Love the food. The people are very nice. A little too expensive, in my opinion, so we don't go as often as we would if it was less expensive. read more

Delicious Thai food for the West Lafayette area. I've been here twice and the food has been consistently good. I've had the phad se ew which was delicious and very flavorful. And recently, the spicy eggplant which was amazing - saucy, rich in flavor, and healthy. My bf had the basil fried rice and wasn't impressed. They have a lot of options on their menu - curry, rice dishes, noodles, etc. Come at lunch time so you can get a free side of rice! I didn't get one at dinner :( The customer service is also very friendly. I'm grateful they sat us at 8:30pm when they close at 9pm - thank you! We were starving! And thanks to the fast service, we made it out by 9. Overall, great date place or dinner with friends! Nice ambiance. A little on the pricey side, but the food is worth it. read more

Thai Essence - Spicy eggplant - so good! - Thai Near Me - West Lafayette, Indiana

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Delicious food but since covid no longer serves food inside. Carry out only and if it's only one person working they may not be able to make what you order. Best potstickers on that side of town though! read more

This is a great thai restaurant. When I lived in Chicago, we would eat thai food at least weekly, and this place holds up against some of my favorite Chicago thai spots (ATK, Cozy, Thai Classic). Before I went this week, my husband and I hadn't visited Thai Essence for quite a while, and I was glad to return. Decor is nice, neither overdone nor sparse, and service is great- friendly and attentive wait staff. I ordered the Basil Roll to start, basically an herb/tofu spring roll. This is a favorite dish of mine and I always like to compare to the ones I make at home. I especially enjoyed the dipping sauce it came with (not the usual satay-like sauce I'm used to). For our mains, we ordered the basil chicken and the catfish. The chicken dish was a stir fry with fresh veggies- onion and bell pepper mostly. Good quality meet and flavorful sauce. We loved the catfish- when I ordered it, I expected a whole fish, so I was a bit disappointed when little fried strips of fish covered in coconut-curry sauce arrived. But the texture and flavor were spot on- I would definitely recommend this. It comes with like three little blanched pieces of broccoli- more of a garnish than anything. My only gripe (and the sole reason I didn't give this review 5 stars) is that, as other yelpers have pointed out, you must order rice separately. I see rice as an essential part to these dishes, and so charging for it separately is basically forcing you to add $2 to the price of each dish (prices here are already a bit higher than I'm used to, especially for West Lafayette). I also wasn't sure how many sides of rice we needed to order- hard to tell without knowing how saucy the dishes will be and how big the rice portions are. We ordered two sides- in hindsight I think the two of us would have been fine sharing one side of rice. This is a real pet peeve of mine and stains an otherwise great dining experience. I hope Thai Essence will consider changing their policy on ordering rice as a side. I'd prefer they charge more per dish! Almost forgot dessert! They make several flavors of ice cream in house, so we ordered the ice cream sampler, which comes with a chef's selection (you can also choose from the list) of 5 flavors of ice cream. We tried lychee, melon, passion-fruit, ginger, and black sesame. All were great (black sesame was especially interesting) and the portion was more than two of us could finish. Fun to sample all of the flavors. I will definitely return- seems like a good place for groups- and we were sitting next to a family who's kids were having a ball. read more

Mediocre food. The pad Thai was not well prepared-soggy noodles, not mixed and under seasoned. The green curry has no kick. I knew it was a bad sign when the food came out in 5 minutes read more

I've visited Thai Essence only twice for lunch, most recently on 10/17/18. Absolutely delicious! Service was very quick and the lunch was phenomenal! Restaurant is easy to get to and I highly recommend it read more

In a small town such as West Lafayette, this is one of the better places to dine out with friends- most dishes cost about 12 bucks and you can get a decent meal with good service in a cozy environment. We sometimes bring our guest speakers here to eat and converse. My Thai friends say this is definitely not authentic Thai, but I quite enjoy the adaptions the restaurant has made to make the dishes less spicy. I like the red curry beef, fried rice, pad Thai, and stir fry dishes with basil and eggplants. Curry dishes are soupy and taste good with rice. There is another restaurant called Basil Thai in town, which belongs the same owner and offer exactly the same dishes. The other restaurant cost less (about 10 bucks each dish) and does not charge rice separately, but the dining environment is not as good. read more

Thai Essence - Pad Lee mow - Thai Near Me - West Lafayette, Indiana

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The Pineapple Curry Stir Fry is delicious. I usually don't like coconut, but it was toasted and add just the right flavor to the dish. Their takeout system right now is also so easy! It is obvious they are taking extra precautions during the quarantine, such as grabbing my credit card with a wash cloth and sanitizing all the pens after use. Thanks for a great experience :) read more

Food is pretty good but VERY PRICY. I would say the food is same quality with Basil at chauncey but at a much higher price point. Moreover, look at the mango sticky rice...its $7.95 and they gave me this..honestly, for $7.95 its pretty pathetic to be getting only 6 small pieces of mango. Overall, pretty disappointing. Rather go to Basil if im being honest. read more

Thai Essence - Mango Sticky Rice a.k.a. Sad mango sticky rice :( - Thai Near Me - West Lafayette, Indiana

Went for dinner, and instead of a nice quiet dining experience, we were yelled at by the chef/owner/manager. He came storming out of the kitchen with a plate of fried rice and proceeded to chew me out for ordering it without onions... the food he just made was going to go to waste it was my fault, I was inconsiderate, etc. right after ordering, I asked the waiter to hold the onions, but apparently the dish had already been made. I would have been happy to pay for it, but he was too busy chewing me out in front of all the other diners to even hear that fact. We paid for soup and drinks and whatever else and will never return. It is a shame, as we have been dine-In and take-out customers since it opened. Can't support a business that treats customers like dirt. I honestly have never had such a horrible experience dining out. read more

Get the seafood dumplings that are only served at lunch All meals are good though! Aammaazziinngg! read more

Not a bad place. A little pricey. They ran out of spring rolls at 7pm. It's a small restaurant in small town. Staff was accommodating. Food was still good. read more

Never a let down here. Great food every time. Pretty much every dish can be altered for vegetarians , making it wonderful for groups and the large portions don't hurt either. The pineapple fried rice is comfort food with flair. Basmati rice, pineapple, tofu or meat, coconut, and veggiea. So good . read more

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YUM! Excellent Pad Thai Chicken and Pad Thai Shrimp! Exceedingly attentive service! If we lived in West Lafayette, we would be here weekly. read more

Great environment and you'll definitely enjoy it but the food is not authentically Thai.

Was really surprised by how good the thai food is, i moved here from LA where we have decent thai food and this place beats any place i have been to in LA. The food is so good i get the thai fried rice.... just made sure to keep in consideration that they close for lunch at 230pm and reopen for dinner. Dont hesitate to order here read more

Normally, I am not a huge Thai-fan, but I am trying out being vegan and they seemed to have a very vegan-friendly menu. I had emailed ahead of time to confirm this and they had responded and said they could accomodate and to just let my server know my dietary restrictions. This was met with a bit of confusion as I broached the topic with the server as she didn't seem to be aware of the differences between vegetarianism and veganism. After the initial confusion, I think things went well. I had Fried Tofu as an appetizer. I found it a bit bland, but it came with a flavorful sauce. I really had to cover the tofu with the sauce, so a larger serving of the sauce might have been more useful. It wasn't really proportional to the tofu serving. I had Pra Ram for an entree. This came with a peanut sauce, and I wasn't a big fan of it at first, but it grew on me after a while. The Mango Mousse dessert was really good, the highlight of my meal. I thought the ambience of the restaurant was nice, and it was cutely decorated. read more

The food is still great but dining in is a bit disappointing since COVID - standing at the counter to order, rather than service at our table; only half the seating is open, and styrofoam containers and plastic forks, rather than real dishes. The prices have become so high that I only to go for Mother's Day and my birthday now. read more

Thai Essence is enjoyable but has gotten a little pricey. I've been coming here for a while now and each visit I usually order the Chicken Satay. Very Tasty. It was a little more than I like to spend (especially at lunch) on such a dish at around $11 but now it's $14. In my opinion $14 is just too much to ask for chicken on a stick with a ball of white rice and and a bowl of (microwaved?) peanut sauce. As much as i enjoy it there are too many other tasty options at other restaurants using equal or more expensive ingredients and/or more involved preparation/skill for me to pay so much. I will come back to T.E. but will try other dishes. read more

Thai Essence - Chicken Satay - Thai Near Me - West Lafayette, Indiana

A friend and I came to Thai Essence for an early dinner on a Tuesday afternoon. I ordered the red curry with tofu and my friend had the chicken satay appetizer. The red curry was delicious and had lots of tofu pieces! I was highly satisfied. However, it does not come with rice, so I just got that on the side. My friend reported that the peanut sauce on the satay was "exquisite". My only complaint is that the staff was over-attentive. We were asked if we were ready to order by three separate people in a matter of minutes after sitting down. However, by the time the third person asked us I had a question about the menu, and he was helpful in answering it. read more

Thai Essence - Red curry with tofu - Thai Near Me - West Lafayette, Indiana

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Great service. Pad Thai was delicious and my husband had the cashew chicken meal. Such great depth of flavors with just the right amount of spice. read more

This is a fantastic restaurant. The owner is extremely serious about the cleanliness of his store and the perfection of his orders. He aims to deliver quality food and quality service without a doubt. Every time I go out of town, I have a craving for thai food and I still haven't found a restaurant with thai food like Thai Essence. It is kind of annoying :-) but that's a good thing for this restaurant. read more

Food has always been mediocre but acceptable (albeit rather overpriced) but after the owner/manager openly screamed at a diner last night I will certainly not be returning. Any restaurant that treats its patrons with such flagrant disrespect is not worth my money or my time, even if it is the only "Thai" food in town. If you want good Thai food and good service, find another town or learn to cook it yourself. I promise you the experience will be better. read more

They are always so friendly and the take out orders are always accurate and ready on time. Now to the food. I have enjoyed several amazing dishes but my go-to is the curry pineapple fried rice with chicken. Sometimes the word curry scares people away from a dish. Do not be afraid of this one. It has great flavor without being overly spicy. The pineapple and cucumber salad provide a refreshing bite. The rice is cooked just perfect every single time. Three of my coworkers tried a bite and now it is their menu item of choice as well. read more

Very inconsistent and inconsiderate service since they started pick up only. We ordered green curry and they gave half portion for lunch while charging same today. The person who took the order didn't ask whether we want lunch portion or dinner. A month ago we ordered same for lunch and they gave full portion. While we called back they shrugged off. read more

Food ok but what really irritated me is that they are still serving your food in 'to go' containers even when you are sitting in the restaurant. Also, as we were leaving and carrying our leftovers out she told us, not asked us, to go back and clean up our table. read more

I recently went here when my parents came into town and I loved it! The food was good and the staff was nice. My favorite part though, was the vegan options. I'm not vegan myself, but my parents are, an it's really nice to have a place we can both have good options at. The vegan options are substantial and not just a salad or a side of rice. I recommend this for anyone who has a wide variety of eaters in their dining party! read more

This was our first time trying this place. It was a nice atmosphere, with large portions. The service was great and the food came out quickly. The plates are garnished nicely as well. I would come back to this restaurant. read more

Thai Essence - Thai Near Me - West Lafayette, Indiana

If you are look for some quality Thai food within the Purdue University/ West Lafayette area, this is it!! The food was delicious and the staff was super kind and on top of it!! My only complaint is that the food is a little pricey. read more

We go out of our way to stop by Thai Essence. Their pineapple fried rice is the best version I've had anywhere. Always a very pleasant experience. read more

I grew up around this area and I haven't had such good thai food in other restaurants. Would recommend 8.5/10 read more

This place is located across the street from where I used to work. My fellow workers and I decided to try this restaurant out one day during lunch after it had been opened for a week or so. The restaurant was well-decorated. The place was dead, perhaps due to the lack of advertisement. We were seated for a very long time until the server came to take our orders. The food came after all, and it was terrible. Tasted like heated up store bought sauce poured on top of cooked meat and veggies. Not to mention the over-powering MSG. What a disappointment on food! In addition, the service was also unacceptable. Our glasses were empty unless we asked for refills, several times. This is a Thai restaurant, waitresses should be on top of this! In addition, it took us forever to get our bills. by forever, i meant FOREVER. I had to walk up to the waitress while she was chit-chatting with her fellow workers to ask for our bill. Our 1-hr lunch easily turned into 1.5 hrs. After talking to other Thai students on campus, I realized that this restaurant is owned by the same owner of Basil Thai. I guess different cook doesn't mean better food. Their standard of terrible Thai food remains. read more

Best Thai food in my opinion. I love Thai food, and I will day this is some of the best I've tried, ever. Even compared to the places I've tried on the West and East coasts! Only downfall is there hours are very specific lunch/dinner hours. read more