Asian Experience

Delicious veggie stir fry — they even added some tofu & cashews at my request. Tasty Musman curry with spring rolls and yummy soup. Chef must be very talented. Pleasant family atmosphere. Very nice servers. Located in a very quiet part of town. (Came here on a Monday night after a delightful day on Carrizo Plain, viewing the spring wildflowers, Soda Lake, panoramic views).

Well this is a hard review to write. This one STAR is for the owner/​manager for Asian Experience and I hope he will read this. First off this would be a 5 STAR experience if it wasn’t for the lack of service!!! I called and made a reservation for 5:30 on Saturday evening for a table for 4. We arrived about 5:15 and the place was already pretty full. I went to the register adn told the waitress that we had a reservation but was early. She stated she didn’t have one under my name. I told her to look under my buds name cause when we made the reservation he had left a message and during our conversation I wanted to make sure she didn’t double the reservation. She found a postit with my name on it for Friday not Saturday. Not a huge deal other than we had to sit at the table next to the front door. That evening it got a little cold and people kept coming in an out and proving the door open.
So after we were sat the waitress who appeared to be the Hostess, Cashier, Waitress and Bus Boy finally took our order after several interruptions. The drinks came out fairly quick however during the 20 plus minute wait for the food she never came by to check on us for refills. Probably because she was waiting on 8 other tables or doing one of the many jobs I listed. Finally the food arrives and we got to refill our drinks.
The food was outstanding. The Seafood Pizza was incredible, The Pad See Ew with Chicken was some of the best. Will order with Calamari next time. And the Tom Yum Soup with seafood had just the right about of spice to keep you wanting more.
Again after the food and we had pretty much emptied our drinks again we never had her return to check on us to make sure everything was OK.
We watched at least 20 plus people come in and told they had no idea how long the wait would be so they all left and went somewhere else. The smart ones were calling in food to go only to be told they could take anymore to go orders. They finally took the phone off the hook. I had to go to the counter to get the bill so we could leave. Not sure if it was because she was doing the work of 3 people of that she didn’t want an open table so she could get caught up.
SHAME ON THE OWNER for not jumping in and helping his staff or for not staffing his place with enough people the handle the business. Great food will only carry a business so far. Crappy Service will sink your little gem!!!
TO recap FOOD was a 5 STAR, Service was a 0

Husband and I drive from Bakersfield. We had the crab fried rice (so much yummy crab) and the tom yum soup (so much shrimp!). Food was amazing, totally worth the drive!

Made the drive from Bakersfield to give this a try with my husband and another couple from the recommendation of a friend. I also know it on Guy Fereri’s show and figured it was worth a try. We decided to each order a different item and share so we could try several items. The food was good but not «the best Thai food within 100 miles» as advertised. The pineapple curry and Pad See Eww were the best items we tried. The rad nar didn’t have much flavor. The Thai seafood pizza was great but I would have preferred a thinner crust so that the flavor of the pizza was more pronounced. The service was quick and the waitress was nice but didn’t seem to know much about the menu and didn’t have recommendations. The only disappointment was the appetizer sampler… I would have liked more than batter fried food. Overall good and will try again if in Taft but probably won’t make the drive again.

Thai food in Taft was terrific. Saw triple D awhile ago and just happened to be in Taft today. Really small and outdated décor. The staff is extremely nice and well versed on the menu. Pad thai with chicken, beef pad see Eu, crab fried rice, and Tom soup with seafood. The soup was the one Guy raved about but with calamari, shrimp, scallops etc. Two words… THE BOMB! #bestsoupever. Everything else good but not great. Of the two thai places I have been to in the last few weeks… Tehachapi thai tops Taft totally. Oh, website prices Do not reflect Guy’s visit… new menus in house. Example, pad thai online 8.55, new menu now 11.95. Big increase for the same stuff.

The red curry changed my life. It is unlike anything I have ever had before — tangy, spicy, and delicious with depth and complexity that develops more as you eat it. When I come here, I order an extra curry to take home. One time my to-​go order spilled in the bag and I shamelessly licked the plastic clean when I got home. No lie.
While the curry is the highlight of the menu for me, I must say that the orange chicken and seafood pizza are favorites as well.

I had passed thru the area from time to time but never heard of Asian Experience. Then, completely by accident, I stopped in. WOW! Everything I had was very good, and the service was super as well.
I’ll have to stop by again to try some of the items I haven’t tried. My goal, try everything at least once!

Didn’t care for the soup, but everything else was amazing.
It was packed and was still able to eat and back to work with time to spare.
Great service.

This place is truly wonderful. Every single dish I have ever tried is an experience to the taste buds. Whenever you are in Taft you need to make this place your go to spot. You will love it.

We dropped into the place on the recommendation of some friends. It helped get us in the door when we found out Guy Fierri ate here and liked it. It was just after the Oildorado Days Parade in Taft. We were hungry and ready to grub out.
I ordered the appetizer tray and we got a few other items. Sad fact: The Appetizer tray was the best dish I ate there. I’m giving the benefit of the doubt here when I say that they were packed with customers and super, super busy. I understand how that can cause the cooks to speed up the process and drop the quality a little in favor of speed. It is an almost impossible situation when really hungry folks are screaming for food and want it fast.
Even so, I was really disappointed. They served an uninspired and bland Pad Thai. Really substandard. I loved the appetizer tray. They put out some dipping sauces that were great. We had a crab fried rice that was very tasty. Everything else was so forgettable that I can’t remember now what we had. Maybe I’m blocking it from my memory, lol.
Look, the staff there were really nice and I loved the place for its homey atmosphere. I will definitely go back when it isn’t busy and I’m betting the food will be off the hook. It just wasn’t so hot when we went the first time and it was crazy busy. That said, I think they are really onto something there, and I’ll give them another try.

The food here is no better or worst than your run of the mill Thai/​Japanese/​Chinese restaurant located in a more populated area. You know the kind of place, you eat there because its close to your office but would never go there on the weekend. There were 3 of us and we ordered the pad thai, mixed stir fried vegetables, and fried rice. Veggies were wilted and a little lifeless but had good flavor. But boy did they have alot of pictures of Guy Ferrar (the spiky hair food network «personality»). I guess that’s their claim to fame but I pity the fool that goes out of their to come here on some Triple D road trip. Anyways, HAPPY CONFIRMATION DAY!

After viewing DDD decided to go to Bakersfield to check out the food. Didn’t know anything about Taft. Tucked back in a remote area and felt like a time warp as well. Place is clean and pleasantly decorated. I ordered Pineapple fried rice and a soup, Yum Kung Tum, I think, very yummy added shrimp that was plump, fresh and nice size. Fresh mushrooms in a tasty base. The rice was served in a bowl scooped out of a half a pineapple. Fresh pineapple, herbs and shrimp the dish was wonderful, big portions, saved the rest for snack. My companion ordered the Pad Thai with beef. Very enjoyable, tasty her go to Thai. Service was good, owner came to the tables greetings guests and talking kids. Pleasant environment and Fresh food.

Food is good. Similar to other Thai places. Really not worth the drive if you’re not near Taft. Service is great.

Finally made the drive out to Taft to have an «Asian experience». Lets just say I’ve really never eaten Thai food before and I’m not sure I will ever try it again based upon this «experience». Found the place easy enough, found a parking spot on the quite street and went in. Promptly sat at the last booth that only had a bench on one side that forced us to both look at the back wall and the restroom door, that oddly enough was being used a lot (keep this in mind for later) Couldn’t help but notice the two light switches on the bottom of the cabinet hanging on the wall, they were absolutely filthy. The place was hot and muggy, guessing they have a swamp cooler. Service was fine taking our order and bringing out food, but never saw her after that. Had to go get our own togo box and had to go up to the cashier to get our ticket. The food. really enjoyed the orange chicken and the pad see ew with shrimp and tom something or other soup. Orange chicken perfectly crunchy and flavorful. Pad se ew with shrimp was fantastic. The soup, red broth, mushrooms, shrimp, and some kind of root, that I had mistaken for sliced pork, and bit into leaving a very nasty taste in my mouth, was not my cup of tea, or should I say soup. The iced tea was so watered down. Remember that bathroom that everyone seemed to be frequenting during our meal. Well, before we even got to Old River road on the way home, my stomach was grumbling as loud as a Mac truck coming down the Grapevine. yep, gurgle gut in full effect. Needless to say, wont be going back to Thaft for Thai food.

Sorry guys had a bad experience at Asian Experience not good:-(had high hopes but nothing stood out but the garlic delight sauce. Potstickers looked like costco ones as did the fried shrimp. The tempura veggies were dense and not crispy at all. Saw a worker walk threw the middle of Resturant with 4 huge bags of frozen products! I was floored! Orange chicken chia bistro status! Not a positive thing to say. Pad Thai pork so so blue elephant in Bakersfield so much better. Service awesome! Cute décor! I’ll go back and try pizza. Sorry to my friends in Taft that like this place. Unfortunately there is better. Really wanted to like it.

I really debated on how many stars to give this review and it was between two and three stars, but ultimately landed at two.
Went to Asian Experience for a family members birthday, which was great because I had been wanting to try this place already.
My two star review is simply because of the temperature in the restaurant. When we walked in around 5pm it was 107 outside and about 90 in the restaurant… WOW!!! It made our experience horrible. It’s hard to enjoy anything when you have sweat dripping from your forehead… and not just us, the wait staff and cooks were constantly wiping the sweat from their brow. The waitress even told us that it’s always that hot, so it wasn’t a fluke that their A/​C broke.
A couple other downsides;
The restaurant is small, but good thing for us it was empty. I can also see why it was empty on a Friday night… who wants to work out in the heat in Taft all day and then eat in a 90 degree restaurant.
The rice was pretty dry, and not like typical sticky rice, but a over cooked and made Nischelle earlier in the day dry.
On the plus side, the food was decent… at least the orange chicken. Their Kung Pao was also good and had a lot of fresh vegetables.
A cool feature is that you get to pick the spice of your meal, which is actually a great feature.
Another plus was that they had Sapporo on tap, so that made the «real Asian Experience» almost bearable.
The conclusion to my review…
Invest in air conditioning and people would fill up your restaurant.
As for me, even with the food being good, I won’t go back simply because it’s just too hot to actually enjoy my «Asian Experience»

After seeing Triple D I decided to take my family over to Taft to visit my Grandpa and eat at Asian Experience. I couldn’t believe there was such good Asian food in Taft when watching the show but Guy seemed to love it and all the food looked awesome on TV! This place is totally a hole-​in-​the-​wall on one of Taft’s once was hustling and bustling streets of Center street. You go in and it’s small but very comfortable. We got greeted and sat right away during a quiet 1 in the afternoon. The menu was larger than I expected that included Pizza! I happened to order from the lunch items and ordered the pad Thai with chicken and beef. They (grandpa and wife) ordered it mild but I wanted spicy which it didn’t feel like they made it more spicy at all! It kinda disappointed me because I love heat! We all ordered the extra egg roll with our meals which came out fast and were absolutely delicious! It was amazing that the egg roll had a perfect balance of textures! The sweet sauce that came with it was an awesome compliment to the egg roll. Our pad Thai came out fast and was presented beautifully. It looked delicious served with a lime and I believe crunched dried peanut butter. All the flavors and textures are so perfectly balanced. The noodles are cooked perfect. My only gripe is that I was expecting spicy because I said extra spicy but I feel the server failed to pay attention to my small request which was mentioned again at the end of the order. However, I added a bunch of sriracha and peppers which helped a little bit. I would say the dish is spicy with a hint of sweetness that hits the tastebuds to anyone thinking of ordering the pad Thai.
This place was great though and I can’t wait to make the trip from Bakersfield again and try more items! Good job Asian Experience and keep up the good work!

Okay, so there’s a lot of hype surrounding this place since being recently featured on DDD with Guy Fieri. My wife and I had to see what the fuss was about while passing through. I’ve had some pretty damn good Thai food in SoCal, so that was my reference point (Sweet Basil Thai in Norco comes to mind).
So, the food here is good. I had the Tom Yum Seafood Noodle soup and my wife had the Pad See Ew. We also ordered a plate of steamed Chicken Shumai, which are similar to potstickers. Everything was fresh and flavorful. It’s not mind-​blowingly better than other good Thai restaurants I’ve tried, but considering its remote location, it’s impressive.
Points off for being out of Thai tea when we were there. Also, I ordered a soup and had to ask for a spoon. The server seemed a little overwhelmed, as this place isn’t probably adjusted to the extra business it’s getting after the DDD airing.
If you happen to be passing by, it’s worth a look. Not food exodus-​worthy, however, as there are equally good or even better places if you live in SoCal.

Asian Experience in Taft, CA is now a 5 star destination in my opinion! I heard that Guy Fieri of Diners, Drive-​ins, and Dives Fame was here twice recently. I told my wife so we returned here to see if they had become even better.
Answer is Yes! All the entrees we had were even better than before! From the Pad See Ew to the Crab fried rice to the Thai Seafood Pizza, it was all yummier than the past! Had to raise their rating to 5 stars because of that.
For terrific Thai food, a stop here is worth the trip! Their sign outside is now working! It blinks on and off which catches your attention during the evening. Highly recommend giving them a try!

Very positively surprised to find Thai food of such great quality and taste in a sleepy town like Taft.
We ordered Phad Thai and Green Curry with beef, both dishes were amazing, service friendly and prices very reasonable for the large servings.
One star less only because there are no desserts available here… Wish they had some options, as I am sure they would have been fantastic too!