Chicken Red Curry to go
three trays of asian food
a variety of asian food in plastic containers
Shrimp Pad Thai
Lunch special: pad Thai with chicken, spring roll, and lemongrass chicken soup
Side salad and two shrimp dumplings
Lemongrass tom yum soup with shrimp(there were three -- you just can't see them here). My favorite!!
Lunch specials
Drunken noodles with tofu
Golden Tofu, ~$6
Red Curry
noodle dish, noodles, food, ramen, ramen and noodles, noodle soup
Bbq chicken (half) + comes with rice
Massaman Curry
curry puffs
Chicken Pineapple Fried Rice
Chicken Satay
Pad see ew
Pad see ew, ~$14
pad thai
Menu 2
Veggie spring rolls -- good and not too oily.
Menu 1
Veggie spring roll with plum sauce.
Sarah A.
Jun 7, 2024
Haven't been to Smile Cafe in a few years, but it was as delicious as I remembered, with prompt service (great for a business lunch) and cute dining room with a few high top tables and a row of standard top tables spread along a banquette.Greatly enjoyed the lunch special: extra spicy (level 4 of 5) drunken noodles with tofu with a side salad and two shrimp dumplings. 4/5 had a little kick of heat, but I probably could have handled the level 5 spice!
Read MoreClarissa C.
Jun 19, 2024
Small place with limited seating, but so aesthetic and the vibes are so homey! The owners were really nice, and the food is quite aesthetically plated. Earned four stars for the vibes! The bbq chicken was admitted hard and dry inside, though the sweet and sour flavor was bomb! The pad see ew noodles had an interesting unique flavor... not my favorite dish! They have a 11.95 lunch special and also khao soi?? Will try next time!
Read MoreBekke S.
May 7, 2024
*ordered it on doordash*Food arrived warm and fresh, I got the sticky rice, pad se ew and a Thai iced tea. Portion size was great, will easily be two meals. The pad se ew was delicious but the sticky rice was my favorite part. The Thai iced tea was absolutely worth the last minute add on. I made sure to have a lemon on hand and it helped zing up the taste. Thai food happens to be my favorite cuisine and I'd recommend Smile Cafe.
Read MorePayal P.
Aug 31, 2024
Finally went here for their lunch special. For less than 13 dollars, you can get dumplings, salad, and an entree. While I wasn't as impressed as their dinner options, I still really enjoyed the food. I had some shrimp dumplings (it was in very small portions IMO, actually the whole lunch deal came in pretty small portions). The salad was really good. I really like how the carrots were shredding and the ginger dressing tasted so fresh. For the entree we got beef peanut sauce curry and massaman curry. I really didn't like the peanut sauce curry as much as I thought I would (this wasn't due to any error by Smile but my own negligence to realize it would taste too peanutish). I did like how thin the beef in that dish was. The massaman curry was average as well. I really enjoyed the massaman curry, but it wasn't as good as the time I tried it on the appetizer dinner menu (maybe I overhyped it in my head). Also, the roti instead of the rice may have made it better in my head. The service and food were very quick as usual. I love this family operated restaurant so much!
Read MoreDinesh A.
Aug 13, 2024
Walked into empty restaurant, instantly questioning my choice to come here. Boy was wrong (right???) The service was great and food amazing! The decorations were calming and zen like. The roti massamann was the most delicious plate here!!! The coconut flavored curry blew me away and went well with the flaky but moist roti. The curry puffs were flavorful but dry. The chicken satay wasn't as peanutty as expected. The pineapple fried rice was filled veggies and meat. Unfortunately, the meat tasted overcooked. Overall, great restaurant
Read MoreLuke C.
Aug 27, 2023
This is a very basic vibes thai restaurant in the filter square area. There are not too many decorations to make it "thai."Service is very friendly and attentive. The waiter made me feel very welcome in this restaurant. It was a saturday night so I went here because it was hard to get a table without a reservation. Golden tofu. This was good, and it was very crispy. I enjoyed the texture a lot. This was affordable at about $6. I wish there was more salt though as the tofu and the sauce it came with seemed a little bit bland.Next was the Pad See Ew. This was decent. There was a mild basil taste and it was mildly spicy. Portions were good and I had some for leftovers. I felt though, that the chicken didn't have that much flavor. Maybe also undersalted and needed to be pre-seasonsed. I was expecting more "bang" from this dish. Maybe add bean sprouts for some more freshness and fry it a bit more? There was a bit of cilantro on top but probably that was mostly for garnish.I would come back though on a busy saturday night.
Read MoreMax F.
Apr 6, 2023
Smile Cafe should be everyone's default takeout Thai spot in Philly. I love them. They've got it all--fresh, flavorful ingredients, quick turnaround, and plenty of strong Thai curry seasonings. It's run by this really adorable Thai family (support small businesses!). Take out only and closed on Sundays (which is SO sad). Portion sizes are fantastic, and the prices are some of the best in center city as well. My menu tips are the drunken noodles or the massaman curry. One awesome thing for vegetarians is that they will do fried tofu for any of the entrees, instead of that gross soft tofu preparation that is typical for other Thai places. I always have leftovers, and at the $12 price point, that's really stunning. They won't ask unprompted, but can make anything to your desired spice level (I love hot food), and if you ask for really spicy food, it will pack a KICK! Do not sleep on the lunch specials--it's basically two mini appetizers plus any entree you want for ten bucks. Perfect for a quick to go meal during a lunch break. Since they are to go only, take the lunch back to work or if you've got a little extra time, go to rittenhouse square or the river and enjoy. For the combination of kindness, quality, quick service, price, and portion sizes, Smile Cafe is tops when it comes to take out Thai in Philly.
Read MoreEllen Y.
Mar 29, 2023
This establishment has been takeout only since COVID, and they seem very busy! I live right next to the store and always see people stopping by, so I finally placed a takeout order the other day. It was "okay".I got the red curry, which was good. Nothing outstanding. I only got vegetables in mine, and the well doneness of the vegetables varied greatly. The spring rolls were somewhat crispy when I took it home. Would have been much better in person. Good option for takeout in a pinch but still on the lookout for the best Thai in Philly
Read MoreRoy C.
Jan 9, 2023
Pro: My views on Thai food are a bit biased, for it may be my all time favorite cuisine. So I've rarely had a plate of Thai that I didn't like! However, I'm gonna give a general synopsis of Smile Cafe as just being "okay". Read below. Con: The Thai Beef Salad was decent. Maybe a little bland for heat seekers like myself, but it serves its purpose. However, the Spring Rolls tasted like they were fried in slightly reused oil. And this seems like a consistent trend after a couple visits. Bottom Line: Perhaps an abandonment of the fried fare and a request for extra spicy on the dish may bump the rating up by a star. Until then, it's just adequate food.
Read MoreSharika M.
Jan 16, 2022
I've had a fair share of the thai food options in Philly and felt Smile Cafe was underwhelming despite hearing great things about it.(+) Calamari : very small portion but they give a lot of meat. It's a huge square piece of the squid nest covered in their home made fry batter. Really good, came with a refreshing sweet sauce. (-) Drunken Noodles with Tofu: very starchy, would not recommend. (+/-) Green curry with Shrimp: flavors are really good and spot on but the curry was super watery and they give very little rice.Note: they only do take out due to Covid-19.
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