Erin's Review
After first attempting to go to the deli at United Noodles and seeing it closed, I was STARVING. I didn't really care where we ate at that point, as long as it was close. Scott and Ben chose True Thai, which sounded perfect to me. Because of the mishap at United Noodles along with the time spent shopping, I needed to eat something fast - cream cheese wontons were ordered immediately to tide me over until our entrees arrived.
The wontons were pretty good - they seemed to have a little thicker wonton wrappers (dough?) than I'm used to having. Perhaps they are handmade and I'm used to those made using the packages of wonton wrappers you can get at the store. They certainly hit the spot for me!
I didn't feel like being too adventurous, so I just went with chicken pad thai as my entree. There were a ton of options that looked great, and I loved the menu descriptions.
My pad thai was SO good - probably the best I've had at a restaurant yet. As usual, it was a huge portion, so I ate plenty that day and still had a fairly large amount left for lunch the next day. That makes the high price for one lunch much more of a deal.
True Thai is a cute place - I was surprised at how packed it was at lunch on a rainy, cold Monday. With so many Thai places on our list, I doubt we'll go back any time soon, but I definitely recommend this place for a solid meal!
(View down the hall to the main dining area)
Ben's Review
I had been trying to get Erin to go to United Noodles for lunch for a couple weeks and last Monday I finally got her to go, with my co-worker Scott. Unfortunately when we got there we found that the deli is closed on Mondays :(. I still wanted to get a big bag of rice and some curry paste, so the trip wasn't a total waste, but we now needed to think of a new place to get some lunch. I remembered there was a Thai place (I thought it was King & I Thai) just down Franklin so we headed over to True Thai.
True Thai has a large seating area with a Thai lunch buffet towards the back of the main room. It was busy when we arrived around 12:30 with the lunch crowd and we were seated down a hallway to a separate dining area. Based on a blog post from last August it looks like this was a remodeling they did last year.
Erin predictably latched onto the cream cheese wontons as an appetizer while we looked over the menu for entrees. In typical fashion I couldn't decide if I wanted curry or stir fried dish, or if I wanted noodles or rice. The menu at True Thai is extensive with plenty of choices of soups, curries, salads, noodle dishes, and stir fry dishes. I settled on the drunkard's noodles at the normal spiciness level, since they are already a little spicier than normal dishes. In hindsight I wish I would've cranked up the heat one notch, as it didn't really kick my ass like I wanted it to, just a little runny nose.
The cream cheese wontons were good, although I wish they didn't come as a set of five; it doesn't split evenly unless you are alone or with four friends. The drunkards noodles were great as well, it was a good choice. As with most Asian dishes we get, there was plenty leftover for lunch the next day, although I did overindulge a bit during lunch, leaving me with a little less than I should have had left :)
I'm glad that there are some many Thai places in the twin cities as I've really come to love the food, but it also means that I probably won't go back to any particular place for a long time. I would like to come back to True Thai for lunch sometime to try the buffet, it would be a great way to sample a bunch of different Thai dishes in one trip, and at $7.95 it's a fantastic deal.
- Service: The service was fine, although she messed up the splitting of the tab.
- Food: The food was great, though I'm beginning to think that Thai food is hard to screw up. Even I can cook it at home :)
- Drinks: They actually have a good list of bottled beer, with several Bell's and Lake Superior beers on the menu.
- Ambiance: True Thai has a good lunch atmosphere and all the employees were friendly and happy.
- Price: The buffet is a great deal and cheaper than most of the entrees. The entrees range from $9-$12, which is a little pricey for lunch for my tastes.
- Convenience: True Thai is at 27th & Franklin which is pretty accessible from most directions and bus lines. I didn't see a parking lot, so you'll have to find a spot on-street.
True Thai
2627 East Franklin Ave
Minneapolis
