Thai Chef - Lahaina

I had read about this place on happycow, and here's my Thai Chef review. On a past trip to Maui, Hawaii, on a day that we were to be in the Lahaina area with friends, we decided to give this one a try. We had trouble locating the Thai Chef restaurant since it was situated not on the front side of the street but on the backside of Front Street. We had to ask one of the tour shops for assistance. The inside of the restaurant is small with maybe 10 tables for seating. The decor was simple. A few Thai artworks hung on the walls, Thai music played in the background. We quickly sat down and ordered our food as we noticed that other diners were coming in, and we didn't want to wait too long. Our party of four shared the peanut tofu curry, the pad thai, ginger coconut soup, green papaya salad, and the eggplant tofu plus 2 large orders of brown rice. Rice was not included in the price of the main entrees. For each dish we requested medium spicy. Well, it turned out that medium spicy is pretty spicy, a little more than my husband liked, though the rest of us enjoyed the thrill of the chili peppers. Thai people like their food really spicy that's for sure. The peanut tofu curry, aka panang curry, was pretty tasty $10.95). The eggplant tofu was saucy and flavorful but overall just okay for me $10.25). The pad thai dish had a nice taste and the veggies baked tofu slices were delicious, but the noodle itself was too hard for me $10.95). The green papaya salad, aka som tom, was decent though it could use more garnish and some more bit of peanuts $8.95). The ginger coconut soup, aka tom kha, was the one dish that fell short $10.50). It was too sour from lime) and lacked the savory and spiced flavor of tom kha that we were all used to back home. Overall, I thought the food was flavorful and well-spiced for the most part. I liked the spicy factor. As with Thai food, there were lots of salt and sugar in the food, but that's what makes this food addictive. The prices were a bit high for this kind of food basically veggies, tofu, and spices), but this is Lahaina, and things are more expensive in this area.

I may be spoiled by the vegan Thai restaurants near my home, but I was happy to find one here with clearly labeled vegan options. Unfortunately, the food was very oily and did not match the menu description. I ordered the Thai basil tofu, expecting broccoli, carrots, and onions with basil as stated on the menu. Instead, I received an abundance of onions, only 2 slices of carrots, a couple of green beans, and a small green herb that I think was supposed to be Thai basil. The summer rolls were decent, but seemed to be missing the mint mentioned in the description. It might be better to dine in so you can have them correct any mistakes.

This hidden gem of a restaurant offers delicious Thai cuisine just off of Front Street. The dishes are full of flavor and they even have a separate menu for vegetarians. Located behind Front Street, across from Bank of Hawaii and the post office, it can be a bit tricky to find but well worth the search.

The restaurant offers a decent selection of vegan options. The waiter was friendly and the atmosphere was relaxed. However, the food was just okay. The curry was decent, but not the best vegan Thai food available on the island.

I can no longer recommend Thai Chef. We ordered the veggie papaya salad that is on the vegetable lovers section of the menu (which was all vegan with the old owners, now I am not sure it is. It was made with fish sauce. Our tofu curry (again from the vegetable lovers section had a piece of chicken in it. I am horrified and absolutely disgusted.