Lotus Thai Cuisine

Reviews

• Avner T.

  star star star star star 9 June 2026

  I come here for years now.  It's just the best Thai food ever.  
  Every time the food and service are so good.  
  Will keep coming back for more

• Donald E.

  star star star star star 9 June 2026

  If you're looking for an asian theme spot in Downtown San Diego, just a few steps outside of the gaslamp area we found this place. Note: it is comic con weekend, so the place had to take on themes for the superhero convention. But it didn't distract me from the authentic Thai look of the place hiding beneath the veneer of the celebration.
  
  The place has gotten some local notoriety in their write-ups over the years, as evidenced by the clippings outside of their restrooms. And I see why.
  
  The food was excellent, to say the least.
  
  I had the Pad see ew with pork and my girlfriend had the spicy eggplant with beef. All of that complimented with a Side of rice. Of course, we needed Two iced Thai teas after walking around the city all day with all the activities going on.
  
  I just like to say that the denizens reacting over nerdy news like I was enhanced the atmosphere for me, and it made me feel more like myself despite being in a Thai restaurant. And that the staff didn't take it weird made it all the more natural.
  
  They were attentive and made sure we were taken care of every 5 minutes or so. And it wasn't just one server, it was several.
  
  All of this, and the pricing for their food, makes them earn that fifth star for me.

• Jasmyn L.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 6 June 2026

  This is our second time at this restaurant, so I wanted to give it another try before posting a review. Hell- we all need second chances (and this place is across the street from us). The food is not bad... not consistent but not bad. The service, however, is atrocious.
  
  We were seated almost immediately and we were surprised that the restaurant was so empty. The extremely attentive busser brought us water immediately, and thank god he did as we didn't see our server for 18 mins  Luckily, we weren't hungry yet, we were catching up with friends and the aforementioned busser kept refilling our water glasses (three more times) or we would have walked out. We had to make a bit of a commotion to get the attention of a possible server (think 'flock of seagulls' commotion). The server apologized, took our drink and appetizer order and then disappeared for another 8-9 minutes.
  
  He came back with our drinks (3 out of the 4 were correct) and asked if we are ready to order- we quickly put our orders in and waited. And waited... 20 mins later our food came out- No appetizers, just the entree's. We decided not to say anything and we just ordered another round of drinks which surprisingly never came. Again, at this point we just wanted to leave so we made sure we were only charged what we received and quickly paid to move on to the next place.
  
  Now- let's talk about the food. We ordered the pad thai, pad see ew, green curry beef, shrimp ramen. Pad Thai was generous and good, as was the pad see ew. The ramen had a really nice flavor, but also had the hardest shrimp I have ever eaten (they had to have been frozen as the shrimp were all clumped together).  The green curry beef had a good flavor except they gave us 'green curry shrimp, hot' not 'green curry beef, medium'. I didn't want to take extra time to send it back so I braved it and went in (thank god we had that attentive busser with the ever flowing water pitcher). The flavor was actually quite nice but I had to stop half way through as it was too spicy for me to continue eating.
  
  With a ton of places to eat downtown, Lotus Thai needs to step up it's game. Lesson learned:  if I have a desire for Thai food- be like everyone else in the neighborhood and order take out only.

• Jed B.

  star star star star star 31 May 2026

  This place was easy to get to and had great service. The food what is prepared and served piping hot. It's a friendly relaxed atmosphere with a nice wine selection. The vegetarian potstickers are excellent and if your dining with the vegetarian they will have plenty of choices.

• Ashley H.

  star star star star star 14 May 2026

  I ordered through DoorDash and my Ofer was entirely wrong....I am vegan and everything I got had meat. I called the restaurant and they redelivered my correct order. Such wonderful customer service. Thank you so much!