My dad had a few coupons for this place in Poway called Takhrai Thai. He and my mom had gone a few times and had one coupon left. It was the last day to use it and he invited me along to share in the bounty of delicious food. We got there early to beat any crowds coming in to use their coupons on the last day, too. We actually got there a little too early – they close from 3PM-5PM after lunch. We only had to wait for a few minutes for someone to arrive and let us in.
We were seated in a booth in a nicely decorated restaurant. There’s a little fountain in the corner.
[Crispy Calamari – Thai style fried calamari rings with sweet dipping sauce – $8.95]
We shared an order of their Calamari to start off. The calamari here is cut into rings and lightly fried in what seemed to be a bread-crumb like batter. They’re nice and crisp and were not overdone. I’m used to having calamari with some kind of marinara sauce but these were served with a sweet Thai dipping sauce and paired very well with the calamari. So tasty!
[Pineapple Fried Rice – fried rice with a combination of chicken, shrimp, pineapple, cashew nuts, onion, scallion, egg, and spice with curry powder, served in a pineapple shell – $13.95]
For our entrees, we got this huge thing of Pineapple Fried Rice, served up in a pineapple shell. You can’t see the shell so great from my photo, but it was quite impressive. The mixture of flavors and ingredients made this a really good fried rice. I normally avoid things with pineapple, but I enjoyed the bit of sweetness it added to the fried rice. This fried rice had nice large pieces of chicken, shrimp and veggies and was a really good mix.
[Pad Ginger – stir fried with sliced ginger, black mushroom, black fungus and scallion – $10.95]
Another item we shared was this Pad Ginger dish. We got all of our entrees at level 4 spicy, which wasn’t too spicy at all. I picked out this one and decided to get it with beef, though the beef was not the most tender. It would probably be better with pork or chicken, but I was in a beef mood that day. The flavor though was excellent – I love dishes with ginger in it and this was no exception. The mushrooms were really nice and tender and the sauce on this dish was so flavorful. The ginger wasn’t overpowering, just a good background hint.
[Pad Thai with chicken, flat rice noodles with bean sprouts, egg and topped with crushed peanuts – $9.95]
Our last shared entree was the Pad Thai, but with flat rice noodles instead of the usual skinnier noodles served with Pad Thai. I love the chew of the flat rice noodles. This wasn’t quite as flavorful as the Pad Ginger dish, but it was still good – though a pretty standard kind of Thai dish. I think I’m going to start ordering the flat rice noodles more often, I found that I really preferred them over the usual noodles this dish is served with. Full of yum!
*Note – my dad asked for this with the flat rice noodles, they normally come with the skinnier noodles for the Pad Thai dish.
Takhrai Thai is a little restaurant tucked away into a strip mall in Poway. It’s pretty unassuming and not in the best location, but I found the food here to be very good. If you’re in the area and looking for a place for some good, quality food you should give Takhrai Thai a try!
Takhrai Thai
12265 Scripps Poway Pkwy, Ste 116
(between Pomerado Rd & Kirkham Rd)
Poway, CA 92064
(858) 549-1848
We’ve been here several times since it’s not too far from home. I can’t remember if I have ever had the pad thai, but I will order it next time because I love the flat rice noodles. I usually order the pad see ew because of the flat noodles. The pineapple fried rice looks like it has no peas (pet peeve of the kid, who usually picks them out).
Interesting… I’ve never even considered ordering pad thai with the flat noodles! I think we’ll give it a try!
This is right in our neighborhood. We’ve watched it go through a couple different owners (managers?) and, I suspect, chefs. Whoever’s in charge at the moment somehow got rid of tender beef. Now we only order chicken, pork, or shrimp.
Lappert’s Ice Cream is next door and further down the strip mall is Nothing Bundt Cakes!
Hi Sandy –
Make sure you ask for the flat noodles, it doesn’t normally come with the flat ones! I don’t like peas, either, so I don’t blame your kid. But I like pea soup. Go figure.
Hi Leanne – We went to Lappert’s ice cream after dinner, I just didn’t take any photos. Too busy stuffing the ice cream into my mouth 🙂 I didn’t know Nothing Bundt Cakes was in there though, still haven’t tried one of their bundts yet.
We’ve gotten take out from here a long time ago, maybe before it was Takhrai Thai perhaps? It wasn’t the greatest since most of the dishes we tried were rather bland. Just never went back. I see coupons all the time so maybe we’ll give it a try again.
Hi Carol – Maybe they got new ownership/chefs? I found the food to be really flavorful and tasty – I hope you give it another shot!