I have to start this review to share that I am fairly new to Thai food, I've been eating it for about 2 years now. Ever since I found my love for Thai food, I've been to several Thai places in GR and surrounding areas and haven't found a place that I think is better than Thai Chef. I usually get the Curry Pad Thai with chicken at medium heat at most places as a base to get a feel for if I'd like to head back and try out other dishes there, this dish at Thai Chef is awesome. The medium spicy level IMO is a perfect amount of spice that will give the dish a good hotness without taking away from the flavor. The Peanut Curry Noodle is also another really good dish and is another go-to dish for me here. When it comes to the heat there, order it a little lower than you think you'd like and ask them to bring out the spice tray and kick up the heat to your liking! Overall, aside from my obvious love of the dishes I have tried, the place is a good for lunch or dinner take out, it's traditional Thai food, no Chinese dishes here, and the prices are good IMO. 7 - 10 per dish and there's usually enough to share or grab a couple and share. I have highly recommended and will continue to recommend this place. read more

The last couple times I've been to Thai Chef, the food and experience has been worse than in the past. A trusted friend who eats here more often than I has had consistently bad experiences lately. So, I've got to downgrade my previous 5-star rating to a 3-star rating until I see their A-game return. read more

When we saw the menu, we thought that it is a decent and authentic restaurant. The food and taste is so disappointing.

Love their pla dook pad ped! Get it everytime I go. Prices are decent. Forewarning: They only have pop in cans.

Was in town from Ann Arbor for an event and happened into this place. It is really good. I had curried tofu and also tried some of the soup my partner ordered and both were much better than any of the Thai food we have had recently. Highly recommended. read more

Great service, friendly and fast! I have dreams about the peanut curry :)

Good food. Can visit once in a while. The place seem to be more geared towards lunch crowd than dinner. Went there for dinner on a Friday night, not many people in. Service is quick and very good. Food seem to be fresh except for chicken which we did not like. Overall ok and worth a try. read more

Service is top notch, especially when you consider the cold service you get at other places in Grand Rapids. I even saw a large group of noisy blue-collar types come in some Thursday for lunch take up half the restaurant and harass the waitresses and manager, but the workers maintained straight faces and trudged on. The menu follows a very specific pattern. Lunch entrees are white rice on one half of the plate, and on the other half is a mix of vegetables, sauce, and meat. Meat choices were beef, chicken, shrimp, scallops, tofu, or none. There are many sauces, such as curry, standard pad thai sauce, peanut sauce, green curry, red curry, soy sauce-based, etc. Dinner-size dishes tend to be one big pile of food, with the rice mixed in. Some have thin rice noodes and some have thick udon noodles. There are four or five spice levels to choose from, and if you sit down they have several types of hot sauces available. They waitress I spoke to was very informed as to which dishes are gluten free. read more

Best Thai I've ever had. Been to dozens of Thai restaurants, even toured a few with an old college roommate who had spent a semester abroad in Bangkok, and including those places and a few swanky ones in Chicago - Thai Chef is the best tasting food of all of them. Exquisite presentation, including hand carved vegetable flowers on every dish add to an amazing meal that doesn't need the added flair - but they're so good here they do it anyway. The peanut curry sauce should be illegal. The Thai Steak dish with the "BBQ" sauce on the Chef's favorite menu is also ridiculously good. Everything tastes so fresh, the meat is always cooked perfectly, and if you want it spicy - it should come with a warning for the weak at heart. We bring people who have never had Thai to this place, and every one of them has fallen in love with it too. Family owned and ran, you can tell with everything they do how much care goes in to it. Anyone who rates this place poorly is a liar - they must work for a competitor with much worse food, because everything at Thai Chef is absolutely delicious. It's a small little restaurant, but it is always busy in the dining room, and there are always tons of people stopping in for their take out orders. That's all the proof you really need right there. read more

Ok, Im sad to say Im done with this place. I have eaten here at least once a week for the last 5 years and they never disappointed. In fact it was my favorite restaurant in gr. The last 5 or 6 times (yes I wanted it to go back to normal but didnt) the food was so bad I had to throw it out and order jimmy johns. Not cool. I called and they said they have new chef still learning. I said im sad the food was so bad i had to throw out, he said oh well they were in a rush. Bye Thai Chef. P.S. Keep serving that kind of food, you will be out of business by end of year. read more

Meh. It was average thai food, nothing special and not worth the 4 stars that led me to this place. Ordered the pad pak on the lunch special. Appreciated that we could get small size, but food was fairly bland even though I got medium spice. Just brown sauce and vegetables, not the thai flavors that I was looking for to pop. Husband ordered the appetizer combo. Fried spring rolls and rangoons were standard. Chicken satay was not amazing and the fried tofu was tasteless. Wouldn't come back here again. Oh, and they don't take Amex ! read more

Amazing food, fresh, nice atmosphere and a low price tag. My only critique would be that they need to expand! It's a lunch favorite so you better go early. read more

Service was absolutely AWFUL! The food was ok, but does not compare to other local Thai restaurants.

Best in town. Not formulaic like a lot of the other Asian restaurants. Fresh, perfectly cooked veggies, meat that doesn't have that suspiciously uniform quality, and very unique dishes. "Two peppers" hot and you'll see a lot of red flecks in your meal with about medium spice. They are definitely liberal with the spicy red peppers. read more

I went to Thai chef for a late lunch on New Years Eve. With a newly remodeled and very clean interior, my first impression was good. We started off with the Spring Roll with Plum dipping sauce which tasted very fresh and clean. For my Entrée I ordered the pineapple curry with chicken. The waitress asked how spicy I wanted it, and when I said "hot" (there is one level spicier on the menu "Thai fire") she warned me that it would be hot and she was not kidding. I am often disappointed by food advertised as spicy never being spicy...this is not the case at Thai Chef. I loved the complex flavors of the dish. At lunch each entrée comes with a bowl of soup which I also really enjoyed. My girlfriend ordered off the noodle section, Peanut Curry Noodle with vegetables, she loved it. Big portions, presentation was really classy on fancy plates. We took the recommendation of the waitress (a member of the family who owns it) and got the Fried Banana Dessert which had ice cream and was really amazing. The staff was very friendly and I can't wait to return to try some different dishes. Check this place out, you will not be disappointed. Best Thai in Grand Rapids Area! read more

The thai peanut noodles are delicious, but expensive, and not included on the lunch menu for some reason. I always order it with vegetables, because the chicken here is not to my liking, it seems like it may be boiled? Regardless, the food seems fresh and well made, but a bit on the pricey side. read more

I ordered 2 Pad Thai and I received some crazy pepper curry dish. I called to void the charge and the owner made me pay for it because i was unwilling to drive across town. They didn't give me a single dish i ordered and made me pay $30! read more

Absolutely an awesome place for Thai food. Myself and some coworkers are regulars here because we love it so much. I rotate between the Peanut Curry, Chefs House Fried Rice, and Yum Neau salad (literally the best salad I've ever had and I eat a salad almost every day) as my favs, but other stuff is good too. Everything I've had tastes great, and you can get it mild, mild plus, medium, medium plus, hot, hot plus, or Thai Fire. If going with someone who doesn't like spice, have them try the Sesame Chicken with no spice... My wife loves it. And the service has always been good. If you aren't willing to wait a few minutes to get quality food, there is a Wendy's next door. Service is friendly and your water glass is always full. read more

Not sure what happened here. Thai Chef was my favorite place to eat, I have eaten here at least once a week for last 5 or 6 years and they had the best thai food. Seems like about a couple months ago (maybe a month) the food went yuck. I really loved there food so much I have ordered about 6 times thinking the original chef was just on vacation and the food would return to normal. Doesnt taste fresh or tasty anymore. I have ordered there tom yum soup at least 200 times (was my fav). Not anymore. I would say Im a tom yum expert, haha, after that many times it was always the same and perfect. Now yuck. I even called and asked if they had a diff chef and the guy said no, then told him the the tom yum was not good and he just said, is that all you called about. My coworkers have said it didnt taste good also. Im in need of another good thai place if anyone knows of one. Im guessing the original owners sold to someone else??? read more

food is good but the service is getting bad day by day. Last week the credit cad machine didnt work. It is just one example

I am a Thai food snob!! I have tried about every Thai restaurant in the Grand Rapids area and this is my very favorite! You can enjoy the ambience of eating in the restaurant or take out that is on-time and still piping hot. I have talked with multiple friends who also enjoy Thai, and they would agree! Looking for Thai in GR?? This is the place!! read more

The shrimp rolls were a great appetizer while determining what to order. The curry noodle was an excellent main dish. We ordered it medium which was spicy but not to the point of overpowering the variety of flavors. Fried bananas served with coconut ice cream was great, even for my wife who typically is not a coconut fan. We picked up a punch card on the way out and are looking forward to filling it. read more

Great experience. I got the chicken pad Thai with veggies and crab wonton and it was amazing. I highly recommend going there.

LOVE the food here! Best chicken pad thai in town. Super fast service, very friendly. We often get them for take-out too, food is always fast and fresh (great value too!). Lunch is a great value here too. read more

One of our favorite Thai places in GR. Bigger portions than little bangcok , great atmosphere, fast service, great food. Definitely a must try. read more

This small restaurant has become our "gold standard" for Asian restaurants where-ever we go. We love the food there and have been very happy with everything we've had there. We even tried the new upscale restaurant across the street recently and both of us agreed that we like the food at Thai Chef so much better! read more

I've had Thai food in Chicago, Detroit and New York. Thai Chef is one of the best I've ever had in any city. By far the best in Grand Rapids, hands down! read more