Saffron Thai

Reviews

• Angelica H.

  star star star star star 29 May 2026

  So, my last review said something about the bad decor but delicious food.
  
  Well, they updated the decor, changed it all and it is BEAUTIFUL!
  
  They continue to have delicious food.  We love going here, it gets expensive for a family of five, but we still splurge and go here for yummy food. Soup is delicious, I love the shrimp salad rolls, the sweet pepper sauce is delicious on the salad rolls and chicken, noodle dishes are yummy and the shrimp chips are delicious! When the sticky rice with mango is available, we always get that...we also love their pumpkin tapioca pudding. Mmm, now I'm hungry!

• Joy B.

  star star star star_border star_border 28 May 2026

  Despite a past foodie love affair with Saffron, I've reached the point where I must agree with the overall 3-star Yelp rating and accede that Saffron's heyday is behind it.
  
  I'm not sure if it's the watering down of recipes by the new ownership team, or if I've just matured in my palette for Thai food, or a little of both, but the Thai dishes served here lack love and care and now amount to greasy piles of noodles, bland bowls of soup, and un-inspired curries. What was once layer after layer of flavor in the piping hot chicken soup or glimmering drunken noodles leaves much to be desired, most of all the rich character of days gone by. Su-Mei Yu's presence in the kitchen is deeply missed, in more ways than one.
  
  In the past the popularity of this place seemed to mesh with my high regard for the dishes produced here, when I used to stop by regularly and dread the line out the door. Now there is no longer a line, even during peak dining times, and the restaurant has been more empty than not the few times I've visited in recent months.
  
  I'll continue to endorse two things on the menu and thus the 3-star rating:
  
  I enjoy the grilled chicken here. While it's no longer prepared in a next-door walk-up eatery, the combination plates of quarter, half, or whole chickens served with jasmine rice, a Cambodian salad, and sauces of your choosing are deliciously satisfying.
  
  The salad rolls continue to be a star and my favorite thing on the menu. Available with chicken, shrimp, or tofu, the addition of mint makes these a refreshing and incredibly fragrant appetizer. Any roll comes with a dipping sauce and most folks seem to get the peanut flavor, but I highly recommend the sweet pepper sauce which pairs beautifully. I've been known to pick up a box of these at the San Diego Airport (Saffron has a location past security in Terminal 2) and call them lunch on a flight out of town.
  
  To get your Thai food fix, other nearby eateries that do a much better job for the same price point (or lower) include Thai Papaya (authentic Isaan-style Thai cooking), Sab-E-Lee (same owner as Thai Papaya but more Americanized), and J&T Thai (fast-casual eatery with decent rice dishes).

• Greg M.

  star star star star_border star_border 24 May 2026

  Just ok. Had lunch here and it was better. Tonight, not so good. I had the Spicy stir fry veggies with chicken. Pretty sure the string beans and broccoli were out of a bag, cooked, and left sitting for quite some time.  
  
  This is an order at the counter place. They do bring the food to you but when my wife asked for some sauce, the employee just referred to a location to fetch it herself. Maybe, this was because we did not leave a tip on the credit card machine (I find those prompts for 20% so annoying. On the up side, my wife really enjoyed her Tom Yum soup.
  
  We were friendly and courteous and they were too.
  
  Our table was super sticky...
  
  I'd probably choose one of the many other excellent choices in this area next time - unless for lunch.

• Michael W.

  star star_border star_border star_border star_border 13 May 2026

  UPDATED 5/22/19: I've changed my rating to one star. Since the review below I've returned twice only for the convenience of being so close to my hose, HOWEVER, my experience has been even worse each time. The last trip I came in to pickup my online order and found four bags on the counter and four people near the counter but busy talking to each other. After a minute of standing there without being acknowledged, I asked which bag was mine. I took the bag they gave me and upon arriving home discovered one of the three dishes was the wrong order. It was the wrong pieces of chicken and brown rather than white rice. Basically the same attention they give to customers at the store is the same they give to putting together orders. I have given feedback to the manager on duty at least three times but things have only changed for the worse. I would like to send feedback to their main offices but their website doesn't list any contact information. The quality of the food (bland) and service (indifferent) have significantly dropped in the past year and a half. It seems to have turned into a sort of fast food production place with minimum training and surviving on volume of sales and not quality. I suppose San Diego is getting large enough that they can afford to burn through customers and not rely on forming clients. There are much better Thai restaurants nearby.
  
  ORIGINAL REVIEW:
  The best thing about Saffron was the convenience of ordering online and being able to run inside for pickup without standing in line. The whole process was very efficient. Notice I say 'was'. The last two times I ordered online, I did not receive a text notice alerting me the order was ready for pickup. I always wait for the notice because depending on how busy they are, orders have been ready in a quickly as 15 minutes but other times it's taken them 45 minutes. No problem as long as the text is sent when it's ready for pickup. Last Saturday I placed my online order and after almost an hour of not receiving a text message, I headed to there anyway only to find out my order had been sitting on the counter for almost 45 minutes because they never sent an text or email saying it was ready for pickup. The first person I explained this problem to said 'sorry'. I then spoke with a 'manager' who said she would speak with the person in charge of the online system. Today, 5 days later, I placed another online order and had the exact same results; no confirmation text that the order was ready. (Actually, both times I received a confirmation text saying the order was ready for pickup more than an hour after returning home). Each time the staff mumbled things about being too busy, a problem with the automated system, or that they would tell the manager of the online system. Basically, they really didn't care and we're just worried about moving on to the next customer. I really wanted to give them a chance but since this convenience was the best part of this place was the convenience (there are other Thai places with much tastier food), I probably won't be returning. It was really upsetting to not have received a more concerned reply to their errors even after telling them the second time I probably wouldn't be returning. By the way, I had been a loyal customer for over ten years so this was not a casual decision t

• Ron Q.

  star star star star star 5 May 2026

  It's been a minute since I last visited Saffron Thai. I grew up nearby and have also brought my family and kids in over the years. They've loved all the dishes here including the shrimp spring rolls, soups and fried rice. On this cold wintery eve, I found myself craving some warm comfort food. Saffron Thai hit the mark!
  
  It's a casual walk up and order at the counter and grab a seat establishment. As I looked up at the menu, not much has changed over the years, although I'm sure they've added a few items along the way. They have the standard Thai fare, pad Thai, various stir fry options, etc. something that caught my eye tonight was the anti-inflammatory stir fry and the healthful cleansing soup. I've had some minor injuries recently and at least the names of the dishes sounded appropriate enough.
  
  The stir fry cane with broccoli, mushrooms and red peppers. I added tofu. There were also some small bits of spicy peppers, not sure how much or what type, but just enough to add a little heat. The soup was very soothing. Sort of Asian homey soup if you will. Glass noodles, cilantro and I believe spinach and maybe Napa cabbage stalks. It added a nice crunch to the soup. The flavors of both dishes were mouthwatering good!  
  
  Over the years, they've also done some remodeling. The food has always been spot on. But the restrooms were another story. Kind of nasty to be honest. However with the remodel, rest assured, they're super clean and nice!
  
  A great place to go for some healthy Thai food!
  
  Keep on Yelp'n!