Karta Thai restaurant
| Address: | 2411 Central Ave NE, Minneapolis, MN 55418, USA |
| Phone: | +1 612-788-4000 |
| Site: | kartathai.com |
| Rating: | 4.4 |
| Working: | 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–9PM 11AM–10PM 12–10PM 12–9PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 5
VE
Veronica Harmony
The first thing that struck me was that it was very noisy upon walking in and remained that way. At first only about half the restaurant was filled, but soon it was full. The next thing was that I was left awkwardly waiting at the front of the room by the Specials sign for a full 2 minutes waiting to catch the attention of either of the waitresses to see about getting a table. It didnt seem like a place where you just seated yourself, though perhaps I just should have. Things got worse from here. When ordering, I asked about what flavors of fried ice cream they have. I was told that usually it is just vanilla, but they didnt have any tonight. Its really apparently that hard to keep ice cream in stock when its 45* outside. I decided upon a Thai Tea instead to spend my calories. It was the worst Thai Tea Ive ever had. It was completely unsweetened, and at least 75% milk. I almost asked to get some more tea added to bring some life back into it, but then I tasted my curry. Which brings me to the next thing... When ordering, the waitress (she neither provided her name nor wore a badge) didnt ask for a spice level. I offered up that I would really like mild tonight (usually I like medium/house but was in a bit of a hurry and mostly just wanted the flavor). I was then informed that they couldnt change the spice level as it was one mix. I have absolutely never been to a Thai restaurant where they couldnt adjust the spice! The waitress said that if Id had any spice before then itd be ok. At the end of my meal, Id eaten about 10% of the curry and didnt want to force myself anymore. The spice was at the upper level of my tolerance. And it wasnt very good substance-wise--a lot of Thai basil mixed into some bamboo shoots and tofu with a couple bell pepper slices and thats about it. The curry sauce was at least rich and how it should be. The waitress mentioned that it didnt seem like I was enjoying it and that one lady had asked for coconut milk to be added in once but it had changed the flavor. This is why I decided against asking for more tea added to my Thai tea--so I could use it to cut the spice. The waitress was nice enough and its not her fault that they were out of stock on items and inflexible to American palates while having a restaurant in America, but I wish Id been geared toward ordering something else instead. There was one delight: cream cheese wontons served with sweet and sour sauce. Little wontons of fried dough filled with creamy cream cheese--who could hate those?? I put the garnish of shredded cabbage and carrots on top of each wonton and drizzled the sauce. It was perfection. Pricey for what it was, but worth it at the time. Im glad I got those to fill my up before the showdown with the curry or else I would have left starving and completely dissatisfied. Needless to say, I wont be going back.
NO
Norm Walker
I live just across the border in Wisconsin to say that we have a lack of a good Thai places is the understatement of the year. We have lot of crappy Chinese Buffets but those are about as authentic as Taco Bell is for Mexican food. Since I work and have family in NE Minneapolis I like to try new places as they come up. I was really excited to try a new Thai Place since that is one of my favorites ethnic foods. It had been a long day and I just wanted to eat some good food and relax. I ordered from Karta Thai on the phone and was surprised how fast they had my Takeout ready to go, it was less then 10 mins! Since I didnt have a menu I told them I wanted something with chicken and Thai Basil. They recommended a very very good stir fry that was AMAZING!! The Thai Basil Stir-fry was very flavorful and all the ingredients were fresh. My only complaint was with the amount of heat that I got in my dish. Most Thai places will ask you how much heat you want on a scale of 1-5. I am a spicy food lover so I always order a 3 that seems to be consistently ok for me. What I got was bordering on a 6 it was so damn hot I could not believe it. All that and I still ate ever single bite, it was that good. I would start at a lower heat level then you usually order just to be safe.
A
A Private User
I dont know if this place has changed since the positive reviews, but my experience here was terrible. We ordered carry-out and the staff were quite unfriendly and unprofessional. But I can live with that- its only carry-out. But the food... what a waste of money. For one, I expected quality, fresh Thai for the money (its not cheap eats), but instead got fairly small portions of bland dishes which seemed like leftovers- not fresh in the least. The chicken was dry, noodles overcooked and clumped in gelatinous chunks. So-called spicy dishes were not the least bit spicy (and we werent asked about level of spice like most places do). The flavors were either non-existent or one-note. Dishes were different from how they were described on the menu (whoever heard of yellow curry in pad woon sen?). One of the dishes (the pad kee mao) was so poor that we threw it out. It was that bad. This place made Sawatdee look like an authentic, gourmet Thai restaurant. We were SEVERELY disappointed and Im not one to be picky or negative about local restaurants.
JU
Julia Wolff
Take out for Saturday date night. There was only one table of patrons when I went to pick the food up. Should have known why. The Spring Rolls had spoiled shrimp or lettuce or both, took two bites and no more (sad, usually my favorite), also no cilantro or basil just lettuce shrimp and noodles. The appetizer Golden Karta Special is described as chicken wrap with noddles and deep fried. No chicken there, seriously just fried noodle ball. Ordered medium spicy and Pad Thai and Drunken Noodles but they were so hot we could not eat them. We like spice, but not burn your mouth and ruin your palate for the rest of the meal spice. Thai Iced tea was sweet but not creamy enough. Mango and sticky rice desert - rice was a chewy paddy like taffy, mango was the only good thing. We normally LOVE Thai food. Karta not only missed the mark, but was easily the WORST Thai food we ever had. Dont waste your money like I did.
DA
Danielle G
This place was recommended by a friend, but it definitely isnt in the top Thai restaurants in the cities for me. The spring rolls have no flavor, they didnt use any herbs, mostly just lettuce. A little mint or cilantro would have gone a long way. The shrimp wonton soup was ok for the low price. It kind of seemed like they took pre-cooked shrimp and put wonton wrappers around it and threw it in some water with some shrimp bouillon or something. It was OK, but no depth of flavor. The drunken noodle with beef was pretty good. Sauce was very flavorful, noodles a good texture. I enjoyed this part of the meal, but there are other Thai places I would sooner visit. My friend had suggested the red curry, so I do plan to try again and eat that dish and maybe it will improve my review.
