Quick Recap: LOFT Thai Eatery

After hearing many positive reviews about LOFT Thai Eatery, my friends and I decided to take a stroll down South YEG for lunch today. We ordered a few items to share between the four of us.

I only took one photo since we were all hungry and I didn’t want to keep the table waiting. Here’s a quick recap of all our dishes:

1. Chicken satay ($13.50): not bad, small portions. Very sweet sauce.
2. Green curry ($17.00): we added $1.00 for upgrading it to coconut rice. I found the coconut rice and green curry to be unbearably sweet together. I’d stick to regular rice next time.
3. Pad thai ($17.50): a good pad thai will have a nice blend of flavours — sweet, savoury, and sour. Unfortunately, the pad thai we had here was only sweet with no additional flavours. The noodles were also stuck together, mushy, and overcooked. You wouldn’t even have to chew it.
4. Massaman braised short rib ($31.00): I LOVE braised short ribs. I made this dish myself and had amazing experiences in many other restaurants before. The dish itself is extremely delicious and quite simple. The short rib we had in LOFT Thai wasn’t the usual fork-tender fall apart short ribs that I’m accustomed to. It was dry, full of fat, and required a knife to eat. Having it served with mashed potatoes would also be preferred than another sweet curry.
5. Zap wings 1 lb ($13.50): hints of lime flavouring and Thai spices. Pretty good but nothing special.
6. Mac N’ Cheese w/ chicken ($17.50): okay, this one was the one dish that deterred us from this restaurant. It’s not your usual cheesy mac and cheese. LOFT Thai took their own approach by mixing pasta in tomato sauce and having a thin layer of mozzarella cheese on top. I feel cheated on how there was little to no chicken in the dish or even cheese in a mac n’ cheese. You can easily recreate this dish by tossing some store bought tomato sauce, pasta, boiled mushroom, and bake a layer of cheese on top. As my friend said, this tasted “whack.”

mango sticky rice $8.50

The mango sticky rice was one of the best parts of the meal but I was done after one bite because it was just so sweet. I also wish there was more mango for $8.50. It would’ve been a nice refreshment after eating all that sugar. Great texture of the sticky rice though.

All in all, I felt like I just paid $132 for a heavy dessert instead of a savoury Thai lunch. We left feeling hungry and disappointed. Don’t take my review to heart though, it’s just my personal opinion. Like I said in many previous reviews, I’m not a fan of westernized Asian foods, and this was just that. A modern take on Thai food. If you’re like me and prefer authenticity, stick to Syphay, Boualouang, or Viphalay.

LOFT Thai Eatery

5324 75 Street NW, Edmonton, AB T6E 6S4