Thai Chili Express

This is my go-to place for Thai food in downtown San Jose. I usually order the Chicken Pad See Ew, but recently, I tried the tofu, and it was delicious. The service is always great here, and the ambiance is very casual.

I went for dinner takeout and I think it was their last batch so my meal wasn't satisfying at all. I got 2 combo boxes for $30. First box had garlic chicken (too sweet) and green chicken curry (salty and not much flavor)+ rice. The second was slightly better with tofu red curry (carrot slices way too big) and spicy fish (fish wasn't freshly fried so the crispy-ness had become had to chew). As the name suggests, it has very fast food vibe. But the prices are not for fast food so I expected better quality. I would go back again at an earlier time and hopefully I'll update my review to more than 2 stars.

Quick and easy takeout Thai food with ready to assemble dishes.I got the 2 item combo with white rice, spicy fish, and the green curry chicken. The food is pretty good, certainly for takeout thai food. The staff are pretty generous with the curry and make an effort to give you a variety of ingredients while serving. I'd recommend it for a workday lunch!

This place is a solid grab and go type of restaurant. Workers here are friendly and the service is good. They already have most of the food out in the trays so you would just need to pick what you want. There is not much seating inside.The garlic noodles are flavorful and go well with the variety of different dishes they have there. They have different types of curries as well as different types of Thai noodle dishes. The sugarcane juice is also very refreshing, and they make it fresh. Everything I've tried here has been enjoyable.

I've come here a couple of times with a friend whenever we felt like getting some quick Thai food. The woman serving is always friendly towards us, and there's decent ambiance and a small amount of nice, clean seating that we can usually sit at to enjoy our food if we're not in a rush. There's no bike racks nearby, however, but you can park your car in the parking lot for the grocery store across the street or pay the meters on the side of the street.I usually find the food to be good, but I think today might've been an off day. Normally I get the rice with either spicy or tamarind fish because the strong flavors of the fish usually go well with the rice, but I decided to try getting the garlic noodles this time with tamarind fish. The garlic noodles made the food a bit too salty in my opinion, but that's something that I could normally look past. The issues I had was with the texture, which felt rougher than last time, and the flavors did not make up for it. I enjoy the mild flavors that they had, which was also present here, but the fish felt like rough tofu and I questioned if it was indeed tofu before feeling something that vaguely looked like a small bone. I'm not sure if it was, however, and I guess I probably should've been more careful, so I'll give them a pass over that.On a lighter note, the food is cheaper compared to some other places and is pretty fulfilling, though that's not saying much when most other places in the area are over ten dollars. I think I'll probably have to take some time off from this place before I'm willing to try again.

This is such a great spot by SJSU. The price and portion size make this a great deal for students. Our food was packed with flavor and they are always so fast with their service. There's a couple tables on the inside but most people just grab to-go. They do a special combo version called "drunken pad Thai" that y'all must try.

I ordered pad Thai for pick up. Luckily I decided to take a few bites before leaving the parking lot because I found a piece of hair mixed in the noodles. I went back inside and asked the worker if I can get a new order made after showing them the piece of hair. They accommodated me and got it done within 10 minutes. Besides that the flavor of the pad Thai is pretty good. I got medium spicy but it wasn't spicy enough so I would get it spicier if I come back for some.Fast service, limited parking, and the portion size isn't bad.

Whenever my partner & I are thinking about getting Thai food, That Chili Express is our go-to. We have only ever picked up orders to-go, but they are quick and consistent every time and it's easy to call to order in advance. Plus you can easily customize each order for the protein you want (including making things vegetarian/vegan) and the spice level.He always goes for the pineapple fried rice with tofu, finding that other places just don't seem to do it as well as Thai Chili Express. Being a noodle fiend, I usually go for Pad Kee Mao or Pad See Ew, but I've also had the Thai basil fried rice. Being somewhat particular about noodle dishes, I will say I've had some that I prefer elsewhere, but it's still solid here, and again reliable and consistent. I enjoyed the fried rice as well. Portion sizes are good if you have a big appetite or want some leftovers. We'll definitely continue coming here!

This is Thai fast food. It's already prepared on warmers so don't expect freshly prepared delicious Thai food. But that wasn't the worst thing.The worst thing was that the woman serving the food put the rice and thecurry chicken into the same plastic container. Meh! In Asian food, you DON'T mix the rice and the food. NO! The rice goes in a little rice bowl (at least in Chinese and Japanese food, which is what I grew up with). I think Thais also have rice bowls. In any case, you DON'T dump it all together. It makes it impossible to eat the rice with chop sticks, as it gets all wet and mushy and no longer sticks together. Also, the food is watered down with the rice, so you no longer have the full flavor of it. They are ti cheap to give you a separate container for the rice. Well they ruined the meal. To make it worse, the flavor was pretty meek. They call it Thai Chili Express, but there wasn't any chile in it. I had to ask for lime and chile to be able to eat the food (I was give lemon, what's up with that? It's supposed to be lime.) It was actually on the BLAND side, WTF?? Thai food is supposed to be a riot of flavor that explodes in your mouth. This food is appropriate for old people who can no longer take the heat. They are cooking for non-Thai customers (I didn't see any other Asians in there) obviously, who can't take hot food. They also are catering to folks who use forks, not chopsticks (see above). This is not authentic Thai cooking. They are catering to US-ers, to non-Asians. My advice is to pass this place by.

It was an exhausting Friday and I need a quick take out dinner and found this place after looking for Thai. I called it in and 10 minutes later, my dinner was ready for pick-up. It is a a mom and pop type of joint with a fast Thai menu. Although it is a small menu, they have the popular dishes like Pad See Ew and Pad Thai which is what I ordered. I asked for mild because I was hoping I can give my toddler some Pad See Ew noodles, but unfortunately, they were still a little spicy. For me, I added chili oil and sriracha and found both delicious. My only critique is that I wish they had more veggies. Both had generous amounts of thinly sliced chicken. The staff was friendly and made pick up a snap!