Tara Thai Kitchen

Great authentic Thai food. I love Thai fried rice. It has a unique flavor so much different than Chinese, Korean or Japanese fried rice. It’s hard to find that authentic flavor but I’m so happy I found it here. All of the appetizers are amazing as well. Very comfortable setting too. Jazz music does throw me off and makes me feel like I should be at an Italian restaurant. Parking lot sucks too. All that aside, I think it’s it’s worth it coming to Tara Thai.

The food was good but the portions where a little small. Especially the seafood ones. We waited an hour for our food but with such limited staff I understand waitress handled her job by herself but you could tell they need another person at least for diners. Flavor where great. But again a little expensive for the portion sizes and the price being asked. But hey that's inflation for you.

Bad experience. Lunch took about 25mins to be served after we ordered. Small portion. Had the Cashew Nut Chicken. Food was tasty but not much of it. Asked for some more rice since only came with about a tablespoon full. Gave up after 10 more minutes of waiting. Asked to pay wanted to charge me for the extra rice that had never come. Removed that from receipt. I got bill and then when paid they added a credit card fee. No where was that mentioned beforehand. Would never go back. I love Thai food and have been to many all across the country. This one sucks!

The server was friendly though its obvious she is overworked and doing everything herself. I really wanted to love this place because Thai cuisine is one of my faves, but the food itself is not very authentic, not very flavorful, and takes forever. My pick-up order took about an hour when I was quoted 35-40 minutes. The portions are tiny. Both noodle dishes barely had any sauce, protein, or vegetables. The beef in our panang was gray, as if it had been boiled; the curry itself was very thin, and tasted watered down. Everything was underwhelming, sadly. I understand that restaurants are totally different after the pandemic. But I don't like to be greeted with silly signs telling me to be patient or that they could refuse service. It's tacky. The fact remains that if you don't have staff, restaurants must think outside of the box and make it work when its failing.

I like the food from this place, the fact that it’s so distinct from any Asian flavors in El Paso encouraged me to continue visiting. My daughter and I ordered the cashew nut entree. It was aromatic and flavorful. The cashews were a bit scarce, but the few I got were crunchy and complimented the dish very well. On another note, the veggies were perfectly cooked and so was the tofu. However, the reason I am giving a three star review is because, I was charged to do some substitutes on my meal, for example the dish is originally served with chicken but I ordered tofu instead, my daughter requested noodles instead of rice and I was charged about $2 to pay with a card plus tip. I don’t mind paying for what I order, the issue is that it took me by surprise when I got the bill. The waitress didn’t even tell me that I’d be charged to substitute ingredients. In summary, with 15% tip and all the other charges I ended paying $57 for a lunch for two. The ambience is okay but the place is not that clean. I feel that for what I paid I could have gone to a higher end restaurant instead and have a better experience.