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Had a good meal here tonight.
Service was very accommodating, originally had a seat near the door and the girlfriend got chilly, so we were kindly moved. Wait was around 25-30? Even though they told us an hour at first!
Started with the Gra Bong, which we really enjoyed. A generous portion for two people though, wish I saw those comments earlier!
Mains were the Red Curry and the Khao Soi.
I found the Khao Soi to be a little too salty, but it was a good dish overall. It was a little too saucy for my girlfriend, but that's just her preference.
Red curry was good, flavours worked very well together and the girlfriend really liked it. I found the texture of the squash took away from the dish a bit, but the flavours were wonderful.Also had the thai iced tea, but tasted like black milk tea mainly, still a good drink..
Dessert was also pleasant.Hopefully will return soon! Hoping to try out the pad thai, i regret not ordering it, it looked delicious.
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Was there for the water festival last night. It is on again tonight. It was a fun night and good food overall. I think most of the items were not on the regular menu though.
I happened to be there last friday evening and they managed to seat the 6 of us in less than an hour (we went for a drink elsewhere and came back) and likely could have seated us sooner if we had just waited around. I had the "panang" (sp?) curry on Friday and I enjoyed it.
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Planning to head here Saturday, what time should I come to avoid a lineup since they dont take reservations anymore?
Going with my girlfriend, so planning to start with something and get a dish each? Will that be sufficient or too much? From what it sounds like the Gra Bong to start, and probably getting the Khao soi and one of the pad thais? Anyone object or have better choices?
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re: .alias
We were there last week, on Thursday evening I think. There was a full line-up before 6:00 and it stayed until we left, around 7:30. If you're prepared to go really early, no later than 5:30, then you'll likely avoid the line-up. Otherwise, just accept the fact that you may have to wait 30-40 minutes (people don't tend to linger that long there) before you sit down.
I'm in the minority here but I don't love the gra bong - it's good but I'd only get it if there were 4 of us sharing. I prefer the garlic chicken or the fresh spring rolls. For mains, yeah, the khao soi with beef is great. I think it pairs nicely with the pork pad gra prao. Pad thai is good as well but I'd probably get it or the khao soi as they're both noodle dishes - choose one or the other depending on whether or not you're in the mood for a sweet coconut milk curry flavour or a drier noodle stir-fry dish. Enjoy. On any given night, I still think it's one of the most fun rooms in the city and the food is always great.
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re: .alias
prima
Apr 12, 2012 09:52 AM
If not waiting is an issue, can you go at lunch? I've never had trouble getting a table when I've been a walk-in at lunch time on a Saturday.
I like the fresh spring rolls as an app. Agree with pepperminte pate that gra bong is better for sharing with 4. It's a generous serving of fried crispy squash fritters.
Portions are generous, so 2 starters and 2 mains should be plenty for 2 people. You can always take home the leftovers, if there are any.
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re: .alias
KhaoSanRoad
Apr 14, 2012 11:14 AM
please see: http://bit.ly/IFVZuC for our best guess at wait times.
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Personally I preferred the Chef's Special Pad Thai over the Street-style Pad Thai. Both are decent, and better than what you might get at a "Thai Express", but neither is a home run. If you like flat wide rice noodles, you might prefer the Pad Kee Mao. Otherwise stick with the Pad Thai. Below are comments I had posted in another thread that may also be relevant to your decision making:
Our experiences at Kao San Road restaurant -- one take out, two dinners in restaurant -- differ from many posters at Chowhound. I suspect we're not alone. I give it one to two stars out of five stars at most (based on my visits to Thailand and having helped open three large five-star hotels with over a dozen restaurants in East Asia and South-East Asia, including in Singapore and in Kuala Lumpur). In hindsight we wouldn't have visited KSR more than once (instead of persevering for three times hoping for a better experience the next time) but we were influenced by exuberant feedback from many chowhounders here and the KSR website's boast that it's "The Best Thai Food in Toronto". There even seems to be a full-time poster form KSR here. As for KSR's food: the Khao Soi with Braised Beef is quite good (even though a bit too sweet and personally would have preferred it without noodles, which is probably do-able if requested). The Chef's Special Pad Thai was decent, but the Pad Gra Prao Gai, Gaeng Massaman and a few other dishes didn't hit the spot. I agree with the Toronto Life's observation: "Much of the rest (of the dishes) is backpacker Thai: it’s nicely done, but strictly for Canadian palates" (see link). It's like eating at a Chinese restaurant where most customers are not Chinese -- don't expect highly authentic Thai cuisine where most customers are not Thai or South-East Asians. Most dishes ordered were too sweet and some had curious flavours not reminiscent of various Thai cuisines we had. So we asked our waitress whether the cooks who cooked our dishes were Thai (since we had requested that our dishes be cooked as if we were Thai customers) -- she answered "Filipino". I'm not sure how much the owner-chef, a Thai, actually cooks customer orders nowadays but better quality control of non-Thai cooks is needed for KSR to deliver on its boast as offering 'the best Thai food in Toronto'.
http://www.torontolife.com/listings/r... -
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re: Arcadiaseeker
TorontoJo
Feb 5, 2012 06:14 PM
FWIW, I think the beef version of the pad gra prao is the weakest. Chicken or pork are much better. Go figure. It's also a very different dish when you add the garlic/chile/fish sauce that they sometimes (but not always) serve in a little side dish.
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re: Arcadiaseeker
JonasBrand
Feb 6, 2012 10:10 AM
Pork is the best in my opinion. The sauce comes with the spicy version.
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re: TorontoJo
KhaoSanRoad
Feb 6, 2012 11:07 AM
prik nam pla should now always be served with each order of pad gra prao. we originally had it on request only. then when we switched over to "always include" it took a while to get the process/staff to remember the change. i can safely say that it now gets served will all orders.
for whats its worth pork is my fav (followed by beef)
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re: iMarilyn
I always ask for Thai spicy, but its so inconsistent to me. I can eat very spicy compared to most anybody I meet, however once it was so spicy it was difficult to eat, and twice it was a good amount of heat (no struggling or anything), and once there was absolutely zero heat at all....like zero. Perhaps my order got mixed up..
either way, the food is still damn tasty. Khao soi is one of my favourite things ever. I did not like the squash fritters much.
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