Cornering the Market on Thai Food?

Thai Corner

22371 El Toro Road

Lake Forest, CA 92630

All of a sudden, we have been in a Thai mood lately. Maybe it's the colder weather, or perhaps we just have really enjoyed it, but Katie and I found ourselves craving Thai food on a Friday night. Not wanting to frequent the same old place we have hit up three times in the last two weeks, we ventured onto Yelp to find another highly rated spot around us. Up popped Thai Corner, with its 250-plus reviews and a four-star rating, so we headed out to see if Thai Corner could quench our Thai cravings.

Thai Corner is located at the far end of the Stater Bros. shopping center, at the corner of Trabuco and El Toro in Lake Forest. There's some sort of facelift going on in this center, but from what we could tell, all the construction was limited to the facade of the building.

This is not a huge restaurant, with maybe twelve or so tables. When we arrived at about 6pm, about seven of those tables were occupied, with only one lady serving everyone. We learned near the end of our visit that she's the owner, and her son also has another Thai Corner in Chino Hills. At our very conservative count, she must have said the word sorry about 150 times. She was sorry that she was short-staffed, that the food took longer than usual, and that it took a long time for a refill on drinks. We weren't in a hurry or anything, so we did not even notice it taking a long time, except for all the sorry's being thrown around. We were just hoping the food wouldn't be sorry, so let's see how it all turned out for us on this night.

I've been trying to find an OC equivalent to the excellent Thai soup I had at Lotus of Siam in Vegas, so it was natural that I would try their version of Tom Kah Gai ($9.95). This coconut-based soup came with sliced chicken, mushrooms, cilantro, and galanga root, like ginger. I had wished this was a little spicier. The chicken was tender, but not nearly enough of it for the serving size here, which was generous. The broth-to-chicken ratio was way off. Thus, we had lots of bites without any chicken. The base of the soup was flavorful, with the smooth coconut bursting through.

Katie selected these Deep Fried Wontons ($6.95) as an appetizer. These were filled with chicken, potato, and carrots. A pretty basic won ton. The filling did not really speak to me here. It was rather bland but livened up a bit when I used the sweet sauce that came with this. Not greasy at all. I left most of these for Katie.

I almost always stick to the curries at a Thai spot, which held true to form here. I opted for the Panang ($9.95). This was actually pretty tasty. The curry portion was right on point. A mild heat was provided by the red chili curry, which was instantly cooled down by the smooth coconut milk. I like the contrasts of Thai curries. You also have your choice of meat, and I went with the pork, which was just okay. Some of the more significant pieces were on the dry side, so I'd opt for a different protein on my next visit to Thai Corner.

I'd probably be shocked if Katie ever ordered anything but Chicken Pad Thai ($9.95) in a Thai restaurant. This popular dish comprises stir-fried Thai rice noodles, chicken tofu, and egg, then garnished with crushed peanuts and bean sprouts. Katie liked this well enough, but she would probably get another item on her next visit. She claims that it had a red chili sauce, which in her opinion, did not belong in a pad Thai. The bite I had was good, just not excellent.

Thai Corner definitely quenched our Thai cravings on this night. Is this destination dining? Not at all, but if you are in the area and want to have some inexpensive Thai food, this might be the place for you. Even though the lady said sorry a hundred times this night, we did not experience any awful service. The food came out promptly, and our drinks were refilled with regularity. I thought the prices were more than fair for a sit-down restaurant. Luckily we now have an alternative spot for our Thai cravings near our house.

Out of five babies (because no one puts baby in a corner, a Dirty Dancing reference,) five being best to zero being worst, Thai Corner gets 2.5 babies.

For more information about Thai Corner, go to their website here: http://thaicorneroc.com/Home.html