Sala Thai has acceptable Thai food for the area. Flavors are good but take-out portions for noodles especially are on the skimpy side. Unfortunately they seem totally unable to fill delivery orders accurately. I placed an order for 6:30 -7:00 yesterday and it arrived at 2:00. Calls to the restaurant appear to be blocked now so my only option was to refuse delivery and then spend a considerable amount of time with Postmates customer service. When I placed an order a few months ago the order was only partially filled so less food than needed for my family was delivered. At that time Sala Thai still answered their phone. The man who answered said he had tried to call me about my order. Busted. No incoming calls from them on the call log. As with the old saying - fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. Guess what? I won't be ordering again from Sala Thai. We ended up with a delightful dinner from Ruan Thai in Wheaton. They have better food anyway. I wonder how long it will take for this review to end up in the "not a recommended review" section. read more

Friday night and some plans fell through so I decided to go out to eat for dinner instead of staying in. I had a craving for some Tom Yum soup on this super cold night in Bethesda and decided to hit up Sala Thai ( I also had a Groupon voucher). Not to mention that Tom Yum soup has lemongrass in it and being that I am just getting over a cold, this soup was just what I needed. I walked in and the place was almost empty, lol. Not because it's a bad spot, but because they had only been open about an hour or less. I was immediately greeted and seated at a table by the window. The size of the restaurant is actually pretty nice. Not too big not too small with a mix of tables, booths, and of course bar seating. I ordered the Tom Yum soup ($5.95) with chicken. Lawd it was good! I mean I really loved it. Almost ordered a bowl to go! Lol! SO for now, this will definitely be my to go spot for tasty Tom Yum soup. I also ordered a Mai Tai ($9.95) which also tasted really good! The menu has a little bit of something for everyone. The meat eater, the person that loves seafood, the vegetarian, pretty much every one should be able to find something to eat on this menu. A plus for me! For my entree, I had the hardest time deciding, but settled on the Pineapple Fried rice ($12.95). I had them add chicken and make it spicy. Mmmmmm it was so good and they give you a lot. I actually had to take about half of it home. The service was pretty good too. Not excellent, but not horrible. The only problem I had was that I had to ask for my check twice. Which was sort of annoying because I was full and ready to go. I also don't like the fact that they took my plate to box up. I would prefer to do it myself or if they do it, I rather have them box up my food to go in front of me. I would have stopped my server but he moved so fast, lol. As I was getting ready to leave, a band was setting up so I assume that they have live music on Friday nights. Next time I will have to come a little later so that I can listen to the band. read more

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Be careful of Billing! This is the fourth time it's happened! The credit card bill is higher than the original bill by $7-15 every time. When notified - "very sorry - never happen again!" But happens next time. Close to your house - reasonable good Thai food. BUT BE CARFUL OF BILLING! read more

Very disappointed. Way over priced. $20 lunch. 2 pieces of shrimp in Tom kha soup and NO taste except SALTY coconut soup. (Put more shrimp in for flavor, not salt) $7 for coconut milk and mushrooms basically. Pad Thai NO taste. 5 thin slices of chicken he size of chicken nuggets or smaller. I dont recommend this place or dishes. If we were watching chopped they would be the first to be eliminated. read more

It's well-located, one of the closest things to NIH and Walter Reed, as well as being walkable from downtown Bethesda. It's a very nice space, large, well-decorated and full of light. As to the food...it's spicy. They have a good-sized vegetarian section. Portions are fairly small. If you're looking to get out of NIH for a meal, it'll do. read more

Solid Thai food, not outstanding, but serviceable. Restaurant is big, open and full of light being situated or a corner lot in downtown Bethesda. I was promptly greeted by someone working behind the bar and escorted to a 2 top right by the window. Great for people watching. Reasonable selection of beers, I ordered a Singha (Thai) beer to keep the experience consistent. There is a small wine list as well, but I didn't pay much attention to it. For my meal, I ordered off the "specials" menu. For starters a "Yummy Eggplant", and for entree a "red curry basil soft shell crab". The eggplant starter didn't have much eggplant. Pretty much ground chicken, lots of red onion, cucumber,and lettuce on 2 very small pieces of eggplant. The number of onions made it almost impossible to taste the eggplant, this could have been just about anything. The soft shell crab was overdone. It had been deep fried to oblivion and served with some non-description veggies and a little bowl of rice. The star of the show was the curry, served in a separate bowl. It was perfectly made, spices, but not overwhelming. Without it, the dish was inedible, but with it a nice entree. Service was solid, but the place was relatively empty at 6:15 pm. A couple of larger parties came in during my meal, but attention to my party of one was not affected. A previous reviewer had complained about their seating with children, but I observed a husband and wife with an infant seated in the main dining room near me, so maybe they got the message. Hard for me to compare to other local Thai restaurants as I'm just visiting, but I had a pleasant meal, and would go back if I had a hankering for Thai food, although it wasn't outstanding enough to stop me from trying other places in this neighborhood full of restaurants. read more

Came in on a Saturday night, wasn't too busy. Peaceful atmosphere and excellent staff and hospitality, very polite people. They had live "Thai Jazz" which was amazing, I left a tip for those people as well. read more

Sala Thai Restaurant - Spicy Fried Rice with beef - Thai Near Me - Bethesda, Maryland

Cant believe I've been coming to this restaurant for 20 years now! I used to work right up the street from there and my last visit was this past February of 2020. They have always had great food and a great atmosphere. They even have live music on Friday evenings and a larger upstairs area if you hVe a large group. I love many of their dishes but am disappointed that their Gai Ra Yong was no longer on the menu! They did offer another very similar and just as spicy and crispy alternative which I love! My only wish is that they cooked their Pad Thai differently without the excessive tamarind sauce that most other Thai places use. I just like a different style of Pad Thai, but their other dishes are delicious! read more

Bought the Living social for the coconut milk penang gai It was carry out, I actually bought it twice. They didn't put chopsticks fork or napkin. They have signs for happy hour 3-6 read more

Sala Thai Restaurant - Happy hour - Thai Near Me - Bethesda, Maryland

One of the best restaurants in Bethesda. My husband and I eat here every week. Their Pad Woon Sen is THE BEST!

Food was mediocre, service wasn't great. My husband had the pineapple rice with beef. It had very few veggies and one slice cherry tomato. Mostly rice and not that flavorful. I had the drunken noodles with chicken it had a nice kick "SPICY" For the price, I didn't think the portion size was adequate. Not sure that I will return. read more

Unfortunately this was a bad batch of Panang Curry. At least I hope. Usually I am a cheerleader for this place- especially since it is within walking distance from my home. Today, I regret spending my money here. There are so many other restaurants in the area that today's choice was a bad one. It left me feeling very light headed. The sauce was very thin and it had no lemongrass or peanuts. It tasted like they stretched the sauce with MSG. Not good, I'm left drinking tons of eater to flush out the large amount of salt. Not a happy customer who lives in the neighborhood. read more

Sala Thai Restaurant - Panang Curry-chicken. Watered down with MSG... - Thai Near Me - Bethesda, Maryland

We had a very nice dinner at Sala Thai while working in Bethesda. We really had a hard time picking a place to eat because there are so many options, but we are glad we picked here. It was a cold night and we came in after walking the capital mall and taking the Metro back to Bethesda. We were chili, but when we walked in there was live jazz music, an inviting atmosphere, and a welcoming staff. I started with the Tom Kah soup to warm up. The soup had great flavor and had all the right ingredients in it to make it authentic. Make with lemongrass and kafir lime leaves, this was a great way to start our meal. The group of people I was with, was not into eating family style like I normally do so I had the drunken noodles because they are also so pleasing and fulfilling. These noodles were perfect, great flavor, nice spice, and not over sauced. I enjoyed them very much. I also had a chance to try a daily special which was a pumpkin curry which also was delicious. We had a great meal and the staff was helpful and friendly. A great experience overall. read more

I had a dish with squid in it; tasted very fishy, foul. I had to send it back. I love squid

My boyfriend's favorite cuisine is Thai, so we've been all over the DMV looking for good restaurants and this place is in our top five. That actually works out really great for us because this place often has a groupon or living social deal going on AND it's only 2 blocks from his apartment so we often use the groupon to get take out. They are pretty good at all the standard Thai dishes but they are the best at noodles. The portions are very generous given the price, which is supremely affordable. Green curry (3/5) : Pretty standard green curry. The taste is great but I expected a little more variety in the vegetables. Normally green curry comes with eggplant or beans but this just had bamboo shoots. Tom Yum Goong (3/5) : This soup was ok. When something is sour at Sala Thai, it's really sour so that was a little off setting. Also the portion was a bit paltry. Yum Woon Sen (3/5) : This would have been really good if it wasn't *really* sour. Drunken noodles (5/5) : These were great. Big fat wide noodles that are really soft and great flavor that is not too greasy. Pad Thai (5/5) : My boyfriend loved this dish and he has had pad Thai from many different restaurants. In addition to whatever protein that you get, they put in egg, tofu and sprouts. The spice level is just perfect and the flavor is great. Fried ice cream (3/5): Definitely not the worst I've had but not that great either. The shell should have been a lot crispier. Drinks (4/5) : Pretty good! I was surprised. The Bangkok sunset made me feel like I was on a beach in Cancun again. Their margarita is not too shabby either. Great place to have nearby! read more

It may not be a good sign when there were only a few tables at dinner hours. I ordered the tom kha with shrimps the broth was very bland lacks fish sauce/acid and too much coconut milk. I wondered who was in the kitchen? The shrimps though were fresh. I made a request for the green curry with squid the server was not sure and had to check it was nice she came back with a Yes. The green curry was good had a spicy kick and l loved the julienned bamboo shoots. My hubby had the vegetarian garden roll it was dry i has tried a small piece. The pad thai was average. The sticky rice with mango was decent wish there was more coconut milk. Overall the thai food here was below average compared to most. read more

If you're allergic to MSG or passive agression you might want to find another Thai food place in Bethesda. We used to order Thai lunch quite often from this place, however recently it seems like the customer service has seriously been slipping. Just today we received the wrong soup (tom yum with shrimp rather than chicken). I called them up looking for nothing more than an apology, instead the woman on the phone basically yelled at me, and when I calmly explained that not only did I DEFINITELY say Tom Yum with Chicken (overheard by a co-worker) she blew a gasket and just started screaming. I thought the Soup Nazi was a fictional character from Sinefeld, turns out she's actually from Thailand. I wouldn't be writing a negative review over this one incident alone, but there have been multiple other customer service related issues ordering food for delivery during lunch. Once they charged us for all dinner entree's at lunch time and then said "well, just eat it", another time they said "we don't deliver, we never have" and hung up the phone. I'm giving this place 2 stars because the food is actually decent. Maybe next time I'll just go ahead and call my EX and have her deliver Thai food to me at work. Overall the experience might be more pleasant. read more

I have been here several times, and have never been disappointed. Usually I get some noodle dish, but tonight we branched out and got NO noodles! It's a miracle! Anyway, we got the chicken satay, which I always get. The chicken is tender and the peanut sauce is great. And I love the sweet cucumber salad that comes with it - a little chicken, a little cucumber, and a little peanut sauce is a really nice bite. I also got a Thai iced tea, which was yummy - your standard. For our entrees, we got an eggplant and mushroom stir fry, which was delicious. Our other entree was really a standout, I think. We got a pork dish with veggies in a sweet and sour sauce. The sauce was delicious, the pork was tender, and there was a really nice variety of veggies. Now, for dessert, I wanted mango sticky rice, and they didn't have any! Why, you ask? Because mango is out of season, and they're unwilling to serve unripe mango = props to them. Instead of serving something less than perfect, they don't serve it at all. I respect them for that. So I got fried bananas with vanilla ice cream....yum! I expected tempura bananas, but they were actually little banana egg rolls, drizzled with honey, and served around a lovely scoop of vanilla ice cream. Delicious. The prices are reasonable, the service is good, the restaurant is clean and well-decorated, and the food is great. I will be back to Sala Thai! read more

Good food, average service, loud music. Came here for dinner on a Saturday night and was seated right away. Unfortunately it was right next to the jazz players. They were very loud and made it impossible to talk. Would most likely have had a better time on the other side of the resturant. Food was good but nothing amazing. Seemed overpriced for the amount of food we got. With so many better Thai places in the area not much of a reason to go here without a groupon. read more

Dear Sala Thai, Delivering food to the gate of NIH that is one-half mile from my office, does NOT mean you deliver to NIH. -Brooke Okay, I must admit, the food was quite good, but the delivery thing almost ruined it. I called and asked if they deliver to NIH and they said "yes". I said I'd call back. When I called to place my order, I gave the address, an the woman asked if I could come down stairs to the lobby of the building to meet the delivery person. This is fairly standard practice for deliver folks around here, so I said yes. Several minutes later I get a call saying asking if I would come to the front gate because they didn't want to drive onto campus. If I had the time or desire to walk a mile round trip to get my lunch, I wouldn't be getting delivery. I said no, this wasn't acceptable, and suggested they cancel my order. After all, I've gotten food from Thai Cafe, which is on the same street as Sala Thai, delivered before with no problem! They didn't want to cancel the order and said they would come. When the driver got to campus, he proceeded to lecture me about how they don't normally come onto campus. I think he wanted extra tip...I was VERY tempted to not give him any tip, but I refrained and gave him the same 15 percent tip I would have given him if he wasn't treating me like I'd done something wrong by purchasing food from them. There are too many restaurants in Bethesda to put up with this kind of nonsense. Not only will I not be calling here again, but I will not be visiting either. read more

I went here a while back to order to go. I was happy to know there's a Thai restaurant right down the street from where I work, but was disappointed after I placed my order. This was around late afternoon. I ordered pad thai with beef and a thai coffee to go. It took them literally 20 minutes to get me my pad Thai. Now, if the place was busy I'd understand, but it was not. AT ALL! The pad Thai was super salty and watery, I could not finish half of it. The coffee? It was the WORST Thai coffee I ever had. It was super sour!!! I don't know if they made it wrong or it was rotten. Either way it was gross! I have not been back since and will not be back. read more

(Before today, I ordered take out, delivery and was pleased with the two entrees I ordered.) NOTHING EXCITING ABOUT THIS PLACE. The restaurant is poorly run. The place is SAD. Appears to be run down. Not a good place for a quality time with a friend, more of a grab something if you are starving and get out kind of a place. A lot of inconsistencies across the board and we were made to feel like an inconvenience by dropping by, to an almost empty restaurant, on a bright Saturday day. Pricey for the quality we received. Today, with a Living Social deal I thought I scored a good deal. But to my surprise the wonderful lunch with a friend I had planned turned out to be a sub-par experience. We were looking forward to freshly cooked Thai food, instead we received so-so meals with a so-so service in a so-so place. QUALITY The white plates looked all beat-up and dark at the corners. Not sure if this has anything to do with our visit being on a Saturday, but quality was definitely missing. Food looked like it was not cooked by someone with a lot of passion for food nor experience. In one of our meals some of the veggies smelled and tasted like old de-frosted food. They were the cubed carrots, bad, and why would they add cubed carrots along with round-fancy-sliced carrots, well I guess to get rid of the old frozen ones? The way the appetizers were served was a bit confusing. The salmon on a skewer tasted good but with a questionable freshness. The peanut dip was delicious, but the diced veggies on a side that were meant to be put on top of the salmon skewers were difficult to attach, no spoon was give to load them on, nor could we just dip into them so they can attach to the sauce because there were floating in a watery liquid. The spring rolls, both, fresh and the deep fried version were as expected, but the sliced veggies on a side were looking spent and dried out, and even if they were meant to be consumed they were not easy to grab to eat. The fried banana ice cream was okay, but banana was wrapped in a deep-fried wrap similar to spring rolls but tiny. Lousy banana size and deep-fried instead of fried, not what I would expect from an authentic Thai place, but tasted okay. Ultimate margarita was anything but ultimate, something I would mix at home on first try. I didn't order any wine but looking at their bar was also a sad sight, lots of same looking bottles. SERVICE The staff do not seem pleased with working here. They were decent but not very professional. We felt like they were just waiting until we leave so that they could go back to chatting and wait until it's finally time to go home. At times they just watched us eat, but then when we needed something they took forever to get to us. We asked about the spices used on the salmon appetizer and all we got was an "I don't know" instead of "let me check on that for you." Overall, a meh experience and I am not sure I am coming back. Perhaps their cook is sick today? Not sure why we even gave a 22% tip, oh well, we tend to always do around 20% regardless of service. read more

Good thing I didn't have high expectation going in (due to mixed reviews on yelp). First impression, their entrance door was old, cheap looking, and not too clean. Inside was little better. We were there for Saturday dinner. Went there little before 6 and about 4 other tables occupied. Some reviews mentioned limited number of staffs and how slow the service was but that wasn't the case when we went. Actually, there were 4-5 servers just standing around doing pretty much nothing. We were seated and given menus promptly. One thing I thought pretty odd was that they listed regular Tom Yum soup and Vegetable Tom Yum soup on different pages. This was a first. Most menus would list it together and just have different choices you can have for the same soup. Anyways, I only looked at the Soup section and ordered TOM YUM GOONG (which had shrimp and mushroom). About 2 minutes later, I realized there is another section for Vegetable Tom Yum soup so I asked our waitress if I could change it. She said "No, I already put in the order". Seriously? It's the same soup!! Just don't put the shrimp and put more mushroom. That's all I wanted. This lack of customer service attitude left a bad taste in my mouth even before any food was delivered to the table. Then the food started coming. First of all, I like my soup really hot. I mean you're ordering a hot soup so why shouldn't I expect it to be hot, right. Wrong! The soups we got was just little better than lukewarm. As if they let it sit there while waiting for other foods to be ready. Second, 2 small (i mean maybe half of your palm) Curry Puff and about 4-5 strips of beef in Passion Beef Salad for $7.95 each . Wow. I read a lot of Yelpers complain about how small the portions are for the price you pay. This proved it. Both appetizers weren't worth $7.95 at all. Third, what's up with all this grease in the food. Drunken Noodles and Fried Rice were super greasy. Also, "Spicy" Fried Rice was NOT spicy at all. They should just call it "Sweet" Fried Rice because it was pretty sugary. Red Curry was just mediocre. Nothing special. Overall, it was not a good dinner experience at all. I would not recommend this place to anyone. I'm so glad at least we didn't have to pay the full price (we had Living Social coupon). There are so many other decent Thai restaurants in DC area. I'd suggest you not waste your money here. read more

Decent food. Average decor. Below par service. I'd heard good stuff about this place from a couple friends so decided to check it out last saturday. To my surprise, the restaurant was mostly empty for dinner service on a saturday night. The food was pretty decent but I didn't feel it was value for money given the average ambience and the below-par service. read more

In a town and on a street saturated with good restaurants, Sala Thai simply isn't worth visiting. The food was mediocre, service lackadaisical, atmosphere not particularly pleasant, and there are simply a half dozen better options within a hundred yards of the front door. We came for early dinner on a Friday night several weeks ago with our two well-behaved daughters (aged 1 and 4). People who have rated this restaurant as "kid friendly" must define that as "will grudgingly allow you to bring children into the restaurant" because they certainly were NOT pleased to have children. Despite the restaurant having the capacity to seat well over 100, the two other families with children there at the time (out of 4 total groups dining) were crammed together in the back corner of the restaurant. To my surprise, we were escorted past dozens of empty tables and seated between the other families and a pile of boxes. When I inquired about the numerous other 4-top tables in the front of the restaurant I was told "this is the family section." I had half a mind to leave then, and I'm sorry I didn't. Despite being seated 8 feet from the bar, our drinks took 20 minutes to arrive and my wife's was incorrect (requested Thai iced tea, received iced coffee). The spicy beef salad was tasty and pad seuw was appropriately prepared for a family with children, but other dishes we ordered for the adults were not prepared as we requested (asked for very spicy, result was bland). We requested a second round of drinks which never arrived (fortunately was not on the bill). For most of the meal, we could see our waitress standing behind the bar (again, mere feet away) watching the TV but mysteriously when we needed something (drinks, check, etc) she couldn't see us or vanished into the kitchen. In summary, the restaurant is not family-friendly, the service is sloppy and indifferent, and the food is mediocre. There are better Thai options (Red Ginger comes to mind) and a plethora of better dinner options for any manner of dining party within a 2-block radius. read more

I've been to this place over a dozen times over the past few years and like it a lot. Their classic pad thai is very good and is even better when you get it spicy (if you like your food spicy). I also am a big fan of their drunken noodle and spicy fried rice with chicken. I've had some of their curries as well and also seem to be tasty. But by far, my favorite dish from this place is an appetizer- thai curry puff! it is delicious and hope more people eat it and love it too :) read more

I visit this restaurant pretty often, mostly because it's really close to where I live. I can't imagine going out of my way to come to this restaurant. They do tend to have groupons/living social deals and so those are worth it if you see one! The experience (combine from about 8 different trips) - *Food - The Drunken Noodle dish is very flavorful and so is the Tom Kha (soup) ... the fried banana is delicious, however, each spring roll is tiny... like the size of my thumb!! As far as the other dishes go, I agree with the other reviewers, they can tend to come out on the bland side (for instance, dishes I normally enjoy such as Panang or Pad Thai turned out to be lacking some flavor/kick to it). *Service - I think they are frequently understaff (at least on weekends), so it tends to be slow... not so much the waiter/waitresses fault. *Atmosphere - The atmosphere is nice: live, jazz band on weekends... however, if you get a table right next to the music, it can be very frustrating. It was difficult to hear my own voice let alone the conversation at the table. If you sit far away from it, it's a nice sort of relaxed feel.... so I guess it can go either way. So if you're in the area and you enjoy Thai food and are hungry, I would suggest this place. Otherwise, I'm sure there are better places. ----- They do have a private dining area upstairs if you have a large party, so the option is available.. however, I've never been upstairs, so I can't comment. read more

Sala Thai Restaurant - Pad Thai shrimp, Panang tofu, mussels. Laab Gai - Thai Near Me - Bethesda, Maryland

My boyfriend and I came to Sala Thai for date night on a busy Saturday evening and thoroughly enjoyed our experience here. Since it was a Saturday, there was a live jazz band playing, which was a huge plus for us--just loud enough to be enjoyed by all but not so loud that it distracted from our conversation. Sala Thai drew me in to their restaurant in the first place by having a large, separate section of their menu for vegetarian dishes. I was stoked to see a Thai restaurant with such diverse options for us veggies! The environment is nice and open with lots of windows to the outside and an inviting feel to it. The special drinks seemed to be a pretty reasonable price for the area ($8 each), so we decided to try some. I had the Sala Thai Iced Tea and he had the Bangkok Sunset with coconut, pineapple, and rum. Both were different from most drinks we've ever had before (e.g., an alcoholic iced tea with actual tea in it, which was kind of fun). They were also extremely strong, so go in expecting to only order one drink unless you can really, really hold your liquor. One thing that was odd was that the drinks took longer to make than our appetizers, but we were willing to let it slide since we clearly got such a good bang for our buck. Unfortunately, they were out of the garden rolls, which was a huge bummer as that was the one thing I wanted to try above everything else. So, for appetizers I decided to go with the Tofu Tod instead, which was pretty basic (fried tofu with a sweet and sour peanut sauce) but still enjoyable. My boyfriend ordered the calamari (he's really into calamari....) and enjoyed it but was disappointed to see that they didn't give any tentacles. We both ended up with the same dipping sauce, but at least it had a good flavor and nice kick to it. As for entrees, we had both been on a long run the day we were there and so both found ourselves suddenly craving noodles. To get something different from the standard pad thai, he ordered the drunken noodles with shrimp and tofu, and I had the Pad See Ew for vegetarians. We agreed quite well on how balanced our dishes were, with both of us feeling that they brought a spice level that was noticeable but not overwhelming. Everything was really well-prepared, the portion sizes were perfect, and the sauces had great flavor. And on top of that, my entree was under $10 and his was not much more. Not bad for Bethesda.... Overall, we had a really nice evening at Sala Thai. The few stumbling blocks we did encounter were minor in comparison to all of the good things we experienced there. I'm glad we found this restaurant and we will definitely be back again soon! read more

Disclaimer: I've only ever had takeout, and only from this location. Read on from here as you will. Sala Thai is quickly becoming my favorite Thai place in the area. They have all the standard dishes, some harder to find dishes, and a few that I haven't seen elsewhere. I don't think I've had anything from there I don't like, and there's a couple items I will only get there from now on. There's also a fair amount of pork and lamb dishes that aren't always an option at other Thai restaurants, which generally only have chicken, beef and seafood. Case in point -- this is the only Thai place where the ka prow is seasoned with fresh peppercorns instead of dried red chiles. I have no idea what's authentic, and generally am happy with the red peppers, but there's just something awesome about a whole bunch of pepper cherries sitting in the container with stir fry. This is NOT your average black pepper from the grocery store. It's like looking a little grapes that make your mouth tingle. The service on the phone and when I pickup is generally fast and courteous. I'd really be happy to actually sit down here and have dinner if the occasion comes up, instead of ordering for takeout. I'm sure they'd have the same level of service. Also, it seems like some evenings they have live music from local musicians. I'll definitely have to check that out. Oh yeah, and one last thing -- they generally comply when you order something spicy, and often you don't have to ask. Nothing makes me angrier than bland food at a Thai place, and I've never had an issue with them. read more

I was excited to try this place because my friend had gotten good delivery on a couple of occasions. However, I personally won't ever be returning. We went in and the restaurant was nearly empty, not unusual for a Sunday night. We were promptly seated at a booth and our drink/appetizer order was taken quickly. At that point however, we noticed that we appeared to be sitting directly under a vent, and there were tiny flies stuck to the wall beneath it. Pretty darn gross. For some unknown reason, we decided to still give the food a try. The spring rolls were pretty bland and not really worth a mention. My pad thai was okay, could have used some more lime juice. But when my friend told me to try her pad see ew, we agreed the only flavor there was 'burnt'. The service was very fast and there were constantly refilling drinks, which was just about the only positive quality of the experience. read more

This place has potential. The design of the restaurant is cool and it was right across the street from the hotel I was staying in (double tree). The menu has a lot of things on it, but the sampling of four dishes I had didn't impress me. I didn't get sick or anything, it just wasn't memorable. I tried a hot and sour soup, pad thai with shrimp, salmon, and red beef and green chicken curries. The best of the four main dishes was the green curry chicken over white rice. Service could be improved. The servers seemed to not understand everything we said, they put our spoons after we ate the soup on the table and expected us to reuse them. Atmosphere was very laid back and it wouldn't be a bad place to hang out if you lived nearby and feel like some OK thai. read more

This establishment is opened at 11:30am, not 11am as indicated on yelp and google.I've had better, but I've had worst. Based on past yelp reviews, I decided to try the tofu pad se ew and vegetarian green curry today. The noodles and vegetable were cooked perfectly in the pad se ew. I had initially chosen to adding some heat to this dish; however decided against it since the server insisted that the dish would lose it's flavor with the addition to any spice. I dreadfully regretted this decision after trying this dish--any addition would have saved this miserably bland, flavorless dish. The vegetarian green curry was "good", but nothing to rave about. I ordered this meal "spicy" but believe it was mildly spicy at most. The green curry was a good effort in trying to mimic the better curries I've had; however, it also lacked depth in it's flavor. Otherwise the variety in vegetable was good (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, string beans). All in all, the staff was courteous and the establishment has a good atmosphere; however the food is mediocre at best (eatable and acceptable; however far from being great). read more

Traveling for work in Bethesda so this was my first time at Sala Thai and it was delicious! I ordered the pad Thai with chicken and it's was one of the best pad thai I've ever had. read more

Pad Thai with chicken and fried calamari. Super delicious and huge servings. Ordered via Uber Eats- very fast delivery and it was still very hot. Highly recommend. read more

Sala Thai Restaurant - Thai Near Me - Bethesda, Maryland

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I haven't eaten there in 5 years or so but always liked it. I have eaten everything on the menu over the years and never had a bad dish. I went there with my wife last week and got the massaman curry, wife got the drunken noodles. I don't know which dish I liked more. Both great. Will probably start going there more often. read more

There were several Thai options close to the hotel I was staying at, so I chose this one based on a few of the past reviews I read. It's location is unique and the neon lights sparked my interest. I had the drunken noodle (my go to). Staff was very nice and accommodating. I felt their prices were affordable and portions were plenty! I would recommend giving this place a try. read more

Sala Thai Restaurant - Thai Near Me - Bethesda, Maryland

I am a one-time patron of Sala Thai, so take my review with a drop of chili oil.... So, hubbs and I went here because we passed it a couple of times to and fro through Bethesda and thought, "Pad See Eew!" Sounds like a contradictory name with "eew..." in it, but delish! We stop in at, say our usual dinner time these days, 9-9:30pm and there's a decent crowd there. "This is good," I think in my mind. That's never really a safe thought now is it? How many times have we gone into a place that was crowded, thought, "Excellent!!" and left thinking, "WTF is wrong with all those people?!?" Other people - how important is Pad Thai at a Thai restaurant? I think it's up there in importance, no? Anyway, I had this serious craving for Pad Thai due to a previously botched Pad Thai meal (aka nasty frozen meal, ICK!) and needed something to redeem Pad Thai and fast! The hubby got chicken Pad See Eew which tasted on par with others I have had, but we both knew it was much better at Old Siam off of 8th St in DC. I got the Pad Thai (as you guessed with all that build-up) and it did not manage to save the bad image of Pad Thai I had dancing in my head. I was disappointed - it was kind of fishy, crabby, salty, unlike I think how Pad Thai should taste, so I did what any other self-respecting girl from Tejas would do - I smothered it with chili oil! Anything that burns my mouth makes me happy!! So, I felt better and took the rest as leftovers after dousing it in the fiery stuff. I will go back to Old Siam to fuel my Pad Thai cravings since it's been over two weeks later and still no salvation! I gave it 3 stars because 50% of the meals were pretty good - that being hubby's and I did eat it for leftovers the next day. I wasn't really looking forward to it, well, maybe the mouth-on-fire part I did, but it was food and that meant I didn't have to pack my lunch. Thanks Sala Thai! read more

Great thai food in bethesda, and not too expensive! Our table had: chicken lettuce wraps (really good, light and fresh) chicken pineapple (highly recommend! stir-fried with rice and fresh ginger, comes IN a pineapple!), pad thai (also amazing), and the wild chic (chicken sauteed in curry sauce with snow peas - just spicy enough, and there were lots of vegetables!). I had the Pad Pak with chicken (light garlic sauce with vegetables - it wasn't too flavorful or spicy. I'd get something with more heat next time!) I'd definitely order any of these dishes again. We also split the mango coconut sticky rice for dessert. GET IT. you know you want to. Warm, coconutty, and just sweet enough with the mango. Though if you had a lot of rice or noodles with dinner, you may need to make a little room. Or order one to take home! Still want to try: hot and sour coconut soup, nu kra ting tone (spicy beef with onion, garlic & parsley sauce), and the wild chic! I think the last time I was here I had the Pannang Gai, chicken with curry peanut sauce - and I remember it being REALLY good. So I'd go back to try that again. Service was a little slow again. But the food was worth it. read more

Every time I drive into Bethesda to grab a bite or drink I pass by this place..and today was the day I finally went and tried this out. The restaurant hosts a Jazz performance every Friday night and today was Karen Gray, Pete Chauvette, Hugh Johnson. I thought it was odd to see a jazz+thai restaurant combo..but apparently this isn't random and there is an interesting story behind this. The king of Thailand is a fan of jazz and blues and because of him the nation "adopted" the music overnight once it became known he is a fan. How interesting. This explains why so many Thai restaurants host a "jazz, blues night". Anyway I digress. I had the larb-ga for my appetizer, pad pak (beef with veggies), and....oh most importantly, two singha beers :) The larb-ga was flavorful, but not overwhelmingly powerful. The seasoning was a bit off, and I felt it lacked the appropriate amount of lime juice that is required to add complexity to this dish. The pad pak...what can I say... The dish was overly sweet and lacked the spice that I requested when I ordered. This restaurant falls below my gold standards for Thai food in the area (Thai House and Nava Thai). However, I have to say that the jazz music on Fridays is a plus (despite not being able to hear it well from 1/2 of the restaurant seats due to distance). Just make sure you sit close by. They won't blast away your eardrums because it's not that loud. 3.25 stars. read more

I find it odd that I keep coming here, every visit is worse than the previous. The food is bland, and waitstaff is utterly clueless. The food is greasy, the vegetables aren't fresh and the last two times I have been my order was wrong in someway- fried egg roll when I asked for a spring roll, and wrong soup ect. There are dozens of better restaurants within a 5 minute walk, choose something better than Sala Thai. read more