Thai Canteen Midtown - Sacramento

As for the Tom Kha soup, it includes chicken, lemongrass, kaffir leaves, cilantro, and mushrooms in a delicious coconut milk broth. It's really good, but I wish it had a bit more vegetables in it. However, the broth is one of the best I've ever tasted. For a heartier meal, consider adding some rice—the brown rice here has a wild rice style to it, and even the white rice is of excellent quality. One major advantage of this place is that they stay open late. It tends to get busy, and seating can be limited, so make sure to give yourself enough time to find a spot. It's definitely worth it!

However, I was disappointed with the Thai tea. Typically, Thai tea can be overly sweet or too milky, but I never expect it to be perfect. The last time I ordered one, it tasted like just water. I didn't even let it sit long enough for the ice to melt. There was none of the characteristic orange color, nor was there the milky hue—it was simply watery. As for the service, it's usually very good. However, during my last visit, I was surprised to find that an automatic gratuity had been added to our bill simply because our group had five people. After informing me about the automatic tip, they handed me a cup and mentioned that the water was self-serve. Yes, they did bring out our food, but that’s something even fast-food places like McDonald's do. Having worked as a server for over seven years, I fully support tipping, but only when it’s deserved. There were no servers attending to us, so we had to refill our water and grab extra napkins ourselves. An automatic gratuity of 18-20% feels excessive for such minimal service, and I believe that policy should be reevaluated.

The Panang Nuer consists of sliced beef in a semi-spicy panang curry, which had a flavor reminiscent of peanut butter and a noticeable kick. I broke into a bit of a sweat, so if you're sensitive to spice, I wouldn't recommend this dish. The slices of beef were very thin, and there were only a few pieces of red and green bell peppers, which felt somewhat insignificant. However, there was plenty of the curry sauce, and it was served with a side of white rice. The price was $16, with no lunch specials available. While the curry was delicious, it wasn’t really enough to fill me up, even though it was considered an entree size.

I came here for a late night meal, and was very impressed! It was very busy and the long got quite long after we ordered. We had the pad thai and the spring rolls, and both were a very generous portion and kept us full. The staff were very friendly and accommodating. We loved the indoor decor and the comfortable outdoor seating. They're open late until 1am, so it was nice to enjoy our dinner without feeling rushed.

This place is open late and very tasty! Very Affordable for the portion sizes and quality of the food. The service is quick even when it's really busy! So don't let a busy night turn you away. I'm not a fan of how they let people get their own ice cream, sometimes people leave the tongs in the ice and it's gross, but I'm weird about that.