03/12/09

Everyone Loves Erawan

by pyramidal

Go for the Drunken Noodles and Fresh Spring Rolls, stay for the Curry and Holy Basil. This place has it all. Not the cheapest in the world, but good Thai food is hard to come by in Philly. If you're on a budget, try the lunch special.

• Pros: Friendly and Delicious
• Cons: None

02/08/09

Worst place to have deliver food to you!

by doctorchic

We had dinner delivered and it took over an hour. When we saw our spring rolls didn't have shrimp, we weren't going to call and make a big deal, but then we opened our main dishes and they were completely wrong. Funny thing is that the receipt was correct. We called them so we could at least have our correct dishes delivered. The first girl didn't speak enough English to help. The manager ended up banning us from the restaurant rather than being accommodating and sending us our correct dishes in a timely manner. Don't order from here!

• Pros: They'll deliver
• Cons: They have the worse customer service I've encountered

12/04/08

do not use your credit card! They overcharge

by Jack2210

Food is good. Not very spicy, though. We had a '2 pepper' hot dish that was totally mild.

I suggest to use cash: they overcharged my credit card although I gave close to 20% tip. Maybe it is customary to give more than 20% tip these days? Anyway, a pretty unintelligent move considering that they cheated another dollar or so out of a $40 bill...

• Pros: good food
• Cons: overcharge credit card, slow service

09/09/08

Erawan Deliver By Car

by Erawan

Hi,

This is responding to DOCTORCHIC experience with Erawan Thai Cuisine recently.

On slow Sunday evening, I made a delivery to doctorchic's place. As far as doctorchic's place, I made it on time.

There might be a misunderstanding of orders. The packaging person checks before it gets delivered. It sounds like the whole orders were wrong. However, that evening, we did not have any left over or mixed up orders. The call was placed after all dishes were consumed. Erawan offered a replacement & sincerely apology but that did not make Doctorchic happy.

My apologies to Doctorchic again if there was a miscommunication when placing the orders and delivery time given. We are looking forward to serving you again! If there is a concern, questions, suggestions, please feel free to email me directly at erawanphillgmail

Warm Regards,

Erawan Thai Cuisine

Laddie P.

Owner

06/19/08

Is the frustration worth the food?

by dogulas

That's the question you gotta ask with this place. As one of the few Thai places in CC outside of Chinatown, Erawan has great, delicious food at reasonable prices for the great quality of the dishes. Their massaman curry in particular is excellent. The only problem is you have to pull teeth just to get it! Whether take-out of delivery, over the past 3-4 orders to this place our food has either been wrong, the hostess has basically harassed us (as said in another review) to hurry up and get your food (even if you're only a few blocks away), the "20 mins" promised wait has turned into a full hour (yes, a full hour sitting there drinking water waiting...for TAKE OUT), or worse. The last straw for us was tonight as I called and called and no one picked up the phone, only to venture down there and find an empty house with a waitress nervously lying saying it was a busy night while I watched the cooks & hostess lounging around in the back.

So in conclusion, if you can put up with alot of BS to get great food, go for it. But if you're quick to answer, go to My Thai instead.

• Pros: Great food, affordable prices
• Cons: Horrible takeout/delivery service

02/24/08

Ridiculous host

by shanonphl

Not too long ago I decided to order take-out. With the weather being so cold, thought I'd stay indoors. Placed my order, fifteen minutes later the gal from the restaurant calls me my take-out was ready for pick and she was afraid it get too cold for me to enjoy later. Walk down to my car, warm up my engine about ten minutes in between, she calls once more demanding I pick up my take-out. On my way there, hence, downtown traffic, she calls once more asking if I had any intentions on picking my dinner up. Hold your horses lady! I appreciate the call to inform of my order but after the third phone call, I felt harrassed. Once I got there, not only was I in a crabbie mood after those phone calls, my order was wrong. Ridiculously hounded by their host!

• Pros: inexpensive
• Cons: bad host, parking & location

05/27/07

Cute, quiet, very good pad thai

by keraniluna

While Erawan is close to Rittenhouse, it's far removed from the see-and-be-seen atmosphere of those restaurants. As a small, intimate, quiet restaurant, it would be ideal for dates or simple meals with friends.

The food that I had on my visit was incredible: the chicken curry dumpling appetizer was sweet and tangy, and the pad thai was very intricately flavored and had just the right texture. My only tiny complaint is that the shrimp was slightly overcooked, but this didn't ruin the dish at all. The Thai Iced Coffee is sweet and amazing. Definitely recommended.

• Pros: Wonderful pad thai, iced coffee
• Cons: A bit pricey

12/30/06

Great thai food, not crowded, also good for takeout and delivery

by housemaidsknee

This is one of our regular places. Even though their menu is not extensive, it covers most of what you would want in Thai cuisine. It is not very creative, but the basics are well done on a consistent basis.

We love their fish cakes, Erawan noodles, and Rad Nar.

They also deliver or you can do take out. The BYOB part is nice when we eat there. Given the location, it is often less crowded than other places just a few blocks away. That makes it great when we want to have a relaxed Saturday dinner - without the hordes of teenagers screaming up a storm.

• Pros: Great food, BYOB
• Cons: Nothing creative or fancy, ambience is ordinary at best

12/07/06

Great Food, Great Lunch Deal, Flavorful

by armyofda12monkeys

***** Green Curry - best g. curry I've had so far. spiciest item. All curries are very soupy, mix with rice.

***** Penang Curry - peanutty & a lil spicy. also delcious

**** Red Curry - mild but good

** Musaman Curry - tastes very indian-like. but too sweet for me. I dont like sweet food

***** Crispy Duck - had with g. curry suace. not greasy like ive had at chinese places. really delicious had slightly crispy texture/and chewy (as duck is supposed to be like). For those watchin weight, remember duck has some chunks of fat on it.

***** Pad Basil Leaves - has a slight minty taste and a little spicy as well.

**** Prik King - I beleive this tasted like a red curry, but more flavor.

*** Charcoaled Grilled Salmon - I had this with black bean sauce, dont think i liked the bean taste with salmon. I think the green curry version of it is probably very delcious.

** Pad Ginger & Sauteed Chicken breast - taste a bit generic, not my cup of tea.

*** Shrimp Bamboo Shoots - tasted good.

**** Pad Cashew Nuts - a Friend had this and he said it was spicy and delicious.

**** Pad Thai - I am not a big fan of noodle dishes. But this was pretty good. tasted very oniony/lemony.

*** Chicken Tom Yum - One of my favorate soups, but i dont like the taste of the soup here. Not as spicy as I was hoping and doesnt have Tom Yum flavor i was looking for. Very Brothy, which i dont mind. Pad Thai Shack on 18th has a spicy, brothy Tom Yum, which tastes better. Smiles Cafe on 22nd and Sansom has an average Tom Yum slightly better Erawon. Best in the city so far was Tom Yum Noodle Soup at Penang on 11st street.

**** Chicken Tom Kah Kai (coconut milk soup)- I like Tom Yum as a soup more, but will take this over the Tom Yum at this restaurant.

**** Erawan Salad - pretty good as an appetizer.

Overall my favorate Thai restaurant so far in city. Definately get a great deal for Lunch. Smiles Cafe has great lunch deal, but food more bland. I have to try more fod at places like Penang.

• Pros: Great Flavorful food. Good Lunch Deal.
• Cons: 'Not Packed' if you want a place to be scene. quiet place.

12/11/05

Excellent Thai Food

by qwe97

Erawan has some of the best Thai food I've had and is superior to most Thai restaurants I used to visit in New York (although it is more expensive). Particularly recommended is the green curry chicken and the pan-fried pork dumplings.