Erawan Cafe - Denver

Erawan Cafe is my favorite restaurant! My husband brought me here on our 2nd date 30 years ago. I had Phud Thai (original) and egg rolls that first time and have ordered the same thing every time since. I've never had Phud Thai or egg rolls at any other restaurant that can compare. My husband and I ate here almost weekly until we moved away. Whenever we are in Denver we try to stop by. Today 11/14/2020 we stopped by to pickup take out and it was so nice to see the owner/chef, Art's, smiling face covered by a mask and the restaurant setup for safe take out only food service during this scary pandemic. I felt safe not needing to walk by unmasked people sitting at tables like in other restaurants. I wish we lived closer so we could help support this business. A restaurant that has been in business for 41 years obviously makes great food! I hope the locals support this place with their take out orders while Erawan Cafe makes the responsible decision to not have dine in customers at this time.

This restaurant serves the worst Thai food I've ever tried. It seems like it used to be good, but now it's terrible.

The food at this restaurant was disappointing. Every time I passed by on 8th Ave, I saw it and looked forward to trying it. However, after finally eating there, I was let down. The food was not what I expected from a hidden dive Thai restaurant. The owner, an older man, convinced me to try the dumplings, which were average and tasted store bought. The Pad See Ew I ordered was not as I had requested- I asked for it to be hot but not Thai hot, yet it was neither dark in color nor salty as I had anticipated. The owner provided oil and diced jalapeño to add spice, but it was still not enough. While we chatted briefly about the food and Thailand, I left feeling unsatisfied. Although the owner was pleasant, I doubt I will return to Erawan for the food. Overall, I have had better Thai food elsewhere in town.

BLUF: never again. The prices on the menu do not reflect what you will be charged. Where to begin... Nice enough guy, but when I ordered for pickup, he didn 't give me my total...first red flag. I got there, and he mistakenly added an extra soup to my order. OK, easy enough mistake. He never shows me the itemized receipt. Charges my card, and it 's greater than $10 more than it should have been, even with the extra $5 soup. When I called him on it, he told me that the prices had gone up because of covid and that the new menus were at the print shop. Apparently the menu on his website, and at the restaurant are for show, and he just makes up whatever price he wants. He never offered to make things right. It wasn 't worth arguing over, but he lost my business. Now, the food...It was bad. Dry phud thai made with spaghetti noodles.

Very unethical. $1 extra tip was added to my credit card. It's not enough for me to want to go through fraud proceedings with my card company but I'm sure if he does this to everyone he makes a pretty penny. It was just presumably the owner of the cafe eating dinner at a table when I came to pick up my to go order. Don't think there was anyone else there. So he is the one who added the tip.