Talesai

This is one of the best Thai restaurant I went to. It was little pricey but it’s definitely worth of money. My recommendation is chicken Pad Thai. I would definitely come back again.

Service is slow with not enough workers during lunch hour. Pad Thai and sweet honey barbecue chicken was delicious. Its inexpensive and enough to share. I will most likely return to order something else to-​go. They served los ANGELES night market menu when I came in the day.
It threw me off because this place from what I know is talesai in the day and at night serves a completely different menu. So 2 restaurants sharing the same location and kitchen.

Talesai recently changed their menu and it is absolutely horrible. I was a long-​time customer but after trying the new lunch special today, I will never go back. It was just terrible and I winded up throwing out the salad completely. we are in mourning at the office longing for the old Talesai which is no more. yes, the new menu is that bad. bye bye talesai.

By far the worst service I’ve ever had in a restaurant. I ordered a coke and even after 2 reminders I still didn’t have it after an hour. We didn’t have enough water and no one even asked us how the food was or if we needed anything. The food was dropped off at the table at different times and some in our group waited for an extremely long time. The waiter disappeared during the meal and we had to flag down other people just for basic requests. The service was not bad. It was non-​existent. What a joke of a restaurant. Stay away!

A bit pricy for Thai food, but I’m guessing the prices are made to accommodate the neighborhood. I thought the food was good, but also comparable to most Thai restaurants. I didn’t order any spicy dishes, so if I go back again I’ll have to do that. We had the duck rolls, drunken noodles, and stir fried green beans. Don’t remember the exact names for each of the dishes.

if you want to know their attitude toward the customer, read what comes up first on their website:
«-we reserve the right to refuse take out /​delivery orders.
–if the phone is off the hook continuously for more than a minute, it means we are no longer accepting take out or delivery orders.
–delivery minimum $ 30 before tax
–prices are subject to change without notice.
–we politely decline all substitutions.
–we only serve items that are published on this menu. if you don’t see it, we don’t have it.»
its in all caps. before you get to the menu. not even a greeting first.
it’s like going on a first date with someone and getting fingered in the butt before they buy you a drink.
poor taste in customer service. poor taste in food. go elsewhere.

With this place being walking distance from where I work, I figured it’s pretty hard for a Thai place to a screw up an order of Chicken Satay. Needless to say when I opened the box I was very disappointed to find chicken that looked gray, and tasted rubbery in texture. Pretty disappointing consider I paid $ 16.35 for my Satay, and a Thai Iced tea! Guess I’ll stick to the «hole in the wall» spots.

Visited on a Tuesday, looked pretty busy as there were ppl waiting outside the Resturant and a few inside. First strike in my book, I walked up to the host to put my name in, wasn’t greeted (he was on his iPad or something doing seating arrangements… ok), I moved closer to get his attention to put my name in, still NO greeting or a «I’ll be right with you» literally walked right passed me and back to his little podium. I don’t think he understands the concept of customer service. Luckily I Saw a couple of seats at the bar so my friend grabbed those where we could order food.
Our waiter at the bar was better but still nowhere near good service. All the people there are constantly moving but I don’t know what the hell they’re doing, they’re pretty slow to get things and you have to ask them multiple times for them to exchange a dirty plate, get hot sauce, get the check etc
I could go on and on about the hangry customers that night, leaving early, yelling following the waiters around borderline harassing them for service BUT I’ll tell you the food is good, not anything worth the wait. The service is HORRIBLE on multiple levels. I will not be returning and I do not recommend this place either.

Food is excellent, try any of their curry options and you won’t be disappointed.
Take out options could be better and are a bit overpriced for what you get. The amount of food they used to give you has shrunk.

I have this place a three or maybe I should give them a Two. The I saw my waiter 4 times.
1. When he came to take my order.
2. When he brought my food
3. When he brought my bill
4. When he took my bill.
The only thing I enjoyed was the spring roll. (Was very good) and the calm environment. It wasn’t crowded at all
My Pa Thai noodle was just ok. The only added 4 shrimps, 4 shrimps? Seriously, I count a few times hoping I had more than for, sadly. Not.
Matter of fact. I’m giving them a 2 star.
They didn’t care how I was doing, how the food was, I ran out of water almost choking, they didn’t even check to refill my glass of water. Grrrrrrrr. No More. !!!
Oh, one of the waitress kept going to seat with her friends that came to eat at the restaurant. Bad business. :(
I will stick to Night + Market.

Have been eating in/​picking up here from years but have recently noticed there is something very strange going on with their service (lack of) and attitude. It’s almost as if they don’t care whether the customer is happy and blow off good customers when they call in to place orders.
I recently ordered delivery and it took 2+ hours to arrived. Called restaurant to find out status after 1.5 hours and phone was nonstop busy for 15 minutes. When I finally got through they didn’t apologize and just basically said take it or leave it. Recently had another experience calling in a pickup order and person who took call couldn’t have been more rude and inattentive. Felt as if they were doing me a favor by taking my call!
Lastly, take a close look at their website… some really rude and not so subtle f*%# you’s to their «customer» strategically scattered throughout.
. Only reason I continue to go once in a while is because food is very good and there aren’t many Thai restaurants in LA which I could say the same for…
Either something is going on behind the scenes and this restaurant just happens to be great food that is actually a front for something else (wouldn’t be surprised as the original Talesai is usually empty every night but has been around for years) or the employees here just don’t like people.
Wanted to write this review for a while to get it «off my chest»! Hopefully it makes some sense and some people can relate?

I had the pad see ew and mango sticky rice. Both were delicious!

So Night+Market next door (run by Talesai’s son and served out of the same kitchen) is our FAVORITE Thai restaurant in the city, but when we rolled in the other night, it was a 30 minute wait and we had to make a show at the Roxy, so decided to give Talesai a try.
If you’re prepared for Night+Market, this is a BIG contrast (although you can hear the crowd over at Night+Market). It’s a nice, austere space with white tablecloths and an intriguing sculpture in the middle of the room.
The food was very good. We started with the Bags of Gold and the spicy duck rolls. I wouldn’t recommend the Bags of Gold, nothing particularly remarkable, but the duck rolls! WHOA! I could eat a whole plate of these! Imagine a really crispy, thin spring role (sort of like cha gio) but filled with a spicy duck mixture. Blew us away!
For the main course, we had the crispy sea bass with green beans, and the massaman lamb curry. Both dishes were very good, although the fish probably got the nod. Very nice, crispy and not at all greasy batter encrusting a very moist piece of fish. And the green beans were still nice and crisp. The massaman was a twist on the classic, although I did miss the potatoes, the sauce was delicious.
Our only complaint was the service was far from ideal. It didn’t seem that busy, but we waited for ever for our drinks, and then for our food.
Definitely enjoyed the total experience, but next time I think I’ll wait for a table next door, at the sublime Night+Market.

So yummy. I get takeout from This place once every 2 weeks consistently and it’s always on point.

I was skeptical of this place. The first review came in 2006, but seven years later there have only been 51 reviews and 15 pictures added. Throw in the fact that it’s located on some expensive real estate on Sunset near Doheny and you have to wonder if this is just overpriced fusion. Well, it’s not cheap Thai Town grub that’s for sure.
I read other reviews remarking on the lack of good service and my experience might have been similar except that I came with a party of 14 and we spent enough to be served well. To speed things up we occupied three tables and placed separate orders. Overall, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the food. The portions are not huge and it’s pricey so expect a large bill if you’re at all hungry. Our table split the following:
* HIDDEN TREASURES — An appetizer of shrimp, crab meat and calamari baked with chili and coconut. It comes served in a metal dish with each serving individually capped. Highly recommend!
* CHICKEN SATAY — You get four skewers of grilled, tender chicken.
* MUSHROOM FRIES — These are tempura battered and come with a cilantro, garlic and lime aioli for dipping. Must try this one!
* GRAPOW — This is a dish of minced chicken stir-​fried with garlic, chili and thai basil topped with a fried egg.
* PRAKAS RIBEYE — The steak is first grilled and then sliced and wok-​fried with garlic, cherry tomatoes, chili and thai basil. The meat was so juicy. Great dish.
* SEAFOOD PAD THAI — This one is made with crab meat, shrimp, egg and scallions. Good, but definitely a small portion.
* SPICY EGGPLANT — One of my standard dishes at any Thai restaurant. The eggplant is wok-​fried with jalapeño and thai basil.
* MIXED VEGETABLES CURRY — We chose green curry to go with the assorted veggies and tofu. You’ll definitely want some rice to eat with this.
I also tried some of the NEW ZEALAND LAMP CHOP from another table and it was excellent! Our group had a mix of meat-​eaters and vegetarians, plus folks with various allergies. Everyone had something to eat and left satisfied. Our final bill burned a hole though, costing an average of $ 44/​person.

I want to like this place more, but I can’t say there is much that is impressive about this place. Part of the eating experience outside of the food is the hospitality you want to feel when you go out: friendliness of the waiters, attentiveness of the staff – this place had neither. Waiters hardly check on us to see how we’re doing, no hostess/​host standing by to seat us and greet us when we came in.
I honestly felt as if my money really didn’t matter here.
Ok, the food was good here. But we were seated in a booth with a burned out light so it was crazy dark. We asked the waiter for soy sauce which never came. The appetizer (steak wontons) came out very slowly and this restaurant was not busy at all.
I really enjoyed the special fried rice and the cashew chicken, but it’s not like I’m burning to come back to this place again. Décor is pretty plain and the service is quite forgettable, which is indicative of how they feel about their customers.

Really good food. But really slow service. Talesai is in two parts. The market which is street food and the restaurant which is your normal Thai menu. Soup, satay, great! Beef tenderloin and red curry excellent. But it took 40 minutes to bring just one cup of soup and chicken satay. Then another 25 for main courses. Why would a main sunset restaurant only have one waiter and one cook? Would want to come back but maybe call ahead to see how busy they are. Great food but slow service really killed the experience.

All-​in-​all, this is a great Thai joint. As a huge fan of ethnic food, I’ve dined at tons of Thai restaurants all over Hollywood. If we’re going to be a stickler about the food, I’ll say that those cheaper mom & pop places deep into Hollywood take the cake. But… if you’re on the west end of Sunset, hitting up a show at the Roxy or Whiskey, this is a great place to eat. They’re a little more expensive than they should be, but it’s West Hollywood, so that’s expected.
If you can catch them at their lunch hour, the prices are pretty decent. I used to order the chicken pad thai before I went vegan and it was delicious. When I’m in the area, I go for the spicy tofu and it’s pretty delicious. It is a LITTLE on the oily side but if you’re okay with that then I’d say to go for it. The salads are amazing and they have a full bar as a little bonus.
Like most Thai places, the service is good but not great. But again… that’s expected.
If you love Thai food and your wallet is full then you should definitely give this place a try. 4 stars for great food, 1 star missing for lack of great service.

Amazing food. I come here once every two months. The lunch specials are simply amazing.

Good, but not good enough to justify the prices. It’s not crazy expensive, but the food (in my book, anyway) warranted «cheap eats» status, not even «average for LA» status.
MUCH better Thai in delivery range (Nakkara, Toi), but I don’t know whether there’s better for eat-​in in the area.