Thai Cafe - Twentynine Palms

I recently had an unpleasant experience with a restaurant that is now under new management. The person I spoke to on the phone was extremely rude, to the point where I decided not to place my order and hung up. I used to really enjoy this place, but the staff member seemed unwilling to acknowledge my prior visits, insisting that I couldn't have dined there before simply because I inquired about an item that is no longer on the menu. I repeatedly confirmed that I knew the restaurant's location and that I'm a local, but they continued to ask the same questions and kept reiterating that they were under new management. The whole situation felt very strange and uncomfortable. I will truly miss the friendly staff who used to work there!

This was my first visit to the restaurant, and I went on a quiet Thursday evening around 7 PM. We ordered chicken skewers, shrimp pad Thai, beef drunken noodles, and sweet shrimp vegetable. Unfortunately, I have to give it just 2 stars primarily due to the quality of the food and the portion sizes. The pad Thai came with only four shrimp, leaving my child asking where the rest were. I felt the same way; for $16, it's not worth it. Additionally, the beef in my drunken noodles tasted stale and had a freezer burn flavor. On a brighter note, the customer service was good. While I won’t be returning, I would recommend this place to anyone visiting for the first time.

While I waited, I chatted with other customers who warned me that this place has a terrible reputation, but it was late, and we were all too lazy to make our own curry—so what could we do? As I sat there, I saw other patrons receiving their orders. One woman received the wrong takeout order twice, without any apology, and a young man was given the wrong protein (meat instead of the tofu he had requested), among other issues. After another 20 minutes, I again asked for an update and received another irritated response: "20 more minutes." Frustrated, my wife called the restaurant to check on our order, only to be told it was a family-run business and they were busy, followed by them hanging up on her. After my next 20-minute wait, I asked once more and was told the order still wasn't ready. I informed them it had now been an hour and forty minutes since the order was placed. A young lady went to check in the kitchen and reported back that the staff hadn’t realized it was past 6:20 PM (it was now 7:20 PM) and that it would take… well, you get the picture. If I could give zero stars, I would. The food itself deserves one star—while the portions are small and the prices are high, it is quite tasty. However, the poor service completely overshadows the food, and I won't be returning anytime soon.

My wife and I were pleased with the chicken pad Thai and spicy eggplant with tofu. The best value for the money of all the meals well had during our Joshua Tree vacation.

Probably the BEST Asian in the town, taste really great! But phone call order and dining in are NOT available. So the only choice to taste the restaurant is to go to the store order and pick up yourself.