Poor Service
I've eaten in this restaurant several times and the food is excellent - very fresh. The service however is really poor. My friend ordered a dish of thin noodles and they brought the wrong dish out (thick noodles). When my friend politely pointed this out to the waitress, she was screamed at by the waitress and forced to eat the thick noodles!! In years of eating in restaurants I have never been treated like this anywhere.    [02 May 2005 15:48:14]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Thick noodles

     ­Rebecca, Indiana University   rbertolo at indiana dot edu

Nice Place
I've eaten at this restaurant several times and have had great food and decent service.    [22 Aug 2005 16:33:10]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: #24

     ­Anonymous   

Best in Bloomington
I highly suggest Esan Thai, and living in Bloomington, I've eaten there many times. While I don't find their decor all that interesting, I have never had poor service there, and I have never been disappointed in the food. It is one of the rare restaurants that I've been to, anywhere, that actually delivers spicy when I ask for spicy--the hottest at Esan is "thai hot", and it's extremely well-done and very enjoyable if that's what you like (I do). I have NEVER seen a waitress at Esan yell at anyone, I have NEVER experienced anything but a very tasty, very reasonably priced meal at this restaurant. Go. Have some Tom Kha soup and Pad Thai (order it Thai Hot!), but have some kleenex in your pocket.    [14 Feb 2006 18:44:36]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 

     ­Anonymous   

My Favorite Lunch in Bloomington
I eat lunch out a lot, enjoy all cuisines, and have eaten everywhere in Bloomington. Esan is our favorite place for lunch. The food is always good, ambiance is fine, often with fresh flowers, and the service is OK. As 'Best in Bloomington' said, they know how to make it hot. Generally in Bloomington a 5 on a 1 to 5 scale means it's a little spicy. If you like hot food, start here asking for 2, and work your way up, or down!    [04 Jul 2006 12:12:54]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Soups and curries are great

     ­Anonymous   

Best Thai
I have eaten in many different Thai restaurants in USA (including the one rated as "Best Thai food in NYC").
I think that NYC place had pretty nice Pad Thai, but their Tom Yum was not as good as the one at Esan Thai.
Esan Thai's food quality is really consistant and the portion is very generous.
Service is usually very quick and nice.    [31 Jan 2007 19:31:51]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Tom Yum, Pad Prik with Tofu, Pad Thai, PaNang, Thai iced coffee

     ­FoodieMusic   

Hostile service
Perhaps there is no Thai phrase equivalent to "the customer is always right." If not, one should be invented and fast.

We ate at Esan Thai in early Aug. 2007. While we were waiting for our orders, patrons at a table next to us had a complaint that their order was not prepared correctly. The waitress summoned a 40-ish Thai woman (who we later discovered to be the owner) who proceeded to give the customers a loud serious tongue-lashing with the underlying message that "this is Thai food not American food!" I didn't clearly hear the original complaint but I was under the impression that the dish was either seasoned too mild or too hot with the optional Thai pepper.

These customers were mightily offended, left their food uneaten and exited. The owner followed them out with raised voice. We fortunately could not hear any further exchange. The owner returned after several minutes with many annoyed gestures and comments. We thought the unpleasantness over, but we were wrong. The owner called the police and an officer came into the restaurant for a long discussion with the owner in plain sight of the remaining customers. I wonder if the owner had gotten the license plate of the fleeing customers...

This was the first time we ever ate at Esan Thai, as we were from out of town. The odds that we just happened to chance upon an extremely rare circumstance is very low. In statistical speak, a sampling of a single event out of large set is highly unlikely to locate the outlier. One of the waitresses confirmed this as I spoke to her upon paying my bill. She said, "It would be a lot more pleasant here if the owner wouldn't be in the dining room."

The incompetence and ineptitude was staggering. The unwillingness to replace a single dish led to an extremely unprofessional outburst in front of other customers. Top that off with calling the police and making a complaint in full view of the dining room was incomprehensible. Taking it back behind the building with the police would have been a better idea. Perhaps I am underestimating the intent of the situation...maybe the police were brought in as a warning to all other customers to not complain about their food.

Food was OK to good. Delivery of food was poor - some of us were finished with our food before others in our group had even received their order.    [13 Aug 2007 08:30:54]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Whatever they give you, eat it

     ­Anonymous   

Yeah... the service sucks but the food is soooo good.
I have eaten at Esan Thai since the first week they were open. I have been consistently dissatisfied by the service. Primarily, my complaints are the speed with which the food is served and the attentiveness of the wait staff. That said, I will continue to go there as I love good Thai. And let's face it, the options are few in south central Indiana.

I have never been served the wrong item, but I have been served more than I ordered. I hosted one business dinner at Esan. Our reservation was made two weeks in advance. Everyone raved about the food, but once again it came extremely late. One person did not receive their dish until after everyone had finished their meals. Luckily the wait staff brought us twice as many appetizers as we ordered so my colleague had plenty to eat.

I will never make the mistake of taking a large group there again. BTW, the dining room is nothing special.    [05 Feb 2008 17:30:21]

Food:    Service:    Ambiance:    Overall: 
Recommended Dishes: Kang Kiew Wan (aka green curry)

     ­Anonymous