Saffron Noodles and Sate

We’ve been coming here for years and always picked up the chicken to-​go. It was consistently tasty and fresh. Tonight we decided to order the drunken noodles and some chicken pieces with rice and eat it at the restaurant. First of all, the place needs a good cleaning and some paint. It looks shabby. They must have been down an employee because the dirty dishes weren’t removed from the tables.
The chicken was ok and the drunken noodles were not good at all. It tasted like it was cooked in rancid oil.
Very disappointed. Not sure when we will come back.

Can’t understand why line at register. The chicken is dry. Peanut sauce tasteless. Portion small (but thankfully this was a good thing). Overpriced.

Wack. Sauces for combo plates and Cambodian «salad» are served in plastic containers. Chicken was unimaginably dry. Wouldn’t come back.

Good Thai food, family owned style. However… Over the years they add less and less noodles. I’m a big meat eater so I really recommend they’re meat.

Overall, this place seems like a cool Thai place to eat healthy options. It loses a few stars for a few reasons. I called for a pick up. I was placed on hold for 6 minutes and I could hear the restaurant bustling with orders in the background. I was then hung up on. I called back right away and they were suddenly able to take my order. At pick up on this day, it was cash only as their internet was down and they could take no credit card transactions. For a business, I don’t know how much business they lost out on this day because of that alone. The service in the restaurant was pretty quick. I ordered the healthy chicken fried rice and it was pretty darn good and healthy which made me feel less like a junk food foodie this day. I would come back again. But those few issues need to get worked out. This is India Street which means you are paying for metered parking up front.

It’s a challenge to find good and healthy Thai food… But this place is my go-​to! They have all the traditional options but I’m always drawn to healthier versions… The Brainfood dish is AMAZING. I usually dine out, but their location is clean but set up to feel more like a café, rather than a restaurant. I kind of like it because people come in, they eat, and then go… No lingering! Haha

Best Thai in San Diego!!! Love this place, one of my favorites.
Great chicken and pretty much everything is amazing here. I can go on and on. Affordable, fast, fresh, cool.
Parking sucks.

Really love this place. My wife and I have been coming here for over 10 years. I love the tofu salad rolls, roasted chicken, and Vietnamese noodle plate. Our daughter loves the sticky mango when available.

Love the FOOD but really dislike the pink-​haired order taker! She can’t get orders right and never admits it’s her fault. She’s a flake! ORDERED RED RICE; got crappy white rice b/​c she was distracted by something around the corner from her register. Hate to see service go downhill here but it’s gotten BAD!

Friends brought me here after climbing at a nearby rock climbing gym. I have mixed perception of the restaurant from the different dishes that I ordered: Tom yum noodle soup with shrimp was bland, not enough flavor. Veggie eggrolls were okay. The healthy organic red fried rice with kale was really good. I would come back just for that. I also tried their homemade ginger ale, but it was too sweet for my taste.

We frequent here often as we live right around the corner and never have had any issues. I ordered to go today and they wanted to charge me $ 11.50 for the pad see ewe when on the menu it says $ 9.50. The manager was rude and I just left. I’m not paying 11.50 for a dish that isn’t that great or that big of a portion for more than what it’s listed on the menu. Why have a menu with prices and then charge another?

Definitely a hole in the wall type establishment. food is good. I ordered the drunken noodles with chicken. Make sure you tell them your spice level… cause if you is a 1, you ain’t got no business messin with that 10! Flavor was good. Thai is is kinda bland. Small restaurant so expect to wait for seating. Seat and serve yourself type joint. If you like Thai food this place is pretty good. Not the best I ever had, but good.

Came here with some friends. I got the Chicken with noodle plate (number 10 I think). It looked good but it really wasn’t. No seasoning and no flavor. Even with a little sriracha, it didn’t improve. What sucked the most was that it wasn’t filling. I ate most of the plate but I was still starving when I left.
The place is nice and clean. Parking is a joke though.

First time last night. Sent $ 100 for 5 adults and a kids meal. Placed our order then were told they had run out of shrimp for the salad rolls. Shrimp pad thai, chicken satay, green papaya salad, Monday special soup can’t remember name, drunken noodles with chicken. Mango sticky rice and Thai iced tea.
I had heard a lot of great things about Saffron and was excited to finally eat there.
I’m going to be honest it was ok.
Not very impressed. I am not going to rush back but also won’t be bad mouthing it.
Satay was good.

We love the show, Savor San Diego, and have been dying to try out saffron restaurant for such a long time. SADLY, we set our hopes too high.
My fiancé and i are so bummed this place isn’t what we expected. Upon entering we were suprised at how filthy the place seemed. The walls were disgusting, baseboards & floors dirty. Station where you fill your cup with water was absolutely repulsive!!!
I just don’t understand.. a woman so notarized for being a great chef, pictures of the owner with celebrities covered the walls.. you’d think there would be more effort put into the appearance and cleanliness of her restaurant. If this was any random hole in the wall, i wouldnt even rate it… just never return, but the simple fact that it is owned by such a amazing chef really made the experience so much more disappointing.
We figured the food would make up for the lack in cleanliness.. sadly, no.
The brain food i ordered was bland, chicken dry. I had to drown it in chili sauce to get any real satisfaction.
My fiancés plate was better, #19, had a bit of flavor. but still nothing to boast about.
We sat there eating in disbelief and disappointment… we love her show, the ideas, recipes, the fact that she keeps things local and gives ma and pa’s a platform. I would have thought there would have been more sense of pride in her own restaurant. … afterall how can you showcase others when your own isnt up to par.
I needed to give this place another shot, we were not hungry anymore but i needed to try their desserts. .i forced my fiancé to make room … thank goodness i did cause MANGO STICKY RICE WAS PHENOMENAL!
I keep reading all these reviews about how amazing this place once was, maybe the owner is too busy with the show that she’s let this place spiral downward. too bad.

I’ve been eating here for 20 years and it never disappoints. The food is fresh, light and delicious. We live 30 minutes north but ALWAYS stop at saffron when we are in the neighborhood.
I usually order the special — today I had Shaved cauliflower with drunken sauce and chicken. It was fresh with basil, chilis and topped with perfectly cooked chicken.
I do not understand why anyone could every be disappointed in this gem of a spot. It’s consistent and special — don’t miss out!

Honestly, I am not sure what the 1 and 2 star reviews are talking about. I am inclined to believe they are blatantly and intentionally giving low stars.
Listen, this place isn’t the best Thai place in San Diego. But, they are consistently good, they use very fresh veggies, and the service is very quick! There is plenty of seating inside and outside the only shitty thing is parking, but if you are used to this area with Vera Gelato, the Pub, etc then you already know this and take it into account when you go.
Dont let negative assholes persuade you. Give this place a try, you will find just one more cool place to eat in the eclectic area of SD.

Date of Visit: 2÷26÷2015
Issac, Monica, Cam, and I came here for dinner before going to Avenue Q since Issac’s house is so close. We walked, but knowing this area, parking is very limited even if you try parking the in neighborhood.
We were all pretty hungry so we each ordered our own dish. You have to order and pay at the counter and then grab a number for your table so the servers can bring your food to you when it’s ready.
Emy: Sate Chicken Combo and Spicy Drunken Noodles. I meant to ask the lady for a single skewer, but I should have specific a la carte because she charged me for the combo. The Sate Chicken Combo comes with rice, cucumber salad, and peanut sauce. I was not satisfied with this dish. The chicken and rice was dried out, the cucumber salad was warm and tasted weird, and the peanut sauce was more watery than a typical peanut sauce. The only bonus was that they made a mistake with my order and gave us two combos instead of just one. The spicy drunken noodles had an excellent spice level (i.e. too spicy for Cam to eat). There was a little too much basil for my taste and mushrooms (I hate mushrooms, so Issac ate them for me).
Cam: Pad Thai Noodles with Chicken, no bean sprouts. Cam was nice enough to order this dish without bean sprouts for me (I know, I’m really picky when it comes to mushrooms and bean sprouts, both common ingredients in Thai food). He was interested to see that the egg was cooked on top of the noodles, instead of being scrambled and integrated in with the noodles. We both enjoyed this dish — I preferred this to my spicy drunken noodles, but I have definitely had better pad thai. Cam said that he thought it was pretty good.
Issac: Pad Thai Noodes with Chicken. Issac seemed to like his dish. Since he lives close by, I believe he stops by every once in a while since it’s definitely a healthier option than Lucha Libre.
Monica: Pad See Eew with Chicken. Monica also seemed to like her dish. She also helped eat the second Sate Chicken Combo that came out with Issac. They both at the cucumber salad, so I’m assuming they liked the cucumber salad.
Overall, this place is just okay. I guess I have higher standards for Thai food since we are so close to Thai Village and I love their food. I also like to customize my spice level, so I was disappointed that there wasn’t an option here. I’ll probably only go back if I’m in the area and craving Thai food, but I’ll definitely only order the Pad Thai with Chicken.

I was expecting a bit more from this place… It doesn’t compete with other great Thai places in SD. And there are too many Thai places in SD!
Location: place is located in a great area, the mission hills district and will always get a good amount of people.
Food: I got their Tom yum soup with shrimp. For the price it totally was not worth it. $ 9. The soup itself claimed to be spicy but instead I found it more sweet then spicy. I did like that they put more mini shrimp in it. Other than that it wasn’t worth that price and the flavors were okay. Don’t expect it to taste like your typical Tom yum. I also got their spicy chicken veggies and rice, which was good. You can’t really go wrong with something simple as that! For $ 9 it was bit on the smaller portion side, but flavors were there.
I’ll come back just because I live up the street and it’s convenient. Who knows, I’ll try more and maybe it’ll be my favorite!

What happened?!! I used to frequent Saffron in the late 80’s and early 90’s, when customers used to be able to catch a glimpse of the owner, Su Mei-​Yu, cooking in the kitchen and directing her staff. She would often take the time to come out of the kitchen to greet her customers and check to see if the food was to their liking. Su was a very sweet lady, but I never see her anymore. The prices were comparable to other Thai establishments, but the food tasted significantly better than the competition. I would drive the distance to eat here and was willing to tolerate the long waits for a decent parking spot back then. How times have changed for the worse.
The past few times I’ve dined here, the food was bland and quality was poor. I kept hoping for better the next time around, thinking to myself, «Maybe they hired a new cook who just needed a little more experience under his/​her belt.»
Being a big fan of anything coconut, I tried their new Pad Chai-​Ya, which was described as a ‘Southern twist on Pad Thai. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t good either. The dish was again bland, but spicy, and the shrimps were few and undercooked. My Smoked Salmon Roll Special fell apart, before I got a chance to get it in my mouth. Although free, the water didn’t taste refreshing like it used to. I believe they used to add mint and lime to the water. I wouldn’t be surprised if it came straight from the kitchen sink nowadays.
Su Mei-​Yu, I do hope you read the many bad Unilocal reviews about the baby that you had worked so hard to create, start stopping by again, and turn the restaurant back to the Pride and Joy it once was!