Thai Recipes - Davis Wiki

Location

132 E Street #190, in Mansion Square

Hours

Dinner Everyday 5:30PM - 9:00PM

Lunch Mon-Sat 11:30AM - 2:00PM

Phone

(530)759-2099

Web site

http://thairecipes.intuitwebsites.com

Method of Payment

Credit card minimum is $15.

Thai Recipes is the type of restaurant where you can go casually dressed with a bunch of friends, or semi dressy on date or celebratory meal. Moderately priced place, you can get a good dinner and drink for about $11/person not including tax and tip.

It's good to know that the menu is written entirely using the dishes' traditional Thai names without any English translation. (There actually is a bit of English translation, along the lines of "beef", "pork", "chicken", and "shrimp". They also have plenty of vegetarian options here, in fact, it was voted the Most Vegetarian Friendly Restaurant in Davis one year (There's a plaque hanging on the wall. Perhaps somebody wants to verify this).

If you have no idea what to get and you're just looking for some damned good food, Pad Thai (the best known Thai dish) comes highly recommended. $8.95

You can also request the spiciness level of the food to be adjusted to your liking (e.g. mild, medium, hot, or very spicy). 'Very spicy' is known as Thai hot here. If you really likely spicy stuff, be sure to request it as they won't suggest it (they found too many customers were ordering it and sending it back because it was too spicy). The waiting staff and kitchen use a numbering system of 1 (mild), 2 (medium), 3 (hot), and 4 (Thai hot). However, you may order 5, 6, 7...

Free refills on fountain drinks, but not on Thai tea.

Media

Read a review of Thai Recipes and a feature on its owners written in Davis Life Magazine.

Reviews and comments

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2005-04-19 13:14:43 Went there about a month ago...very good. My favorite next to Thai 2K. Can't wait to get back, could be my favorite overall. —AnnieSirrah

2005-07-24 18:31:07 Good food. I'm very fond of the Tom Yum soup and the Masamarn curry. Had the Thai-hot for the soup, didn't think it was all that hot, but I suppose it can depend on the cook? But I'm also more accustomed to spicier foods. —IrenePark

The cooks are generally pretty consistent about how hot the food is but I've heard of exceptions. Also, the same amount of chili powder seem to taste more or less spice depending on the dish. — [Users/BrianMartinez]

2005-08-10 18:42:04 This is my favorite Thai place in Davis. The waitstaff is friendly and knowledgable and the food is amazing. I love everything I've tried (and I've been there 20+ times). Try some Tom Kha Gai soup, it's an excellent initiation to Thai food for beginners. —MelissaPytlak

2005-10-03 12:53:34 After reading the reviews on this site, I decided to give Thai Recipes a try and while nice, the food didn't seem that authentic. The portions for the Pad Thai were small for the price, as well. I can see the charm in this place, however. Perhaps I'll go back? —LiRic

2005-10-03 11:15:30 Imagine an episode of the Twilight Zone where the protagonist comes to realize that he’s been transported to a parallel universe where everyone’s senses—sight, smell, touch, affect—are demonstrably attenuated. Passionate love, in this universe, is equivalent to masturbation, and spicy food is associated with the diabolical use of a banned substance called “pepper.” If you can imagine such a universe, then you may not realize that it already exists: it's called Davis, California. Thai Recipes, like Sophia’s, is another example of Davis’ mediocritization of taste. Both disdain 8-methyl-N-vanillyl-6-nonenamide, a.k.a., capsaicin, and both seem to take shortcuts when preparing entrées. Thai Recipes, for example, uses a piquancy scale of 1 to 4 (the latter achieving so-called “Thai hot” status). This scale, sadly, exists in the Twilight Zone. Thai Recipes’ “4” is more like a “1” on a gastronomical Scoville scale ranging from 1 to 10. Aside from temperature, Thai Recipes' green curry sauce tastes suspiciously like Thai Kitchen store-bought paste combined with an excess amount of coconut milk (that's how they trick the kiddies into thinking it's full of flavor—give em' a little candy and they'll come back for more). Such dishes taste good according to fast-food, not fine dining, standards. That said, I don’t blame Thai Recipes for the quality of their food. To understand why, view my hypothesis on why Davis' restaurant scene suffers from collective mediocrity at my wiki page. —ZN

In your universe, the hotter the food the higher it's quality? I'll have to try pepper spray on my next Redrum burger (should send it through the gourmet ceiling!) —SteveDavison

Not only is the food not hot, but it's overall subpar, as I said above (if you would have read more closely). But just in case someone else mistakes my complaint as focusing solely on temperature, I'll be more explicit: the food here is comparable to standard, pre-made Thai sauce packages and is therefore not restaurant quality (same goes for Sophia's, for the most part). The moral of the story: try cooking authentic Thai or explore a few more Thai restaurants (in Berkeley, perhaps); that way, you can develop a frame of reference to gauge the quality of Thai cuisine (and this is not to suggest my frame of reference is entirely sound). Venturing out of Davis would be a good first step. —ZN
yeah davis sometimes has a "just enough attitude" basically i think he's saying davis is not making passionate love to the restaurant scene... instead its kinda just foolin around... alone... on friday night... haha!

My understanding is that the Thai hot (level 4) is about how hot they cook the food in Thailand. This is much hotter than most Americans can handle their food; so, this is really a non-problem for just about anyone looking for some spicy food in Davis. Just in case, though, if you've eaten there before the kitchen is happy to cook food at a level 5, 6, 7... some people order food as high as level 12. Thai people don't usually eat their food this hot. The human body can't usually handle anything much spicier than that anyway. It burns the stomach eventually. The owners have had problems in the past because people would order food hotter than Thai hot and customers would want to send the food back because it was too spicy. This explains why they ask if you've eaten there before they serve food hotter than Thai hot. Also, if you want really spicy food, order it whatever level you want and request that they use fresh chilies.

As for the ingredients, most everything is fresh (noodles, vegetables, etc.). Some of the curries are made in part with Mae Ploy curry paste but with an added house blend of other spices, sauces, etc. My understanding is that this is a pretty standard practice.

Where have you had better Thai food? — BrianMartinez

Danke for the measured response. I respect your opinion. Let's see, the last two places I've visited on a regular basis that I can vouch for are Bangkok Cafe in Albuquerque, NM, and Bangkok West in Aptos, CA. While I wouldn't say these restaurants are mind blowing, they are comparatively superior (in my estimation). I've been to a few good places in Berkeley and SF, but I don't recall their names. For now, I prefer my own Thai cooking to anything locally ;) —ZN

2005-11-04 19:03:17 While I agree Davis isn't the best place for hotmouths, I think Mr. Norwood may be both unfair and long-winded in his assessment. What impressed me about Thai Recipes is that the heat in the dishes doesn't mask the natural flavours of the ingredients. Portions are just right; I can clear my plate and not feel I've over-eaten. Despite the Ikea furniture it's my first choice for Thai food in Davis. —LiamCreighton

Are you sure the flavors are "natural"—that is, created by combined ingredients, from scratch, rather than by pre-made spice packs or pastes? :) —ZN
ZN your definition of natural is incorrect. natural food means food that has undergone minimal processing and contains no preservatives or artificial additives. Just because they may use some premade spice combinations and pastes does not make their food unnatural, as long as the ingredients of the products are natural and undergoe minimal processing. MattHh

2006-01-28 04:08:37 I came here with a group of ~20 people a few weeks ago, and they handled the situation extremely well. Food arrived on time and at the right temperatures, the orders were fulfilled correctly, and noone in our party had to wait an unreasonable amount of time. The quality of food is fine - not the best Thai I've had, but above average anyway. —GrahamFreeman

2006-03-02 23:45:10 I love this place and the girl who works Monday nights is wonderful! I definitely suggest the Pad Radna. —KimNeston

2006-03-30 10:02:35 Had dinner here last night and thouroughly enjoyed it. The green curry at "3" heat level was just right for me - just a bit of sweat on my nose and forhead and delicious. Also had a noodle dish with crab that was excellent. Very good food at a moderate price and excellent service. —PaulThober

2006-04-18 17:00:25 This is definitely my favorite Thai restaurant in Davis. I'm particularly fond of the curries. They're not real watery here but thicker and made with coconut milk. My understanding is that this is the most authentic Thai food in Davis and that people who come from Thailand often comment that this is just how they make food in Thailand. The atmosphere is calm and sterile feeling. This is a great place for a date, families, and to take Mom when she comes to town. —BrianMartinez

2006-04-23 22:36:44 Ok. This place had horrible service and was completely overpriced! The waitstaff barely spoke any english and messed up our orders! Our friend who is allergic to calamari got really sick and we talked to the "manager" who promised us there was nothing of the sort cooked in that pan, and even got so defensive that he brought the cook out to say it for herself instead of just trusting the customer and taking it off the tab. Will never go back. Goto Sophia's across the street. —JesseUnger

2006-05-08 09:00:35 This place has the worst pad thai in Davis. The seasoning is OK, but it's far too wet and soggy, and the noodles are of the cheapest kind. —DavisHo

2006-05-16 11:40:04 I've only eaten here once, but I thought it was really good. I had a beef curry dish, and it was awesome. The portions don't seem to be quite as big as those found at Sophia's, but the food was good enough to justify going there again. —AdamSchneider

2006-05-29 18:08:33 Definitely my least favorite Thai restaurant in Davis. The seasonings were bland, the noodles were soggy, and everything seemed overpriced compared to other Thai restaurants in Davis. However, I will say that their fried bananas were delicious. —AnjaGilbert

2006-10-09 16:35:36 Their food is more spicy than other thai places in Davis. I like the food there. Portions are reasonable size for the price. —KiwiSelina

2006-12-13 20:41:50 I really enjoyed the food here. They seem to take the extra step with everything to make a great restaurant. From the filtered water to the varying degrees of spice you can get. I had the red curry and got it spicy, and it was great. The only problem is the nice waiter (daughter of the cook?) wouldn't stop talking to me and I was trying to get some studying done. Oh well, great food. —JohnHumperdinkle

2006-12-30 19:44:43 before going to this place i have tried every other thai place in davis and visited my favorite two (2k and Nakorn) quite frequently. But i now must say that i have a new favorite. I think their pad thai is better than all the places in davis because it is not nearly as sweet, and adds a nice tartness. Their eggplant tofu in basil sauce was excellent. I like how they ask you if you want fried or fresh tofu. The eggplant was not too greasy like it is in almost every restuarant in and out of davis. Overall the flavors are a little more subtle and complex here as compared to the other thai places. Someone who is used to generic sweet sauces may call it bland, but to a more sophisticated pallate the flavors are excellent, it warants the extra dollar or so you may spend per person. The thai tea ice cream with toasted coconut shavings is perhaps the best ice cream in davis as well. —MattHh

2007-01-06 23:03:18 To sum up my recent Friday night experience, the food was tasty, but not worth the extremely long time it took to get to us (I was in a party of 4). Service was okay. We ordered an appetizer, which they told us they were out of 1/2 an hour after we'd ordered it....yet suggested we get a combo that included the appetizer we ordered that they were supposedly out of. Also, for some reason they sent an 11-year-old kid to tell us about the appetizer issue. Still slightly confused about that one. Very odd. Wouldn't go there again on a busy night — they seem ill-equipped for a busy Friday night. However, I may try it again during lunch or on a less busy weeknight. I've heard 2K Thai is the best, though.—EmilyBlake

2007-01-15 13:12:33 I worked there for about all of a week. I won't go into that. But I will definitely vouch that he does collect tips, divy them out as he sees fit among servers + other employees and you get what you get. Servers are told to deposit cash tips into a little container upon receiving, and he adds this to his tallie of the credit card tips. —NatalieKitchiner

This is a pretty standard practice. Generally restaurants divy the tips among the employees. The highest percent is usually given to the waiters, but bus-boys and other employees also get a portion. You are not the only ingredient to your customer recieving quality service. However i do agree that there should be some reward for those who are better servers than others. -MattHh

2007-03-22 11:43:55 this is my favorite place to go. so many good veggie options. also they don't bat an eye when you ask for non-dairy iced teas. they do tend to be less than professional in dealing with customers, but if you want a laidback attitude it's a nice place to go. —AnsateJones

2007-05-09 17:00:41 I've been a repeat costumer at this restaurant for 6 years! I worked here as a waitress during my freshman year and the owner's husband is a total jackass. But the wife and her sister (the two cooks) are super sweet and the food is absolutely great — which explains why I'm a repeat costumer! —AggieAlum

2007-10-05 15:24:12 Tried the vegetarian pad thai at the farmers' market, and honestly, it was just wonderful. I don't understand the previous poster complaining about portion sizes; mine was fair for the price. —Casey

2007-11-08 22:55:28 this place is really great now that i compare it to sophia's and thai 2k...their tom yum ghay? soup...the hot and sour one...very delicious!!! and the pad kee mao? very good also...the curry delicious...and the people are really nice...when they had a party of 16..i think the restaurant was only reserved for that party..the owner saw me and my hungry friend lol it was around 9..and he was like ok come in..so yea very nice people..and you can sit on the floor!! :) but yea this place is YUMMMMY! —MAIRA

2007-12-18 22:51:06 I absolutely love the food here. This would be the place to go for real, authentic Thai food (especially for the spice). However, it seems that the prices keep going up and each time I go in, it gets more and more expensive. I find myself going less and less b/c of the pricey menu. —AggieAlum

2008-01-30 16:35:06 This is my favorite Thai restaurant in Davis. I love there naan (Sp?) and the basil fried rice with fried tofu is amazing! —Miranda

Wow they have naan at a thai restaurant. I have to try this —MattHh

2008-02-09 18:14:52 It was pretty good — service was very nice. We never came back, so I guess it wasn't anything spectacular. —StellaChiara

2008-02-10 16:39:02 this place is awesome for thai food. everyone loves sophia's but its not as great as everyone says it is. the service here is great, their food is amazing. tom yum gai (red) is delicious, i recommend that to soup lovers. their noodles are all delicious. my friend and i have returned to this place numerous times in the past 4 months. love it! —jentruong

2008-04-12 22:25:50 The food here is good, but I have to say how surprised I was at the portions we got for the price we paid. Not only did the to-go food come in half-size take out containers, but the half-size container was barely even half filled. I'm not one to usually complain about small portions, and usually prefer them, but this particular case was kind of ridiculous especially for a college student on a budget. Edit: I came back here a few months later and ate in. The portion seemed a little better, or maybe the plate was just small, but regardless I was still impressed by the food quality, more so than I had remembered (for Davis, that is). I will be going back soon to try more dishes. —SRB

2008-04-13 13:04:49 They have a good drunken noodles, but I don't like the small portions. I'm a hungry girl and size does matter (nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. . .). Every time I suggest this to my buddy, he refuses because he says every time we eat there, he walks out hungry. —CurlyGirl26

2008-06-27 15:05:37 I couldn't cut the chicken with my fork... most disappointing thai place to eat in davis. I've tried them all and recommend Thai 2 K. —aberrier

2008-07-09 12:09:20 When I went, the service was *very* slow. It seemed like they might be understaffed. The main dish that I ordered was ok, but not really very good. On the other hand, the mango with sticky rice was probably the best that I've ever had. YUM. —IDoNotExist

2008-08-08 12:37:39 Be forewarned they have evidently changed their payment policy. I just went to pick up my almost $10 lunch and when I presented my debit card, the girl told me there was a $15 minimum. I asked, even for debit cards? Yes. So, unfortunately I did not get my yummy lunch I was looking forward to and now have had my first unpleasant experience there. —CindiDrake

I had a similar experience; I asked if I could pay with a surcharge, and the server added $1 to my bill. Lame, but at least I got my food. —PhoebeAyers

2008-09-21 18:54:34 My On-&-Off 8 years experience at Thai Recipes

Every time that I visit my relatives in Davis, we usually go out to Thai Recipe (T.R. what we call). At (any) Thai restaurants, I usually order in Thai language right away. To let them know that I’m Thai (& very demanding customer). The word Authentic/Hot-Level can have different meaning to many. I always expect my Thai food as Thai hot-level & genuine Thai flavor, but not American style (Hope, I’m not insult anyone here).

T.R. never fails me, although it never has “all the ingredients” that S.F, L.A., New York or Chicago’s Thai restaurants usually have (Note: Those ingredients are easy access because of high Thai population in the areas). For Thai food lovers, I suggest when goes to L.A.’s Thai Town & try any Thai restaurants. You either like/hate it, but you’ll see the different in term of flavor/ingredients (authenticity).

To me, Thai Recipe (in small, sweet and quiet town like Davis) is still able to manage the flavor w/o all essential ingredients, I think that take special skill. I know because living in a small town w/o Thai-Asian markets that carry special ingredients for my Thai cooking.

Anyway, my cousins are vegetarian; their favorite dishes are ‘Prig-King Tofu’, ‘Tom Yum Jay’, ‘Praram Tofu’, ‘Basil Eggplant Tofu’, and ‘Yum Tofu and Mushroom’. My favorite dishes are ‘Pad Khee-Mao’, ‘Satay Gai’, ‘Pad-Thai Woon-Sen’, ‘Num-Tok Neur’, ‘Chuchee Talay’ and ‘Praram Neur/Mu’. Our favorite desert is ‘Fried Banana w/coconut Ice Cream’. T.R’s water is very clean definitely not tapped water.

In term of T.R.’s waiter/waitress services, I don’t have anything bad to say. My understanding Davis is College town (UC Davis); most of severs are College Students (US & International) and not professional servers. So, if they sometimes fail (not often) their services, we still gave them good tips. I encourage other to do the same…

Yes, we have tried different Thai restaurants there and we like them, too. But we still keep going back to T.R. and love to have our meals in sit-on-the-floor room (never know its name – Wish T.R. change policy about taking shoe off). After our meal, we sometimes go across the street for our special drinks at Sophie's (but never for the food).

One more thing to DavisWiki, “Thank You” for letting us share our experience here, but it would be really nice if you have recent comment/review first (on top of the page) and have oldest review (at the bottom of page). —Oiad

2008-12-11 08:14:09 I've given this place many, many chances. Only twice have they ever served me what I actually ordered. On top of rarely getting the correct dish, I always have to deal with some payment issues (I recommend taking cash so as to avoid the problem of having your card charged the wrong price, twice). The owners/servers are incredibly sweet, and the restaurant generally has a welcoming and relaxing ambiance, but I think I'll be frequenting a different Thai place from here on. —sanchez

2009-01-14 00:23:35 This is a cute, clean restaurant with friendly waitresses. All their food is generally good and well priced. This is a great place to try pad thai if you've never had it before. Excellent vegetarian options! —AmanpreetSingh

2009-02-02 13:57:30 My favorite Thai place in Davis. It's clean and the waitresses have always been friendly in my experience. You can specify if you want something mild or very spicy. —AmanpreetSingh

2009-03-08 19:18:15 My friends have encouraged me to try this place, as it is their favorite thai restaurant in Davis. I have given it two opportunities to impress me, and it ended up falling quite short. In fact, on both occassions, I was so disappointed with the SERVICE, that we ended up leaving before even eating. The last time, my party stood at the door waiting to be greeted for 10 minutes. No one even bothered to say that they would be right with us. The other time, we requested a different table and the hostess couldn't be bothered. The food might be great as everyone seems to think (I wouldn't know since I've never had the opportunity of eating there), but I think making a good impression on the customer with service is just as important. —efloughran

2009-04-01 14:43:56 The food here was phenomenal. I think the portions are a little small — I usually have to take leftover dinner home, but I managed to clear my plate here. But as mentioned above, the service is a little lacking. It wasnt't BAD service, it was just that the waitress was visibly overwhelmed with being the only waitress in a restaurant full of people. A teenage kid was there and tried helping her with collecting payment, however he charged my credit card for double the amount... but was quick to remedy it. We'll probably go back, but during a less busy time. Give this place a chance if you aren't in a hurry... and pay with cash. —MichellePalmer

2009-07-05 21:26:31 Is it me, or it "Thai spicy" not as hot as it used to be? A couple years ago, ordering your dish Thai spicy would yield some decently hot results. The last two times I've been there and ordered my food that way it has been served with a barely noticeable level of heat. —MarioMeneses

2009-09-07 11:20:03 Certainly the best Thai food available in Davis. But bear in mind, it is neither a romantic place for a date, nor is it much of a "hang out". If you are after the food though, this is the place to go. Their soups, curries, and seafood are all top notch. —pilotgeek