Welcome to Thai. Leela Thai is a peaceful oasis of casual elegance and extraordinary Thai cuisine. The pleasant surroundings and comfortable environment invite you to dine at your leisure. Leela Thai has ample seating to cater up eighty guests. Parties and special events are always welcome. Enjoy our patio seating during the summer.more...See more text
Really like this place and used to go there a lot - like at least once a week - before I became wheelchair bound. They're not accessible. One of their biggest failings, unfortunately, because it's a great place for a chow down. I lived in South East Asia for over 10 years and am very familiar with how good Thai and other Asian food should taste. Theirs is delicious.
The place has some nice Thai art, service is good, curry is great, the staff are very helpful. They're good for take-out too. Very clean, always busy, food arrives fast.
The only reasons I can't give them 5 stars is because firstly, no access for anybody who's even slightly disabled. Whacks of stairs. Secondly, when we ordered our food and requested it to be as hot as fire - my husband is from SEA and won't eat anything that isn't spicy enough and makes his eyes bug out - we were presented with bottled chili sauce. And then chillies sitting in a jar of oil. Yuck......When I asked them to please make some traditional Thai hotsauce, they didn't even come close to fulfilling my request. Seeing as all the staff we saw working there were Thai themselves, we were really disappointed that they couldn't do something so simple. Lastly, their chicken satay sticks were puny, they were also 'naked' - not cooked in the actual sauce - and the peanut sauce was nothing to get excited over. Not at all freshly made, the texture of paste, loaded with too much sugar and devoid of ginger, lemongrass & garlic. Bland bland bland! I make better peanut sauce at home, and I'm a white monkey Canadian. In addition, the traditional satay I've had in several SEA countries is always grilled while being basted with peanut sauce, and then served with more on the side. It should be sticky, charred and smokey tasting. Theirs doesn't even come close. Really disappointing.
Regardless, this place is worth a visit, for sure. I love the green papaya salad, chicken curry with bamboo shoots, as well as a dish they have which consists of chicken, pineapple and other ingredients I've forgotten. Rice is also always served steaming hot and they are lightyears ahead of ALL the Indonesian restaurants in Vancouver, which all range from disappointing to disgusting. Super delicious! Leela Thai is the one place I always over-eat, which I rarely do.
As a side note, one of their very nice waitresses quit and is now working at another Thai restaurant in South Surrey - which IS wheelchair accessible - & is close to the library & police station on 152nd Street. We ran into her there when looking for a new local Thai place. She said she didn't like working at Leela Thai at all because the owners & staff there apparently 'weren't very nice people' in her words. Surprising.......
