Summer Canteen

This place is delicious. I came here for lunch and really wanted shrimp and tofu Pad Thai, but they only have chicken Pad Thai as part of their lunch specials menu, so I paid more for it. It only had 3 pieces of shrimp and they charge 11 or 12 bucks! Yikes. There were only small pieces of tofu as well. I ordered the crispy veggie rolls, which were delicious, and a small salad with peanut dressing. All of these things were so delicious. The one star off is for how pricey it is to order off the regular menu. The food here is very fresh, you can see the kitchen when you walk over to the part of the restaurant on Riverside, it’s behind a beautiful glass wall. It’s very clean and the cooks are working hard back there. The restaurant itself is very pretty, warm industrial décor with high ceilings. The iced tea is delicious! With fresh mint and a wedge of orange, and unlimited refills. I will come back here again and stick to the lunch specials menu so I don’t go broke.

Get the yellow curry noodle! It’s one of my favorite meals and every time I order it, people around me ask what it is.

Decent lunch spot — was pretty quiet on a weekday and didn’t need reservations. They have a few items on their lunch special and I got the Pad Thai. Was good but how can you really go wrong with Pad Thai?! May be a bit hard to find parking — lot is small and most spots in the parking structure are reserved, but there is metered street parking if you can find it. Had a taste of my friend’s basil chicken rice dish — was pretty good and not too spicy.
I think I’ll be back if I need a lunch spot in the area to try some other dishes.

I went here with my boyfriend last night and placed 2 to go orders. After over 40 minutes of waiting our food was finally ready. It wasn’t like we ordered anything crazy, just two pad thai and that took forever. There was no apology for us waiting just, «We have a lot of take out orders today.» Okay, I get that, but they could have told us that it was going to take a long time when we first placed our order or given us something complimentary for our wait.
Then the pad thai was average at best. I won’t be coming back here again due to the poor customer service. If you value you’re time and are looking for really great Asian food, just go down the street to Spice Season.

Picked up a large to-​go order for the office. It was busy but the girl helping me «B» was incredibly fast and nice (I’ve dealt with so many rude waiters at other restaurants while picking up to-​go orders during lunch rush hour). I got the green curry and it was delicious. The décor was nice and definitely seemed like a great place to dine-​in.

Defiantly better than most local Thai places. Just expected more (a friend over sold for me) but it is good! Not cheap not too bad expensive. Might come back here randomly.

I found this place while searching for organic Thai food on Unilocal.Summer Canteen showed up on my search list since a reviewer wrote that they had «amazingly organic fresh Thai food.» I took that literally, but turns out that they don’t actually sell organic Thai food (at least not currently). I must say that the flavors are really amazing and the dishes that we’ve taste very fresh and delicious. I would eat here more often if they sold at least a few dishes with organic ingredients. Because I crave this place at least weekly! Here are my favorites:
Curry Noodle– Seriously amazing. It’s very hard to share this dish with others. I should’ve ordered two of these when I had dinner with my extended family of 7. I’d like to eat this dish at least once a week. And I also drink the sauce at the end (as another Unilocaler mentioned). Yes, it REALLY is that good!
Braised Short Ribs with Vermicelli noodle– tender, juicy, and so flavorful. Even tried to eat the bone. Love the 5 spice flavor. Reminds me of my mother’s cooking. Didn’t really eat the vermicelli noodles that are included with this dish, but only because I’m hooked on the Curry Noodles and need to leave space for that.
Thai Beef Salad– The beef is so soft, tender, and delicious. This grilled rib eye would be even better if it was grass fed and hormone/​anti-​biotic-​free beef. I’d eat this weekly, too.
Pad See U and Pad Thai Chicken– my daughter loves these. Pad See U is «okay» for me, but their Pad Thai is one of the best I’ve had. More traditional flavors.
Unmilled Brown rice– there’s a lot in the order and it’s so good! I save the leftovers and make fried rice or bibimbap with it… for the rest of the week.
Other pluses: Underground parking, fast delivery, nice portions, friendly and fast service.

Unilocaling as our yummy leftovers are being packed lovingly into their boxes.
How do you not give the place 5 stars? Food alone is an additional star! It’s my 2^nd visit here: had to return because of how delicious the panang beef was the 1^st time I went.
I love the depth of flavor in their curry sauce. And the contrasting texture of the soft, melt in your mouth beef with the mild crunch of that amazing red rice!
Today we added to the order: the spicy coconut soup (perfect for cold weather), and pad thai (least dry and most flavorful I’ve had in a while). Both are real winners.
Had to compliment someone in person, and Amy, our server, also happened to be part owner of the place. Obviously, she and others put passion/​soul into this food.
Finally, i love the bistro feel of the place, which might make u think it’s not authentic Thai. Well, take a bite of the food and get pleasantly delighted by how truly soulful the flavors are here.

The curry noodle soup with chicken was crazy good! Another Unilocaler called it «godly». Really, try it!
I’ve also had the pad-​see-​ew and it was average. The atmosphere is nice, big windows, high ceilings, smartly-​styled. Good place to meet but I wouldn’t call it romantic.
There’s more parking in an underground garage.
The wait staff is dialed in; attentive, quick, professional, polite, happy!

Amazing. We weren’t sure quite what to expect, but this place is super hip and delicious. The décor is fantastic: modern industrial. Weirdly, I appreciate the lighting. It’s well lit but not too bright.
The food is really tasty and the service is great. Great attention to detail — our tea was brewed perfectly. Will definitely be back

Not gonna come back here, there was a hair in my food. Waiter took it back, then came back to the table 10mins later to tell me that the cook is just now cooking my pad thai. Waiter admitted that there was a misunderstanding between her and the cook, cook didn’t understand that the waiter placed my order again. So now my boyfriend had already finished his meal, we were just sitting there. Asked to get my meal comp, because of the inconvenience, was giving us a hard time about it.

Delicious from beginning to end — just lovely. Where to start — I guess at the appetizer, right!?! We started with the chicken satay and crispy fried egg rolls. They were delightful — really fresh and the flavors were sharp and on point. The egg rolls were indeed crispy and not soggy and full of flavor as were the sauces that came with the dishes.
It was difficult to move on to the main course, I just did not know what to order because all the dishes sounded amazing (and my companions who had been before have tried it all). I finally settled on the «Not so ordinary» Orange Chicken. It was perfect — I liked the crispy outside and tender inside and the sauce meshed well with the veggies and steam rice.
It was hard to believe but we did move on the the mango sticky rice. I had never had a sticky rice before but this one was amazingly good — Loved the fresh mango and sweet rice from my first to last bite.
Nice clean spot with an eclectic decorative vibe — The owners and workers here were wonderful and we never felt rushed or unwanted. On the contrary, they seemed to sad to see us go.

I’m a regular here food is good, it’s funny the portion is always different, you have to ask for refills, condiments, service could use some training!
Some how they don’t know the concept of refill your drinks ! You have to ask for the refill they don’t ask how the food is they just ignore you 85% of the time! But food is good that’s why I go !!

I have been back several times now and it has not dissappointed. In my opinion they have the best Phở in the valley by far with the caveat that you MUST dine in. Delivery on all items except phở is good. If you must order phở delivered, be sure to order extra broth. It is $ 3 extra but you will be glad you did.

Cute little place, perfect for a lunch date! The food was good, not amazing. I had the Summer fried rice, and it could have used a touch more curry and seasoning, but overall, good.
Not bad for the price. Still trying to figure out where the «fusion» comes from but I won’t lose any sleep over it!
Maybe i’ll be back, but probably not.

AMAZING, THE FOOD IS SOOOOOO GOOD!
If you go sit there at the restaurant, the workers aren’t that friendly. BUT WHO CARES THE FOOD IS… WOW!
I order delivery for work and it is so good the fried rice and the pad Thai are amazing and the little egg rolls are so yummy! This place is the best for this area. So good!

If they seat you in the back, they’ll forget about you even if they’re not busy. They gave us our salads but took awhile to give us our forks until we asked for them.
Food is so so. I had the honey walnut shrimp. Walnuts are huge and plentiful… some of the shrimp was too crispy and had more batter than shrimp ratio. Some of the bok choy had some marks on them… ehhh if I wasn’t so hungry I would’ve left them.
Don’t reccomend.
Parking is free in their garage, and there’s metered parking on the street.

It is ridiculous that they will not offer side salads with the dinner entrees!!! I love their food, but they should offer the option of a side salad with my meal. What fuckery it is that I can’t get a side salad at this hipster Asian place. #unhappyhipster #sadbeard
Eric,
I used the one star review to get your attention, which obviously worked. Now I love this place, but I’d expect more accommodation on my request because this place is so hip. Do you know how many people love the side salad you serve at lunch, and for that matter how much money you are losing by not even giving the option to add it on? I hop you find this information useful, I know how hard it must be to have a small business.

Boy, this place never fails me. Even when it comes to the basic items like rice, they cook it perfectly. I especially love their brown rice… comes out perfectly crisp, soft, and steaming (yes I know. sounds impossible as a combo).
I’ve narrowed down my favorite dish at this place… the minced chicken/​basil leaf over brown rice! The entrée is fuming with basil and that fried egg definitely tops it off.

Ok, ok. So I should’ve taken it to heart when I saw the description as Asian fusion. It’s just that to me, fusion doesn’t mean loss of flavor.
Parking was relatively easy since there is underground parking. The place looked really nice and classy. Lots of people on a weekend. The servers were really nice and accommodating.
Appetizers:
Springs rolls — 4 pieces of really thin rolls which tasted mostly of deep fried spring roll wrap. Presentation was really nice though.
Samosa — I’m used to eating samosa from Indian restaurants. I alternate between chicken and vegetarian samosas and they both taste really good. The look and texture for Summer Canteen’s samosas were very similar to the ones I’ve had at Indian places. Unfortunately, that’s where the similarities end. No flavor, just pure mashed beans or potatoes as filling. Again, nice presentation.
Entrees
Steak dinner plate — pretty decent; meat a little more on the well done side
Honey Walnut Shrimp — it’s all about presentation, folks! Size is small, they skimped on the sauce… Sigh.
Drunken noodles — The only think I really liked about the place primarily because it was spicy.
This place has really high reviews but what a letdown. I’ll stick to hole in the wall Thai places moving forward.