I am writing this review for my poor sister who ordered their delivery last night. She ordered the spring rolls, summer rolls and mieng sabai. She specifically asked no peanuts because she is still breastfeeding and her son is allergic. After an hour wait, she received her food; ALL of it contained peanuts. She called back the University location and was told that they would call her back. They did not. She then called the Odana location and was told that none of those dishes contained peanuts...hmm, funny because they did! The woman on the phone did not offer to remake the food or even offer an apology...tsk tsk. I understand that this is a family owned restaurant and inconsistency in service/food happens - but to simply not offer to remake her food was ridiculous because the order was wrong and she was unable to eat the food that she paid for. Service has always been a little iffy here, but because food continued to be yummy, we could not stop ourselves. But this time was the last straw. I hope Sa-Bai Thong can re-evaluate their customer service, or else they will continue to lose loyal customers their business is built upon. read more

One of the only consistent things of the past year. Always prompt, always tasty, great options for cold/rainy Wisconsin evenings.

If I could give this place zero stars, I would. Why does tofu cost $0.50 more than chicken? Weird. We got 3 dishes: the Tom Kha soup and two noodle dishes all with medium spice. The noodle dishes tasted like nothing. No spice, no flavor and no, we don't have COVID. The Tom Kha soup smelled SO BAD that we had to pour it out. It was nauseating like they used rotten coconut milk or something. Should have tipped us off that the place was bad because all the patrons were white people who probably think ketchup is spicy. There's no way this was ever voted best of Madison without bots doing the voting. Hard pass. read more

I really want to give this place more stars, I really do. This place has a really nice interior that's cozy and intimate. The service is also great, and we were never lacking for water. Plus, they give you chocolates at the end of the meal, instead of cheap candy. However, as a food lover first and foremost, I can't give this place more than 3 stars. I got one of their rice noodle dishes, and while the portion was good, the taste left more to be desired. The entire meal was too one-dimensional (for the lack of a better term). The soy/hoisin based sauce was just too overwhelming. Everything tasted the same, from the noodles (which were overcooked by the way, so it kinda just melted in your mouth. I don't know about you guys, but I like my noodles with texture) to the vegetables to the meat. But then again, I've only had this one dish, and my friends assure me their curry is quite good. I will give them another chance in the future, because I honestly do like their decor and service. PS: You get a free banana fritter dessert on your birthday! read more

I really like this place! We typically order takeout and have it delivered but we have dined in too. I love that they deliver all the way out to my house which is basically in Waunakee! Their spring rolls and pad Thai are my favorite in town. I love their pa-nang too but it needs a little less ginger. In the restaurant, we have had just mediocre service but the pad Thai is worth it! read more

Decent Thai restaurant with a nicely-sized list of GF options on their menu. Their most recent remodel has created a nice, serene ambiance for a restaurant that's located in a strip mall. Pad thai and spring rolls are excellent. Loved the Pad-Z-You before they switched from a thin rice noodle to a thicker one (it ends up overcooked and turns to mush.) Delivery as an option is also useful. read more

I eat take out from this place every week because someone else treats me. It gets worse every week. The very first time I went to Sa-Bai Thong the Pad Thai was adequate, however their curry was, and continues to be, awful. A Thai curry should lend a wonderful sensation of sweet and savory, but there is no sweetness in their curry. When I had the Panang there was some hint of flavor there, but later when I had the Masaman, I tasted nothing but a flavor akin to weak peanut butter suffocating my tongue. The take-out Pad Thai isn't even as acceptable as the dine-in Pad Thai, but this may be because it is suffering from the time elapsed during delivery. However, this does not excuse the dry noodles that fall apart as I scoop them up. Some curried green beans are the "best" dish that I have had, but again the flavors are so weak and flat that I am left pondering, what kind of curry is this? And yes, there are an atrocious number of flies in the restaurant. read more

I really love the food here! Very pleasantly surprised that everything I tried was soo good. I especially recommend the crab Rangoon.

Bad service, mediocre food at best. SERIOUSLY consider being extremely firm on the staff if you like good / real thai food and go here. Good selection and menu - pictures and descriptions are above par for most thai restaurants. Had to request the soup to be sent back three times because it was not hot enough (read: lukewarm). I have been to enough thai restaurants around the country to know its not served like that. For the entree, atAsked the waiter for spicy 'hot', exact words "Thai natural hot - the Oh my god I'm on fire hot", what did I get: a lit matchstick lost in a blizzard. It was more of a congealed oozing mess on a plate not a distinct toss of noodles, chicken, and spices.. I agree with the reviewer who said it was hard to mess up certain thai sauces but coconut soups dont have a full can of soup poured in. I had to get up multiple times to get assistance.. I don't think the waiter was deliberately negligent, nor was he overloaded. I think his mind was somewhere else. First to get the chopsticks and hot sauce that we had asked for and second to ask for getting the soup heated up and to get more water. The tables are close enough together that when the waiter did not bother to look over at me or the table despite my "Hey, I'm the customer asking for something" hand up and looking right at him, it was clear I was being ignored. When I did not leave a tip because of the service? The waiter ran out of the store after me to ask if I did not have good service. -- don't chase me down to my car, your manager (?) will hear about it one way or another. :soap box: Thai (and other asian) restaurants - when a customer says "give me authentic, i've had it before" - dont pussy foot around and feed me the regular food. I know you can do better. American restaurant-goers - stop giving out tips just because you are eating out. Be realistic enough to give $0.00 tip if you don't get the basic service - if there is an error and the waiter does not apologize or even wait to see if it is to your liking - that's a clear sign. You wouldn't buy a tv with no electricity would you? I'm a firm but fair tipper. Be one too. You and your pocket book are not cheap - especially in this economy. And this restaurant's waiter helped to remind me. :soap box: read more

I grew up in Madison and Sai-Bai Thong was the only Thai restaurant I'd ever been to until college. Because of that I thought I hated Thai food. It wasn't Thai food's fault. It was Sai-Bai Thong's fault. read more

Sa-Bai Thong is a Madison favorite for me and my partner. Love the flavors, variety on the menu, affordability and the great service. I usually order the Panang or jungle curry and ask for a higher spice level. I can't wait to explore more of the menu. This place deserves a 5 star star rating overall. read more

Sa Bai Thong has been one of my go-to's for the past couple of years, but I've been pretty disappointed with them the last couple of times I've been. The food is consistently mediocre, nothing too crazy. My biggest complaint is that the last two times I've done carry out, they've forgotten part of my order. read more

I asked a neighbor from Thailand what he considered the best place for Thai food in Madison, and he pointed across the street. I'm still not quite sure whether the penance I would pay was a set-up. Ordered a few things here for takeout when my family was visiting, and what I remember best, the pad thai and spring rolls, were fantastically and unsavably bland. The takeout estimates were also way off. This would normally amount to an "average" experience but that I spent our last horrible, horrible winter without a car and without takeout from this location should speak to the impact of that experience. read more

I regularly frequent both this University Ave. location & the westside Sa Bai Thong on Odana- and cannot say which I prefer, which is probably for the best- since either location will serve you delicious food in a comfortable and easy-going environment; I'd hate to steer you towards either direction. Go wherever is convenient and experience the best Thai in Madison (at least in my opinion)... Lao Lang Xaan is a close second, but I appreciate the style of Thai cuisine served here, and that the ambiance is a little less "busy". Vegans, rejoice- all of their curries are made with coconut milk; traditionalists will find solace knowing this info as well. The sauces I've tried in all of the curry dishes I have ventured to order have been delicious and well-seasoned. Brown or white rice if you're feeling adventurous (as adventurous as you can get by picking a different color for your rice). I appreciate the consistency of Sa Bai Thong, I've ordered the same dish multiple times at either location and it is always yummy! I can't attest to the "authenticity" of the Thai grub here- being a Madisonian born and raised and never traveling to Thailand... (perhaps the reason why I am not giving it a full 5-stars?) But, I very much enjoy healthy and delicious food- and this restaurant has never left me disappointed. Thanks Sa Bai Thong, Victoria read more

Delicious food, but only if the waiter gets the right order. First time ever where waiter has gotten my order wrong, but she gladly replaced the wrong dish with the correct one after I told her about it. Good service otherwise. read more

Pretty good Pad Thai, the curry was a bit more average. Perfectly serviceable. I would totally come back, but might not be the first thing to jump to mind when looking for Asian food in Madison. read more

Reliable Thai food. Great Tom Kha, Pad Thai and curries. Friendly service. Have been getting food here for years.

The first time I went to Sa-Bai Thong, it was awful. I ordered a noodle dish that gave no indication of the sauce, and it was a soupy brown flavorless sauce that drove me nuts. I ended up dumping an entire condiment dish of chili pepper into my food just so SOME flavor would come up as I fished my wide noodles out of the sauce. NOT happy. The second time, though, was better. I had the red curry squash, and it was decent. Not great, but okay. My partner's Tom Ka soup was alright as well. Overall I would give the food 2 or 2.5 stars. But I'm adding another .5 stars because I really like the cheerful decor and the huge windows that let in lots of natural light. If they could just somehow find a way to dampen the obnoxious conversations of some of their patrons, the atmosphere would be great. read more

I really enjoy ordering carry out from the restaurant. They have just added on-line ordering so it is making it so much easier. Food is great. I try to run there for lunch two times a month. On the few occasions I have eaten in the restaurant, I have found the staff helpful and friendly. You get a salad or soup with the entree. Yummy. read more

Removed Content: Haven't eaten at this location in a number of years and will never return unless the restaurant is sold and under new management. The egg roll was without any flavor at all aside from the rancid grease in which it was fried. The vegetable stir fry 58c was also not up to par. The only flavor was some salty residue type in a bath of stale sauce of some kind that was apparently trying to look Thai. Yuck. Should have returned it all and left but was so hungry got more than half way through it all before we realized it was garbage. Hope they get honest and hire a real Thai chef or sell to one soon. I recommend a field trip to a real Thai restaurant for recruiting. Maybe to Bangkok. Or in the states Aloy modern Thai in Denver. Regards, The Yelp Support Team San Francisco, California Yelp Support Center | http://www.yelp-support.com Yelp Official Blog | https://www.yelpblog.com Yelp for Business Owners | https://biz.yelp.com Dear Yelp, I would have contacted you directly but you don't enable Yelpers to do that, only business owners that complain about bad reviews. The review was for a single location. The owner has created a duplicate on Yelp to present higher ratings. If Yelp allows and encourages duplicate listings to distort overall ratings scores, it's not very meaningful information. Both reviews are posted to the same address and the same restaurant at that address: 2840 University Ave, Sa Bai Thong. Both phone numbers for the two separate entries of Sa-Bai Thong at (608) 238-3100 and Sa-Bai Thong Thai Cuisine at 608) 729-3732 are the same restaurant at 2840 University Ave, Madison WI. Please restate my review or merge the two business entries into one Yelp entry to provide readers accurate information. Thank You. On Fri, Oct 5, 2018 at 12:47 PM Yelp HQ feedback@yelp.com wrote: OCT 05, 2018 | 10:47AM PDT Hello, We're reaching out to let you know that our moderators removed the review you posted for Sa-Bai Thong Thai Cuisine, and on one or more other businesses on Yelp. We typically remove reviews that are posted to multiple business pages. We'd love to see you share your experience on the page that best corresponds to the location where your experience took place. If you interacted with multiple businesses or multiple locations, you can post a different review on each. To learn more, check out our Content Guidelines (https://www.yelp.com/guidelines). read more

Always love the food here. Today ordered a delivery and one dish came more spicy than ordered (for our kids). The restaurant graciously sent us a new dish after we called. Outstanding food and service! read more

The Tom Kha soup, the scallion dumplings and the green curry are all toe-curlingly good here. Once in a while, a stir-fry may be uninspired. It's a huge menu you...so you just don't order that again. The service is consistently good, but the food comes out fast, so if you want a relaxed meal, order your drinks, wait a bit, order the dumplings, wait a bit, order the main. Otherwise, you might be out of there in a blink. read more

Ordered Pad Thai from here and it was a terrible experience. Over cooked noodles and overall just disgusting.

Curry fried rice is pretty amazing! I ate here last night and was very pleased with my choice of food. The curry fried rice is delicious with the right amount of heat. I tried my friend's pad Thai and it was just okay. Certainly not something I would ever order. Service could most definitely be better. Once our food was brought to the table, we didn't see our server again until he brought the check. My Pepsi was empty for half of the meal and I really wanted a refill. I will be back for the curry fried rice. read more

The red curry remains the best I've ever had, out-pacing some of the highest rated Thai restaurants in DC, Chicago, and Manhattan. Shrimp purse are an absolutely fantastic array of ground shrimp and vegging in a flaky little pouch with a tasty chili sauce. The spring rolls and satay definitely hold their own as well. Really unsure how more people don't absolutely love this place. read more

Everytime minus one I go to SaBai Thong, I'm always satisfied. Although I prefer Vientaine Palace (PARTICULARLY the one on Gorham) for Thai, this place is close to home, service is great, food is delish (AND HUGE portion size, I always get 3 meals out of this) and well... That's about all I have to say about that. He he, You're probably thinking "what happened to the minus one" time? Given that this is yelp, I'll tell you. Being a vegetarian always limits my options (duh) not only for flesh including food, but also for things such as fish sauce or beef or chicken broth. Mind you, I'm not dumb, and I know that while many times meals are *supposed* to be vegetarian, they probably include fish sauce or the sorts... But I digress. Once I had a dish (it was the something noodles, I don't remember their name, because I tried to remove this memory from my brain a la Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind), and i THOROUGLY asked whether it was made with beef broth. Mind you, I have no idea why I asked BEEF broth in particular, but I was assured that it wasn't. Yeeeeaaaaahhh... 10 mins after the food comes, my stomach started doing, well... ungodly things. I ask again whether it has beef broth to a different server. He assures me that it is. 4 mins post this I was in the bathroom, violently returning what I had just ingested. Two days later, I was still in this mode. After that, SaBai Thong got NO visits from me for at least a year. But I still do love their cucumber salad, Kai Pad Kaprao, and Pad Thai... read more

Delivery review. Good food. Their online delivery system is hit or miss--last time I ordered from them, we received no delivery confirmation, and when I called the restaurant, they said they never got the order, so we reordered. About 45 minutes later, our food arrives. Great! We eat. 30 minutes later... our food arrives. Whoops! Guess they did get the first order only had no record of it...? The delivery person was super understanding and it worked out, just makes me hesitant to order online. Great food. Very complete GF option list on their website--most of their food is GF friendly, and they deliver, which many places don't. I love the pad thai and spring rolls. Addicted to their soup! read more

My husband, 20-something son, and I enjoyed our dinner last Sunday evening at Sa-Bai Thong on Odana Road. The restaurant was clean, nicely decorated, and had the most delicious dishes. Our bus boy brought us water promptly, took our drink orders and answered our questions with ease about the menu. The fun continued when the manager?? Fawn?? cheerfully brought our drinks and chatted with us about the different dishes we'd ordered. My husband likes really HOT peppers, so she brought him 4 dishes of her hottest peppers. I had the rice noodles with peanut sauce, chicken, shrimp, and veggies,-a special that night, my son had a dish with bean sprouts, red curry sauce and veggies w/ rice, and my husband had -Pad Bai Ka Prao ** Basil, mushroom, bamboo shoot, green bean, red and green pepper with fresh chili sauce with beef, and above mentioned hot peppers smothered on it. Fawn and the water guy were very attentive and friendly. The red curry sauce was amazing. I would definitely recommend eating here and maybe you will lucky enough to have Fawn as your bartender/server. My son is planning on ordering take out and delivery in the future given the reasonable prices, large portions, freshness, (did I mention how great the shrimp and chicken were in my dish?). I have eaten at the one on University Avenue in Madison 3 times, and all have been great. read more

Exceptional quality! Great staff, incredible food, wonderful ambiance. First time here. I read a previous review and from that recommendation I enjoyed the red curry crispy duck- was very pleased and too much to finish; took some home. I will be back! read more

Sa-Bai Thong started out as one of my favorite places. But over time their dishes became more and more underwhelming. Now the last time I had the duck it was quite good and the ginger tea is very good too. Then we took a relative of ours who loves Thai food and he was actually upset with their lack of spice. He said that it was not Thai when we left. Their service has always been slow and this gets old over time so we have gone elsewhere for quite a long time now and don't expect to go back until we hear that they have improved their food and service. read more

I take my family here ( a bunch of picky-eating-indian-oldies) and they LOVE IT. With a good amount of spice in their dishes, this place is a go to if you like Thai. I recommend the jungle curry- it's a winner. I also like their teas. So overall, a great place I'm pretty thrilled by it. I will always go back (or order in, free delivery after 5) read more

Food was good, service not so much... Although there were several people in the restaurant, there were empty table's and enough staffing that should have been sufficient to check in with you, or at least check back to fill your water... read more

We have been coming to this restaurant for years. The food is always wonderful! We always forget what our favorite dish was,so end up with a new one each time. read more

I had high hopes for this place as Pad Thai is a favorite of mine and their website boasts "Best Pad Thai in the state!". Honestly, is this some sort of joke? My lunch special was teeny tiny, and luke warm at best. I ordered my dish "Adventure" level of spicy which is second to most spicy and, honestly, this Pad Thai has zero spiciness to it. Not a mild level of spicy, NONE. I have a pretty bad cold and I was really looking forward to some spicy food. There are a few stray pieces of beef mixed in with the pork that I ordered. It was edible, but I am not sure I will be back. Edit: I thought I would give this place another go since it's the closest Thai restaurant to my work. Again I got the pork pad thai. It was hot this time and it was spicy, but again not as spicy as I was anticipating for choosing the spiciest option. I may go back from time to time. read more

I had just tried Sa-Bai Thong food today and it was immaculate. The dish I had got contained everything that was listed on the menu, the vegetables and sea food cooked to accentuate each other and it was amazing to taste. I was very happy with my meal and if you're a sweets person I really recommend trying the Thai tea with cream. read more

This used to be one of our favorite restaurants in Madison and we'd come for special occasions with family. The past few times we've been here though the curries taste very watered down and far less satisfying than previously. Please bring back those richer curries! The staff are still friendly with good service. read more

This is my favorite Thai restaurant! The service is always great and the food is even better! The pad Thai with shrimp is my go-to dish and the chicken khao pad is a must have dish! read more

Too hot to cook, but I needed some Pad Thai. Initially I set out to another place I already knew had the goods but decided to try a new place. I ordered Beef Pad Thai for myself and chicken for my wife. Hers was two stars in terms of heat while I asked for 3. An order or Chicken Satay as well as the coconut soup, Tom Kha Gai to the initiates. The soup was easily just as good as I'd ever had, same button mushrooms floating atop the savory broth scented from cilantro and coconut milk. The large pieces of chicken down along the bottom were tender and plentiful. The wife's Satay was similarly cooked to perfect done-ness. Peanut sauce along with a fresh crisp cucumber salad providing a nice bright acidic sweetness in a rice vinegar. The beef pad Thai was tasty, but lacking in cilantro to my taste, and devoid of the punch of any added heat I requested. My wife chicken pad Thai was otherwise perfectly flavored both from adequate cilantro and a gentle heat. Hers was also actually much moister than mine was. In summary I certainly expect I'll be ordering from this place many times, ideally sooner than later! read more

Always love the food here.. but with nearly all empty tables and plenty wait staff, it is an unpleasant surprise how long the food takes to be brought out.. an hour plus wait after ordering so plan ahead! read more

Sa-Bai is one of my favorite places on the near-west side of Madison. The service is always relatively quick, the food is consistently good, and the location is very convenient. I love the quirkiness that every time you go, the soup that comes with your meal is always slightly different. It makes going weirdly fun and mysterious. read more