The menu at this place is very different. Some amazing choices. I had the mango curry and I loved it. The fish cakes with the cucumber dipping sauce was lovely.

Nice service, clean restaurant. Ordered the Drunken Noodle to go. They asked what level of Hot I wanted on a scale from 1-10, I asked for a 10. It was only a little hot. It ain’t hot, y’all. I don’t know why they need a scale to ten. They may as well just ask what level you want from 1-3 because there was no heat.
And the food had grit, like dirt. The food tasted okay but that kind of grit may be from unfiltered water. I do not know, but multiple bites had grit.

This place was delicious! The wings were my favorite, so much flavor, the sauce on them was amazing, a little spicy but a good spice. The potstickers were also tasty and had a coconut tasting base dipping sauce. The fried rice was very good as well, it had a lot of flavor. Overall 10/10 would recommend this Thai food location :)

Great place for Thai food. We ordered the pad see ew and spicy eggplant. Both tasted delicious and the serving size are quite big. The pad see ew was a bit salty so I had a helping of rice to help with that.

This is the spot where I’ve tried Thai dishes for the first time and I have yet to encounter any other Thai place like it!!!!flavorful dishes from drunken noodles to veggie rolls to soups and wine!!!!yum yum yum every time I visit this spot!!!!

Good quality Thai dishes. There was a fair quantity of meat for the prices. Service was fast and friendly. The Roast Duck Curry was very tasty, and the pineapple gave a complimentary sweet balance. The Drunken Noodles with beef, shrimp, and calamari, was also very good. However, the amount and size of the calamari were small. The spiciness was spot on with our requests.

The server (Lin) was lovely and welcoming. The food was alright. I'd give it another chance since I came around 1500 and I suspect the food was sitting since lunch. Taste was not bad, but it wasn't good either.

The pictures I took were after I've had a couple bites, so don't be put off.

Sticky rice mango was good!

Great food, good service with no wait! I had the drunken noodles with chicken at a level 5 for spice and it was a little too hot for me but the dish was delicious. The sampler appetizer was ok, nothing special and I probably wouldn't order it again. For dessert we had the sweet rice with mango and it was amazing. I highly recommend it! We will definitely be back again.

Affordable thai food and good service. I believe that the counters could use some updating but the food was good to make up for it.

The menu at this place is very different. Some amazing choices. I had the mango curry and I loved it. The fish cakes with the cucumber dipping sauce was lovely.

Very nice service and food was excellant.

This is the spot where I’ve tried Thai dishes for the first time and I have yet to encounter any other Thai place like it!!!!flavorful dishes from drunken noodles to veggie rolls to soups and wine!!!!yum yum yum every time I visit this spot!!!!

Mhmm...

Good stuff, they're a hidden gem. I'm surprised more people don't know of this place.

The papaya salad is one of the best Ive had.

Edited 3 years later: I’ve now had a ton of stuff on the menu and this remains my favorite Thai place. Everything is amazing.

Traditional Thai resteraunt. Met friends and sat talking for a couple of hour. The staff was very gracious and made sure we were well taken care of!

Nice service, clean restaurant. Ordered the Drunken Noodle to go. They asked what level of Hot I wanted on a scale from 1-10, I asked for a 10. It was only a little hot. It ain’t hot, y’all. I don’t know why they need a scale to ten. They may as well just ask what level you want from 1-3 because there was no heat.
And the food had grit, like dirt. The food tasted okay but that kind of grit may be from unfiltered water. I do not know, but multiple bites had grit.

Great place for Thai food. We ordered the pad see ew and spicy eggplant. Both tasted delicious and the serving size are quite big. The pad see ew was a bit salty so I had a helping of rice to help with that.

Awesome pad thai and Avocado curry dishes were authentic and delicious!!

He good here is AMAZING and DELICIOUS i would definitely eat here again👍👍👍

i have no idea why this place isn’t more popular! like yes people like it, but it should be packed and line out the door. i’ve been getting food here for 7 years and it was great but never came to my mind that i should write a review. went there yesterday for mother’s day and it was phenomenal. i shared a drunken noodles, and chicken pot stickers. the drunken noodle is literally the same dish i’ve been getting here for 7 years and it was the best i have ever had it yesterday. cooked perfect with tender chicken, soft noodles and the veggies were glazed to perfection. the chicken potstickers were literally some of the best i ever had i had to order seconds. thai iced tea was also amazing, my mom was sipping on it and she doesn’t even like drinks like that. and lastly it was affordable? it’s weird to think this way in the stage of society right now but it really was. for 4 things with BIG portions all together it was 30 dollars. that’s pretty affordable. i feel i even remember this place being more expensive back in the day? either way im so glad i chose leela thai for some mother’s day dinner.

this isn’t negative more so criticism but with the potstickers they come with five, but it just confuses why? it would make more sense to have 6 because most people share them anyways so those people can 3 and 3 if it’s two people or at least have it more fairly divided. rather than fighting over the last one with 5, but yeah overall 10/10

The best Thai food I’ve ever had. Amazing service and friendly staff!

This is still the best Thai place in town! 5 stars.

Super chewy calamari, the chicken was tasteless

My husband and I ordered the sampler and drunken noodles to share. The food surpassed my expectations. Most surprisingly was the Tempura shrimp, I'm typically not a fan of seafood. However their shrimp was cooked to melt in your mouth perfection.
We picked up in Santee and drove 15 minutes home, everything was still piping hot. Perhaps best of all, the servings were big enough for lunch tomorrow 🙂

Service was terrible when we got takeout. I placed an order directly from their site which I like to do because it gives the restaurant more money compared to sites that take a cut like DoorDash or GrubHub. After we place the order, it said it would be ready in approximately 30 minutes. When we got to the restaurant to pick up 40 minutes after placing the order, they said that they didn't have the order. We showed them the receipt and they said OK and started taking notes on what we had ordered. After a few minutes, they came back and said oh the order just came in. It'll be about 30 minutes now. We came back after 30 minutes and they said oh another 15 minutes. We came back in 15 minutes and they said almost ready. An hour after they took our order, which was an hour and a half, after we had actually ordered it online, it was ready. They didn't apologize even once throughout all the checking back in. I'm a pretty understanding person, and I would understand if they were slammed on a Saturday night, however, there were two parties which was a total of four people inside there. The people that got there when I was trying to get them to find my order ordered, got their food, and left before my takeout was ready. I only ordered 4 things. It's pretty crazy to wait an hour and a half for a take-out order. It's even crazier for them to not explain or apologize for why this would happen. I guess that's just how their service is normally
since they didn't seem apologetic. We definitely won't be back no matter how good the food is. There's not really any take out that should take an hour and a half, especially when they told you half an hour. 0/10 just based on the service.

Unfortunately, they don't know how to do an egg drop soup anymore. I basically had a whole egg dropped in that was overpoached. Not appetizing at all, especially for $14.
The broth itself was satisfactory.

Their spring rolls, noodles, and curries are good.

Pleasant shopping center restaurant. Clean, friendly service with excellent food. I asked for 7 level and got exactly what I wanted (avocado curry)

This place was delicious! The wings were my favorite, so much flavor, the sauce on them was amazing, a little spicy but a good spice. The potstickers were also tasty and had a coconut tasting base dipping sauce. The fried rice was very good as well, it had a lot of flavor. Overall 10/10 would recommend this Thai food location :)

I got Thai Orange Chicken and husband got sweet and sour chicken. I probably won't get the Thai Orange chicken again because it's breaded and I feel it takes away from the taste of the sauce. So maybe to compensate for that, they can add more sauce to the chicken. I'm not docking them a star for that because I knew the chicken was breaded when I ordered my meal.

Husband said that the sweet-and-sour chicken was pretty good. but nothing will compare to the sweet-and-sour chicken he gets back home in Florida. But he knows that wherever we go, dishes are prepared slightly different.

Overall, I'm giving them five stars because service was quick, meal came out in a timely manner, our server was very nice, and it's a nice atmosphere.

Food was great! Pad Thai was just right, not too sweet. They have some good vegetarian and vegan options including mock duck and mock chicken. Portion sizes are substantial.

All the wait staff were attentive and friendly. Cute little place tucked into a shopping center. Definitely will be back.

Thank you wonderful people for making the best curry fried rice I've ever had! So amazing. It's somehow even better when I eat the left overs cold. So good!

Good food and service.

Great food, made quickly. Cheaper to pick-up yourself than any if those delivery services.

Good food We really enjoy the food. I saw the lady is cleaning everything after use which is very good.

The best Thai food in all of San Diego and I have tried a lot of places. Order the mango curry. AMAZING!!!

The server (Lin) was lovely and welcoming. The food was alright. I'd give it another chance since I came around 1500 and I suspect the food was sitting since lunch. Taste was not bad, but it wasn't good either.

The pictures I took were after I've had a couple bites, so don't be put off.

Sticky rice mango was good!

The food was delicious, the service was excellent! We will definitely go back!

Good quality Thai dishes. There was a fair quantity of meat for the prices. Service was fast and friendly. The Roast Duck Curry was very tasty, and the pineapple gave a complimentary sweet balance. The Drunken Noodles with beef, shrimp, and calamari, was also very good. However, the amount and size of the calamari were small. The spiciness was spot on with our requests.

Food is really good but not vegan friendly. They use styrofoam and plastic containers with plastic bags and plastic utensils for to go orders and left overs. Hope they improve their impact on the environment

Their food is absolutely delicious! Their pad Thai and drunken noodles are always tasty! Add the shrimp!

I had the squid appetizer and drunken noodle with the mango juice. Service was great, the server was fast and friendly.

Great Thai restaurant. Has all the dishes, drinks, and desserts one can expect for an American Thai venue.
Service and food quality are good as expected.
If you're in the mood for good Thai, this is a place to try.
I highly recommend their "fresh rolls" appetizer.

Always consistent with the heat. Very polite & accommodating. Could use paper towels in the bathroom.

Great spring rolls. The rice paper was on point. No too chewy and too hard. Just right. Noodle dishes are excellent. Just the right balance.

They were the only Thai place open until 9 pm on Memorial Day. I got the sticky rice and mango 🥭 . Small portion but tasty and a nice presentation with sesame seeds sprinkled on top. Located next to Petco in Santee.

Consistent good portions, price, and taste.

Delicious food, lovely decor, clean and friendly people. This restaurant turned me into a Thai Food Fan! I love Spicy Basil, Drunken noodles and green coconut curry... it's the best.

Friendly staff. This was my first time eating Thai food and they put the spice on the side so that I could spice it to taste. It was not spicy so I recommend you have them add the spice.

Great food. Good value. Small, friendly, family environment.

Love their food but they need to bring back their lunch specials

Best Thai food in San Diego! Staff is always so nice, and their curry is AMAZING!

i could not rate leela positively enough. i have nothing to say other than Go to Leela. if you are considering it, seriously, just go. the flavours are exceptional and you will keep coming back.. not joking

1 of the more authentic places alongside Sab E. Lee. Sad to see prices go up from COVID but as a cook its understandable. For the Vegetarians, my favs are tofu yellow curry, tofu pad see ew, and penang. Super friendly staff!

Like all restaurants these days, they are shortstaffed. They still did a great job , our food and drinks were great. Good flavor, great service. Will definitely be back.

Excellent food and friendly service. The food is amazing and authentic.

This is an authentic Thai restaurant we visited for lunch. The food was reasonable but not the best Thai I have had. That said the food came out fast and the staff were willing to accommodate last minute change requests.

My complaint and the reason I didn't score it a 5* is that the curry was too watery, a soupy consistency. Most places I have had Panang or any Thai style curry came with much thicker base, a sauce rather than a soup. Here, we seem to have compromised saucy thickness for speed of delivery.

Again, the Pad Thai was sweet, but this is becoming an endemic throughout Thai restaurants: if we want to tone down on heat we get more sweet.

Amazing yellow and Panang curries, and the spicy green papaya salad was the bomb!

🤬Found Plastic in my drunken noodles!!! Never going back to this location. Thank God I didn’t choke on this. Smh

Amazing food pangan curry omg soo delicious it has like all the flavors. I could eat it everyday for the rest of my life. Pad Thai delicious.

I love this restaurant! I've tried a ton of thai restaurants in East county and this one is the best. I love their soups, great flavor with actual substance in it too. I've never had a bad curry either, always delicious. When we get pickup they're always ready quickly and very nice at checkout. Definitely give this place a try, they really are great!

Delicious Pad Thai and Spring Rolls!!!!

Really nice atmosphere, good food and sweet service. Love the drunken noodles and green curry.

Best Thai food around. We've been coming here for years and it's always been consistently great with friendly staff.

Guess I just don't like Thai food. Did not care for the most basic Pork Pad Thai. It was merely okay.

Every single time I've ordered food from here has been so good. Reccomend the soups, noodles and curry!

Great Thai Restaurant, my favorite in this area.

Very nice selection. Ordered vegan food for my friend and non vegan for me and my family. It was a lovely experience. I ordered through doordash which made it super convenient and fast! Thank you! I highly recommend their yellow curry and sweet mango rice!

Really good food but the person taking the orders was exceptionally rude and didn't give us a receipt. She was rude to other customers as well so might go back in if she is not there

Love the food here and the service is great!!

This is my favorite Thai place. The Red Curry is excellent. You really can't go wrong with anything you order. Everything is extremely flavorful. The fried rice is very rich and packed with ingredients. Pad Thai is wonderful as well. I've tried many things here. Every one was great. Don't miss this restaurant.

Food is ok. BUT, cash only. Fee for card payment $10. No receipt. Price in the menu is not actual. You will pay as minimum $2-3 more.

Best Thai place in east county! Food is always delicious and fresh

Great fresh food!

Fast and friendly. Pad Thai was great

I love their pat thai.

Great drunken noodles.

Great food and big portions

Excellent mango curry!! 💗

Great food!

Doing a great job ensuring Covid rules, unlike restaraunt next door ignoring laws. Still super customer service and working hard to survive.

Really decent Thai food in San Diego!

Delicious 😋

First time going there.
I had order Pad Thai with chicken. I was not disappointed. I had enought left over for the next day. Very hot, and fresh. I also got level 8 spicy, a level that did not dispoint.
Would highly recommended, and I'll be back.

I'm an essential worker, burnt out. I had a really bad day and decided to order Thai from Leela Thai. Completely turned my day around it feels like I ate a home cooked meal. Thank you Leela Thai!!! I'll definitely order from here again. The panang curry brought me back to life. I think I finally found my go to spot. I wish I could leave more than 5 stars. So good.

I'm impressed! I used to live in Pacific Beach and I had 1 thai food spot I liked...since moving to east county I've been disappointed in the Thai food....until I found this place!! They have excellent curry and the drunken noodles are bomb delicious!! I will be going back here. Uber Eats delivered and food was still hot. Big portions! I had mine with pork and chicken.

Tasty courses. Flexible in spice levels. Quick service. A keeper for my family.

Good food

The best comfort food! I adore this restaurant.

My family and I have been going to Leela Thai for years and so far we’ve loved every menu item we’ve tried! From curry to pad thai, every dish is full of flavor. Every bite fills us with joy! I personally love the pad thai - you can choose your own meat (or tofu/veggies) and the taste is phenomenal.

The attendant was extremely rude when I went to get the food. He didn't seem to be having a good day.

We go to this location often! Their food is always delicious!

I always love this place, good good

The pot stickers are my fave

The chicken curry was a little bit on the tasteless side. The seafood combination dish was very good, but the podstickers were fried and I personally prefer steamed. The service was a little bit impersonal.

I'd pass on this one and head to sab-e-lee instead. The potstickers were average, sauce was above average. The panang curry was tasteless....which is a first for me and any curry. The seafood combo was above average, a solid 4. Service was average.

I was really good, the food was awesome. It wasn't a bad service per se, but they could improve, for example: if we get diferent courses of food, wait until we are almost done with the previous course to get the next course to the table, besides that, she was a really nice server.

Nice find.

Even though we came 30 minutes before closing time. They didn't take us in

Very good Thai food. Nice service. Easy parking

Always the best service, food, and price

Good food and friendly service. The portion sizes are hearty.

Best Thai in East county

Muy bueno

Sooo, good! Will be back to try other dishes.

Cute restaurant with really nice, attentive waitress. Food was tasty. Glad we found this place. If we lived in the area, we'd be regulars!

Great Pad Thai

Excellent food, great service, and a varied selection of how to add heat to your meal that is fun to try everything.

Great Thai food. No frills just great service and food

Nice place to hangout

Great lunch specials, except I was disappointed with the Spicy eggplant entre because not enough of eggplant. The portions were minimal.

Curry like water, spring roll with yellowish old lettuce:/ not happy

The service is quick and friendly, and the food is delicious!

Very tasty!

Pad thai (tofu) and spring rolls (tofu) with peanut sauce are excellent.

Best Thai Food in East County

So delicious and affordable

I found that I really love Thai food back in the 80's in Hollywood. I found a real gem near our home and my wife fell for the Thai also. Then they closed. With broken hearts we search till a friend suggested Leela's. Wow this place is much like our beloved restaurant that closed.
I gotta thank this place for bringing back this wonderful cuisine to my life.

Fabulous authentic Thai food. Large portions!

Very good food and service. The Thai gravy was amazingly tasty.

The Pumpkin Curry and the Avocado Curry were excellent! I will be going back for the Mango Curry real soon. 👌

Outstanding food

This was my first thai food experience and I loved it! I got the peanut steak and It was soooo gooood. It had a nice thick peanut gravy with veggies on the side and rice. It was all such a great combo and all the flavors really blend so well. I really enjoyed it and the energy here. I will be coming back forsure. 💖

Been to a lot of Thai restaurant, & this by far is the worst. Don’t order their calamari, it’s so breaded you can’t even taste the calamari itself. The spicy chicken wing is ok and the crab fried rice is mediocre. Makes me want to drive 25 miles to go to a different Thai restaurant. What I like is their decorations, & that they actually removed the calamari from our bill. All in all, great decorations, good service but food is, well, I’d just say I won’t come back here.

The food was very tasty and I'd go back. Level 5 was quite hot. No places or even the cooks in the same kitchen season the same. The mango could have been a tad riper and the sticky rice not so sticky.... it's a fine line haha

Good traditonal Thai food and good service.

Fantastic food and the service is awesome. Love this place. 👍

Friendly staff and fresh, flavorful food. My favorite thai place in the SD area

Wonderful staff and fantastic food. The drunken noodles with seitan were fantastic.

Picked up food for delivery service

Amazing food great service and I love the fresh flowers on all the tables.

Great food and service.

Rude ripoff

Great food and customer service.. very quick for both dining in and take out.

It was delicious

First time there with my dad and brothers, who loves Thai food. Everyone enjoyed their lunch.

Well, the good dad good and as few customers as there were, it Still Took At Least 20+ Minutes, To Get Our Good As, It Seemed They Were Taking Care Of Their Online/Phone/Fax Orders As More Priority Than Immediate Customers In Premises/Restaurant, Plus, The Young Asian Girl, Wasn't Very Helpfil, And Was Extremely Rushed To The Point That, It Was As If She Could Care Less, About Assisting Us And Any Questions We'd Had But Rather Rush Off To Another Table And Or Person, So Much So, THAT WE NEARLY GOT UP AND WALKED OUT! It Simply Was Inexcusable! You Don't Act Like You're Rushing Us, To Hurry/Scurry Us, To The Point, WE WERE MOST UNCOMFORTABLE AND THEN TOOK FOREVER AND A DAY, TO GET OUR FOOD, Then Wasn't Given ENOUGH Napkins, No Straws, Needed Refills, IT WAS TERRIBLY HORRIFIC TO HAVE THIS YOUNG GIRL, EVEN WORKING WITH CUSTOMERS, IF SHE'S GOING TO BE THIS, "LOUSY", At Her ONLY JOB!?!?
I Highly Doubt That We Will Go Back Plus, She Couldn't Hardly Understand Us Nor We Her, Nor Did She Act Like She Cared! I Have Yet To Give A Bsd Review, Being In The Top 1% In San Diego But, I'm Sorry, I Have To Draw The Line Here, At This Particular Restaurant, On A Scale From 0 To 10, 10 Being Fabulous, I Give Them A 2, Yes, That Bad🤷🏼‍♂️👎👎Take Your Chances And, Safe Travels...

A little secret of Santee great thai cuisine, friendly service. If you thai food don't miss going here located right off Mission Gorge rd. & Cumacha

Best of the Best!!!!!!

I absolutely love the service here! And I love my vegan drunken noodles, soooooo good!

Our go-to carry out place in Santee. The usual we get is the spicy basil and panang curry. My wife and I love it. The only negative thing about this place is the understanding of English, sometimes it's difficult to put in the order over the phone, other than that, this place is great.

Great food, but customer service is lacking.
I ordered pickup and keep on trying to confirm my order and was ignored.
No, I don’t need a spoon is this the lunch portion of yellow curry?
No I don’t need that, if this happens he lunch portion of yellow curry?
After asking several times he finally paid attention to what I was asking and got a very quick “sorry, I didn’t hear that over the phone.
So not only did I pay more than I would have, but I didn’t receive what I asked for and got the poorest of responses to it.
Great food can only do so much if the customer service is bad.

Best Thai in East County, always polite and courteous service. Highly recommended.

Went in on a Saturday night at 8pm because our usual Thai spot was closed for vacation. Took 25 minutes before anybody took our order. No exaggeration, I timed it. There were two employees working besides whoever was cooking. One of the two employees was constantly on the phone taking phone orders or fulfilling the pickups of the phone orders. So basically there was one person for the whole restaurant. Very slow and very bad service. Several tables were never bussed and cleared the entire time we were there. unless someone called in sick they're horribly understaffed.

As far as the food it was pretty good but not quite as good as Sab-e-Lee down the street

Probably won't return due to the bad service.. I mean I'm there now and I hate being ignored, and put behind phone orders..