I had their fried chicken and Roti, which came with fried chicken thigh, roti, sweet chili sauce, curry sauce, and pickled cucumber. Everything tasted really good. The fried chicken was juicy, tender, and cooked to the perfect level of crispiness. For the sauces, I liked their curry sauce more because it had more complex flavors from the spices. The roti was like a huge puff which was really interesting because I have neven seen it prepared that way elsewhere. The only downside was it's a bit greasy. Other than this, everything tasted great! read more

Small local mom & pop shop with funky vibes indeed! Indoor and outdoor tables are limited - think 5 of each - with one server busting her butt to handle all the tables while one cook is throwing it down in the kitchen. Not the fastest service, but they are friendly, kind, and as accommodating as they can be. We needed an outdoor table because we had our doggo with us and the server put up an umbrella and asked if the dog needed water as well. I will always give brownie points to anyone who takes my dog into consideration. We ordered papaya salad, the old skool pad thai, and the crispy fried chicken with roti. They did great adjusting the spice level of the salad (I'm a baby lol) by asking me how many chilies they should use. Everything was tasty and my favorite was the pad thai as well as that roti with dip. How did they get it to be so puffy and flaky, yet soft and chewy at the same time? Such a yummy bite. The papaya salad was a bit salty and the amount of dressing created some soggy bites, but overall, still not bad. I can see why this place already had half of their tables filled as soon as they opened. Good food, good vibes (check the disco ball in the bathroom), and good service. Would definitely return if I'm in the area. read more

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This review is about the woman at the register who has no business working with the public. A friend put me onto this place years ago because it reminded her of living in Thailand, and the food really is good. We've been regulars since. The last few visits, though, the woman at the register has had this nasty attitude every single time we order. We told ourselves everyone has bad days and let it go. Today my friend, who just lost her job, went out of her way to grab me food because I was having a rough one. She spent $30 on Khao Mun Gai. The khao mun gai came with broth and sauce containers that were less than half full, like they were rationing it on purpose. She ordered it to go and asked for an extra box so we could split it. The woman got an attitude because my friend didn't tip her. My friend explained she'd just lost her job and couldn't tip right now, which honestly shouldn't have even mattered since this was a to-go order. Nobody tips on to-go orders in California generally. The woman told her she wasn't getting a box because she didn't tip, and said if she wanted one, she could go buy it at Philz Coffee. Then she mocked my friend for not having a job and said she could just go buy her own box. When my friend pushed back, the woman had the nerve to say, "California is expensive." Yeah, the food is great; that's never been the issue. People don't want to support a place where customer service is hot-garbage. Maybe that's why fewer and fewer people are coming to eat at your restaurant. If she wants a tip, here's one: don't treat customers like shit because they're going through something; don't shortchange people on the broth and sauce; and maybe fix your portion sizes while you're at it. Nobody owes you money on top of the price of the food, especially when the food portions don't match the price. Humiliating people who are already struggling is disgusting. The food used to be great. Now I'd think twice before going back. read more

Funky Elephant - Barely any khao mun gai broth. STINGY AF!! - Thai Near Me - Berkeley, California

$23 Drunken Noodle: full flavored, deep impact. A mix of umami, fishy, sour, glazed sweetness, and pepper. If you dowsing food with hot sauce, this won't disappoint. $7 Thai Iced Tea (soy): lovely sweetness. read more

Funky Elephant - Drunken Noodle - Thai Near Me - Berkeley, California

Tucked away in between Philz and Homeroom is Funky Elephant. Small interior with only about 5-6 tables inside with outdoor seating. The motherland curry was a joke of a portion at $21. The container was half full. There was a side of noodles and garnish that went along but still tiny. The flavor was there at least. The old school pad Thai wasn't really anything special either. The strawberry matcha latte was another miss. Super bitter. The service was nice. read more

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I had their fried chicken and Roti, which came with fried chicken thigh, roti, sweet chili sauce, curry sauce, and pickled cucumber. Everything tasted really good. The fried chicken was juicy, tender, and cooked to the perfect level of crispiness. For the sauces, I liked their curry sauce more because it had more complex flavors from the spices. The roti was like a huge puff which was really interesting because I have neven seen it prepared that way elsewhere. The only downside was it's a bit greasy. Other than this, everything tasted great! read more

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A friend of mine is a cook and he recommended this place so we had to try it. 10/10 highly recommend. Parking is a little tough, it's a small lot but there are street parking around. For a Saturday night I found parking pretty quick since there's not much else going on around. The service is incredible. Our server was super nice and attentive to our table giving us plenty of water and suggestions when we couldn't figure out what to eat because everything sounded good. All I can say is, everything we got was flavorful and delicious. I wish the portion sizes were bigger for the price tag it came with but it was all delicious all the same. Of course I got their nam kow, which I will admit is not as great as champa garden's but still worth getting. Again, the price and portion size is not the best but still delicious. My new favorite dish of all time is their yum khai dao. It's a bunch of fried eggs with salad on top that has a tangy sweet spicy dressing tossed on it. I'm a sucker for fried eggs so this is easily my favorite dish. We got both their savory roti and their sweet roti and I recommend both. The sweet roti comes with ice cream and their roti is covered with condensed milk. It's actually the perfect way to end the meal with something sweet after all the savory or salty dishes. We also got their grilled beef short ribs, drunken muscles and the O' Breakfast Grilled Pork. The pork and grilled short ribs were both so good we all almost didn't want to share with each other. The next time I come back, I will go for the pork and the fried eggs salad along with both roti's. 10/10 read more

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Absolutely one of my favorite Thai places anywhere. Staff is friendly and accommodating. Disco in the bathroom is a nice touch (wash your hands). Dining room can be a little tight but the outdoor seating is great on a nice day (most the time I order to go and eat at the Marina). One of the best Papaya Salads I've ever had. Nothing overpowering, just harmonious flavors and textures. Something I could eat everyday. Pad Thai is outstanding and comes with 2 huge prawns (I always opt to add a couple more). Absolute flavor bomb; savory, spicy, salty, tangy and sweet all at once! Thai places everywhere but I'll drive past a dozen of them to get here. 5/5 mando pull up read more

Funky Elephant - Papaya Salad - Thai Near Me - Berkeley, California

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How this place has 4 stars is beyond me. A lot of sympathizers, or people don't know how to review. YOU HAVE TO BE OBJECTIVE!!! Leave your feelings at home folks! Straight up: its like they tried to do a "gourmet ghetto" thai style, but failed miserably. As though their food is fighting between stylish and upscale, yet are confused which way to go. Here is my gist: Its horrendously expensive for the quality and amount of food that they provide. Worse: Gang Warang beef (steak/beef item) came out cold with an over-salted sauce. You get to pay prime rib price but get 1/3 of the prime rib, and its cold and not made to order. As though they had the meat already pre-cooked and just heated up slightly at order. Same with their satai chicken. As though they have it pre-cooked and simply cook it on the grill and OVER COOK the chicken, making it dry. The pad tai: please someone shut this place down. Please wash your shrimp before cooking it with the pad thai. Also, for the price, it doesn't hurt to add peanuts for texture and complexity in flavor. The two large shrimp on top of the pad thai is unappetizing and gives the dish a burnt flavor. Please be aware: mild means medium spicy, and medium means hot, and hot means inferno. The place is not kid friendly and too cramped inside, and with limited seating outside. Not romantic, more like fast-casual with upscale price. My kids ordered the noodle soup: a sad amount of rice noodles in a small bowl with 4 pieces of tofu...for $10 dollars!!! Don't get ripped off! This place is what's wrong with businesses: offering poor quality at high prices. read more

Love that the menu is unique amongst other Thai restaurants in the area. The dishes were well cooked and flavorful. For the price though, not a lot of food. read more

This review is for their lackluster desserts only. Ummm, $30 for soft serve mango and hard mango sticky rice, what a trip. First off that soft serve was so plain and small I could have bought that any where in SF for half the price. The mango sticky rice with that hard blue rice was ugh, not worth it. The only things that should be blue are paint and Smurfs. Horribly dissapointed in these two desserts. A must skip! read more

Funky Elephant - Thai Near Me - Berkeley, California

The food at Funky Elephant was really good and tasted fresh and high quality. We definitely enjoyed the Thai food and the flavors were great. My only complaint is the portion sizes, they are very small, especially for the price. For what you're paying, I expected much larger portions. Overall, the food itself was delicious, but I wish the portions matched the price a little better. read more

Cute hole in the wall find! Love the khao man gai- the soup is sooo tiny- recommend you order another side of it. We ordered the fish curry noodles and the steamed mussels. Mussels were good and flavorful but a bit salty. Fish curry noodles were good, but I personally prefer curry with rice. I'm excited to try other things on the menu next time. The mango sticky rice hit the spot! Everything we got was good to share between two people, but for those who might have more of an appetite -order more! read more

Funky Elephant - Thai Near Me - Berkeley, California

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A homey quaint yet sophisticated establishment. Family owned restaurant with quality food. Michelin rated restaurant with Unique offerings. They have their standard menu and a smaller Berkeley inspired menu. Our lunch was composed of dish Blistered Greens, Grilled King Mushrooms, and two soups: Tom Goong, and a Red Curry ( I forgot the menu item name) with Red Fish. Service wait time was good but good food takes time to cook. It wasn't super busy but I felt for the singular server. She was very pleasant. read more

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We stopped back in to funky elephant and retried the Pad Thai and wings (w the spicy sauce on the side) and they were just as delicious! We also tried the mussels and roti this time around and I'm so glad we did, because these additions really rounded out our meal. This place is amazing, I HIGHLY recommend you check it out when in the area! You won't be disappointed. It's quality you can really taste. read more

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There's something for everyone at Funky Elephant. Literallly. My four year old ate the kids noodle and tofu, after turning his nose at it, he completely devoured it. Everyone loves the chicken (KMG #2) with dipping sauce. Motherland curry is surprisingly chock-full of good things like herbs, fish, and noodles. I was dreaming about the head-on shrimp and we finally realized it was Funky Elephant's pad thai old skool. I'm normally not a pad thai person but suddenly we all are digging the pad thai at Funky Elephant, it's really freaking good. It's the vibe of the restaurant's entire menu, everything is really good. My eyes are bigger than my stomach. We will be back! read more

always a pleasure to come here! you can tell with every dish that it has fresh ingredients and everything is made in house. everything was so flavorful especially the mussels. i dipped everything in the broth afterwards, including the rice. it was a one woman show on the front end and she did great with the lunch hour rush! always asking us if we needed anything and was very accommodating. the space is tiny, but i love it because it gives a comfort homey feeling. i'm always talking about this place to everyone! read more

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Small, but cozy restaurant tucked in the Gilman District of Berkeley. It is a cute place with a small indoor seating area, but they have heaters in the outdoor seating area. I thought the food was good, but the portions are very small. The side order of rice is literally a mini scoop. I recommend ordering 2 side orders of rice for your entree. The main entrees were also small in portions. I love the disco ball in the bathroom! read more

Had a really great meal at Funky Elephant! There wasn't a lot of people when we dined on Sunday for lunch which is great because we're avoiding crowds nowadays. The food was delicious and they have tons of veggie options for my friend. Super friendly service too and they played 2000s hits. Can't go wrong with this spot. Now that I know they have one in SF, will definitely check that one out too since it's closer. read more

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Funky Elephant is small, but artfully decorated. There is a nice waitress, who seated us right away. We learned about the restaurant from Check, Please, which made it look amazing. But the dishes I tried--Roti with yellow curry and Old Skool Pad Thai-- were much too sweet, plus something I ate woke me with a stomachache in the middle of the night. And hours later, my stomach still hurts. read more

I wasn't totally convinced by the positive reviews. Nah, this place is really good! Funky Elephant is really unassuming from the outside, but cute-looking inside. The dining area can't be much bigger than 10' x 15', so the two women working the front of the house had their jobs locked down. They were very friendly and had great attention to detail especially for a casual establishment (offering extra napkins, refilling water from the old Four Roses bottles, clearing dishes as soon as they were empty, and offering fresh plates). And the food was so good! All hits and I look forward to trying the rest. Fried Brussel Sprouts: Fluffy and crisp texture. I don't know what King sauce is exactly, but it's incredible. Sweet, tart, gooey, and kaffir lime I think. This dish's reputation is well earned. Pad Thai Old Skool: It's a larger portion than I thought from the photos. I loved the toothsome noodles and pleasantly sticky sauce texture. It had a decent amount of spice, fried tofu cubes, and really big whole shrimp to top it off. It just had an unusually good balance of flavors, particularly the tartness that lacks in a lot of pad thai. Party Wings! That chili jam is killer. I need to know more about it. The fried basil was a nice touch. read more

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Picked up my sister at the train station and needed some sustenance before a concert... Funky Elephant hit every spot! This place is tiny inside and has a super cute patio, but it was crazy chilly so they fashioned us a table out of thin air right by the kitchen and it was incredible! The server could not have been any nicer to us, the good came fast but tasted like it had been cooked for hours... I cannot wait to be back in Berkeley to eat here again! read more

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I came here and love the vibe of this place. It's in a cute little place and they do have outdoor seating available as well. Everything is so colorful and so fun. I really enjoyed my experience here everything comes served perfectly. The dishes are very big and totally worth the value. Service is also pretty good too overall enjoyed all of my experience here from Food, price point, service. read more

We really loved our lunch at the Funky Elephant. Had seen it on the show Check Please. It peaked our interest so we made a day of going out to Berkeley having lunch and doing some shopping. We tried some things we haven't tried before. The roti was good, but I think I would prefer it for dessert instead of the savory one.. We also had the muscles which were delicious. I wanted to pour the broth over everything. We also had the fish and noodles, I don't remember what it was called, but it was delicious. I really liked the pad Thai. I don't usually like it because it's just too sweet and I thought this was perfect for my taste. We had fried rice with an extra shrimp as there were three of us and it only comes with 2. We ate every bite of our lunch. It's not cheap so be prepared for that, but it is delicious and we enjoyed our trip out there. I'm not sure I would drive all the way there just to go there again but if I was in the area, I definitely would go back. read more

Very yummy! Spirulina rice was cool. Everything on the menu looked really good and everything we ordered was delicious. Small interior restaurant. Friendly staff. read more

Very disappointed in the food. Started off with the Roti which was delicious. Things went downhill. The pad Thai was goopy, overcooked noodles and sauce was terrible. The red curry dish my husband got was supposed to be spicy but it was bland and was mostly noodles with little protein. For $100 we were disappointed and wished we had gone to Jo's modern Thai in Oakland which is closer and delicious. It's also very small and tables inside are very close together. Not great ambiance which would have been fine if the food was better. read more

Hands down the best pad thai I've ever tasted. And I almost never order pad thai simply because I find it to usually be a lame excuse of soggy noodles dipped in sugary ketchup (that being said, a pad thai is always a good litmus test for a Thai restaurant). Be sure to remove all of the shrimp head innards and get it well combined with the noodles. The dish is proudly pungent, spicy, and boldly flavorful. The shrimp is always extraordinarily fresh (for what reason? It's not even a seafood restaurant) and incredibly sweet. I've had this dish at least five times and it is a must go whenever I am in the bay. Oh and everything else is amazing, but the pad thai overwhelms the roster. read more

Limited menu for a Thai spot, in a small cafe in the industrial section of Gilman in Berkeley, but the flavors here for us were something special. Perfect complex bites with the right amount of spice, acid, fish sauce and fresh ingredients. Really some of the best pad thai we have had since Thailand. Favorites include Old School pad thai. Absolutely add the grilled shrimp, which are juicy, fresh and enormous. We got chili on the side so we could control the heat, which they describe as Thai hot. (We've made that mistake before.) We ordered a fish rendition of their Kanom Jean red curry dish. The wild rock cod was fresh, perfectly prepared, moist, and delicious. The thai ice tea was somehow extra delicious too. We had thai tea soft serve for dessert, which was not as bright and intense as their drinkable thai ice tea. Next time will try a different dessert (mango sticky rice.) read more

Went for restaurant week and it did not disappoint. The dish came with chicken skewers, red shrimp curry, and ice cream. The food was absolutely amazing! One of the best red curries I've ever had, & it had such a beautiful presentation. Service was great as well! Very small restaurant so definitely make a reservation/call in advance just in case! read more

Funky Elephant - Restaurant Week Special - Thai Near Me - Berkeley, California

Been seeing a lot of mixed reviews but I have to say this was some of the best Thai food I've ever had in the states. We ordered the roti, the motherland curry, the yellow curry w/ grilled chicken and side of sticky rice, and the wholesome noodles. WOW! So much flavor and the food tasted very fresh. Agreed that the prices are high but for the quality (which left us feeling full), I felt like it was worth it. Will definitely go back again! read more

Funky Elephant - motherland curry with rock cod - Thai Near Me - Berkeley, California

A small, quirky, and fun location with large portions. My second cousins (twice removed) and I partook in a weekend lunch here and ordered the following Thai Iced Tea, Wholesome Noodles, Green Papaya salad, and Pad Thai. Thai Iced Tea was delicious and sweet. Wholesome Noodles [5/5]: ground pork soup dish with floral flavors, pork, bean sprouts, and warm broth. Comfort dish that felt like an elevated homemade meal. Green Papaya Salad [4/5]: citrusy, crunchy, savory. Papaya was a little tough to chew and a little on the salty side. Pad Thai [5/5]: came with smoky prawns atop perfectly chewy noodles. Was balanced between sweet, savory, and citrusy. Loved the array of textures with the noodles, beansprouts, and peanuts on top. The restaurant itself is on the smaller side so be sure to book if you intend to sit inside. Service is quick and hospitable. read more

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I would give this place a 3.5 stars for the food alone. Service was average when my friend and I walked in. The place is really small so I felt lucky that we were able to be seated immediately. What we got: party wings (4/5) -- crispy skin, juicy meat, very savory flavor, the chili jam they serve it with is delicious and I was able to tolerate the heat despite not being able to handle a lot of spicy food motherland curry (3/5) -- red curry with fish, vermicelli, and herbs...I wish there were more curry flavor but I got mostly coconut...I also wish more fish came with the dish, otherwise it is mostly a bowl of noodles and bean sprouts KMG #2 (4/5) -- pretty basic poached chicken thigh with skin over garlic ginger rice (the rice was amazing) and some super pungent sauce with soy, garlic, chili, etc. unsweetened mango tea (3/5) -- really refreshing given what we ordered but I would have liked stronger mango flavor Not sure if I would come back here, especially since there are so many other Thai places around the Bay and options in Berkeley. read more

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Funky Elephant is a cool looking place on Valencia Street with pretty good food, but the price is totally not worth it. The food was authentic and tasty but wow, the portions are essential $20 for a portion size that can only feed half a person. FOOD [4/5] I wrote these reviews based solely on the taste and not the price, but in reality I would dock 1 star for each meal because of how small the portion size was. Also, as a heads up, they don't give any complimentary rice with any of the dishes. :O - Pad Thai Old Skool $18 [3/5] This was a pretty average Pad Thai. It definitely has a spicy kick, but it wasn't very flavorful otherwise. And as a heads up, they only give two pieces of shrimp and they charge an additional THREE DOLLARS ($3) per shrimp, which is pretty crazy. - Wholesome Noodles $17 [5/5] This was really good! It comes with a good amount of broth, and the broth is quite flavorful. The minced pork also tastes really good and made this dish the most worth it in terms of portion size and taste. - Motherland Curry $18 [4/5] The curry base in the curry was REALLY good. I kept drinking the curry afterwards because it was so good. SERVICE [5/5] Our servers were brisk with us at first because we had outside drinks, but they let us in anyways (as long as we promised not to drink them) which was very nice. They were overall friendly and attentive. AMBIANCE [5/5] The restaurant is a little on the smaller side, but it's beautifully decorated and the restrooms were really funny to walk into haha. read more

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Parking is tough on the street. The restaurant is supposedly wheelchair accessible but it is extremely tight in there. I was about five inches from the neighboring table. Servers were exceedingly patient with my allergies. Checking multiple times with te kitchen, letting me see the ingredient lists on bottles, answering a billion questions. I ended up having the pad Thai as it was my only celiac safe option, with the others being pork and I don't eat pork. The food was good although I wasn't expecting the shrimp to still have their shells and faces on. The noodles were a little undercooked which made it harder to chew. I became sick about 15 minutes after we finished eating. Something in the food made me unwell-- potentially gluten cross contact? Who's to say. I wouldn't return but they were very friendly and accommodating. read more

The pad thai was good, but the Super Jungle Tofu Curry was a joke. A $25 soupy joke. If I had just had the pad thai I would have given the place 4 stars, but since I had the Super Jungle Curry to judge too, I give this place 2 stars. Over $60 bucks for 2 entrees and a thai iced tea???. If the food was really good, sure. But it wasn't. Definitely won't be back. Imm Thai is much better. read more

We came across this Thai place next to Philz Coffee thankfully bc we were hella hungry, we didn't realize that it was a Michelin guide restaurant until we sat down and the flavors definitely lived up to it! We ordered: Hella Drunken Mussels - this was my favorite selection! - sauce was sooo yummy, I brought it home even though I already finished the mussels Blisted Market Greens - this was good, but not amazing or out of this world -- standard greens, a bit overpriced but also not for the area Motherland Curry - I don't typically encounter curry with wild rock fish cod so that was a nice new protein to explore - curry was delicious! Butterfly Pea Jasmine Rice - this was my first time trying butterfly pea! I liked the creative use of this to bring out a blue color, not usually a color I get to enjoy in most meals It was really packed, but our server was pretty on top of it! The space is kinda small and we sat at a little area by the window and just covered ourselves with the menus so that we and the party outside could have some privacy. There is a lot of seating outside but it was a bit cold for us. Would come back here to bring someone to try it and also get my mussels fix again :) read more

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When it comes to local Thai spots I usually stick to my usuals around the area but this place always seemed to stick out to me on my Philz runs. After hitting up Whole Foods, I decided to finally give this place a go! The menu and food were novel compared to traditional Thai spots. I saw the Drunken Mussels and was super compelled to taste it! The waitress suggested to eat with sticky rice and it was such a good pairing. The "broth" was tangy, spicy and a bit sweet and the sticky rice of course being sticky and not falling apart really absorbed that flavor! I also picked off my hubby's plate, he ordered the morning pork and it was really yummy. I also had the Thai iced tea more iced tea-ish than milky. Depends what you're into... I just love a heavily milked down one LOL but that's just me. Gilman is a pretty busy area but you can find parking by Philz or on the side streets. Indoor seating is pretty small and cramped but there's more spacious outdoor seating. The decor is very cute and the art is thought provoking. Overall, this place is worth the try! I'll definitely be coming back. read more

Funky Elephant - "Hella Drunken Mussels" (paired w/ sticky rice) - Thai Near Me - Berkeley, California

Exceptional. Superpower here is that the spicey dishes are so flavorful - the flavor is not hidden by the heat; the heat is just part of the flavor. I'm not someone who normally eats extra spicey - this place gets to the top of my comfort zone, and the flavor of it all makes it worth it. Total respect for having a short menu, just doing a few things right. No customizing spiciness here, as the recipe is what it is. I like to get the Hella Drunken Mussles, and there's so much leftover broth that I use it to marinade fish the next night. read more

Long overdue review - this Funky Elephant location is in the industrial area of Berkeley. This is a bit hidden away - there is plenty of street parking. Retro looking and small spot, not much seating inside, but I was able to dine outside and received my food in a timely manner. I tried their Crispy "Hodo" Tofu, Gang Rawang Beef, Pad Thai Old Skool, a side of butterfly pea jasmine rice, and a Thai iced tea. The tofu was not my favorite, as I felt like it was a bit dry with the seasoning powder, but the sweet chili sauce helps. The beef and pad Thai was delicious - very flavorful and filling. The rice was a beautiful blue color and it tasted like regular rice, but great for photos. The Thai iced tea was creamy and refreshing. read more

Finally made it here after wanting to go for over a year. Definitely will be back to try more because it was super good. I got the Old Skool Pad Thai which had tofu and 2 big shrimp with the head and legs still on. The shrimp were to die for! Probably the best pad Thai I can remember. It was a healthy serving too, so I had plenty to take home. I got the Thai Spicy version, and it wasn't too spicy in my opinion. For dessert I got the Thai iced tea soft serve which was also delicious. One person was in charge of seating, taking orders, and bringing food out, but she was very attentive and sweet. You can sit inside or outside and parking is pretty easy in the lot by Philz or on the street. read more

Funky Elephant - Pad Thai Old Skool - Thai Near Me - Berkeley, California