Khao San Road

I'm a little surprised with myself that it took me so long to take my son to a Thai restaurant. I love Thai food so much that I went to Thailand for my honeymoon. Because of the food. Anyway, I finally managed to get some post-baby Thai food!

Restaurant: Khao San Road
Location: Trinity Bellwoods
Meal: Lunch
Day: Tuesday
Son's Age: 22 weeks

So I'm a little confused as to what was going on with this restaurant, to be honest. Khao San Road was located on Adelaide, but that location has closed. They have a sister restaurant called Nana in Trinity Bellwoods, and apparently Khao San Road is now operating out of there. You would never know from looking, though, because all the signage says Nana and there is no indication that it's anything else. There's also only the one menu so it's not like you can choose to order off a Khao San Road menu versus a Nana menu. Long story short: I'm not completely clear which restaurant I am reviewing.

Accessibility: ⭐️⭐️
I had to get my stroller over a step to enter the restaurant, and was surprised to discover that all seating was on stools, which meant that I would not be able to place the car seat on a chair. Luckily, I brought my son in a stroller, so the server gave me a table at the front so I wouldn't obstruct anyone.

The washrooms were in the back, and given the setup of the restaurant, there was no way I was getting my stroller there. Instead I brought my son into the washroom with me in his car seat.

The washroom lacks a changing table or any clear counter space to change my son. The upside is that it is large enough to bring a car seat in and place on the floor, so I didn't have to worry about abandoning my baby at the table - not that I would do that, of course. The washroom is also surprisingly on the same floor, not in the basement, so that makes it a bit easier to get to when I'm lugging around a heavy car seat.

Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Service level was different at the beginning of my visit versus later. While the host offered me the table by the front, I sat for a while without a menu or water. As a breastfeeding mom, I am pretty much perpetually thirsty, so water is kind of important. I waited for a while until the server came out and started taking people's orders. When she got to me, she asked me if I was ready to order, and I said I would like a menu and a glass of water. She quickly got me a menu and then continued on while I waited for water. A few minutes later she asked if I was ready to order, and immediately I said yes, and I would like to start with a glass of water. I placed my order, then watched as she took the next table's orders, then punched them in. I could see the water cups and pitchers and I was so tempted to serve myself at that point. Once I finally got my water, she was significantly more attentive, and my water glass was never empty afterward. My food also came quickly, but I never felt rushed. She also stopped by to interact with my son pretty regularly, which he loved. When I left, another server held the door open for me. To sum up, I started with abysmal service but once this was corrected, service was exceptional.

Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
The restaurant has a lunch special which is a curry of the day. I always appreciate smaller portions for lunch, and the special for Tuesday was the red curry, so I chose to go with this.

I was a little worried because usually you can choose your level of spice, so I asked for Thai spicy. I was told that since it was a special, modifying the spice level was not an option. I was instead offered chilli sauce on the side. It turns out that the curry still has quite a kick! I still added the chilli sauce but I was pleasantly surprised, as the assumption is usually that the general public prefers the food to be quite mild. The curry itself was rich and flavourful, and the portion size was perfect for lunch. I would say it's as good as red curry you would find in Thailand. As a side note for breastfeeding mothers, though, I must tell you that my son typically does not react to changes in my diet, which honestly made me think that the whole concept of breast milk tasting like what I ate to be a lie. After I ate this and breastfed, though, I noticed that my baby had extremely bad gas that lasted all night so neither of us got a good night's sleep. Maybe it's the extra chilli sauce that did it, but I just wanted to give you a heads up.

Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️½
The food is fantastic, but it's not particularly easy to bring your baby here. If you are really craving delicious Thai food, though, it might be worth the effort.