Yai Restaurant
Los Angeles, CA 90028-6719
Phone: 323) 462-0292
- Price:
- $
- Cross Street:
- Taft Avenue
- Hours:
- Daily 11am-10pm
Editorial Review for Yai Restaurant – by Citysearch Editors
In Short
This casual Hollywood eatery offers little in the way of ambience, unglamorously sandwiched between a mini-mall doughnut shop and 7-Eleven. But inside, tables full of Thai families and dressed-down Hollywood locals noisily swap dishes and contentedly slurp noodles. The light Cali-Thai trend is forgone for homier, heartier dishes. It's like Thai soul food--crab rolls are meat-filled, deep-fried discs and whole catfish is presented hacked crosswise (bones and all), and topped with red curry.
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Insider Tips
Know Before You GoThe restaurant accepts cash only, but if you're unprepared, the 7-Eleven next door has an ATM.
User Reviews for Yai Restaurant
09/13/2008 Posted by karlaross
Still reeling from dinner at Yai last night. We were heading to the Greek Theatre, so I Googled "best Thai restaurants in Thai Town." Yai consistently came up with excellent reviews, so I thought I'd give it a shot. I was warned about the funky atmosphere, so no problem there. I was even OK with the grime and dirt all over the plastic coated menus, that could easily be wiped off once in awhile. The first dish we ordered was crab rolls, which were neither rolled or had crab in them. They were sort of flat, excessively greasy pancakes made with fake crab. Ugh. Next came the pad Thai--shrimp were OK in there, but again the noodles were a pile of grease. BBQ pork is one of my favorite dishes, but not at Yai. It was an unseasoned, dry mess. I thought we could salvage dinner with a nice chicken dish in a spicy garlic sauce. I wasn't sure if we were eating chicken, pigeon, seagull, or some other mystery poultry, but I did try it. Did I mention the rice was good? We tried enough dishes to get an idea of what the food is like, and I was shocked at the abysmal quality of this place. I have never been steered wrong by public on-line reviews before. STAY AWAY FROM YAI!!
Pros: cheap
Cons: BAD food
02/17/2008 Posted by algis
I regularly go there and rate the food highly and service as adequate with one MAJOR cave-eat - they cook to-go orders after they serve seat-in customers. Three customers that came way after me were half way through their dishes before my order was ready, and it was NOT large or complex (three entrees and an appetizer). I like their food too much to dump them, but I shall NEVER again place pure to go order either.
