Written by 15:11 North America, Southern CA

Thai Smile – Palm Springs, CA

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651 North Palm Canyon Drive
Palm Springs, CA

(760) 320-5503

www.thaismilepalmsprings.com

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We’ve been to Thailand multiple times, so we’re pretty picky when it comes to Thai food.   Based upon online reviews and some other guests staying at our hotel, we gave it a try for lunch.  We weren’t disappointed.  If you like Thai, this place will make you Thai Smile!

Know Before You Go:

Thai Smile is an extremely popular lunch place and has limited seating, so show up right when they open at 11:30AM to avoid a wait.  Also, they now take reservations for dinner.  It’s highly advised to make them as they can be just as busy at dinner time.

Atmosphere
[Rating: 4/5]

It may not look like much from the outside, but the inside is clean and simple.  A small bar is at the back, near the kitchen.  Seating here is limited, so if you have a large party (5 or more) call ahead.

Service

[Rating: 5/5]

The service here is fast, efficient and friendly.  Servers are extremely knowledgeable about the menu and will make sure your special requests are honored.  You never wait long to order or for your food.  Best of all, they keep your water, ice tea or soft drink glass full.  You’ll never have to ask for a refill.

Food
[Rating: 4.5/5]

The fried egg rolls were some of the best we’ve had.  Each entrée came with a salad with peanut dressing.  It was far from standard, with a very unique taste.  The Tom Kah Gui soup had just the right balance of spice.  Our benchmark for this Thai soup in the States is Penny’s Noodle Shop in Chicago.  This was just as good if not a bit better.  They’ll make your entrée’s as spicy as you’d like.  One of our favorite dishes here is Red Mountain.  While we like spicy food, they take spicy to whole new level, so order carefully if you have a low heat-tolerance index.  The red beef curry was just as good as what we’ve had in Thailand.  Our only disappointment was the pad thai, which had a sauce that while good, wasn’t the usual type of sauce you get with this dish.  Make sure to try  the regular iced tea.  A combination of thai green tea with jasmine tea that is reminiscent of the traiditonal thai iced tea, without the condensed milk.

Overall

Thai food really doesn’t get much better than this….that is of course, unless you’re in Thailand.

Last modified: January 11, 2014

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