We came here for the first time when we had friends in town! Our reservation was at 715 and when we arrived we were told our table was finishing up desert and then they would clear the table and seat us. Around 745/750, we still were not seated but the host staff made the owner aware. She came over to us, found us a seat at the lounge while we waited and bought a round of drinks for the 6 of us due to the wait! We were finally seated around 815, and she came back to our table and let us know that she had put in 3 different appetizers for the table courtesy of the restaurant, which was a really nice touch! In addition to the apps, we ordered the chicken yellow curry, lamb shank curry, crab meat stir fry, and barramundi for entrees and mustard greens and the stuffed banana pepper for sides. Everything was incredible, but the lamb shank, barramundi and mustard greens were the favorites! For dessert, we had the coconut and pineapple shaved ice and the tiramisu. Both were great, but the tiramisu was my favorite as it was so different than a traditional one. Overall it was a great experience! Even though we had to wait a while to be seated, the owner made it right and made us customers for life. We will definitely be back!

I am not sure what I can add as a Yelper to an establishment with so many 4 and 5 star reviews. Kalaya is charming, cozy and unique. We chose to dine outside on a beautiful mid September Thursday evening. We were greeted two-times by the owner and chef Khun Nok. The presentation of the food is outstanding and beautiful. The flavors were so well developed and deep. The Masamam curry Lamb shank was extremely good with a rich peanut and coconut curry. Every dish we had was incredible. If you enjoy Thai food and want something slightly out of the ordinary dishes like Pad Thai, etc. then get over to Kalaya as fast as you can. Observations/Tips - We had can early reservation at 6:30 on a Thursday night. By 8:00 pm there was a fairly long line for people who had reservations later. The place was super busy. There is parking for $15.00 on Front Street near Suraya. The lot was well lit and safe. The portions are large, you can order family style. We ordered two mains for 3 people. 5 Yelp stars for Kalaya and looking forward to coming back!

I was quite impressed by this Thai spot. Came here with a group of 6, we had the prefix menu which the whole table has to participate. You eat family style. It's somewhat limited on vegetarian selections, so I would caution against prefix if more than one person is vegetarian. All the dishes were great. Crab fried rice, stir fried ground pork, papaya salad, some kind of pork ribs... every single dish was great. Desserts were big, but not really my thing, one was basically shaved ice with other things and the other one was similar with coffee. Overall would def come back and recommend this place!

The entire experience--from the restaurant itself to the staff--went beyond all expectations. If you haven't been, consider this your formal invitation. It's an absolute MUST. Let me start with Chef Nok, who isn't just running the kitchen--she's the queen of this culinary kingdom. I've never been to a place where the head chef cares this much about her craft. She greeted guests outside, making her rounds like a gracious host, and then came over to ask how we were enjoying the food. You can tell she cares about her restaurant and wants to make sure you love it as much as she does. We kicked things off with some ya dong shots. They came with pineapple slices on the side--sweet, tangy, and totally unique. Perfect start. Now, onto the food: we started with the cod dumplings, which were not only adorable, but tasted like a burst of heaven in your mouth. Cute *and* delicious? Check. Next came the mushroom & tofu salad, which is more like a deconstructed wrap/cucumber situation. But who cares about technicalities when it's this good? Seriously, I'm talking about a SALAD here--how many people rave about a salad? The flavors were unreal, and it earned its spot as my second favorite dish of the night. Then we got two crab dishes: stir fry and curry. Let's just say, the curry is not for the spice-averse--it's got that slow-burn heat that sneaks up on you. But don't worry, there's bottomless rice to help. Despite the spice, it was incredibly flavorful, as expected. The crab stir fry? Hands down, my favorite of the night. Packed with flavor and perfectly done. I'd go back just for that. At this point, my stomach was on the verge of declaring a national emergency, but being the dessert lover that I am, I soldiered on. We ordered a black sticky rice and coconut milk dessert that was warm, not too sweet, and somehow irresistible. Despite being stuffed, we polished off the whole thing. Chef Nok has officially set the bar for every other chef in the city. I'm dragging all my friends and family back here, and recommending it to anyone who'll listen. Go. Now. You're welcome.

Most of meal was great - highlights: Shaw muang Gui chai Panang nua and paniang moo Least favorite was the moo yaang prik. It was very overcooked/dry. Would not reorder. Drinks were nice. Enjoyed myself there.

We had an absolutely amazing Thai feast at Kalaya! This restaurant has been on my list to try for a little while, and it did not disappoint. I would definitely recommend going with a group because the food is served family style, and then you also get to try a lot more. Everything we got was delicious, with my personal standout favorites being the duck salad & branzino. I'm still dreaming about that branzino salty/spicy/tangy sauce! The only thing to note is that a lot of the food is on the spicier side, so you have to be good with spicy to try a lot of the menu. The cocktails, however, have a sweetness that balances amazingly well with the food. I'd highly recommend the coconut one. Also to help with spice, a lot of the dishes come with sides that help cool you down (with the surprise best help being the soft boiled eggs in fish sauce!). The only negative about Kalaya is that the service isn't the best. They don't pace out the food well, so we actually ordered in several shifts to try to avoid getting an overcrowded table (pro tip!). Other than that, however, everything was great & I'll definitely be back! Food: A Drinks: A Ambiance: B+ Service: B-

What a beautiful space inside - Kalaya is a vision inside and beautifully decorated. I've been here before and the food was too spicy so wanted to return and see how the food tasted today. It did not disappoint. We went with the tasting menu which came with so much food! Some of the food didn't have as much spice which was disappointing. We still left with full and happy bellies! The service was great except to get drinks, that took quite a while multiple times. I'm not sure if the bar was backed up?

jui guay: steamed rice cups with shiitake mushrooms. Our least favorite because there was no mushroom flavor. The spicy soy sauce is quite spicy. Think we should have ordered the more traditional dumplings instead of this dish. gui chai: crispy garlic chive rice cakes. Delicious! Came out piping hot. Very crispy outside. The flavor inside reminds me of the chive dumplings you can get at dim sum. The spicy soy sauce is SPICY, same soy sauce as the jui guay dish. sua rong hai: grilled skirt steak. Very tasty dish. This was the least spicy dish out of everything we ordered. The nam jim jaew dipping sauce tasted like fish sauce, lime, and fresh cilantro and scallions. I enjoyed making a lettuce wrap with the steak and sauce. The steak was cooked perfectly medium/ medium rare. gaeng pu chakram: crab curry with sea beans. This was extremely too spicy for us! Our waiter told us this was 6/10 on the spiciness level and there are three other curry dishes that are much spicier. We could not finish because the heat was too much for us. This dish has a good amount of crab meat- super flavorful curry. A lot of depth to the curry. This entree also came with an egg that was soaked in fish sauce and lime juice. It also came with a stuffed pepper in curry sauce which was a much milder curry that I could handle. I ate most of my rice with the curry from the stuffed pepper dish. I got the lychee negroni cocktail but with alcohol ... didn't like this much because I thought there will be a lychee flavor due to the name. There is actually no lychee flavor in it, I only tasted honey and orange. Overall the food and experience were wonderful. I would go back to try other things on the menu- definitely will go back to try their lunch menu.

I selected Kalaya as a birthday destination after reading numerous reviews. The restaurant is in a building that looks like it used to be a large warehouse with tall, lit palm trees in the middle of the room. As we waited for our table, a manager and the owner greeted us. I later saw her walking around talking to guests and would have loved to chat, but she didn't stop by our table. We started with the shaw muang appetizer (chicken dumplings) which was good along with the pra ram long som (pork tenderloin appetizer). We also shared the pairing of two curries (beef and pork), the colossal crab meat stir fry, and the yellow curry with chicken. I loved that this food had some spice and flavor. The yellow curry with chicken was especially spicy and one of the managers brought us a cold tea to cool our palates. Despite that, I thought thank goodness for a restaurant that doesn't tone down its food. Everything was unique and delicious. Being quite full, although I had read about it and it looked delicious, I decided to pass on the shaved ice dessert. When I asked for a small birthday size one which we would have paid for, our server said they didn't have anything smaller. Being that we were there for a birthday celebration, some acknowledgment of my birthday would have been appreciated. We left with no happy birthday, no candle, and no dessert.

Returned to kalaya and had an even better food experience! My friend was visiting from out of town, so I took her here and glad I did. Our waitress was absolutely amazing! Very friendly and knowledgeable. We were stuck between two entrees and told her to pick and surprise us. We ordered the achara to drink, kanom jeeb Nok as our app, nua pad king as our entree and shaved ice for dessert. Everything truly deserved a 10/10! Each dish continued to get better and more complex. I will 100% reorder the stir fry and shaved ice! Unfortunately, the cocktails are consistent with my original review a few months ago. My friend and I were not fans of Achara. She tried a lychee mocktail and asked if they can add alcohol, which they did but still were not fans. The dessert sadly took 20+ minutes to come out and we had to leave for a show so we had less than 5minutes to eat it. The shaved ice was truly something I still talk about till this day and was the best thing I ate! Highly highly recommend coming here!