Kitima Thai Cuisine

The good stuff: the curry, fried rice, and soup dishes (I grew up on homecooked Thai.) The Thai Tea is pretty good too.
Service: staff was knowledgeable and offered great tips on what new dishes we should try. Fast and courteous.
The only negative thing is that on two occasions the potatoes in the yellow curry were practically raw.

Disappointed was the word I felt when I left this place. So disappointed, and I’m never disappointed in food! I had to force myself to eat this, I was smashing the rice and eating it like I was forced to. I got the Beef Satay. It was supposed to be satay with their curry sauce, instead it seemed like they dipped it in peanut butter sauce.
My friend got the pineapple rice which turned out to be better than mine. And the entrée’s was on a special, all entrees except seafood was «$ 9.99» not $ 14+ (that’s so pricey for a Thai place!) And this isn’t any Thai restaurant, it’s SO Americanized that they even spelled «pad thai» wrong, and they don’t have the authentic Thai dishes, more like American fusion. I also got the tom yum soup, it was more sweet than spicy or sour.
So if you like pricey non-​authentic thai food that is either mediocre or on the low end, you should come here! Or if you want authentic good thai food, go somewhere else.

Hit or miss /​remarkably inconsistent. Have been coming here for years. When the food is on, it’s my favorite Thai restaurant in all of San Diego. Problem is the same meal at Kitima often varies from one visit to the next making it an extremely frustrating experience for me. When they are off, their food is bland and mediocre. Throw in the pain in the rear metered parking during lunchtime and they need to be on all the time for me to come back. Will be giving this place a rest for awhile as I cannot count on them to bring their A game 100% of the time… if I want mediocre, I can have my pick in the nearby, within walking range Gaslamp area.

OVER PRICED, CRAP SERVICE, BRAINLESS WAITRESS.
I really wanted to like this place. The ambiance and interior was stylish and cool, but it didn’t measure up.
I ordered some soup that was almost $ 7 and it was a tiny portion. Also, it was not proper tom gai kai soup. There was hardly any chicken in it, and it was salty and tasted like it came form a can.
I shared a chicken dish with my friend, which was so-​so, but not worth the price.
I had asked the waitress for water with a lemon wedge, and she just brought the water. Then when I asked for a lemon wedge she gave me a look like I just ran over her puppy.
When the check came it was just almost $ 30 for one entrée and some soup. I asked the waitress if I could make change for a $ 20 (so I could at least leave some kind of tip) and she said they couldn’t. Needless to say she got no tip.
This place blows goats. Save your time, money, and taste buds and go elsewhere.

This place has been here for several years, and I have eaten there many times before. I went for dinner last night with 4 friends, who recommended the dinner specials.
My first impression of the place was how sad it looked. I remember it as being very elegant last time I was there. It appears they have given up and are just going through the motions; the upper dining area has been abandoned and was being used for storage, the color scheme was bland, and the staff consisted of 2 people. Strike one.
One of those two people was our waitress, who it seemed had either just awakened from a nap or was heavily medicated. Not once did a smile cross her lips, and if she spoke more than 3 words I failed to hear them. She placed the menus on the table and vanished. We had to ask her for the «specials» menu when she returned, which she grudgingly provided. Strike two.
I ordered green tea; not, I thought an unusual request in an Asian restaurant. She returned with a mug, (?) in which floated a teabag (?) «peculiar», I thought. The worst part was that the water in which the teabag floated was about the same temperature as the liquid in the little flower vase on the table, and about as flavorful. Strike three.
The food was good, nicely presented and reasonably priced. I’m no expert on Thai cuisine, but my Drunken Noodles were tasty, and the «8» heat level I requested was accurate.
So why am I being a jerk and giving them only 2 stars? If I wanted «good food, nicely presented and reasonably priced», I’d cook it at home, where I could sit around in my underwear and drink green tea made with loose tea in a proper cup and at a proper temperature. When I go to a restaurant, I’m after more of an experience that I can share with my friends. And the experience I had here was not one I am likely to repeat.
I have eaten in some very elegant restaurants, and I have eaten in some holes-​in-​the-​wall that may or may not have been issued an «A» rating by the department of health. The bottom line for me is the service level provided. Good food means little if I feel like I am intruding on the staffs’ break time. While I’d be a regular at a place that served a can of tuna with a couple of crackers if it had a soul and I was made to feel welcome.
I hope the owners of this place decide to revive it and bring it back to life. As it is right now, the pulse is getting weaker, and the pupils are dilating.

I’m surprised the reviews are so negative for Kitima. I think their price points are higher than many other Thai restaurants (like Taste of Thai) but I think it’s worth it.
1. Fresh rolls do not get any better than what they serve at Kitima. No bulky and disgusting bean sprouts and stodgy cut vegetables. Everything is delicately cut and they add some tasty noodles. Served alongside peanut sauce (as fresh rolls always should be — Taste of Thai gives you a nasty plum sauce and expects you to pay more for peanut sauce).
2. Pad thai is delicious and uses a more slender noodle than the usual. Nice combination of shrimp, chicken and egg.

AWESOME THAI AND OPEN TILL 3AM! Everything was really good and service was excellent. The servers were very nice and very friendly. Drinks were good (and strong!). Try the mango martini.
I started with the Tom Kha soup and it was SO good! It’s been a long time since I had a Tom Kha like that. Just enough spice and curry with good portions of chicken.
Then, I shared the chicken fried rice and one of the pork nightly specials. The fried rice was very tasty but I wasn’t too crazy about the pork dish. The pieces were too thin and just a tad bit under-​cooked.
Overall, great restaurant! Great service. Was told about the live jazz and they are also expanding into the space upstairs, sounds like it will be a pretty cool spot!

On a street with more asian food than Asian countries — Kitima Thai was a good find.
I thought the service was fantastic. Very friendly and attentive.
The ambience was nice.
The food was surprisingly good too. Pahd thai and Drunken noodles were both solid. They came with a little salad and spring roll. Perfect amount of food for the price.

Below like is part of Live Jazz VDO taken at the restaurant every Wednesday night from 9pm-​11pm

2.5 stars in my books at this joint for thai food. This food was sadly uneventful to our palate. I ordered the Pad See Ew and the boyfriend ordered the Drunken Noodles; both dishes tasted exactly the same, but the kicker in the Drunken Noodles had bamboo. I was quite dissatisfied with how everything tasted, especially us being so hungry that evening.
The reason for the 2 stars is me sitting back thinking that for a non-​asian person, this place would have been great and saw nothing wrong with the food. The ½ of a star is for the thai themed décor throughout the restaurant. Sadly enough, it had a cold feeling throughout the restaurant, but I know that they were aiming for a authentic feel, but just didn’t reach there expectations. The waitress was attentive when needed, but her mind seem to be else where. She gave off the vibe that she just didn’t want to be there or really care for our experience. It took her several times of me asking her for lemon in my water. Mind you, we were the ONLY patrons there. Customer service is a huge thing for me, so that can either make it or break it. Unless there food is simply amazing, then the service can be overlooked.
So sorry Kitima, you won’t be seeing this eater back.

My company placed an order for delivery from a company that will pick up the food and deliver it. The order was simple three pad thais no chicken, replace with tofu. When we got our order the boxes were only a third full (normally when we order from other vendors the boxes are overflowing). We paid $ 16 for ¹⁄₃ of a box of pad thai. But that is not all my order and my co-worker’s order had two entire pieces of tofu and my other co-​worker was lucky and had three tofu pieces, but she had peanut shells in hers. After waiting an hour and a half for our food we were starving so we dealt with the awful bland pad thai (even though it was suppose to be medium spicy).
When we called to complain the owner refused to refund us for the food. They did offer to bring us three orders of padthai at the end of the work day but this was not a reasonable solution. When I offered to let them comp us three lunches for another point in time later that week and they never called me back. Not only did Kitma had horrendous food but bad service at the end.

Had the Red Curry with Scallops and Prawns and it was delicioius!!!
They will accomodate your spicy/​hot sensitivity by asking how you want it. I like mine medium so around «5», and it was pretty spicy but bearable for me… Had the spring rolls with that too, and a merlot… a great dinner!

Nate and I came in here one night when we didn’t feel like cooking. We heard about it from a friend of the owners, so we decided to give it a try.
We split the Pad Thai dinner special, which was under $ 10 and came with a salad and a spring roll. We also ordered a side of miso soup.
The salad was delicious! The peanut dressing was just right. Our entrée was delicious; we were very, very pleased.
We were the only ones in the restaurant at the time; our service was amazing, as the two waitresses both made sure we had everything we needed.
I would definitely go back!

We were looking for a cheap, quick dinner in Hillcrest on Saturday and stumbled upon their 3 course dinner special for $ 11. Looked pretty good… Eggroll, salad, and either Drunken Noodles or Chicken Pad Thai. I don’t eat Chicken and they were more then happy to substitute Tofu in my dish. Score!
Food came out super quick, though we were the only customers in the place. The food was great. We were served a huge portion of the entrée, small cup of salad and 1 large eggroll and they kept our drinks full and checked on us often. It’s nice to find a place with reasonable prices that actually has good customer service!

I went to Kitima with a friend and sooo glad I did. This place is my new favorite Thai. Normally I get the drunken noodles but decided to try the pineapple fried rice. It was amazing. Good flavor with a nice blend of spices.
The service was excellent and i discovered that they also serve PHO!!! which I cannot wait to check out.
FYI parking sucks!

I stumbled into this place, literally. After having a couple of adult beverages down the street, I realized I needed to consume some carbs and chill out for a second before driving home. Kitima was the first Thai restaurant I found and I was hungry so I didn’t care that the place was completely empty. Isn’t that usually an indication that the food sucks? Oh well, it meant quick and attentive service for us!
They have awesome dinner specials here! For about $ 10, you can choose from a list of entrees in a single person serving size. The dinner special also comes with salad, egg rolls, and rice (except for the noodles). I ordered the Pad Thai dinner special. The salad and egg rolls were decent. The pad thai was not the best I’ve ever had, but it was nice and flavorful. I added some hot sauce from the dipping sauces they brought out. I was pleased to have gotten a $ 10 meal in a restaurant that looked like it served $ 20 meals. The calm and light mood of the restaurant was a nice place to go to sober up!

I always used to walk by here and say to myself, I need to try this place.
I should have kept on walking, came here for lunch on a weekday, the place was dead quiet and it still took us a few minutes to get seated. The wait staff was in the back.
For being empty the tables were a little dirty and some tables had dirty dishes on them, it’s like they thought since no ones there they didn’t want to do their jobs.
We noticed a lone glass of soda on one of the outdoor tables and while we were discussing why they should just clean up, this guy walks up to the glass from off the street, looks around, takes a sip, then runs off with the glass.
We ordered the Panang curry and Pad Thai, two staples I always try when I try new Thai places.
The Pad Thai was acceptable except the shrimp tasted rotten, so thumbs down for that.
The curry looked good, but the chicken was stringy and it just tasted like salt.
Service was lack luster even though we were the only ones in there.
Will not come back and hopefully no one else will.

I can vouch for KITIMA’S consistency. after visiting 3 different times I can definitely say that KITIMA has consistently SUCKED!
why?
It could be that it is really over priced, really greasy, the service is slow and impersonal and rarely correct on the first attempt.
Then there is this big issue. If this business is going to stay open late, to capture an after hours crowd (3a.m.). Then don’t do it half way. People who come in hungry after a nite of dancing are still aware of what they are putting in their mouth.
Last time I ate at Kitima, the waiter brought out a completely different entrée’ then I ordered. Mistakes happen, I understand. But, he brought it out before my salad and grease roll, i mean spring roll came out. When my entrée’ did come out the portion was comical. It seemed as though I was being penalized for sending my food back.
The waiter never checked in on us, never refilled our beverages, the place was empty except for one other table. When it came time to leave we had to ask for our check. He took my friends meal and tossed it, I am assuming. Who knows, maybe he saved it and ate it himself. The point is he didn’t even give her the chance to ask if she wanted to take it home. Her meal was the only one worth saving.
So… this place is way overpriced for what it is. not even good enough to satisfy your hunger after an all night bar crawl.

SO halp me double IPA by Green Flash… I LOVE this place. When I was a young, disaffected single person on the prowl, I used to stagger outta my condo a mile from this place. I would get allllll loaded up on Glass Mountain Chardonnay’s and then one Vodka Tonic at Number One on Fifth… go to «Flashbacks» and marvel at why they would sell underpants from tha 50’s…
OH. .wait… sorry. I love the flavors of the food here, I have eaten at Kitima for about five years before there was
. I am glad that
did not exist back then because I would be missing out on the great flavors, the spices, the integration…(whoa) of the spices and the flavor of the food that produce an spicy tasty delight. I staggered in there on Saturday after a 12 mile run, where I coulda eaten ANYTHING that smelled good and had a nice spicy dish. I asked for a number 9, because I am not happy until flames shoot out of my «out-​take valve»… but my kind server had mercy on me and suggested I order a «6»… She brought out the tray of spices and I was in heaven.
I hope this place never changes since it reminds me of a time in my life when it was only me, roaming around Hillcrest lost, bewildered and unaccountable for my where abouts and my taste buds…

Good food, nice atmosphere. The décor is pretty unique and quirky. The restaurant is very bright.
The lunch specials are a pretty good deal. They come with a small salad and spring roll. Almost everything on the menu is pretty great. Good appetizers are the breaded and fried shrimp, the spring rolls, (i forget the actual names of the dishes), and the kind of hot and sour shrimp soup (tom yum kha i think?) The salmon curry is very flavorful and smooth; this was the first time had a fush curry. The «Fitneess Tofu» was really good too (fried tofu, vegetables, garlic sauce). You can choose how spicy you want your dish on a scale of 1 to 10.
On the dinner menu, the Sexy Princess dish is really good. It’s very flavorful and has lots of garlic. The shrimp in there is a great texture.
I love it!