Kalaya Reviews Summary

Food Quality

Pros:

• "The caramelized pork belly is an absolute must try."
• "The food was delicious and the service was excellent."
• "The food, AMAZING."
• "This was the best thai food I've had in my life."
• "The food was amazing and so was the plating."
• "Best Thai food I’ve had in awhile! It tasted so authentic because of the hint of fish sauce flavor in almost all the dishes."
• "The food was incredible."

Cons:

• "The food is INCREDIBLY spicy."
• "I also think this restaurant is too overpriced for what it delivers."
• "Both the chicken and the pork dumplings were extremely small - 5 bite sized pieces - both overpriced at $18 each."
• "The main dish was average."
• "Unfortunately, the main dishes were too spicy for me."
• "Grilled squid was very salty and looked like something my parents could’ve made in our backyard."
• "The pu pad karee (crab stir fry) looked very unappetizing and was very greasy/oily with excessive chili oil poured on top."

Service

Pros:

• "The staff were excellent and will help you decide so don't be afraid to chat with them."
• "Our server (Lindsay) was the literal best!"
• "All the service felt attentive but not invasive or overbearing, I felt incredibly respected and appreciated while there."
• "One of the staff informed us that the recipes are actually from a collection of home recipes from the owner’s family."
• "Our server was very sweet and detail oriented."
• "Our server Lindsay was very helpful and did a great job with the recommendations and service."
• "The staff is super friendly."

Cons:

• "The service could have been better. It took a while to gain our waitress’ attention when we wanted to place another drink order."
• "Our server stopped checking on us after we got our food and we weren’t able to order more drinks."
• "I'm not sure where our waitress would disappear off to. We at some point had to flag down someone from the kitchen to fetch our waitress to place our order."
• "The service was lacking. 50 minutes after we were seated, we had only just gotten our first appetizer."
• "It's so loud in there you can't hold a conversation with your own table without shouting."
• "Only complaint is the drinks took extremely long, over 20 mins."
• "Service could be better, especially with guidance of food choices."

Ambiance

Pros:

• "We came during lunch hours, so it was pleasant having the sky windows give a relaxing vibe."
• "The atmosphere is very bright and lively."
• "Had a fantastic experience at Kalaya celebrating its new, soaring space."
• "The spacious interior and tropical ambiance set the perfect tone for an evening of culinary exploration."
• "The ambiance eclectic with a great music selection."
• "The atmosphere was spectacular."
• "Loved the vibe with all the plants and fun decor (paper chandeliers!)."

Cons:

• "With how busy it was, it is also loud so if you're booking this spot for a first date or date night just be ready to shout a little."
• "The jui guay was spicy which we had the tolerance for but the spice was hitting us quite unpleasantly."
• "The selection of beers is inexplicably poor."
• "I thought it was a good restaurant, but definitely not #2 in Philadelphia, which felt driven mostly by its move to a new place."
• "The vast majority of plates will be spicy and you cannot alter their heat level on request."
• "It's too high for what this is. One masaman beef curry is $45 and appetizers are close to $20 each."
• "The food was ok and the flavors were there but I’ve had better Thai food at smaller places."