Never before have I read such great reviews and then had such mediocre food. I am assuming that the recent ones must be fake. While I read the blurb in the menu from 2010 attesting to the great cooking- that is not what we experienced. When we ordered the ginger honey tea and it was generic or old watery ginger tea from bags, a small red flag. We then ordered chicken satay with mango salad. The chicken tasted off, the peanut sauce was meh and even the mango salad wasn’t impressive. We sent it back and they offered to re cook it but we didn’t want that chicken. We were ready to leave but I implored my partner to give it a chance. The red curry chicken with pineapple and lychees that others rave about was lackluster. The chicken didn’t taste fresh and it was ok. I have had better red curry at Thai express. We ordered the lamb curry with peach. Tasted like lamb and canned peaches - again barely any interesting flavour. I fail to see how any of this can be considered authentic or better than Pai. No way …. Those reviews must be fake. I have had plenty of Thai food and this is so not worth ever eating at. Full stop
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 3
David Rappaport
Went here last night and it was awesome. They accommodated me and my friend late, the owner was really friendly and helped us order, and the food and service were incredible. I highly recommend it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Hugo
Amazing hidden gem, not the first time I come here and certainly not the last
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
JP Affaki
Just came out of this restaurant and I have to say that I am floored. I was recommended to go by a family friend and boy was he right! Alain and his wife are just wonderful people with a heart of generosity that has no explanation. They way they welcomed us, the way they treated our kids, the staff was nice and always making sure we were ok. The food was exquisite and their mission to help Thailand discover Thailand is really present in everything they do. I cannot recommend enough this place. If you are close by go. We took 8 dishes, it was 8 out of 8. Pad Thai, curry in the pineapple, drunken noodles, coconut shrimp, etc...
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Emily
*LATE REVIEW (08/12/2025): Dined in with my family on July 20th to try their Summerlicious menu (it was their last day). Staff were friendly, attentive, and service was prompt (reservations are highly recommended since they can get quite busy).
Their pad thai and pandan cupcake (based on limited seasonal availability) were delicious! The noodles were soft, chewy and perfectly cooked al-dente. Portion sizes were decent and I also loved the tanginess from the pad thai. Their pandan cupcake was also fragrant, airy, and not too sweet.
As for the atmosphere, there was no A/C inside and at times, it felt super toasty despite that they have fans circulating the air (hence why I gave 4 out 5 stars). Definitely not ideal during a hot summer day but other than that, the restaurant is well decorated and the food is worth to travel for.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
A J
Good food, it was close of the food I had I. thailand. Very friendly chef. That said the waiter Allan's story about Thai is very snake oil salesman like and put us off. There was a story but it all sounded shady.
Showing photos from years ago and that has nothing to do with dining experience.
The place could also do with an overhaul and clean up. There is dirt, dust and filth in the front of the restaurant. Gives a shabby appearance.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 4
Shaily Patel
This was our second time ordering from Mengrai, we got a takeaway the first time. Food is amazing, the service was great. The host was very welcoming each time. The only issue with dine-in (not a deal breaker) was that the AC was either not working on one side of the restaurant. Apart from that, great food overall hidden away from core downtown. Would recommend!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Daniel Torres
The best Thai food I’ve ever had. Thank you Alan for a great experience - we’ll be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kelly Murphy
We have dined at a lot of great places and I have to say this was one of my favourite meals I’ve ever eaten! We just moved to the area and stumbled upon Mengrai because we were craving some Thai food - we didn’t expect to have one of our favourite meals of all time!
The hospitality from Allan was so warm and welcoming, it is so nice to meet a couple that have been in business for 22 years and are still passionate about what they do!
We had the coconut shrimp, the red curry in the pineapple and the crispy beef and it was all absolutely delicious . I would run back for more of the curry now if they were still open this late! It was incredible and everything was so fresh!
I can’t rave enough about our experience- we will definitely hurry back!
Shirley Sakkal
Oh my goodness what a hidden gem. Don’t let the location fool you. Allen and his wife (the chef) travel stories. We left the food choices up to Allen and we were blown away. If you are looking for authentic Thai dishes you MUST visit the restaurant. We shall be back. Thank you for making our night so very special for our guests from Zurich
food wasn’t great, there’s much better Thai options in toronto (Koh lipe, Khao San rd…). Shrimp tasted like it was frozen. Basil wasn’t even Thai basil. Summerlicious menu is not worth the price. 18% automatic gratuity when my friend didn’t even get a fork until we told them and took 10 mins to get the bill.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Gary
We went for Summerlicious and had lovely dinner. Food was one of the best Thai available in Toronto. It seems like all there dishes are delicious and above your usual expectations. Reasonable portions and filing. Owner Allen and his wife Chef Sasi took extra care with warm welcome and personal attention. Staff was polite and efficient. Overall, nice place for thai food. Would recommend to visit and experience yourself.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
namtab
Amazing food with a homey vibe - can’t go wrong with this place. Alan is the best server in Toronto. Amazing guy.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Nathan Omana
Amazing experience and hospitality. The dining experience was one of a kind. I recommend everyone to come here for their tasty and authentic Thai cuisine before they close!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
hiellobye
Went for summerlicious today. The appetizer I got was ok - mango salad not sweet or soft texture to my liking, more crunchy and firm; coconut shrimp in sweet chili sauce was decent. The main - pad Thai chicken was not good. Asked for no spicy but there's a little kick to the chicken,maybe marinated with black pepper or some spicy seasoning. The mango sticky rice as dessert is really good. Overall good is 3/3.5. main should be the standout but surprisingly it's the dessert. Despite the food was so-so, the service was attentive which is really good. I see the staff were accommodating to other customers. The male washroom toilet door does not shut / lock securely so that's not good. I had to use the toilet n was disturbed. Need fixing. I know this place been in business long time, over 10 years maybe 15 and always wanted to try their summerlicious/winterlicious menu and I finally get to but unfortunately I was underwhelmed. Not satisfied (besides the dessert and superb service but I'm a foodie so food takes big chunks of the mark and should be the star, key things to the restaurant business. I'm in the minority since many people gave n continue to give high ratings (avg is 4.5, which is high). I had better pad Thai elsewhere. Oh well. Would I go back, probably not but I guess for me, pad Thai is not their signature dish or specialty...I got the wrong entree, which left me bit disappointed since Thai food is one of my fave cuisine.
Never before have I read such great reviews and then had such mediocre food. I am assuming that the recent ones must be fake. While I read the blurb in the menu from 2010 attesting to the great cooking- that is not what we experienced. When we ordered the ginger honey tea and it was generic or old watery ginger tea from bags, a small red flag. We then ordered chicken satay with mango salad. The chicken tasted off, the peanut sauce was meh and even the mango salad wasn’t impressive. We sent it back and they offered to re cook it but we didn’t want that chicken. We were ready to leave but I implored my partner to give it a chance. The red curry chicken with pineapple and lychees that others rave about was lackluster. The chicken didn’t taste fresh and it was ok. I have had better red curry at Thai express. We ordered the lamb curry with peach. Tasted like lamb and canned peaches - again barely any interesting flavour. I fail to see how any of this can be considered authentic or better than Pai. No way …. Those reviews must be fake. I have had plenty of Thai food and this is so not worth ever eating at. Full stop
Atmosphere: 2
Food: 1
Service: 3
Went here last night and it was awesome. They accommodated me and my friend late, the owner was really friendly and helped us order, and the food and service were incredible. I highly recommend it.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Amazing hidden gem, not the first time I come here and certainly not the last
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Just came out of this restaurant and I have to say that I am floored. I was recommended to go by a family friend and boy was he right! Alain and his wife are just wonderful people with a heart of generosity that has no explanation. They way they welcomed us, the way they treated our kids, the staff was nice and always making sure we were ok. The food was exquisite and their mission to help Thailand discover Thailand is really present in everything they do. I cannot recommend enough this place. If you are close by go. We took 8 dishes, it was 8 out of 8. Pad Thai, curry in the pineapple, drunken noodles, coconut shrimp, etc...
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
*LATE REVIEW (08/12/2025): Dined in with my family on July 20th to try their Summerlicious menu (it was their last day). Staff were friendly, attentive, and service was prompt (reservations are highly recommended since they can get quite busy).
Their pad thai and pandan cupcake (based on limited seasonal availability) were delicious! The noodles were soft, chewy and perfectly cooked al-dente. Portion sizes were decent and I also loved the tanginess from the pad thai. Their pandan cupcake was also fragrant, airy, and not too sweet.
As for the atmosphere, there was no A/C inside and at times, it felt super toasty despite that they have fans circulating the air (hence why I gave 4 out 5 stars). Definitely not ideal during a hot summer day but other than that, the restaurant is well decorated and the food is worth to travel for.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Good food, it was close of the food I had I. thailand. Very friendly chef. That said the waiter Allan's story about Thai is very snake oil salesman like and put us off. There was a story but it all sounded shady.
Showing photos from years ago and that has nothing to do with dining experience.
The place could also do with an overhaul and clean up. There is dirt, dust and filth in the front of the restaurant. Gives a shabby appearance.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 5
Service: 4
This was our second time ordering from Mengrai, we got a takeaway the first time. Food is amazing, the service was great. The host was very welcoming each time. The only issue with dine-in (not a deal breaker) was that the AC was either not working on one side of the restaurant. Apart from that, great food overall hidden away from core downtown. Would recommend!
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
The best Thai food I’ve ever had. Thank you Alan for a great experience - we’ll be back!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We have dined at a lot of great places and I have to say this was one of my favourite meals I’ve ever eaten! We just moved to the area and stumbled upon Mengrai because we were craving some Thai food - we didn’t expect to have one of our favourite meals of all time!
The hospitality from Allan was so warm and welcoming, it is so nice to meet a couple that have been in business for 22 years and are still passionate about what they do!
We had the coconut shrimp, the red curry in the pineapple and the crispy beef and it was all absolutely delicious . I would run back for more of the curry now if they were still open this late! It was incredible and everything was so fresh!
I can’t rave enough about our experience- we will definitely hurry back!
Oh my goodness what a hidden gem. Don’t let the location fool you. Allen and his wife (the chef) travel stories. We left the food choices up to Allen and we were blown away. If you are looking for authentic Thai dishes you MUST visit the restaurant. We shall be back. Thank you for making our night so very special for our guests from Zurich
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
food wasn’t great, there’s much better Thai options in toronto (Koh lipe, Khao San rd…). Shrimp tasted like it was frozen. Basil wasn’t even Thai basil. Summerlicious menu is not worth the price. 18% automatic gratuity when my friend didn’t even get a fork until we told them and took 10 mins to get the bill.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
We went for Summerlicious and had lovely dinner. Food was one of the best Thai available in Toronto. It seems like all there dishes are delicious and above your usual expectations. Reasonable portions and filing. Owner Allen and his wife Chef Sasi took extra care with warm welcome and personal attention. Staff was polite and efficient.
Overall, nice place for thai food. Would recommend to visit and experience yourself.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Amazing food with a homey vibe - can’t go wrong with this place.
Alan is the best server in Toronto. Amazing guy.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Amazing experience and hospitality. The dining experience was one of a kind. I recommend everyone to come here for their tasty and authentic Thai cuisine before they close!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Went for summerlicious today. The appetizer I got was ok - mango salad not sweet or soft texture to my liking, more crunchy and firm; coconut shrimp in sweet chili sauce was decent. The main - pad Thai chicken was not good. Asked for no spicy but there's a little kick to the chicken,maybe marinated with black pepper or some spicy seasoning. The mango sticky rice as dessert is really good. Overall good is 3/3.5. main should be the standout but surprisingly it's the dessert. Despite the food was so-so, the service was attentive which is really good. I see the staff were accommodating to other customers. The male washroom toilet door does not shut / lock securely so that's not good. I had to use the toilet n was disturbed. Need fixing.
I know this place been in business long time, over 10 years maybe 15 and always wanted to try their summerlicious/winterlicious menu and I finally get to but unfortunately I was underwhelmed. Not satisfied (besides the dessert and superb service but I'm a foodie so food takes big chunks of the mark and should be the star, key things to the restaurant business. I'm in the minority since many people gave n continue to give high ratings (avg is 4.5, which is high). I had better pad Thai elsewhere. Oh well. Would I go back, probably not but I guess for me, pad Thai is not their signature dish or specialty...I got the wrong entree, which left me bit disappointed since Thai food is one of my fave cuisine.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
Loading...