Chili Lemon Garlic

Have been here for lunch many times and the food is always good … the service, though? Well, it can be hot and miss most admittedly. Today was a bit of a miss. The place was actually busy at noon, with only one young lady waiting on tables and take-​out. Not sure how many cooks, but orders seemed to come out slowly — and the waitress would occasionally forget a drink order or leave a soup on the counter too long. Could definitely use a second person when busy. Still, the good was good as always — and we weren’t in a hurry so all was good. Started with spring rolls and Tom Yum soup. The spring rolls were hot and crispy … soup was orphaned for a while but was still steaming when delivered. The entrees showed up before soup and rolls were even half finished so they were not as hot as when delivered when we started on them. Timing is important here, but a wait staff needs to communicate with the kitchen and I think it was too much for the single person there today. I had Pad See Eu but subbed mock chicken for the meat (pricey at $ 3 additional, but as a veggie I do get tired of just tofu, so it’s a nice treat — and I don’t often find mock meats offered in places, either! The Thai Spicy Pan Fried with flat rice noodles (think a lighter fun noodle) was a hit as well — both were large servings, and with spring rolls and soup we left sated and happy !
Will be back, but have learned to expect a slow paced meal — at least until a two-​person crew is brought in for lunch rush. Still, the number of people coming and going speak to the quality of the food and the overall service.

This place is really slow and they add a 15% tip by default, there were only three people in our group.

Ordered delivery on Eat24 (free delivery in SF w/​$ 15 min purchase, awesome) and it came in 23 minutes (wow, fast!!!) hot and fresh despite the Eat24 app listing 45 – 60 minutes. That’s the best feeling when it comes fast.
The spicy shrimp pad thai ($ 9) is great. Perfectly cooked noodles, great fresh shrimp, big fan, yum!
The $ 8ish beef noodle soup is solid. The differing cuts of brisket and flank steak were delish, but the broth was too simple and didn’t have a deep depth of bone broth or saltiness to it. Probably will try diff soups next time.
Either way, great experience for delivery/​pickup on Eat24 with extremely fast delivery and good food.

The server @ lunch is the best. He is kind, attentive, helpful. Food is good. The location is quite good too. This is a good hole-​in-​the-​wall type of place you could frequent every week.

San Francisco seems to feature a Thai restaurant on every corner. This was the restaurant I happened to be near at lunchtime. The place is tiny and quickly filled. The prices were reasonable, even cheap. I had the best Pad Thai I have had for a long time. Décor is nicely done, although the small size forced a certain clutter. Service was very good.

Ordered takeout from here. Delivered cold. Everything was awful. I don’t know what this was, but it is not like any Thai food I’ve ever had before. We threw everything in the trash.

The restaurant is not big. The environment is OK. The waitress is nice but they serve the dishes so slowly. We wait for a long time. They offer all kinds of Thai food, such as all kinds of appetizers, noodles, curry and desserts. We ordered pad Thai with shrimp and crispy calamari with sweet and sour sauce inside. Pad Thai is a little too sweet. Crispy calamari is very delicious.

Little discreet Thai restaurant in SOMA. I was recovering from a cold so I opted for #35 which is the Thai Boat Noodle Soup consisting of rice noodles and a combo of various mammals. I’d say it was surprisingly tasty despite my sickness. It hit the spot rather well. Overall, a decent place for SF workers in SOMA needing some Thai noodles. Will update when I try the regular items.

the pad thai was greasey and burnt. the shrimp was bad and made me sick. never going again/

I literally like/​eat everything and ordered the green curry from this place. It was so putrid I had to return it. It was watery and tasted rotten and like bananas. DO NOT order from here. EVER. This place needs to be shut down.

A truly authentic thai experience. Great food! Have been here twice so far.

A small place with good food. I tried the thai chicken fried rice. However you need to wait a bit for your food.

Not sure why people are hating on this place. Despite the bad reviews on Unilocal,I finally checked it out to see for myself. I ordered a shrimp pad thai to go. It was really good! I’ll definitely be back and will try dining in next time.

Way Overpriced and way under quality for the area.
Went with a large group for lunch. Ingredients were obviously not fresh, there was only one cook working so the food came out at different times, and tastes were bland at best.

They must have changed chefs because the food is pretty damn good. I don’t understand the low ratings. I’ve always avoided it because of the low ratings. However, it was just too hard to ignore because it was literally a one minute walk from home. I’m glad I finally gave this place a try. They have some legit Thai flavors and I’ve had a lot of Thai in this city. Everything had a lot of flavor and their medium spicy was just the right amount of spice. The price is on par with everything else in SoMa.
Be patient with the woman taking orders, you can tell english is not her first language.
Pumkin Curry
Hot Thai Basil Chicken
Thai Fried Rice
2 White Rice
Total: $ 40
All 3 dishes were very good.

Little Thai restaurant in SOMA. Friendly staff, but the food was only okay. I had the rad nah ($ 10.95) — flat rice noodles with chicken and veggies in gravy sauce. The portions were generous, but the gravy was too thin so it was like noodle soup. The noodles stood up surprisingly well even being drowned in broth. The chicken was pretty tough, as expected in most Thai restaurant dishes.
On MOGL (for cash back bonus).

The storefront is pretty small, but I prefer the coziness of this restaurant over Koh Samui & The Monkey a block away.
You can save 5% if you pay by cash, but my shrimp pad thai still comes out to be a little over $ 10. Nothing too special about the Pad Thai, but it is a little bit on the greasy side. I do like that this restaurant is right across the street from me so it’s convenient if I’m craving Thai food. I just need to call in to place my order and pick up in ten minutes!

Four words. Hair in my food.
This review is based on a delivery order. Delivery was prompt, but first thing I noticed was a lack of utensils, napkins, or condiments. The bag only had two containers for the two dishes I ordered. Second thing I noticed was that there was no rice with my beef curry. If it’s unusual to have rice with thai curry, then maybe I’ve been spoiled. But I’ve NEVER been served curry without rice from any thai restaurant I’ve been to in my whole life. Third thing, the shrimp pad thai was very mediocre. Noodles were burnt and stuck together and there were only 4 small pieces of shrimp. The unappetizing cherry on top was a long strand of light brown hair wrapped around a piece of noodle.
First and last time trying this place.

Despite all of the negative reviews on Unilocal I decided to give this place a shot, and I had a really nice meal.
It’s a tiny restaurant with no frills, mishmash of décor, and old furniture. The food was yummy though. I would recommend this place for a meal if you’re not looking for anything fancy.
I ordered the roast duck over veggie — protein and veggies, just was I was craving. I asked for honey on the side, and didn’t need to use any of it.
We also ordered the tom ka kai coconut soup. Really yummy highly recommend it.
Boy ordered the pad see ew with chicken, spicy. It was delicious and had a nice kick to it. I like that it’s more Thai style, and not very sweet.
For dessert we got mango sticky rice and it really hit the spot. Mango was just perfectly ripe.
I didn’t have any issues with wait time but then again, we dined at 9pm so they only had one other diner to attend to as well as deliveries.
They’re open until 10pm which is later than most in the area.

Since my first review, I’ve been back at least a dozen times between 2011 – 2012 and changed my mind. I credit that to my previous place of work being so close to Chili Lemon Garlic, giving me the chance to try a few other dishes.
My Favorite Diet-​Friendly Flavor-​Filled Lunch:
* PLA GOONG (SALAD) — [4.5/5 — A large amount of perfectly cooked prawns, mixed with green salad, lemongrass, onions, hot chili, mint leaves with lime dressing. Very spicy when you ask for it.]
I’m not sure if they’ve changed their chef or just improved on their recipes a bit, but they now offer solid food that’s consistently tasty, spicy when you ask for it, and extremely affordable.