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The Papaya Hut is a small little Thai eatery with about 6 tables. Very casual; takeout is usually busy.
The food is not that great. I've had much better Thai food. And inconsistent.
The service is friendly and patient. The problem, however, is the language. Their English needs improving. You must be careful placing an order over the phone. We've had some difficulty before.
The price is great! I don't know how it got the $15-30 price-tag on this website. It is under $10 for most lunch items. Maybe dinner is more expensive.
The reason our office goes for pickup is that it is quick (by the time we order and walk there, it is ready) and the price is right. Also, the only other Thai place is not much better food, for a higher price.
Went there during lunch break as they fast and food is good value. Ordered our usual with chicken and the wrong order was brought for my friend. So she politely asked for her choice of chicken rather than beef and received a negative look. The dish was brought back obviously looked like the beef had been picked out. When we were ready to leave, we asked for containers for our leftovers and once again received a negative look and only one container and then ignored. Maybe a language barrier but we did point as well.
Just surprised by the lack of good service especially since we are repeat customers and order for corporate lunches as well.
The staff should really try and smile and listen!
Been here twice on weeknights just because we happened to be in the area and they are in the ebook.
All yummy dishes, but definitely not authentic Thai food. More like Chinese Stirfry. I wouldn't call it terrible, but it's not great. I imagine this place is good for a quick bite if you're not expecting much or just a quick takeout if you live nearby. The people there are friendly enough, but it's not stellar in all categories. Unfortunately, I will not be returning. =(
Not one person who works or cooks in this restaurant is Thai hence nothing is remotely authentic there. I have been here once for lunch and the pad thai was basically noodles with ketchup, disgusting. We did take out tonight as everywhere else was closed on New Years Day and boy was it disappointing. Papaya salad had an entire onion in it and too much lemon juice, instead of lime. Panang curry was supposed to be dry curry with chicken but instead came full of crazy. Eggplant with basil had brocolli in them, did the run out of eggplant and substituted without asking. The spicy prawn soup was ok, edible but nothing to rave. The best item was the perfectly cooked Thai rice, sad. Definitely not ordering from them again. If our usual haunt Thai Terrace or Thai Away Home were opened, we would never have had to waste mula at this place. What a waste!
I use to go here all the time 2-3 years ago and really loved this place. I dropped by recently and it seems like new owners took over. Food was very bland and salty, and when we told them that, they didn't really care or offer to replace the food. Won't be back.
Tried it on a weeknight with 4 people and each chose one of their combo meals to share. You get salad, satay, spring roll and one entree. 2 prices as the higher price allows you to chose the seafood options on the dishes. 3 curries tried and all very good. One was a bit on the sweet side but that may be the style of the curry. A great value with good, quick service. Not much to say about the interior as it's a small family style place. Would return for a quick, cheap dinner. Looks like they have an even better deal at lunch.
Food: Tasty and well-seasoned; unfortuantely not a lot of seafood in the mixed seafood (a lot of it is onions and green peppers), but other seafood dishes might have a higher ratio. Rice is very good. Spring rolls are light and crispy. Other dishes, however, had *a lot* of sauce. I'm not a Thai or Chinese chef so I don't know if that's how it's supposed to be, I'm just saying.
Service: Prompt; they refill your water glasses quite often.
Ambiance: Small, clean
Price: Medium-range; you can get stuffed with an entertainment coupon for about $25 for two people
They do take-out and delivery as well.
First of all, i am a huge Thai food fan but this turned me off and little joints for quite some time. I dont know how many times I have driven past this little tucked away place on Burrad but I thought one day I would give a go with a friend. We went with an entertainment coupon (dont we all like deals) and we ordered some standard Thai items thinking you can't go wrong; well shocking apparently you can. We didn't order anything too crazy, a simple curry, a pad thai ...etc but it was not good at all. No flavours, not fresh ingredients, food was warm, atmosphere was poor and loud with Burrad traffic, ...etc, Even with the entertainment coupon it was not worth it.
Overall, not worth the visit if you are a Thai fan.
We ordered take out on a Sunday night, now I wish I would have just cooked my own dinner. Almost any time I have Thai food I get roughly the same thing: spring rolls, red chicken curry, spicy chicken coconut soup, and coconut rice.
To start off the spring rolls were way too greasy, I'm talking gross greasy, I paper toweled them off and grease was still oozing all over my fingers. On top of that there was absolutely no flavor in the filling. I thought maybe the little dipping sauce would help, nope also no flavor, how is this possible? and $7 for 3 greasy flavorless vegetarian spring rolls, thanks for basically stealing from me.
On to the coconut soup. The menu says hot and sour soup with chicken, mushrooms, coconut milk and herbs. Hmm really it was to be hot and sour because it was neither hot nor sour, but it did have chicken and mushrooms and coconut milk along with hard bits of lemongrass. **Mmmmmm I love eating hard chunks of lemongrass**(that was sarcasm).
Red chicken curry. It was red. It was also really sweet and extremely rich and thick with coconut. yes know I ordered something with coconut in it, but I thought I would taste some of the other ingredients. Hey wait I know it taste like a watered down version of the soup without the mushrooms or hard lemongrass chunks.
The coconut rice. It tasted like plain jasmine rice. Maybe they ran out of the coconut milk because they put it all in the red curry.
The service our delivery driver was extremely nice and prompt, I think the best part of our experience.
Defiantly I will never go back.
My friend use to work near this place a while back and while meeting her for lunch, was introduced to this great little hole-in-the-wall. The ambiance is nothing to write home about - but the food is definitely worth a trip.
My favorite dishes are the green curry with chicken, lettuce wrap with beef and spicy eggplant (tell them to cut back on the broccoli on this dish or you basically have a broccoli dish with a bit of eggplant instead of the other way around). If I don't have enough people dining with me to order all these dishes, then I order them all anyway and bring some home. The curry is great the next day.
They are packed at lunch time, but I always eat during non prime-time hours, so I don't have to wait for a table. I don't like to have people breathing down my back for my table.
I've been told that the owners here use to work at the Thai House, but I think the food here is much better.
Service- Prompt and efficient, similar to a food court. This is despite the large lunch time crowd this restaurant attracts.
Price- At $5.50 for a lunch special, you can't go wrong.
Food- Not authentic Malaysian because it lacks the spice. The red curry was more sweet than spicy. The chicken with basil had quite a few veggies, which I liked. The spring roll with the lunch menu appeared to be devoid of salt, but tasted alright with the dipping sauce.
So come here if you're looking for a passable meal and you're in the area. For the low price, you can't go wrong.
If I had to describe this place in one word, it would be 'mediocre'. We went in on a late, rainy Friday looking for something quick sit down meal. It really is a hole in the wall. Basically they are just a take-out place that is nice enough to provide some chairs and tables.
The food took a lot longer than I expected, maybe 20 minutes. That might be normal for an upper scale restaurant, but this is supposed to be a take-out place. Only one person came in to pick up an order while we were there so it couldn't have been that they were overly busy on that end of things.
We ordered ginger beef and peppery pork dishes. I was disappointed to find out that they were both deep fried. The pork had a lot of batter on it and was quite dry, but not very spicy. The beef was better, with a sauce, but still not very flavourful. I had no idea until reading the other reviews here that it's supposed to be Thai. It's... definitely not Thai.
Service wasn't great, because I think our server was doubling as dishwasher and general kitchen help. Won't be too critical of that because it was late; I've worked in restaurants and I understand that by the end of the night you really only need 2 people to run a restaurant.
I can't see myself going back there. It's probably acceptable as a cheap and cheerful lunch place, but other than that, look elsewhere.
Here's the qualifier... I am Chinese and speak mandarin. We went to this restaurant expecting Thai food... on my, that was a mistake. The food was terrible, and I would venture to guess that no self-respecting Thai would recognize the "cuisine" as being Thai. Throughout the whole dining experience, I overheard Mandarin being spoken in the kitchen, with a decidedly Beijingese accent. The food tasted like something from one of those make-believe "Chinese-Canadian" restaurants found in small towns on the praries. The peppery pork dish was dry, and tasted nothing like anything remotely Thai. The black-bean prawns was as salty as can be, with large chunck of coarse salts, with the cosistency of the road-salt I apply on the driveway in the winter.
In sum, I would say the "Thai salad" at Earl's would offer a more authentic Thai experience. Definitely a "no go".
I went there with my friends and we all were satisfied with what we had.
Pad Thai was not very tasty I thought ( it was too ketchuppy), but my friend liked it.
They have a good variety of lunch special and the Chicken and Veggie dish was fairly good. I didnt like the dipping sauce for a spring roll though. It was like sauce with lots of water.
Overall, we enjoyed our lunch and it was such a good deal --- $6.50 inc tax!
I will come back when Im in the area for sure.
I think it's funny that people are trying to compare this place to more pricey or authentic thai places...obviously, you can't compare it to more fancy schmancy places because that's not the kinda place it is. For a cheap and tasty bite before a movie, this place wins. The lettuce wraps, curries, and pad thai are all big, and good.
Who cares about the ambiance? Why is that even a rating option for places you are just going for some cheap, decent food?
It's a hole in the wall that serves good food for the price. When I want better, more expensive food than I go somewhere else, and so should you.
I've had mixed experiences with the food here, but all in all it's a good place for Thai if you're in the area.
I love pad thai, but this pad thai is BAD. Not a very flavorful sauce, almost no veggies, and stale bits of tofu.
However, their yellow curry may be the best I've ever had. The cravings I get for that alone are enough to keep me going back there. The curry keeps very well- in fact, I think it may be even better when left in the fridge overnight.
The quality seems to vary greatly from dish to dish. Some are awesome, while some are really forgettable. Once you know what to get, though, Papaya Hut is worth checking out.
While, I'm not going to comment on the food, as we haven't had it yet (one of us had it, and says it's very good), let me just say that we did 3 phonecalls trying to negotiate a delivery.
Why is anything on UBC grounds excluded? We were forced to go to Sasamat to pick up the "delivery".
My friend comments that if you do wish to have Papaya Hut, you might prefer to go there directly, rather than ordering in.
Fun times, kids, fun times.
Came across this restaurant by defult for lunch last week. Wanted to go next door to Orchid Delight but it was closed. 1st sign something was not right as we entered via back door was hearing chinese among the cooks in the kitchen. It was very busy. We waited for a few minutes for a table and took a look at the lunch menu. Reasonably priced with large portions. Waitress was impatient with us as we asked questions re: use of entertainment coupons. She let us use it at the end but not towards lunch menu. Only could order from dinner menu which was fine with us. Ordered chicken with cashew and basil beef. Both excellent dishes large portions (dinner portion). Tastes semi authentic. Had the right kind of spices and seasoning to me. But the coconut rice was awful. Tasted and looked like plain CHINESE rice not thai rice with faint smell of coconut milk in it. Would prefer plain rice next time.
Waitress was not very friendly. Decor was ok or below average. Like the previous reviewers said, will not be back again anytime soon but it's a cheap lunch option if you are in the area.
I always used to like Thai House but find that the meals are small for the prices they charge. I was introduced to Papaya Hut which is practically next door and this hidden place is great! It is always busy and the food is tasty. I like the curry chicken with pineapple, eggplant dishes....if you like Thai House on Burrard then give this little place a try and compare.
Went here this week for dinner with my sister. We were catching a movie at 5th Ave. Cinemas and we thought since the restaurant was small, we'd be in and out pretty quickly in time for our movie. We ordered the calamari to start. It was good, crispy and chewy. The sauce it came with was nice too, but I was hoping it was going to be spicy because I like spicy food. For our entrees, we had the shrimp with cashews. The portion size of the dish was good for 4! The flavour was good but again, I was hoping for the dish to be spicy but it really wasn't at all. I think the menu rated the spiciness as two chilli peppers. It would be nice if there were more shrimp in the dish. The second entree was crispy noodles with beef (with oyster sauce). This was my favourite! The noodles were thin, crispy and not greasy. They reminded me of dry chow mein noodles except the noodles were quite a bit thinner. I suggest, if you want your order to be spicy, mention it to the waitress and I'm sure they could make it spicy for you. I think they tone down the spiciness to cater to people who are sensitive to it. This is a family run business, so the decor was very minimal. For those who complain about it not having "nice" decor, you get what you pay for and no dishes that I could see were over $12.95. If you want a fancy looking restaurant, expect to pay more. Also, for those who are picky about whether the chef is from the country the food represents, it doesn't really matter but the authenticity of the taste of the food does. Overall, our experience was pretty good and I think I'll be back.
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