I've been a fan of The Thai Bistro since around 2017 when it was called Exotic Thai Bistro over at it's 4th street location. However, when they moved locations (to where they are now on Danenberg Rd near the mall), I believe they lost original cooks because the food does not taste the same. It's so sad because the food used to be 5/5 delicious and I loved the accommodations for vegans. However, there is something off about each dish I've tasted for the past two years. I keep going and trying to see if it will get better and it disappoints - dish consistency is an issue, odd flavors, questionable descriptions of food and no transparency about vegan dishes are concerns. Plud, with the cost of most plates typically ranging from $15-20 (and the wait time being extraordinary, if you go during a busy moment), you want to feel happy about your food. I'm just not.

Let me be more specific about my experiences and issues through a few examples from recent visits. Most recently, I ordered Pineapple Chicken but asked if it could be made with Tofu. Server said yes but what I received were fried balls of batter in an orange sauce with a few chunks of pineapple and green bell pepper and carrot. I kept cutting them open to find Tofu and it was just breading. So, $16.99 for fried batter? Yuck. I've seen this happen with the Orange Chicken and the 3 Flavors Calamari, too, where it's just balls of batter. I've also ordered the Rad Na and know it is a salty dish, but it came out extremely salty where it was burning my tongue just to try to consume it. It felt like they put a whole bottle of soy sauce into it. The Pad Thai used to be delicious but it had a very gross, rancid smell that lingered in the food. Perhaps it was the peanuts or something else in the wok beforehand but it made the dish so unpleasant to eat. The Pineapple Red Curry used to be my absolute favorite. It was served like a soup in a large bowl but felt very hearty and had lots of unique mushrooms, baby corn, and other vegetables that felt made the dish special. Ordering it now? I received a plate with cubes of tofu swimming in reddish thick coconut milk, no veggies.

I shouldn't have to explain how to make the dishes to the staff, but it seems like the new/current cooks cannot capture the love and magic of Exotic Thai Bistro. If you don't know what Thai food is supposed to taste like and don't mind inconsistency, then you might not find issue with the food. They also advertise as vegan-friendly but I've started to doubt whether they swap out beef broth, fish sauce, or other ingredients to actually comply with vegetarian/vegan diet.

I would hope the owners or cooks would see my review to rectify their approach. I genuinely want to see better for this place because I remember how good the food used to be.

P.S. The restaurant has updated menus so online prices are slightly different than dine-in.

The good, seats and tables are cleaned. Clean Environment. Food tastes more of Chinese style.

The bad. Food are no near Thai food at all, adding celery’s, broccoli, and bamboo-shoot just defeated the taste. If you’re looking for thai food style. This is no near thai food.

Good meal, friendly staff and service. Rice noodle aren't the best, have to try something different. They have a good variety of foods to choose from.

If you’re looking for DELICIOUS Thai food you will absolutely love this place! IF you are looking to be served FAST this is not the place for you.
We waited 30 minutes for our appetizers and an extra 45 minutes for our food. Hope this review helps and saves you time. Enjoy if you give this place a try!

The wait was awful. It took 20 minutes for my appetizer to come out and another 15 for my main despite there only being 2 other tables. Food was depressingly bland and flavorless even though it was covered in sauce. It was nowhere near authentic Thai.

Where do I begin. My coworker and I placed a phone order for 2 chicken Phós and 2 orders of Spring rolls. Over priced but ok. When my coworker gets there to pick up the order they only had one Pho ready never made the second. She waited almost 45 minutes for PHO. She asked for sauce after it all and they charge her $1 for a small thing of fish sauce. By the time we get to our food one is very cold from the long wait and it was absolutely flavorless. The Spring rolls were very good but the Pho is like eating scattered noodles in sink water. We will never return to this place.

I had a lovely time with my family and enjoyed a lovely meal. My dish was delicious no complain about it . Honestly recommend to go visit ❤️ and the tea was also delicious

Wow. Wow. Wow. Amazing, efficient service for pick-up. Amazing flavor, portions, everything!! Highly recommend the yellow curry! We also tried the chow mein which was good too. Very very happy with my experience and honestly expected this place to have over 4.5 stars!

I've been a fan of The Thai Bistro since around 2017 when it was called Exotic Thai Bistro over at it's 4th street location. However, when they moved locations (to where they are now on Danenberg Rd near the mall), I believe they lost original cooks because the food does not taste the same. It's so sad because the food used to be 5/5 delicious and I loved the accommodations for vegans. However, there is something off about each dish I've tasted for the past two years. I keep going and trying to see if it will get better and it disappoints - dish consistency is an issue, odd flavors, questionable descriptions of food and no transparency about vegan dishes are concerns. Plud, with the cost of most plates typically ranging from $15-20 (and the wait time being extraordinary, if you go during a busy moment), you want to feel happy about your food. I'm just not.

Let me be more specific about my experiences and issues through a few examples from recent visits. Most recently, I ordered Pineapple Chicken but asked if it could be made with Tofu. Server said yes but what I received were fried balls of batter in an orange sauce with a few chunks of pineapple and green bell pepper and carrot. I kept cutting them open to find Tofu and it was just breading. So, $16.99 for fried batter? Yuck. I've seen this happen with the Orange Chicken and the 3 Flavors Calamari, too, where it's just balls of batter. I've also ordered the Rad Na and know it is a salty dish, but it came out extremely salty where it was burning my tongue just to try to consume it. It felt like they put a whole bottle of soy sauce into it. The Pad Thai used to be delicious but it had a very gross, rancid smell that lingered in the food. Perhaps it was the peanuts or something else in the wok beforehand but it made the dish so unpleasant to eat. The Pineapple Red Curry used to be my absolute favorite. It was served like a soup in a large bowl but felt very hearty and had lots of unique mushrooms, baby corn, and other vegetables that felt made the dish special. Ordering it now? I received a plate with cubes of tofu swimming in reddish thick coconut milk, no veggies.

I shouldn't have to explain how to make the dishes to the staff, but it seems like the new/current cooks cannot capture the love and magic of Exotic Thai Bistro. If you don't know what Thai food is supposed to taste like and don't mind inconsistency, then you might not find issue with the food. They also advertise as vegan-friendly but I've started to doubt whether they swap out beef broth, fish sauce, or other ingredients to actually comply with vegetarian/vegan diet.

I would hope the owners or cooks would see my review to rectify their approach. I genuinely want to see better for this place because I remember how good the food used to be.

P.S. The restaurant has updated menus so online prices are slightly different than dine-in.

Food was delicious and the people that worked there were absolutely fantastic!!!!

The good, seats and tables are cleaned. Clean Environment. Food tastes more of Chinese style.

The bad. Food are no near Thai food at all, adding celery’s, broccoli, and bamboo-shoot just defeated the taste. If you’re looking for thai food style. This is no near thai food.

I had a lovely time with my family and enjoyed a lovely meal. My dish was delicious no complain about it . Honestly recommend to go visit ❤️ and the tea was also delicious

I always stop in and get the Karee Gai curry when I’m in town. With shrimp!! It never disappoints. It has some kick tho. Even at the lowest spice level you feel it. All the noodle dishes are great too.

Ordered bunch of food, idk what but everything was delicious. Highly recommend.

Good meal, friendly staff and service. Rice noodle aren't the best, have to try something different. They have a good variety of foods to choose from.

Food Is awesome but the service Is terrible, Yesterday I waited 1 hour for my order.

The food was simply delicious!

Delicious food. Great menu.

I'm curious about some of the other dishes. Had the fried rice and wasn't very impressed.

Delicious pineapple curry! Good quality ingredients, even the rice was great!

Llegamos 6.50pm mi esposo y yo dijimos comemos rápido eran las 7.55pm y no estaba lista la orden le dan prioridad a las ordenes para llevar, Servicio es supermegaaa lento, pague la orden y pues la puse para llevar , 1 hora para Servir solo tiene un cocinero. Me trajeron las giozas y sabían como congeladas malisimas.
1era y última vez. Qué visito este lugar

I used to come here more frequently. However it seems things have changed. The last few times I've been in there there have only been 2 people on shift. 1 taking orders and 1 cooking. As you might imagine, if there's more than one table at a time the service is very slow. The meals they prepared for us weren't all that great, although I still enjoyed the Pad Kee Mao. Most of the veggies in our meals were still raw, including a soup that we waited about an hour for. Will not be returning for dining. Very sad experience to be at a restaurant for over 2 hours for a pretty bad experience.

The food here is amazing, especially here in the valley and it being the only Thai food restaurant around. Unfortunately be ready to wait a long time from ordering to receiving your food. Other than that, as I said the food is delicious.

This was my second time at this place. The curry dish was like soup though not advertised that way. The first time was pretty good, but this time bleck! We ordered a coconut chicken dish that tasted like fish. Nowhere in description was the mentionf of fish. If that weren't enough they still charged for the soup despite the fact it was not eaten. The decor there is a little tootacky(and I'll imagine it's going to get super dusty)

This used to be called Exotic Thai on 4th.
Food is still very good! I appreciate all the vegan options. Staff is super friendly : )

Where do I begin. My coworker and I placed a phone order for 2 chicken Phós and 2 orders of Spring rolls. Over priced but ok. When my coworker gets there to pick up the order they only had one Pho ready never made the second. She waited almost 45 minutes for PHO. She asked for sauce after it all and they charge her $1 for a small thing of fish sauce. By the time we get to our food one is very cold from the long wait and it was absolutely flavorless. The Spring rolls were very good but the Pho is like eating scattered noodles in sink water. We will never return to this place.

We waited for our order for too long. Service was awful. Our food was rushed and it’s uncooked. Our order for our kids were wrong. We will never go back to this restaurant and never recommend to our family and friends 🤬

Worst Thai food I've ever had and I've had Thai food all over the world literally married to a Thai woman for 30 years wow

When you are early food comes fast, when the house is full, things are busy wait times get long. The food is definitely delicious.

Food was okay. Nothing special. Not used to actually tasting the greasiness from a Thai restaurant. Service was fine maybe a little slow at making the food. Atmosphere was not existent. Doesn't seem like a lot of people eat in at this place. More of a order and pickup place.

Vegan, in town for several weeks (...months...?) for work. This place is a SAVING GRACE, been treating myself to DoorDash from here now and then to break up the monotony of groceries. El Centro is a desert for vegans, and this Thai restaurant is the oasis. It's really clear on the menu that they understand fully vegan preferences, which is so assuring. I can't speak to the ambiance or service bc haven't dined in yet, but I'm becoming pretty damn addicted to the food! The soups are delicious, fresh rolls are divine and last for days in the fridge, green curry was a bit lackluster when I tried it but will try another curry most likely. Tofu and seitan available, so that's amazing. Really fresh, flavorful, attractive food. Extremely grateful for this restaurant 🙏🙏🙏💖

Awesome service and delicious food! Couldn’t ask for more

Any Dish can be vegan.
Diferent choices of Protein.
The Food is delicious 😋.

Tried this place for the first time and 10/10 would recommend! Everything came out pretty quick and it was all so delicious. Staff was also really nice!

Food is not good, is not a really Thai food style. The price paid is not reasonable for the received value.
I am not going back!!..

Delicious food! We ordered some coconut shrimp and it was so crispy and delicious, pad see ew beef was also really good! Definitely recommend!!

The server was friendly but the other staff (including the owner) didn’t even acknowledge me, even though I was the only customer there. Egg roll was ice cold in the middle (took 2 bites and sent it back) and the entree was mediocre at best.

Lots of amazing options! Staff was very nice and the place is super vegan friendly! Also the decoration of the place was really cute.

Great place! Staff was very friendly and the inside was well decorated and inviting. They also had some great vegan options!

First visit, I'll be returning, good food etc al.

Lots of vegetarian options , pho was so good 💗

This restaurant is a hit or miss depending on what you order. It is no where near “health” food as the vegetables are frozen/canned and the flavor from the food comes from it being drowned in sugary sauces. Service is friendly but it’s that awkward in between of counter service and being waited on. No liquor or beer license. I did like the walnut shrimp and garlic soy wings but that’s about all I can recommend. The Pad Thai has potential if they would just cut back on all the sauce they use!

I loved it. We had two appetizers, a tai pho and a secret menu ramen that I highly recommend.

Love this place! Their food is delicious and always fresh. I recommend the Crab cheese wontons, Karee Gai curry, and the Pad Woon Sen noodles! Their new location is by the mall, so it's convenient to grab takeout on the way home. 10/10 definitely recommend!

New location📍and the food is amazing!!👌 Don’t let old comments keep you from trying this new place.

The wait was awful. It took 20 minutes for my appetizer to come out and another 15 for my main despite there only being 2 other tables. Food was depressingly bland and flavorless even though it was covered in sauce. It was nowhere near authentic Thai.

We ordered 2 apps and 2 main dishes, cashew chicken and a curry. Waited 25 minutes and all we got were 8 overpriced and mediocre dumplings (could tell they're frozen and overcooked because they fell apart too easily) and a cup of hot tea. There were two instances where the kitchen was quiet, so I could tell nothing was getting done. I recommend coming here with caution. Expect to wait quite a while. I'm sure the food is good, wish I could've tried it.

All of our food was very flavorful and authentic.

I love this place the food is amazing.

If you’re looking for DELICIOUS Thai food you will absolutely love this place! IF you are looking to be served FAST this is not the place for you.
We waited 30 minutes for our appetizers and an extra 45 minutes for our food. Hope this review helps and saves you time. Enjoy if you give this place a try!

The food was fresh and delicious! Will definitely come again.

This is the closest to Thailand cuisine that you can get without going to Thailand! 100% recommend! Great food!

Have been to this place a total of two times for date night, the food is amazing. I have tried the salt and pepper dish and the duck dish both were delicious. Servers are also super friendly and attentive.

Todo muy bueno !!
Uno de nuestros lugares favoritos !!

Very good selection and big servings reasonable prices

They were very late opening. I waited a bit and then left.

Mui buen servisio

Awesome food and service. Authentic Thai restaurant 😋

First time eating here I loved the chicken curry fried rice im going to be coming back again great food great tea.

I ordered some drunken noodles. They tasted exactly how I expected if not better. Service was good fast. The restaurant has a cozy feel. I will most definitely come again.

Very good place to eat with many different Thai and Chinese options as well as vegetarian dishes. The restaurant is clean and it's a new location so they're having some growing pains but they take it in stride and give you excellent service . When in imperial Valley stopping to eat at The Thai Bistro is a good choice.

Great food and service! The food is fresh and they have a great variety of menu options. Thanks Lorenzo!

Spring rolls were awesome with surplus peanut sauce, chicken satay was delicious but the portion was a bit lacking, kiew wan was incredibly flavorful and balanced. I've had dishes elsewhere that I enjoyed more, however overall this was -by a long shot- the best Thai experience I've ever had.

Love there pad thai very delicious with lots of flavor. Will come back

This place is one of my favorites. Everything I’ve had here is very tasty. I recommend the Singapore noodles, Pad Kee Mao (Drunken noodles), Karee Gai (chicken and potato curry), and the salt and pepper fish. My favorite dishes at this spot. The workers are all very nice and serviceable. 10/10 recommended

Pretty good food, choices and portion! But the service is slowwww....the male waiter literally just stares at you....needs to work on his customer service...

All these bad reviews aren't worth listening to! This place is beautiful:)) please give it a try!! It's now buy the mall and it's so good!

Absolutely amazing food, best I have found in El Centro! Underrated and so out of this world!! Go give it a try :)))!

Ordered the Mongolian beef, and there was a big lack of beef. Would think there would be more beef if the word “beef” is in the name of the dish. Taste was okay.

My wife and I went for dinner
XCLNT FOOD
XCLNT SERVICE

Able to dine in, great Thai food, friendly staff, great service.

Man this used to be our go to spot for Thai in the valley. First off, not sure why they're still not doing indoor dining, which is a bummer. That aside, the food quality has gone down in the last year or so. Everything here used to taste authentic and fresh. Tonight we ordered our standard chicken pad thai and chicken Rama Thai. These plates used to have very distinct flavors. But tonight they tasted very similar with a reddish gingery sauce on both. Keep in mind the Rama Thai used to be in a light brown, peanut based sauce but that flavor was not present at all tonight. The spinach used to be cooked down and wilted in the sauce but tonight it was like a handful of fresh spinach with the chicken and sauce thrown on top. Just not the same...might give it another shot some day but for now I think we'll pass on our old favorite spot for a while

Good flavor and quantity - even the "mild" was quite spicy for me... nevertheless, good flavor.

Wow. Wow. Wow. Amazing, efficient service for pick-up. Amazing flavor, portions, everything!! Highly recommend the yellow curry! We also tried the chow mein which was good too. Very very happy with my experience and honestly expected this place to have over 4.5 stars!

Muy buena la comida Thai. No grasosa ni salada.

The yellow curry and fresh spring rolls are delicious. One of my favorite spots to eat. There is no in door dining when I was last there about a month ago.. not sure if it's still limited to take out.

My husband and I ordered crab cheese wontons in a flower shape that we love from this place. Today, the shape is not flower and the crab cheese is gone! Absolutely disappointed after going back to this place and return the plate on order to get a refund. In addition, the owner stated “next time you order, if you don’t like something, don’t order it anymore” . Lack of customer service, lack of professionalism, lack of ethics. WE WILL NEVER EVER EVER EVER EVER AGAIN SUPPORT THIS PLACE. ($73 we paid for the whole order)

Avoid this place! Horrible customer service. Very unprofessional way to approach people. Not the correct way to treat people. They deserve 0 stars!!!

Finally a nice restaurant that cares about their food and service. Even if you're not a Thai food fan particularly, you will find something thats enjoyable and cooked with pride.

Love this place it has great Thai food been going here for a while and will always stop by when passing through the area the food is unbelievable and the price is right you will go back again for more

Absolutely awesome food and service

I’ve never eaten garlic chicken that tasted like the whole batch was burned almost everything we ordered actually even the Thai tea tasted burned!! The chef needs to learn how to cook on low and maybe the food would be decent.

A wonderful restaurant. The food was excellent, but the service was superb. They were so caring and thoughtful, it honestly made our whole trip. Just before finding this fine establishment, we had been treated very coldly at a different place, simply because my mother asked if there was a washroom for her hands. We saw this place and something told me to call them. I'm so glad I did. They were so sweet, and made us feel so welcome, like family. If I lived in CA, I would go every week. Even now, I plan to visit again all the way from Vegas.

THE FOOD IS DELICIOUS !

Love their Thai tea with boba.

Respectable employees also very kind, with a large comfortable waiting area.

Wow! They've improved on the food. Very flavorful!

Excellent food and atmosphere. Just don't be in a hurry when u go. Very nice folks.

Una buena experiencia

Food served hot, quickly and delicious. Staff very courteous and helpful. Very clean facility.

The food takes a long time to arrive, the flavors are muted, the prices are high, and the portions are fairly small. I went on a day where the weather was windy with a bit of drizzle. Despite being a party of 3 in a restaurant with only 1 other table (they already had their food) the service was super slow. The staff was nice and the restaurant was clean. Sadly, it felt like we overpaid as the only detectable flavor was some kind of spice and what tasted like a noodle that had seen a picture of a peanut...once...years ago...

I had not been here in a long time. Once here i realized that it is now under new ownership. Before, the food was good but a bit pricey, and portions were small. Now, the portions are a good size but the flavor and presentation is lacking. The typical thai dishes like pad thai, pineapple rice, and the spicy chicken were a little disappointing. I would have given them a 3 star rating but the service was also not great. I had to keep calling the waiter back for things we needed. Never checked on us without us asking. I dont think i will be coming back.

Restaurant is clean, food tasty and hot, service is good. My friend had chop suey, lots of chicken in it, vegetables were crisp tender and sauce was good. I am a vegetarian. I ordered fried tofu and vegetable were crisp tender and warm.good good vegetables we

I love the vegan menu!

Everything was excellent i love thai tea

So far, this is the best restaurant we've tried here in EC. The service was wonderful. Our server, James, was helpful, friendly, and informative. I had pad Thai which comes with shrimp and chicken. It could have had more shrimp (only had 2) and the chicken could have been seasoned a little better. But I was very pleased with the taste and big portions! My husband had peppered steak which was soft and came with tons of veggies and a very flavorful sauce. He was also very happy. Dessert was sticky rice and mango with coconut ice cream. It was surprisingly not overwhelmingly sweet, just perfect. For that plus a beer and tip we did spend like $50 so it may feel a little pricey but I have tons of leftovers! We can't wait to go back, they have so many other yummy things on the menu (they have a TV menu like an advertisement kind of) that we want to try!

Great food, good service. The currie and hot noodle plate were delicious! I wasn't fond of the Tom yum soup just a bit too acidic for me but really liked the types of mushrooms they used in it. Going to be back for sure.

My girlfriend and I have been coming here weekly since we found about it and we can’t stop.. we love it.. thank you!

A very interesting place. My family and I enjoyed it very much. Delicious food.😋

Great food and service...

After arriving from cross country trip (from Florida), I settled in and needed some dinner. This restaurant provided a satisfying meal (I had the Pineapple Curry with shrimp over rice). It was delicious. I shall frequent this location as the food is fresh and service is attentive and friendly. See you all again soon.

Freshly cooked excellent flavor

Good food. Menu has changed.

One of the best Thai restaurants. Roasted duck, pad wan sen, are the best.

It has good flavor but it has ingredients that do not go with thai food such as cilantro and purple cabage. It had an obscene amount of celery. I mean it was ginger chicken and the celery just overpowered the whole dish. The price is not too bad but they need to put a little more meat along with the vegatables. Had like 6 pieces of Chicken and the rest a bunch of vegatables like water chestnuts, carrots(huge chunks) , among others but too many powerful flavors in one dish that all you taste are the individual

Brilliant

Esta rico

Service great & food great!

Amazing flavor!

Excelente atención y muy sabrosa la comida

Went there because it was highly recommended by our hotel. While the food was delicious. The service was sloppy and lazy.

We love this restaurant the food is superb my husband is vegan and I love fish so we each get tasty dishes . also our service is always done with great care . We Will keep returning each vacation from the bay area to this warm winter oasis!

1st time food was good

Really good food! Pho soup is delicious!!

Just O.K.

We would give the chief 10 stars!

It's ok... Not overly impressive. Decent, but that's it.

Quite a pleasant surprise finding this place. The food was tasty... recommend do the curry... price was right

My favorite Aisan restaurant in the Imperial Valley.

Un lugar muy acogedor con un ambiente bistro su menú muy extenso con mucha variedad mi gusto se fue por el pho de camarón y los spring rolls su calificacion es excelente tienen mucha variedad en rollos tiene un sabor sabroso el pho muy bien servido me tuve que llevar por que no me lo termine limpio el servicio es muy atento no huele mal y se ve limpio recomendado 💯

Always Great Food, great service

Good Food, but the service is very slow.. We we're the only ones at the restaurant and it took very long for the food to arrive...

Super good food and cold beer

Pho does not have been balls.

Very good flavor

The food was super good and the service was very hospitable would definitely come here and eat again trying to the Mongolian beef it was really clean atmosphere was quiet and peaceful

This place has a different name, I think. The Singapore noodles were excellent!

Great place will go back

Food was good and portions are large, customer service however was simply not there. We legit had to wave the waiter down for refills, amongs other things, and we were the only customers in the whole restaurant.

I was excited about finding this place. I've eaten Thai before and it was amazing. This place though was not. Very expensive and the food was not good.

This is a brilliant hole in the wall Thai spot 🔥🔥🔥🙏🏻

Roasted Duck Orange Chicken

A+

La comida china esta normal