe the waited had a bad day, who knows)
Tips: ya maybe avoid there r better places buuuttt if u must go stay away from my normal fave — yellow chickens curry. Unless u like watered down spicy yellow liquid. Then please by all means.

Not the best Thai food… service was okay… but the food was run of the mill. The restaurant shares with a bar next door so it’s conflicting with it the whole time. The music from next door is loud and the thai place has their on music, which is not the same. it’s not relaxing at all. I would not visit this again.

3 star for food, but hey, im spending $ 25, so 5 for overall satisfaction. Décor is on par, reminds me of Thailand’s resort restaurants. Good view, tranquil, in the heart of Gaslamp, though their music choice sucked since it’s just the radio, plus commercials– lame! Thai tea with BOBA was good and chewy, worth the extra $ 1.50 since most Thai rests don’t even have this as an option, so it’s nice for a change. Shrimp fried rice, $ 13, was ok. Flavorful w/​o any overwelming sauce. Wet and soft in texture, not too soggy, but definitely not dry/​crispy if ure going for that instead. Shrimp big and generous, just wish they’d seared it instead of just sautéed, would’ve made a world of difference on a soggy plate.

Just went here Monday and had lunch with a friend. she ordered drunken noodles and I ordered pad Thai. Both came out pretty nice and delicious.
I love that they have a lunch menu and the prices are very good. There’s about 20items on the menu that are priced at $ 9.99. Anything ranging from curry to noodles. The best part is that they all come with soup, salad and an egg roll.
One thing to note you can always choose your spicy level. If you like it hot but not too spicy, I would go with medium hot level.

Quick lunch while in town for a conference. I love the way the menu is setup to accommodate vegetarians without imposing on meat eaters. The food is satisfying, the ambiance is updated minimalist with a warm feeling, and the service is efficient.

The restaurant is connected to a bar so you can hear the loud music and screaming… when there was a live band it was kind of nice but as it got later so did the drunkeness next door.
Horrible service — we were the only people there at one point and still had to flag ppl down to get anything. Half the staff was actually sitting down to eat while we were there.
The food itself is descent and would be fine for overpriced late night.

Came here with some buddies from work and I want to give this place more than three stars because the service was so good and incredibly accommodating.
First, we came with four people, then a fifth person came and they had to rearrange for that, and then one person ended up leaving, so we were back down to four. Then we asked to be put inside because it was getting pretty toasty outside and they were willing to accommodate us. We forgot to tell them that someone from our group had left, so when they brought out all our dishes we had to ask them to pack one to go. Waiters were really, really nice. When we asked for everything to be split into individual bills, there was no hesitation and no attitude. I’m not sure if that’s because it’s in downtown and everyone goes out to eat and asks for it to be split, or if they’re just really nice, but props to them.
Then reason that they only get three stars is because I just wasn’t that impressed with their their food. I ordered yellow curry. I LOOOOOVE yellow curry. Like, I could probably eat it every day and just be so happy and content with life. I wish their yellow curry was a little more powerful, savory, and creamy. Who doesn’t love a good CREAMY curry?! Theirs was more like a soup and I just prefer a thicker consistency.
The food definitely wasn’t bad and the service was accommodating, more than was expected, but I don’t think this is the first thai place in the downtown neighborhood that I’ll stop at next time I’m thinking of getting yellow curry.

During all the chaos of Comic Con, my bro, myself, sis-​in-​law and a few of our friends decided it was time to escape the madness and get our lunch fix. Prices at the convention center are ridiculous of course for average burger/​hot dog/​crap fare so we decided to venture off into Gaslamp to fill our bellies. So with costumes and weapons on, we forged ahead onto the crowded streets of downtown.
After arguing with one another about where to eat, we decided to eat at Sab Lai Thai Kitchen. Finally something we all agreed on, lol! None of us have ever dined there before so we were curious to see how their food was. I ordered the lunch special Drunken Noodles with Chicken, spice level wussy and it was delicious so I was good to go; it came with an eggroll and side salad. Our friend Pam ordered some kind of Thai salad. She asked for no onions and guess what? They forgot and it arrived with onions. FAIL! She was a good sport and said she would just pick them out but that was a no Bueno on their part. Once onions touch your salad, it’s like a permeated onion party on your food… moving on.
Service was ok, we were seated right away, ambiance was that of your typical Thai restaurant… clean and bright inside. I’d try it again the next time I’m in Gaslamp but am not sure if I’d make the trek out here if I was coming from North County. 3.5 stars!

Chicken Larb appetizer — huge fan of Larb in general. This one is tasty but could be a touch less soggy. Also missing mint and crushed peanuts on top. Still tasty though, to be clear.
Cashew shrimp lunch– salad dressing is basically mayo. Cashew chicken good but missing zest, exciting flavors. Spring roll is standard issue. The lil veggie soup has a tasty broth. Need to step up the flavor and technique here.
Service — not their fault, basically entirely untrained in proper service etiquette, ie, table setting, water service, menu suggestion, intermittent checkups. Thus, I can see why many say it’s slow and have issues. Easily resolved if management really wants.

Good but not terribly memorable…
Came here for lunch because of the 9.99 lunch specials and that’s a good deal for the amount of tasty food you get! I had the Panang curry (very good but nothing special) and it came with rice (perfectly sticky and probably the most memorable part of the meal), 2 spring rolls, and a green salad that was smothered in too much dressing. The thai iced tea was good but a little sweet for my taste.
I’d come back if I happened to stumble across it again but won’t be seeking it out.

*** 3.5 stars****
Was hoping to go our usual spot at Royal Thai Cuisine after Comic-​Con but found out they were closed down. Found out that Sab Lai were the same owners of Royal Thai.
Appetizers:
We started off the with the Chicken Satay, which were pretty standard issue as any other Thai restaurant. It was nice a juicy which was appreciated.
The eggrolls were that much different either. I’d classify it as standard issue.
I couldn’t remember the type of soup we had but it is tamarind and lemongrass based. It had mushrooms and mussels in it as well. The soup was a little under salted for my taste.
The Pad Thai was cooked perfectly.
Pad See Ew– standard issue
Yellow Curry — standard issue.
I’d eat here again the next time I’m in the area.

I feel like, in order to be fair, I should be doing this as two separate reviews. Review number one would encompass food and drink, and would rate four stars. Review number two would encompass the wait staff, and rate one star.
As a compromise, they get three stars.
I kept forgetting that this restaurant had opened. I’m so used to seeing the empty Blarney Stone restaurant, that my glance kind of skips past the building. But, it came to mind one weeknight, when we were hungry but didn’t want to drive, and also a bit eager to try something new.
They weren’t super busy when we got there. It was kind of late (maybe 8pm-​ish?), and there was only one other group inside, and two or three groups outside. They got us settled into a table along the wall, handed us menus and filled up our water glasses. So far, so good.
We were looking through the menu when I realized that they were offering a four-​course meal for $ 20. I figured the plates would be small, but I was intrigued by the offer of appetizer, soup and a dessert. I’m a sucker for meal deals, sometimes.
I chose the Pad Thai noodles with chicken, with the spring rolls and Tom Kha soup to start. My husband ordered the yellow curry with the same starting acts as me. We also went a bit crazy and ordered Thai Iced teas. Caffeine at 8:30 on a school night! My word!
The spring rolls came out first, and they were really very good. The sauce they were served with was light and refreshing, and they put a couple pieces of fruit on the plate, which my husband snapped up. Next up was the Tom Kha soup, and I was in heaven. I’ve only ever had this kind of soup at Thai House before, but Sab Lai’s version was much better, in my opinion. It wasn’t as watery as the Thai House version, and there was a nice balance between soup and ingredients.
The main entrees took way too long to come out. True, two other single diners came in while we were sitting there, but the guy who ordered after us got his dinner long before we got ours. I’m hardly ever cool with that.
When the entrees finally did get to us, I was surprised to see that they looked like a normal-​sized dish. Again, I had expected them to be smaller because they were a part of the deal, but no — this was enough for lunch for the next day (for me, at least).
The Pad Thai noodles were good. Not spectacular, but good. They don’t mix everything together, which I kind of like because I forgot to ask that they hold off on including bean sprouts. The dish also came with tofu, which was unexpected but which I enjoyed. My husband loved his curry dish, and after taking a quick taste of the broth, I could see why. It was flavored really well, and it was delicious.
So, at this point in the meal, I started to notice that the service had gone to the crapper. Both my water glass and my iced tea glass were empty. One of the girls (there were three people there that night — one guy, two girls) walked by the table with a jug of water four times (I kid you not) without once offering to fill my water glass. I had to flag her down to get her to do it, and that was *after* she put the jug on the table to pick up our empty plates. I don’t even know how that happens.
Then, once I had reached capacity, I was hoping to get someone to come by to ask for a box. Instead, what we got was a nice view of one of the girls and the guy having a nice, long, animated conversation with a friend who had come in and made herself comfortable in one of the corners. This was a very long conversation, in which they never once looked at any of the diners in the restaurant. The other girl had her back to us (facing the kitchen), and was texting on her phone.
Once the friend finally left, they started wandering around the dining room, but continued to ignore us, even though we were displaying all the signals of «I’m done eating, now» out (plates pushed away from us, napkins folded up next to them, fork at an angle on the plate, leaning back in our seats… seriously, I did everything but wave a white flag in their faces). It took another five minutes and me finally calling one of them over to get them to clean up and offer a box.
By the time the dessert came out, I was done. I didn’t want to be there any longer. And can you guess how long it took for the check to get to us? Yeah. That was pisser.
So, to sum up — the food is decent, but the service needs a lot of work. A LOT of work.