White Elephant Thai Cuisine Calgary

I’m disappointed to say that this restaurant used to be known as the best Thai in the city and it is now far from that. This restaurant is now over run with cheap neon signs, decorations and the food, although not bad, is not at the level it has been known for in the past. We had the mango salad, pad Thai and Panama curry all of which were just okay. The salad was drenched in fish sauce which made it slightly unappealing tho the other dishes were decent. The atmosphere is no longer appealing for a higher end experience or a date night. Overall there are better spots to go to for Thai these days and I would recommend this as more of a lunch spot.

Picked the closest Thai place to our hotel. Drove over and thought to myself, self this area and outside looks nondescript, maybe even sketchy. Looked in the door and went WOW!! The inside is beautiful, and smells fill your nose and awaken all your senses. The food is superb! The portions are hugh! We had 7 different dishes off the set meal list. Everyone at the table was raving about how good theirs was.

Me and my girlfriend were craving thai food and decided to try this place! Safe to say it was so worth it! The decoration and vibe as soon as you walk in is super cool. And our server was really nice and attentive. We got Pad See Ew and Pad Kra Pao and my oh my the flavors were delicious. Such a wonderful place! Will definitely be back to try more stuff!

Stopped in for lunch. Wow! Flavors were amazing!! The first plate included green curry with bamboo shoots, pork springrolls and coconut rice with chicken. The second plate had basil beef with coconut rice and pork spring rolls. Authentic atmosphere!

This is the best Thai food restaurant i tried in Calgary! Once you opened the door, the decoration and atmosphere amazed you! The food is in large portion, we had our lunch there. We order pai thai and green curry rice, we cant finish both. The thai iced tea was so nice! It is very traditional and very thai! I love it. Next time i will bring my friends to have dinner .

My partner and I searched around to find the entrance which was not obvious if the Google Map didn't remind us it's behind an inn. After we opened the door, I found that the decorations inside were very colorful, which is not common for restaurant in Canada, but very common in Asian restaurants. There were a lot of customers when we had a reservation at 7pm. It's a little bit crowded and noisy, but I can still hear what my partner said. We ordered Tom Yan soup, green curry with coconut rice, pad se-ew noodles, and a Set R (stirred fried beef with peanut flavor). All dishes we chose were delicious, especially Tom Yan soup and pad noodles, immediately brought me back to the memories of traveling in Thailand. The price is very worthy and highly recommend people who are looking forward to Thailand flavors. Waitresses were thoughtful but didn't frequently interrupted for confirming the satisfactory of the foods. I will visit this restaurant again when I miss Thailand flavors.

The staff went out of their way to decorate a private area for a bachelorette party! They bought bridal Photo Booth props and balloons and decorated the whole place at no extra charge. They had crowns and veils and confetti. It was above and beyond! The food was very tasty - especially the Tom Yum soup! Highly recommend. We had to find staff to serve us at different times because I think this location is primarily a take out location, but the food is great and the staff are friendly. Thank you for all your efforts to make it a great party!

Have been to The White Elephant before. The entrance is at the back of The Travellers Inn and very offputting - if you are here for the first time you might think about not going in!! But please do - a surprise awaits you!!! A funny, eclectic, warm place with different seating areas. And the food is excellent. Big servings, very tasty and very pleasant servers to help you decide and enjoy your meal. It is not necessary to “dress up” which suits me!! I would recommend it for a great evening of great food, well able to talk as music is not loud - and will accommodate a large party. Have fun exploring and enjoy a lively atmosphere and great food!!

We saw the reviews for this place and knew it was on our list to try once we landed. Finding this place was a little confusing and the parking area was a little sketchy. I ordered their spicy noodle which I assumed to be pad kee mao. It was different than the dishes I have back back in Toronto and I didn't hate it. Flavour was nice but I would not go back in my opinion. My partner thought the food was average and had the same comment about the location. There was a lot of seating, like a lot!

Great Thai food in Calgary. Came here straight off of a 6 hour flight, exhausted and hangry, and was very pleasantly surprised. The building is unassuming and it was almost empty so we weren't sure how popular it was, but the food did not disappoint. Portions were huge. Service could have been quicker, as we were some of the only ones there and wondered what happened to our server multiple times, but overall a good experience.

Authentic delicious pad thai made with the correct ingredients like tamarind paste and chives. Green and yellow curry was absolutely amazing and the quantity was beyond all expectations. If I lived close by I would be eating here every week.

Delicious Thai food served in a casual setting. The location is a bit odd and the adjoining motel seems a bit worse for wear. That is a disguise for the best Thai restaurant in Calgary! Ample portions of delicious Thai food are served hot and fresh! The pad Thai is the best I've ever had! The green papaya salad is crunchy and delicious with the proper heat that is missing at other Thai places. Friendly service and good prices make it a super value for an outstanding meal. All in all it is like finding a diamond hiding in some winter sidewalk grit.

We were starving upon landing at YYC and craving Thai. We found this restaurant via google. It looks unassuming from the outside, but that was deceptive. The ambiance was ethnic. The menu was very vegetarian friendly. What we were not prepared for was the unexpectedly great taste and huge proportions! The golden tofu was fresh and crisp, red curry was bursting with flavor, the pad-see-ew had loads of veggies. And basil stir fry was delicious. Highly recommend White Elephant and look forward to our next chance to visit!

Always tasty. Always authentic. Some of my friends say the best food in town. That includes chestermere and Calgary. Love the prawns and a few other dishes like green curry.

We came here because it was rated great. The food wasn't bad, but it could definitely use more flavor. The service wasn't terrible either but what really got us was in the corner we were sitting in, I had 4 cockroaches climb on the wall behind me. Too close for comfort. Too authentic for me.

This used to be our Thai go to as they had the best curry! We tried it last July 6 and even braved the strong rains and we were sadly so disappointed. Their curry had zero flavor, their pad thai was mediocre and even the rice was very poor quality. The only saving grace is the fried spring rolls. We left feeling like we wasted our money and we were so sad. This place USED to be amazing!!! When I asked if they had a change of management, they said..NO. We will not be visiting this spot anymore.

Terrible service, not sure this place will survive with the lack of interest in customers. Maybe this place needs to hire a professional server.

I have enjoyed White Elephant for years now and the food is always great. I must say however that they appear to need more staff. Since the expansion the service is getting worse every time I come in. I keep bringing new people to experience the amazing food and being frustrated by the lack of attention from the servers. It's not their fault, because they are overworked. Last night I brought my parents for their first Thai food experience. Once again the food didn't disappoint except we didn't get our rice until we were almost finished our meal. Very disappointing when rice is always ready that's just lack of attention to detail.

I am so glad Skip the Dishes has White Elelphant for delivery while stuck at home (hopefully not during quarantine only) as I have found it hard to get in during normal circumstances. I just got a large bowl of Tom Yum Goong (soup with shrimp) and it is a flavor bomb - sweet, sour not too spicy. I am so happy that they took the tails off of all the shrimp so I don't have to get my hands all soup-y, the benefit of having someone else cook for you! You pay for the shrimp (more than other meat) but it is good quality and I think worth it. Pad Thai tastes authentic. For my taste I added some Sriracha to the noodles. The Thai iced tea tastes a bit odd to me, like perhaps the tea is more floral and there is more sugar than I am used to ... but still good. Next time I will have to try the curries.

Food portions have definitely gotten smaller, so I definitely don't go as often with that and the price increase it's good but I have to really want it.

Was really delicious, one dinner portion is enough for 2 people , so much food, good portions, I only did take out

My favorite Thai restaurant. Amazingly generous portions with MANY vegetarian options available-love this place!

Heard about this from a gf. Turned on the GPS and off I went. What a bizarre entrance. A metal door with a small sign attached to a hotel in a sketchy area. We arrived Friday at 5:45pm and only 1 table was open. The place is very noisy due to a low ceiling and the room layout. We started with the veggie spring rolls. Very tasty with the dipping sauce. A whole fried fish that came with garlic sauce on the side served atop fresh steamed broccoli, carrots and cauliflower. Fish was crispy and moist. Green Thai curry with eggplant and chicken. Very flavourful but the chicken was a bit over cooked. We asked for mild spice - the sauce was smooth, mild and incredible with the coconut rice. I can't wait to eat the leftovers! The portion can easily serve 4. It was huge! Despite the less than stellar service and the bizarre location, the food itself truly stands out. I'd like to try more items next time. Note that my gf and I were solicited as we said our goodbyes in the parking lot. A guy yelled out - hey, hey, how much? Ladies be aware this area is a sketchy ghetto. There was a police car that circled the lot twice just prior to our incident. Be safe walking to your vehicle.

Very good thai. Had their yellow curry with rice. Spicy tasty really good. Potatoes carrots etc vert good

Located in a sketchy hotel off of 16th Ave just up from the crossroads furniture market should have been my first instinct to drive in the other direction! No visible signage on the door unless you drive around where you will find one brown metal door that was locked, then driving around to the other side to another door that was specifically for pick up, again with no visible signage except a poster type board facing the adjacent street, talk about a real hole in the wall, and not the good kind! Place is very dated, dingy and cluttered, and their dine in area is closed due to covid but is stored with boxes upon boxes of ingredients which was very odd. Ordered a few items for pick up and they are fast, in under 15 minutes it was ready. Food is average at best, in fact I found my stir fry dish incredibly salty and missing veg that was listed on the menu and the chicken tasted off and was incredibly dry. The spicy noodles were not very spicy and it was way over cooked and a gloopy mess. The dynamite shrimp was good but the portion was tiny! Many of their dishes have very little veg in them so you will most likely get too much noodle, rice or meat so the ratios are completely off. Average price for a lunch portion is about $15-$17 and includes rice which I think is ridiculous considering their dinner portions are about $20 but rice is extra (personally, I don't like rice so it makes more sense to purchase the dinner portion and share it with someone at lunch)...menu is vague if you don't know Thai food, no pictures or indication if its a soup, stew etc, just tells you what veg, aromatics and protein options are available. I've had much better Thai in the states and for about $5-$10us cheaper that was off the charts in flavor and much larger portions, not that I'm a big eater but jeeze, $17 for lunch where more than half the meal is rice is a rip off, sorry-not sorry! People are ordering in a lot during the pandemic and this is one place I won't be ordering from again, lesson learned.

Staying at the Doubletree hotel next door I went to place and order to bring back to my room and have mixed feelings. I love to cool speakeasy vibe of being in an old airport hotel and the inside felt like a Thai restaurant that would put out great food and they do! The Panang curry was on point with nice heat (even if it wasn't made from scratch) and the spring rolls were good as well. My complaint is that they didn't include rice with the curry or ask me if I wanted to include rice with my order. I can't imagine ever eating a curry dish without rice and I had to go back to get rice after walking back to my room... another thing was I ordered a gin and tonic while I waited and they acted like I asked them to make a magic potion. In their defense they did make a good g&t using can of tonic (always better than a fountain gun) and I had to ask for a lime but it was a good slice of lime! Young people running the place and I'm pulling for them to get kick it up a notch and earn another star!

We went to the one in Okotoks on a Saturday evening. It was not very busy so might be one of the reasons we had exceptional service . But the food was the best feature of this restaurant. It was absolutely delicious and I now consider it one of my favorites. You would be smart to go very hungry too as the portions are huge. We took our leftovers home from our 2 selections and had a filling meal the next night. Prices are great too. Love this place

White Elephant has been around for a very long time. In Calgary it is one of the best thai food place I have been. It is located inside the motel. Instead of going into the main lobby of the motel you now can enter from the side. It is small but surprisingly it can fit quite a bit of people. For party greater than 6 people it maybe challenging. Must get are the green curry, coconut rice, and the fish filet (i love the garlic). Their pad Thai is good, but I wouldn't say the best. The portion are family style (except rice), the green curry would allow 3 people to be comfortably full and it is a date, one of you will have to take the left over home.

To me this is the experience of Thai Food that I have waited a lifetime for! I would recommend White Elephant Thai Cuisine to anyone who is looking for a good curry. I have had lunch and take out from there and it had been consistent each and every time. Even the Coconut Rice is the perfect balance and adds a great flavour to any curry you order. This was all pre Covid, my one bad experience was take out from there a month ago, my friend and I both ordered the Matsaman curry, and it was almost as if they forgot to add any heat to the dish, it was just a very sweet sauce. My friend ordered the tofu, and was disappointed that the tofu was not fried, but mainly the the sauce had no curry heat. Not to sure why, but for a curry that was supposed to be hot, even my 13 year old (who doesn't like heat) at it (and enjoyed it). Would put this up to a flook and look forward to trying it again.

This place is awesome. Odd location for sure but that just adds to the charm. I haven't had food like this in Calgary ever. Took me back to Bangkok. I love Matsaman curry and they do it well. Sweeter than the other curries and really complex. The whole fish in curry is magical. Crispy and tender in a curry with lots of heat. We destroyed it. Dynamite Shrimp in chilies was killer, great fresh ingredients and a satisfying burn. Oh and the beer, Singha, was SUPER COLD. You never get that in Canada. Room is quirky and the staff is friendly and hard working. I'm guessing they are a family. The whole experience was like being back in Thailand. We'll be back for sure.

This place has the best Thai food in Calgary hands down!! Seriously so yummy and authentic - haven't found any other place that serves Khao soi so I am super stoked! This restaurant is only open three hours a day - from 5 to 8 pm! I know it's so crazy but with food this good people still line up for it including myself haha It is located inside a hotel so the entrance is literally a hole in the wall and there's no option of making a reservation. You need to make your way there at 5 pm and put your name down and then wait in a nearby waiting room until you are called in. The service once you are seated is pretty quick though. We ordered the panang curry with coconut rice, crispy tofu, pad sew and the Khao soi of course. This was way too much food for two people because the portion sizes are pretty huge. The Khao Soi was really amazing I honestly can't stop telling people about it - it was just like the one that I had in Thailand. The coconut rice was less sticky compared to the other restaurants but I really enjoyed it. The pad sew had just the perfect amount of sauce and the panang curry was really flavourful. The tofu was ok, it was too dry and oily for me so its not something I would order again. I really want to try out their other curries next time though! The prices are really reasonable for the amount of food that you get as well. Just a note for when you come here - dress in layers because it is crazy hot inside so you will need to take off some layers to feel comfortable inside and also they don't take credit cards!

White Elephant Thai Cuisine is one of those restaurants that I've been wanting to try for ages. Seriously, for the past few months, I've been all gung ho and telling friends "let's go check out White Elephant" and each time, I never manage to make it. So sad because it just screams my type of restaurant. When you call a restaurant a hole in the wall, this is the epitome of that description. Random location? Check. Sketchy hotel? Check. Hard to find and terrible hours (5:00pm to 8:30pm only)? Check, check, check. Well, lo and behold, the stars were aligned and I was finally able to check it out with a friend on a busy Saturday evening. We arrived around 7pm or so and we were told the wait would be around 30 minutes. Not bad, we put our names down and went back outside to snack on some food we had in the car (we were starved - don't judge). After 20 minutes, we walked back into the lobby and heard a waitress calling our name (hello perfect timing). Located in the Airport Travellers Inn (funny how so many people consider it "seedy"), walk past the lobby and through a hallway to the magical black door. And of course it's unmarked, adding to it's charm or would that be considered its mystery? - Thai iced tea ($4.50) - probably the best Thai iced tea I've had in Canada. The colour was different from the norm. Just order one! - Tom yum goon ($7.00 small) - shrimp, mushroom, tomato, lemon leaves, lemon grass, galangal, chili, and lime juice. The small is the perfect size for two. We asked for level 3 (you can get level 1 to 4) and it had a nice bit of heat to it. I'll try level 4 next time though. A very generous portion of shrimps (think there were about 5-6 big pieces). This is what you call heaven in a bowl. - Fish with garlic and black pepper ($21.00) - tilapia fish deep fried with garlic, black pepper, steamed vegetables and sauce on the side. Yes, we ordered a whole fish (you can get a smaller, fillet version for $17.50). We wanted to try their steamed fish but they were out of it for the evening. Oh well, this one was grilled with all the fish bones included. The fish was tasty but a bit difficult to maneuver with all the bones still inside. Make sure you dip each piece in the sauce - super addictive. My friend loooved this dish more than I did so I let her go to town on it. - Crispy egg noodle ($16.00) - deep fried egg noodles, soup stock, broccoli, carrot, peas and your choice of meat. The noodles come on top - make sure you mix everything so that they get nicely coated. The noodles were tasty and the sauce was rich, almost creamy. It was good but next time I want to try another noodle dish. - Thai green curry with chicken ($16.00) - green chilli with coconut milk and lime leaves. Choice of mix veggies or thai eggplant. Obviously, we went with eggplant (my fav!). Again, portions are crazy generous with lots of eggplant, chicken and other vegetables. Their plating is hilarious with massive glass Tupperware. The green curry was fantastic and flavourful. I'd order it again in a heartbeat. - Coconut rice ($4.00 small) - I was considering getting a large order of coconut rice ($6.50) but my friend was smart and convinced me to get just the small. A wise choice as we ordered WAY too much stuff. Easily could have fed four people from all of the food we ordered. Happy I finally was able to try out White Elephant while I was in town. Don't forget, it's cash only (don't worry, there's an ATM inside the hotel lobby if you forget). Tasty food and good portions, you can't ask for much more. Well, better hours and being open Sunday's would be nice but life just ain't fair so deal with it.

OMG OMG OMG - DO NOT JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER! This tiny little place is located inside a very shady looking hotel! Haha However, it's sooooo amazingly delicious! I plan on going back next time I am in Calgary, even if it means going out is my way. Their food compares to many authentic Thai places I've tried in NYC. Their Thai Iced tea is to die for. Not the healthiest because it's loaded with sugar, however, if you feel like being bad - order this!!! Soooooo yummy!!!! For appetizers - I enjoyed their Thai chicken satay and their spring rolls! I tried their stir fries and their chicken curry. Both OMG good! I also love that you can order white rice on the side to eat with your meals as you wish. The price was great for the value of food you are getting! You will NOT regret it. The staff is amazing and there is free parking!

Awesome Thai food ! Great atmosphere! Hidden away but must have many returning customers as it was very lively inside ! Ginger chicken stir fry and Thai yellow chicken curry very yummy !

We drove by three times before thinking we found it. It took two more efforts walking around the motel that it is inside. There was a garbage can directly in front of the door to get in. Yet we weren't deterred due to reading previous raves. Simply said, it was definitely worth it. The green curry was well worth it and one order for two was more than enough. Definitely coming back.

White Elephant is the very definition of a love-hate relationship. You have to allot 2 hours to dine here. There's always a lineup 15 minutes before they open. Based on my experience, I can offer the most important tip for eating here: look up their menus beforehand and order as soon as you sit down. We took our sweet time going over the menu and we ended up getting our food last even though we were one of the first tables to be seated. The tables who sat down after us got their food before us. They even paid and left before our appetizer even came out. We put in our order at 5:20, got our food at 6:30, and we paid at 6:50. An hour to get food is really ridiculous right? We read the reviews and we knew what we were getting ourselves into, but an hour is way too long even for the most patient diners. It doesn't help that there's one server getting beverages and taking everyone's orders. The other two bus servers must be the owner's kids, hence the odd times they're open (open at 5, closed at 8). Some tables even got up and left from the lack of service. All this was somewhat forgotten when our food came out. The portions and flavors of their food did not disappointing. We ordered the papaya salad, red curry with pineapples and chicken, coconut rice and spicy stir fried beef noodles. The aromas of the rice and curry were uplifting and the noodles were seasoned appropriately, not too sweet or salty. The portions are so large we had enough for three more meals. Thus is the love-hate relationship. Hate the wait, love the food. Get take out instead.

I LOVE the food here! It just sucks that with all the customers they have they can't improve their service. I haven't eaten there since COVID because their take out is always cold by the time I get it. The food is amazing when you are actually there

The best Thai food in town. The quality of the dishes is incredible, service is super fast. This place never fails to deliver a great experience.

Delicious food. Great ambiance for a hole in the wall place. Prices were a bit higher than expected, but the food was delicious. You have to pay at the front, but nobody said that to us when they dropped off the bill. Not a big deal, but we sat for 15 minutes until that became clear to our table. In any event, I summarize as follows: - Good food. - Nice ambiance. - Value moderate for the price.

Pretty good Thai 'restaurant' food (but only 3.5), friendly service with a young thai woman who helped correct my thai grammar, and a pleasing atmosphere and decor. Too bad we had to walk through the strong cheap antiseptic smells of the Airport Travellor's Inn that's at the bottom rung of the local hotel area. As well, the location of and access to their venue is not very well set up in two ways: driving close to the restaurant that has such poor signage as to almost miss the rather ugly entrance. But if they open for breakfast and cater to the evening motel crowd, might do fairly well. Ordered the Tom Ga Goong shrimp soup that was quite good: the tart or slightly bitter taste pleases the southeast Asian palate. Also had a tasty Basil Stir-fry with chicken and mixed veggies. Quite typical thai flavours that didn't wow me as does, of course, most Thai street food. Although some of the best Thai in the city, my only legit complaint was the tough outer layers of the onions in both dishes. Although not Thai street food at its best, still recommended!

I don't want to go on and on about this place...but I could. The location is surreal. I thought I was being kidnapped to be held hostage and tortured due to the location. Once inside it's kitchey and interesting with mismatched tables and Ikea lights, but Dammit...this is easily the best Thai food I've had anywhere in North America, let alone Calgary. I think I am literally addicted to the Green Curry, (ordered hot..."are you sure?" "Yup, we're sure"...and yeah, it's fu***kin' HOT), and I can't stop thinking about it. If you like hot, be SURE you ACTUALLY like it hot. It is not for the faint of heart or pretenders. It was perfect. If you go, do not be afraid, yes that actually IS the door to get in. You'll love it, and you'll have a LOT of leftovers. SIX stars.

If only they had mango sticky rice... When you pull up and see it's located in a seedy looking motel you will second guess your decision, but just keep going, it's pretty nice in the restaurant. Discovered a side door on my second visit, instead of going through the lobby. Much easier! We've gotten take-out from here twice when in town and it's always been fresh and correct. Red curry is sooo good! Would eat here again and again!

Really good food, lots of flavours. The shrimp are very large. The service was helpful and kind.

Talking about a hole in the wall kinda place, the entrance for this restaurant is literally a door, with a small sign on top of the door, on the side of a sketchy motel. My buddy and I were very hesitant when we got to the parking lot, but we were glad that we decided to try it. Inside was nice and servers were very friendly. Good quality Thai food with generous portions. Not knowing the size of serving, we ordered two main dishes and it turned out to be a sharable size, huge! We enjoyed the food and the atmosphere.

Best Thai food ever!!! They place is not appealing and hard to find, small entrance in the side of a run down inn. But my goodness, I am so glad Almost all their food are superb and delicious, I haven't try everything on the menu so almost lol! Love their curry as well as pad thai, remember to order coconut rice too!

It's now on DoorDash!! I love White Elephant... as you will see from other reviews, it is about the best Thai food you will find in Calgary (or anywhere I would venture!) but I rarely get out to this part of town. Tonight, to my delight, I saw it as an option for delivery on DoorDash and I quickly placed an order for my faves... pad Thai, panang curry and papaya salad. I forgot how generous the portions are so now I have several delicious meals to look forward to over the coming days of continued self-isolation. Made my day!! And so happy to be able to support this wonderful family owned restaurant during these difficult times.

Heard so much about this place. I had the Pad Thai ,the chicken was chewy . Big portions All in all disappointed Food is so so . Also bad smell when you are there. Probably due to the age as mentioned it is in a whole in the wall Would not recommend.

Great food. The place was packed and yet the service good. The food was good too although not exceptional. The soup was great quantity - large bowl good for six or seven. The curries were good. The stir fry served on a plate so cools down pretty quick. Con: Too crowded as small space. The noise level too high.

It's seldom I can't wait to rush home and write my review for a restaurant. In fact, that's never - at least until today. I've been to Thai restaurants before and I've always though, "Yeah, that was pretty good." I've enjoyed the sauces and the spices and variety of dishes and flavours. Now, I'm remembering each place I've been and they've been left in the dust. If the food from White Elephant is indicative of what all Thai food should *actually* taste like, we've been fooling ourselves. Other Calgary restaurants are a three star at best. When you're coming to White Elephant, you really are coming for the food. The hotel it's housed in is not one I would ever find myself staying in... you need a key to access the washrooms. Shady. But the food, oh my gawd, the food! My dinner mates had all been there before and said we could just ask the server to order some things for us, all we had to say was that we wanted enough for however many were at the table and the dishes would just start to show up. Not the case tonight. We tried it. Our server sort of smiled and nodded and said, "Yes! Sure. Ok." And then no food came. In the end, we did our own ordering. Can I recall what? Let's see. 3 items from the vegetarian menu - a tofu dish, an eggplant dish and something else with vegetables. 2 items from the meatarian menu - beef stir fry and pork pad thai. And soup. We also ate chicken skewers and spring rolls to start off. Oh, and 3 bowls of coconut rice. It was all good, but the flavour I'm remembering? The eggplant dish. Who knew! Shannon, you were so right about that. Dessert, we shared. Deep fried bananas with coconut ice cream. Real bits of coconut in the ice cream. Definitely big enough to share between two people, but also really good. Last point... holy Yelp balls was it ever reasonably priced! Outstanding food, coming home stuffed, $25 a person (most of us just had tea to drink). Now, if you'll excuse me, I must go fantasy and relive my recent foodgasm.

We were visiting from California and wanted to grab a bite to eat before we made our way up to Banff. Thai is my favorite we yelped Thai cuisine closest to the Calgary airport. I'll be honest, we couldn't find this place at first and once we did, we thought "no way we're eating there" (this restaurant is quite unassuming). We really wanted Thai food so we looked up other places; no one else was as well reviewed and no food looked as great as the photos on this page so we decided to give it a shot. Now let me tell you, we've heard "don't judge a book by its cover" a million times but his was the most truest and hardest hitting example of that. Get over the fact that it's connected to a motel and let yourself be completely engulfed by the incredible ambiance and the fireworks that will be going off in your mouth with each bite. Please get my favorite, the chicken panang. You will absolutely thank them a million times for having such authentic food.

Usually a long wait here (at least the two times I've come) but it's worth it for the food. I believe you also get the best bang for your buck here for Thai food considering most of the dishes with meat come with a large amt of protein. Dishes I would definitely recommend: pad Thai with chicken, basil stir fry with chicken and the coconut rice is a MUST order! I have ordered the pineapple fried rice & pad see ew as well and it was quite bland :( I'm also not too fond of the beef dishes because the beef is overcooked but that goes down to personal preference since I like my stir fry beef to be cooked medium.

At first, finding this place was tricky. They used to be inside the Best Western in Marlborough and Google Maps still lists BW as their location, but they're actually in the Pointe Inn across the street from BW. I walked inside, and was immediately greeted by the incredibly friendly owners and staff. I'm always apprehensive when going to an unfamiliar restaurant, because finding good vegan options - even in brand-new, supposedly "innovative" places in Cowtown can be difficult. Especially when the trends seem to be leaning toward wrapping bacon around everything from hamburgers, to ice cream and even jujubes, then deep-frying in duck fat. Reminds me of that episode of Full House, where Michelle is trying to earn her cooking badge in Scouts, so she makes Tuna Vanilla Ice Cream. Tangent! No fear of that here in White Elephant. The vegan options are extensive, with a whole section of the menu dedicated to veg offerings; each one unique and delicious sounding (No stir-fry with plain rice, stir-fry with fried rice and stir-fry with vermicelli here!). There were ten of us here for Maria Elena's birthday, so Shannon asked the owner if he would order for us. This made him ECSTATIC, and he started describing each selection with such heartfelt enthusiasm that I had to resist the urge to tip my head back and commence drooling. He let us know that 3 times a week, he imports fruits and vegetables directly from his family's farm in Thailand, and that they made their own tofu. White Elephant's dishes are served up family style, so the ten of us shared eight dishes (two of them vegan-friendly), and two appetizers (a veg one and meat one) starting with veggie spring rolls with a sweet chili sauce and chicken satay skewers with peanut sauce. The veggie spring rolls were not your typical thawed out fare; you could taste the skill and freshness and they tasted light, despite being right out of a deep-fryer. I also normally hate sweet plum chili sauce, but White Elephant's version went perfectly with the spring rolls. Everyone else loved the chicken satay and the peanut sauce, too. The winner of the evening, despite Shannon's dislike for eggplant, turned out to be one of the vegan dishes: Eggplant and their homemade Tofu in a Coconut Curry sauce. I wanted to inject that sauce directly in to my veins. Their Pad Thai with Tofu was also some of the best Pad Thai I have ever had. Everything was served with generous amounts of their coma-inducing Coconut Rice. If all I had been able to eat was that maddeningly tasty, fluffy thigh insulator; I probably still would've been pleased. For dessert, I had their deep-fried bananas. I don't know how I still had room for them, but they were a cozy end to a scrumtralescent tummy-only trip to Thailand. If you're not vegan or lactose intolerant, try their Thai Iced Tea.

We came on a Thursday night thinking it would be an ok wait. The restaurant is tucked inside of the Pointe Inn motel, around the corner from front desk and down a hall. Popped in and it was packed. They made a table for us near the door, to fit us in, or the wait would have been an hour. Started with the Thai iced tea to cool us down. Freaking delicious. Iced tea topped with evaporated and coconut milk mixed in. We got down to ordering: chicken skewers with peanut satay sauce - decent. tom yum goong - everything you want your tom yum to be. pineapple fried rice - too oily, had no pineapple, tasted like fried rice. green curry eggplant - tasty red curry chicken - very bold flavors and we finished this one quick overall the portions were very generous. The sauces were delicious, made in house and the highlights of the meal. The food itself was a bit bland, undercooked and off. Most of it relied heavily on sauces. Given the amount of people dining at the hour, they must have been really rushing so I would definitely give this place another go, as other reviews and the awards on their counter speak for their usual experience.

Great Thai food with amazing family portions. Good blend of flavours and options. This place is a hidden gem and the location doesn't give it justice. Food is a good price and White Elephant is a good spot to bring family looking to try Thai food or for those who appreciate the unique flavours of Thai cuisine.

Tucked away in the Pointe Inn (a bit sketchy), this place offers the best Thai food I've had in Calgary. I'd say that other diners would agree because without reservations this place is near to impossible to get into. Just a note that they are not too pleased if you show up without reservations (we did and since we were early enough, they let us sit down but was informed we had to be out by 5:30) Quickly we put our order in: chicken pad thai and green curry with thai egg plant with a side of rice. The aroma of the food cooking was making me super hungry and I couldn't wait to try it! The chicken pad thai had quite a kick to it but delicious nonetheless. The green curry?A-MAZING! The melody of veggies complimented the spices and creamy coconut milk, and even though I was stuffed I couldn't stop eating it! I'd love to try this place again, but it might just be for take-out. The service isn't great (and I've heard of other people's bad experiences with staff) and it's quite difficult to make a reservation - their website currently notes you can't phone or email reservations.

When you hear White Elephant Thai Cuisine automatically the first thing that comes to mind are spicy, elegant, and Thai food. White Elephant is a hidden gem located in the Airport Traveller's Inn (19 St NE & 16 Ave NE), there are two entrances: cutting through the lobby of the Inn and a side door in the middle of a wall. What I found different of White Elephant is that their maximum capacity is 60 people meaning their dining area is pretty small, they only accept debit and cash, and their hours of operation is from 5pm to 8:30 pm Monday to Saturday. If you are going to dine in White Elephant I strongly recommend going when they open or booking reservations for seating. I really love the food. I ordered the Orange Chicken stir fry with a side of rice while my girlfriend ordered the Pad Thai. The server will ask you how spicy do you want it and you get to choose between 1 and 4 peppers. A little word of advice, if you're not ordering from the Noodle, Fried Rice, and Appetizers section I do recommend you getting a small order of rice. And yes the small order of rice does balance out with what you order. Everything about the restaurant is great except the wait time if you decide to walk in but other than that it would be a great experience to try! I strongly recommend White Elephant and would definitely come back

Really good food! I was honestly surprised with my fiancé about how good the food turned out based on the location and look of the place. Just goes to show you that some of the best places to eat are the ones that don't look like a million bucks. We were in Calgary after a great trip into the Rockies (Banff / Lake Louise / Hot springs ), and needed a place to stay the night and eat before our flight. The WETC was closing, but they accommodated us by giving us a large takeout order which we brought back to our hotel room. Food was promptly consumed and bellies were rubbed. IF I was to do it again, I would go back to this place for Thai, very good food!