Thai Taste

"I've been a regular at this restaurant for more than a decade now, and I still love the place. The food and atmosphere never disappoint. It's a fantastic spot for both vegetarians and vegans, with plenty of options that can be easily made vegan-friendly."

"Have found a wonderful place for authentic Thai in Southern Illinois! The food was absolutely amazing. Our server was very polite and prompt. Portion size was perfect. Best Pad Thai I have had in a long time. The dining room has spacious seating and tastefully decorated. 10 out of 10."

"My first time trying this restaurant. We ordered for a lunch delivery. The order was beef and vegetables from the lunch special; the cost was around $15. I tried level 3 which was mild, not spicey. The portion was small, but it was okay to experience Thai food."

"This is the 3rd time I’ve given this establishment a chance. To go orders have NEVER been correct. Food was OKAY. The Pineapple Fried Rice (dinner) in August 2023 was excellent as I sat in the restaurant. Service the second time (October) was not good. I thought I’d give it one last try for pickup (they never said where to park) in addition to charging me a lunch portion verse the dinner portion I paid for. This is my last time supporting this business."

"Please do not judge Carbondale by this "staple" location as there is potential to share my experienceS. I got this TO GO (after calling repeatedly over the span of a few minutes [GET CALL HOLDING]) which is probably why they let such an awful order slip through. I've had a few bad experiences having only eaten here maybe six or seven times in eleven years. A couple of the dine-ins were good, but one time it tasted like someone cooked a cigarette butt in my food... but that was a few years ago. Two days ago (I wrote most of this the day of but wanted to wait to post for reasons I'll discuss in a minute), I finally decided to try it again because I'm ill and a friend said the Tom Yum soup made them feel better in the past. I got green curry as well to compare it to this fantastic restaurant in Indy's called Sandra's Noodles (similarly priced to here and HIGHLY RECOMMENDED). The GREEN CURRY I ordered had no peas, no carrots, some kind of canned button mushroom (not straw mushrooms), and there was no fresh basil. I took a picture (see below) after I decided that I was irritated enough to leave a review (I had already eaten some) but I assure you that I did not sharpshoot the peas, carrots, straw mushrooms, and basil just for this review. All of those items were on the menu but, again, not in the dish. I guess there was a communication breakdown as they let me unknowingly order something they had less than half the ingredients to make. I suppose some of them could've been pureed in the "sauce" but all i could see were bamboo shoots, canned mushrooms, and chicken in paste... It tasted alright, (salt, fish sauce, coconut milk, and green curry paste), but don't expect to get anything like what you ordered and certainly don't expect what you'd get from Sandra's which had very similar visible ingredients to those listed on this menu. I also ordered the TOM YUM soup with chicken. It was bland yet sour making it essentially inedible (I had two bites then and one during the second tasting after which the picture was taken explaining why so much is gone). I couldn't tell where the gross flavor was coming from but I'd guess bad limes or an old frozen broth. There were no other flavors coming through including chicken, lemongrass, etc. Now, again, I waited two days to post this so I could have a friend confirm and they weren't able to come until the following afternoon. I reheated them a portion hoping the extra day didn't improve the flavor and make me look foolish but before tasting the soup, they said it smelled like "wet dog" ;-) I don't own a dog nor do they. They further described it as smelling "kind of like a kitchen sink". I do have one of those and admittedly the experiment took place in the same room. They tasted it and couldn't describe the flavor any better than I already have and added that they would have recommended it NOT be served at a restaurant they had any control over and that they felt bad for recommending it to me. The vegetable soup of the day was actually really good and full of veggies and I'm glad I ordered that as opposed to two of the smallest over-fried egg rolls I've ever eaten. That being said, I'm not sure what about the soup was "authentic Thai". Probably not the corn. Stick to dine-in and the pad thai if you have to eat here, I certainly won't, and hope that it's cooked in an unburned pan. Be better, Thai Taste... For the record, I was thinking about calling/going in to complain, but I absolutely did not want to eat here again, you can keep my money, and this review only would've changed to say that at least management tried to improve the deal. A rude interaction (possible as it's been two days and I lost the receipt) would've made this review less credible and I'm still sick. I'd like to think I would've done my part anyway to prevent others from having to deal with the same situation particularly since you're (were...) a "Carbondale staple". I'm certainly not the first to voice similar complaints, but apparently not publicly which is why they're still so inconsistent."