A hidden gem in Spring Lake. Amazing service! Restaurant owned by a husband and wife who are so hospitable, and are people who love what they do. Food was good, portions are great! Will be returning! read more

Thai Esan Restaurant - Chicken Curry , Grilled Bulgogi - Thai Near Me - Spring Lake, North Carolina

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I just popped in here to grab something rice for a meal I had already prepared without plain rice. The restaurant was clean and organized; the service was quick and friendly. I hope to return to eat on another trip to Fayetteville. read more

The food is authentic Thai cuisine. The owners are wonderdul folks that are always present preparing the very best Thai food. The cost is is quite reasonable. My favorite dish is their Chicken Pad Thai. Plan to take home a doggy bag because the plates are plentiful. read more

Thai Esan Restaurant - Chicken Pad Thai & Panang - Thai Near Me - Spring Lake, North Carolina

The most amazing hole in the wall. WOW. The hours are a little hard to work around but if you can make it while they are open you should go! Be careful, if you say spicy they put lava in the dish. We love this place and highly recommend it to people just moving here or visiting read more

Don't let the small outside appearance fool you. THE BEST Thai food ever! It's authentic and delicious! Everything is made fresh to order. The owners are wonderful people, for an added bonus. read more

Great place good food. I love Thai food and other Asian dishes. You know a place is good when you absolutely forget to take pictures of your plates. Big portion sizes, nice staff, and delicious foods will draw me in for another visit. read more

The food is amazing, they are so kind and accommodating! Definitely recommend. Met the owners and they were helpful :)

If you only order Pad Thai when you go to Thai restaurants, like myself, this is probably the best place around to get it. The food comes out quick and is always fresh. The beat index gets really hot. I wouldn't recommend going all the way in heat. read more

I love this place! I've been coming here for the past several years and it's always more than great cuisine. The place is family owned and so hardworking. I will say though, with more people discovering this little hidden gem of Spring Lake, their service has gotten a bit slower due to the influx of orders they're more having, but it doesn't affect their quality of food or service. read more

Thai Esan Restaurant - Grilled Bulgogi and Kim-Chi - Thai Near Me - Spring Lake, North Carolina

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This is absolutely one of my favorite places to go dine in. Not only because they serve authentic dishes but because it is also owned by a small business owner. The owner is always friendly and great with customers! read more

You know I love soups and Thais get my heart on the that. I was looking for another Thai place, alright, a buffet place where I can go and try all their offerings. Thanks to yelp for suggesting me this place. I would never have known this Thai restaurant. It is in a not so popular street, so you won't really know this one unless you live nearby and pass by it every day or, smart enough to really search yelp for Thai restaurant and suggests you this. The interior is very spacious, it can hold large company parties. The parking was a little bit tiny, however. I arrived and parked just in front of the restaurant, it didn't see lines on the parking, so I had to draw imaginary lines and parked in front. I got greeted by a courteous gentleman, I assume a retired military. There was no line and there were only two tables occupied of course it's around 1pm ish. Got my seat and checked their menus out. Since it was super past lunch time, and the buffet hours were almost over, someone would call their menus leftovers. What's good was, the cook kept cooking for the menus she deems necessary to be served during those slow hours, like the eggrolls. There only 3 people working when I was here, one at the front desk- the husband, the cook-the wife, and another lady working at the diner. (please correct me if i am wrong) Now let's get to the food. I came for food not the parking lot. They had chicken curry, basil chicken I think it was, and couple more of chicken menus, also friend and white steamed rice, salad bar. They had seafood tom yum, and chicken tom kha. I loved their soups, most specially Tom Yum. This is where I had the best Tom Yum. I could literally come here and just have their Tom Yum. I literally had 3 bowls of Tom Yum and 1 bowl of Tom Kha. I'll come here again definitely. I would recommend this place to all Thai soup lovers and to all buffet lovers I know. read more

The food is phenomenal and one of the owners is just always so friendly. I recommend this place to anyone who is looking for delicious, fresh Thai food. It takes a while, but it truly is the best. read more

New to this app but not the restaurant. Had lunch here the other day. Had pad Thai, mildly spicy. Delicious and plentiful. Great conversation with the owner while waiting for my meal. I've eaten here before with my mom and was also satisfied. Good service, timely, flavorful. Nice little niche spot. read more

Came here for the first time on a weekday for lunch. Came with a group and had their lunch buffet. What's Hot - Menu/food variety. The menu has a good variety. For example, they have tofu, bulgogi (which is technically Korean, but hey, whatever) and pad see ew. Their lunch buffet items pretty much all have meat, but there are a good selection of veggies included, such as bamboo shoots, broccoli, green beans, zucchini, etc... There's steamed white rice, fried rice, fried egg rolls, and a small salad portion. - Portions. Lunch buffet is all you can eat/stuff/whatever. Haha... Their lunch buffet has around 10 items. If you order off their menu, their portion sizes are pretty decent. Put it this way, the other people in our group have very healthy appetites. A few of them couldn't finish their entree orders and asked for take away boxes. - Price. Their weekday lunch buffet is approximately $10 per person, which isn't bad. If you order off their menu, entrees can go up to around $15 per dish. It's not necessarily bad, given that their portion sizes are decent. - Spice level. Hubby and I have a good spice tolerance. Their dishes that are spicy, which includes some dishes from their lunch buffet, are decently spicy. Also, be aware that the spiciness is the type that hits you later/waits to kick in. Make sense? What Not - Location. The location sucks. It's kind of in a ghetto area of town. The parking lot is small and inconvenient (ie: their parking lot holds less than 10 cars). - Service. Their service is ok/so-so. There's very few staff. Based on what I saw and heard, the owner's wife is the cook. It sounds like she's the only one cooking. That's why I had their lunch buffet, rather than order off the menu. The owner and other staff said that if we ordered off the menu, our food would take longer, because she was prepping all the dishes for the buffet first. Their wait staff is the owner and 2 waitresses. They're nice and helpful, but there's only so many of them to go around and get things done. My point is to be aware that this place isn't adequately staffed. - Weekdays are buffet days. Given this area, that means there's a pretty decent crowd of service members who come here for lunch. My point? Be aware that there will be traffic jams around the buffet lunch. You also pay your tab at the front, which means there can be a line. Final Answer Am willing to come back, but may not be my first choice. read more

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We dine here multiple times a month and have practically become regulars. We typically order carry out and even though we are always told 20-30 min, we always give them about 45 min because the food is always cooked to order and often takes more time than allotted. We absolutely love this food. We love their spring rolls so very much. My husbands favorite dish is their drunken noodles and I absolutely love their Massaman! My only complaint is that you never really know what to expect as far as the spice level of your food... sometimes we order medium and it's so spicy you can't even eat it and other times we order medium and it has no spice at all. Otherwise, we love Thai Esan! read more

Best Thai food in the triangle area. My favorite thing to order is the chicken pad thai (thai hot) paired with Thai tea. I also love their green chicken curry as well. I have never been disappointed with the quality of service or food here. If you want authentic Thai food, great service and good prices, this is the place. read more

Always hot and good service. Jim and momma are always nice. The Thai beef noodle soup is great in the winter. I miss their buffet!!

First time going to this spot, the place is very warming and welcoming. This is probably one of the best Fried Rice I've had since Orchid Garden. Definitely would come back and dine in! read more

Thai Esan Restaurant - Thai Fried Rice - Thai Near Me - Spring Lake, North Carolina

This is mine and my husband's favorite Thai food restaurant. I have tried so many dishes from the menu and I'm never disappointed! I love going there and have always received amazing service. read more

Two words: Green Curry. It's damn incredible. I love this restaurant. Just like my dad made it. I try to come every week. I ABSOLUTELY recommend this place. The service is A1 as well, super courteous wait staff. read more

The food and is great! The Pad Thai and egg rolls are the best! The service is excellent too!

Clearly the best Thai Food in NC. I live in Garner but I travel to Spring Lake for the very Chicken Pad Thai and Tom Kum Soup. Thai Esan also has a lunch buffet Monday thru Friday. Each day the buffet varies; however, every Friday they have Pad Thai on the buffet. My exchange students from Thailand say that Thai Esan is as authentic Thai food as you can get. I proudly and highly recommend Thai Esan Restaurant. read more

First time visiting this spot with my boyfriend and we love it! The owners are incredible sweet and the good is awesome! I'd recommend you check this place out read more

First time ordering from here and I can't wait to try more! My husband and I have ate at several different Thai restaurants all over the east coast and southeast Houston, TX area.... the yellow curry with chicken is what I ordered and he ordered Drunken Noodle with chicken. Both were extremely delicious but I must say... this is the BEST yellow curry I've had in a very long time! The heat was just enough to make my eyelids sweat The chicken fried rice was delicious, I'm planning dinner around it tomorrow! I can't wait to go back and try more. read more

Thai Esan Restaurant - Yellow Curry with chicken - Thai Near Me - Spring Lake, North Carolina

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Food is great. Used to go here frequently, and encourage my friends to do the same. The owner had an argument with someone in our party regarding the chef refusing to modify an item on the menu (which is fair). Long story short they (person in our party and the male owner) got into a disagreement and our entire party was kicked out after the owner lost his temper and cancelled everyone's orders. It's a shame the service didn't match the food. I won't go back, and I no longer encourage anyone i know to go there either. We all have bad days, and disagreements. It's one thing to ask an individual to leave, and it's another to kick that persons entire group out when they have nothing to do with the disagreement. read more

Delicious food and friendly staff :) 10/10 recommended the Thai Pepper Steak it is very yummy!

We came for the lunch buffet but have also been here for dinner. Very personable service and good food each time. The lunch buffet is affordable, quick and has many options available. We came after the rush and they offered to make us whatever we may want that had been depleted. They were great helping us order things our kids would like when we came for dinner. read more

When the gentleman working the front desk says it's the best Thai food on the East Coast BELIEVE IT. Portions are good, customer service is great, and the food is excellent. read more

Thai Esan Restaurant - Pad Prik Khing Stir Fry and Jasmine Rice - Thai Near Me - Spring Lake, North Carolina

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In NC for business and this Thai place was by my hotel. So I gave it a try for dinner. I had the fried Tilapia topped with red curry (Thai spicy). The level of spice was perfect. The fish was perfectly fried. I HIGHLY recommend this place for authentic Thai food. Aside from the great food, the owner was customer friendly. On all my business travels, I try to check out local restaurants, if time permits. It's always a "plus" in my book when I get to interact with the owner(s). read more

Thai Esan Restaurant - Thai Near Me - Spring Lake, North Carolina

Service is extremely slow. They will say it takes 15-20 minutes for takeout but it takes longer than an hour. It's a running joke with waitresses and owners husband how long it takes for the food to come out. Super unprofessional. Food is good but the slow service really takes the enjoyment out of dining there. read more

First time visit while traveling for work. I had one of the Yum soups with chicken and shrimp. Very tasty! The lime and lemon leaves added an extra flavor that was very nice. I'd come here again! read more

Thai Esan Restaurant - Thai Near Me - Spring Lake, North Carolina

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The owner called the food "rural country Thai". Also, that "It's not the same as food from the cities." I would agree. The food is missing what I really enjoy about Thai food, the "brightness" of lemon grass, ginger, etc. it's frankly a bit bland with added heat. For this area I suppose it's okay. read more

Great Thai food. Had lunch here and it was really good. It was a buffet and they kept it stocked and fresh. Really good variety, everything tasted good! Nice atmosphere and very friendly staff! read more

Absolutely delicious! Fast and amazingly good. I had the chicken stir fry and I got enough for three.

Amazing Thai and great service. You will drive right by if you aren't looking for it. Definitely worth the stop!

We have eaten Thai food in restaurants literally all over the world (3 continents) and can honestly say this is some of the best. We have eaten here at least 5 times in the last year and have never been disappointed. The green curry and cashew chicken are our favorites and outstanding, with the Pad Thai running a close third. Our children say the sweet and sour chicken is the best they have ever tasted. The staff has always been very friendly and helpful. The service has always been good. If you like commercialized, mass produced Thai food you may not have as good an experience here as we have, but if you are looking for great, authentic Thai food give it a shot. You will not be disappointed. read more

I rated 2 because of the service but food rated 1 at least because of the spiciness of it but other than that I will rate the food 0 for everything else. First thing I know the buffet is less expensive than anybody else in the place but it's all chicken, I don't feel that authenticity of the place except for two elephant figurine for being a Thai restaurant. I see one person whom I think a Thai maybe she is the cook but the food was not good at all. I think the atmosphere is nice but I whenever we go to a restaurant, we go for service and food. Just an FYI if you want beef you have to go their menu but it you want a buffet chicken you can go to their buffet at least that was the waitress told us. Me and my husband is a foodie person. We travel for good food but this was just happen a quick stop but a disappointing quick stop read more

I've only been here once so far so I hesitate to drop a five star review off the bat, but I was more than pleased with my food and the service here at Thai Esan. Holy cow-- the portions are AMAZINGLY HUGE. I didn't scoff at the prices since they seem to be run of the mill for Thai in this area, but I've never had so much to eat that I've brought leftovers home. Never. Usually Thai doesn't get the chance to come home with me. We started with an appetizer of spring rolls (side note-- holy cow, 6?!? I'll come here JUST for these in the future), I had cashew chicken and my husband had pad thai with a side of kim chi. Despite these dishes being our standard litmus test for Thai food, we were very happy with what we ordered. The thai tea was HUGE. And tasty. It's another thing I'd stop by to get on the run. The waitress was attentive, and service was top-notch. I appreciated that someone I am assuming was the owner (since there are photos of him all over the wall near the register) chatted with us as if we were old friends. He listened and cared about our opinions, and invited us back to try other dishes and mentioned other specials. Customer service is not somewhere that Thai Esan skimps. It's close to my internship and not really close to home, but I would gladly drive the hour to come here for a meal again if I weren't in the area. read more

Love this place and I have been eating here since 2006. It's my mainstay for Thai in the area.

Yum, yum, YUM! If you enjoy Thai food, you must visit Thai Esan. The cook and owner, Pen, is native-born and works up some wonderful dishes! One our first visit we tried the Spring Rolls for a starter - they are served with an amazing sauce that can't be beat. We also ordered the Pad Ka Prow - a basil-based stir fry that was amazing -- we wanted to drink the broth straight from the bowl. We also had the Pa Nang - a delightfully spicey curry/coconut dish. Servings are large and very filling. They also have a lunch buffet that I have heard is well-attended, and very affordable. We will visit every time we come to Fayetteville - and will advise others to do the same. read more