Ayara Thai Cuisine

I LLLLLoooveeee this place. Get the pad see ew or drunken noodles!! It tis quite good!! They have the best thai food in los angeles and they do take out !!

Pros: Good food & good prices

Cons: Only one location

Posted 06/17/09

I'm disappointed that every time I dine here, the service is horrible. The only reason I keep going back is because the food is good. One time I got my food when everyone in my party had finished eating. The last time I went there, the server put 6 glasses of water next to me and asked me to pass it around and was unhappy about it when I gave her a "this is not my job" look. And the food always took forever to come out even when they are not busy. If you have an hour for lunch, dont' go there.

Pros: good food

Cons: long wait for food and the service is horrible

Posted 04/29/08

I haven't been here in a long time but last I remembered the food and the service was great.
Tonight my friend and I walked in with out a reservation and we were seated in 10 minutes or less, at a crappy table al the way in the back with air condition blowing on top of our heads. Our original waitress, quickly came
to take our order but I wanted to see the wine list since I couldn't understand what she was saying, which she couldn't understand what I was saying. After placing the order of Pino Grigio, she informs me they don't have the one I wanted, fair enough, ordered Chardonnay. 10 min goes by no wine, 20 min no wine. I thought she forgot then comes back and asks if I wanted a red wine or a white wine, are you serious????
"A Chardonnay, it's White" I had to snap. Then another 5 min., the wine glasses comes and but no wine, 2 min later a different waitress comes holding a bottle comes wondering and I had to say "I think that's ours".
Then shortly our food comes LARB (beef) and the SEAFOOD SOUP both good not great. Another waitress offered us to switch tables and we did to a much better seating. Then after another 15 our other two orders came which were the GREEN CURRY (pork) and the PAD THAI (regular) which were okay as well.
I don't really know what the problem was but it was just impossible for them to get the food out in a timely manner. I was also just super annoyed at our original waitress.
I have a high tolerance for these kinds of things and in most cases I let small things slide and always leave a normal tip (20%) but this was just bad and it was even hard for me to leave (10%).

Pros: close to my house

Cons: They don't speak English

Posted 04/27/08

I love this place, I get food from here atleast once a week, my favorites are pad see-eew, the drunken noodles, the veggie soup, and ayara fried rice. They make such amazing food, seriously you have to try it. Great for vegetarians!!

Pros: Great food/tasty noodles

Cons: Delivery sometimes can take 45-an hour and a half

Posted 04/07/08

Food was much better when I started eating here two years ago. Now, portions are smaller and the vegetables in the Thai Garden are overcooked. The Ruby Curry is now mostly gravy with very litte meat or eggplant. The chicken wing appetizer is pretty tasty. Service here can be iffy. Sometimes the server will argue with you if you tell them they got the order is wrong. Service can be very slow and you wonder if they forgot about you.

Posted 11/19/07

I am so excited to share this with you! My experience was great, and the food is excellent. Not only are their lunch specials cheap and generous, but the food is authentic and delicious! Fresh ingredients! This is a cute hidden gem that everyone should know about.

Posted 09/20/07

I was feeling lazy so decided to order from here. I had the standard pad thai and my friend had the drunken noodle. It was pretty good but since I had better thai food I can only give it a three. Maybe it would have been better if I had eaten there.

Pros: Delivery

Posted 09/15/07

We used to miss our previous favourite Thai food from Chan Darette when they existed in Marina Del Rey before moving out, but not anymore once we found this gem. One of my perennial favourite is Drunken Noodles (chicken, spicy). So far I have always taken out, so don't know really about the dine-in service, but never had a bad experience with our order even with all the customizing we do, like adding eggs to fried rice or having only specific 4 vegetables put in the red curry (my wife's favourite). Having had Thai food for more than 10 years in various cities, this is definitely one of the best, though I still rate the fried rice from Sala Thai in Troy (Detroit) much higher. Staff seem very professional and nicely kept interiors too.

Pros: Quality Thai Food, clean interiors, good staff

Cons: Parking at busy times

Posted 08/08/07

This place has the worst service ever!! My husband, myself and our daughter decided to try this place out on a Friday night. We were seated relatively fast and our drink order was fullfiled in a timely manner. We submitted our order, nothing fancy, just pad thai and wonton soup and then things got ugly. My husband and I were chatting it up for the first 15 minutes after which we realized ohter folks who were seated after us wer getting their food before us. We inquired with the waitress and she said "I'll check". She came back 15 minutes later to refill our water, but no status on the order. Again, we inquired, were is our order, she said" Oh, you haven't gotten it". I was fuming at this point. My poor daughter was hungry and getting antsy. We gave them another 15 min. to try to sort it out but no one was really paying attention. The owner seemed more concerned with getting people seated than with the quality of service. WE gave them AN EAR FULL and left. THIS PLACE WILL MAKE YOU WAIT TILL THE COWS COME HOME. wE EAT OUT A LOT AND i HAVE NEVER BEEN TREATED WITH SUCH DISREGARD. ABSOLUTELY HORRIBLE SERVICE.

Posted 04/29/07

This is the greatest thai food i have ever tasted. I've been to Ayara many times and have tried almost everything on the menu. The food NEVER dissapoints me and I'm never afraid to try something new there because i'm absolutely positive that it will taste great. I love to take my family there since it's affordable, filling, and has a fantastic family atmosphere. My kids love it. I have a teenage son who plays a lot of sports so he has a huge appetite, the food always seems to fill him up at a very affordable price. The ambience of the restaurant makes you feel at home AND to top it all off, the service is great. I also love that they have delivery and carryout so that i can have them send it over when i'm busy, or pickup dinner for my family on my way back from work. I'd recommend this to everyone!

Pros: Delivery, carryout, price, FOOD!

Posted 03/21/07

Ayara is absolutely amazing. They have great service and fabulous food. The servers are very friendly and i always get great service. Everything that i've tried on the menu is awesome and my favorite dish is the pad thai with tofu. I'm a vegetarian and they do a great job of catering to my needs. They also have delivery, so i can order food when i'm too busy to get carryout. I LOVE AYARA!

Pros: delivery, food, price

Posted 03/21/07

ayara is definitely my favorite restaurant. the food is wonderful and the service is excellent. i've taken my friends and family there and everyone absolutely loves it. the restaurant is beautiful and i'm glad that it's so close to my house. the food is delicious, fresh, and healthy. although all of their food is great, i love their curries and i would definitely recommend the jade curry with beef. everything their is affordable and worth the price. the service is friendly and the whole experience of dining in was enjoyable.

Pros: fresh ingredients, healthy food, friendly service

Cons: none

Posted 02/23/07

Ayara has great service and wonderful food. I've been to Thailand before, and I have to say that Ayara's food is just as great (or maybe even better) than the food that I had there. The food is authentic, doesn't have watered down taste, uses fresh ingredients, and is affordable. If you've never had thai food at Ayara, you've been missing out on something that is absolutely excellent. The waiters and waitresses are friendly and are willing to give you the best experience. Ayara is definitely a treat for all of the senses. I think i could eat ther every day!

Pros: Food, Service, Easy Parking, Delivery and Pickup Available

Cons: None

Posted 02/23/07

This restaurant has very bad service! I sat and waited for 40 minutes for my food and was never served. I asked if I could get it to go (all I wanted was a bowl of soup!) and it hadn't even been prepared yet!
I wasted my lunch hour there and missed eating lunch that day. I do not recommend this restaurant.

Posted 01/31/07

i love palms thai and samnamluang cafe in thai town. but these days i don't make it out to the eastside very often. so this has been a true GODSEND and diamond in the rough. forget all of these places on lincoln blvd in venice/santa monica. forget chan dara. that just isn't real thai food. here, everything is amazing. i always order the glass noodle salad and tom ka kai. both to die for. the drunken noodles are also top-notch. you have to go.

Posted 11/02/06

The food here is fast and good, try the drunken noodles or the pad thai, it NEVER fails to please. Great good, much better than Thai Dishes around the corner. Be careful when ordering the soup, you get a VAT of it!!

Pros: quick, great dining room, tasty food

Cons: hard to find if you are not familiar with the area

Posted 10/25/06

Waited an hour for delivery, got a phone call that said "too far". We had confirmed a delivery address AND location on the original phone call. So after an hour of waiting they decided to check the address and make the return call. It was a total of 5 miles which according to Ayara was "too far". 9pm at 5 miles...too far? I dont think so.

If you want to plan an evening around dinner for multiple people and then have it fall apart when Ayara decides to "bail". This is the place!

Best of Luck Ayara! You will need it!

Pros: NONE

Cons: SERVICE

Posted 10/25/06

Hands down the best thai place in los angeles. I probably go here 3 times a week. Try the spicy beef salad or the beef waterfall. The curries are awesome too.

Posted 10/16/06

The food is magnificent and the service delightful. You really cant beat their amazing prices for the quality its a true steal. Ayara is truely a diamond in the rough. The first thing I noticed when I walked in was the wonderful decor, the walls are literally enamoured with elaphants! Speaking of wonderful creatures if I was a snake Ayara would be a snake charmer, It has truely bewitched me and my family! Take my word for it you wont be disappointed!

Pros: Food, Beer, Attractive Service

Cons: After six hours I got the boot only cus they were closing HAHAHA!

Posted 09/27/06

Initially I heard about this restaurant from my cousin. My girlfriend and I decided to give it a try. As with previous reviews, finding the place may be a little tricky but Google Maps or Map Quest did fine. The atmosphere inside was pleasant and calm. The plate prices were reasonable and the portions were more than enough to share. Compared to most Thai food places the food at Ayara was perfectly cooked and not greasy. We will definitely be back to try the rest of the menu!

Pros: Parking, Service, Friendly

Posted 09/26/06

I've been going here since day one and I have yet to have anything less than a good experience. The food is excellent, the people are friendly, and the atmosphere is awesome! Most everyone I have referred to this restaurant has not only gone back, but have become regulars. Try it yourself!

Posted 09/26/06

We found this restaurant on Citysearch and weren't disappointed. In fact, we ate there three times in 10 days. The food is really special. We tried the Pad Thai, Drunken Noodles and the Ka-Pow -- all of which were really outstanding. The only mistake we made was to order the Drunken Noodles and the Ka-Pow in the same meal. They were both quite spicy and our mouths were on fire. The Pad Thai is not spicy, so it goes great with one of the spicy dishes. The salad was very fresh but the peanut dressing is a little heavy. A dressing with vinegar would have been nice. The wine list is limited but has a couple of nice wines at reasonable prices. The decor is quite attractive and the restaurant is very clean. The wait staff is very friendly and helpful. One of the waitresses was a Yale graduate. All in all, we highly recommend this restaurant. It's a little hard to find unless you have a GPS (which made the job easy).

Pros: Super food, reasonable prices, good portions

Cons: Location

Posted 08/06/06

After returning from a trip from Thailand, I was longing for some AUTHENTIC Thai food.
THIS IS THE PLACE! Anything you order here is fabulous! Finally, a Thai restaurant that serves REAL Thai food (besides Thai town). If you're tired of the imitation Thai food at all of the local resturants, GO TO AYARA! TRUST ME!

Pros: Food, service, easy & free parking

Cons: Only open until 10pm

Posted 06/27/06

Authentic thai food, great price, great service! Try the drunken noodles and jungle curry, its to die for. The best Thai food in the westside - try it for yourself!

Pros: Price, Service, FOOD

Posted 06/04/06

In my opinion this place is very best.
Food is very good and also price is reasonable.
I love to go there.

Pros: Food, Price

Posted 05/16/06

Delicious thai food!!!!
have had thai food from a couple of other high rating restaurants and this one kicks ass!!
their jade, ruby and other curries are abs yumm. Must try their starters and iced tea simply good.
difficult to locate the restaurant , but its worth the hunt!

Posted 04/04/06

Have eaten here a few times and have always enjoyed it. Very convenient to LAX to grab a bite before leaving with your friends/family. The place is small and located in a very unusual, out of the way spot. The inside decor is simple but nice and ethnic. I thought the spring rolls were excellent.

Pros: Food, LAX proximity

Cons: Remote Location

Posted 03/04/06

A good friend of mine from Thailand introduced me to Ayara. Since then, I go as often as possible. The food is unbelievably good Ive never found a single thing on the menu that wasnt excellent, and never paid more than $15 for a meal including beer & appetizers! Ive taken friends who were reluctant about Thai food at first, only to have them tell me later that they go to Ayara all the time now too! The decor is great & creates the perfect ambiance for a date, or you can just call in for takeout or delivery and enjoy at home!

Pros: Excellent Food, Classy but Casual, Reasonably Priced

Posted 12/28/05

There are many restaurants out there that have great service, atmosphere, and decent food. But I have yet to encounter one that combines everything with delicious food. At Ayara, you notice right away that they pay careful attention to the taste and flavor. The food is wonderful. I can feel my taste buds come to life.

Pros: food, taste, flavor

Posted 10/22/04

NYC may be surrounded by amazing Thai resturaunts, but no resturant can compare to LA's Ayara. The food was delicious, atmosphere was soothing, and service was great. You need to try this Los Angeles treat. I can't wait to visit LA and dine at Ayara again.

Pros: Inexpensive, Delicious

Posted 10/17/04

Atmosphere is excellent, comfortable, and homey. With a front and back room, large parties can have some privacy. The owners come out to greet their customers, the waitresses are great and the food comes out quickly.
The food is DELICIOUS, the best in LA. There's a wide variety from curries to noodles to appetizers with great names!
Close to LAX, anyone on the way to the airport or just looking for a wonderful restaurant should check out this Thai restaurant.

Pros: Inexpensive, Good Parking, Great Food

Posted 10/13/04

delicious food with a warm, trendy, non-pretentious, wear-what's-comfortable atmosphere.

the place is right by a huge parking lot which saved us the hassle of looking for street parking or feeding meters. the restaurant had a very warm feel and a beautiful display wall of carved wooden elephants. the food tasted home-cooked and the curry was some of the best i've ever had. be careful, if you request it extra spicy, they won't disappoint. the ample menu had a long list of inexpensive appetizers, as well as many salad, soup, rice, noodle, curry, and stir-fry options. andy, the owner, even came out to talk to the other customers and us to see how we were enjoying the food. very friendly. the place also had tables outdoor for dining and/or smoking and a back section, where a large group appeared to be having a party or get-together. a great place for everyone.

Pros: excellent food., lots of parking., trendy yet cozy.

Posted 10/08/04

If you enjoy Thai cuisine, then this is a place for you! Excellent homestyle thai food served fresh in an impressively designed atmosphere. Inexpensive food without feeling like you are eating on the go. I recommend everyone try this wonderful restauraunt conveniently located near LAX!

Pros: delicious food, good, easy parking, inexpensive

Posted 10/05/04