I keep hoping that another Thai place will open up closer to my house that competes with Lanta. Sadly, the search continues. My husband just sighs when I suggest Thai food because he knows that while I'm always down for Thai, what I really mean when I suggest this kind of food is: "Do you want to drive me 25 min away to get the best Thai in Orange County?" This place is just, so good. I've tried to reserve this place for special occasions due to the drive.*

The lunch specials are great. For $7.95 (chicken, beef, vegetable, tofu) or $8.95 (shrimp, calamari) you can pick from like 30 different options. I always end up with the Drunken Noodles. It comes with cabbage soup. The soup is obviously made in house because the carrots are hand cut, as they aren't uniform in size. Love that! The salad that comes with it is a good size and comes with avocado, tomato, carrots, and a piece of cantaloupe melon on greens with an amazing dressing. I have never had orange melon on a house salad but it works incredibly well. Oh, and a spring roll because that's how they roll at Lanta.

The dinner specials come with all of that, plus a glass of house wine and a scoop of coconut ice cream for like $13? Ummm, yes! Just add in the gas it costs us to drive here and it's STILL an amazing deal.

*I am using the term special occasion very loosely. For example, today's "occasion" was our 5 month old daughter's sleep regression which kept me up all night. Birthdays/Anniversaries not required.

Solid food. Loved the handmade tortillas and the opportunity to dust off my Spanish. That's always been my rule, I'll switch to a foreign language if I feel like I speak that better than the other party trying to speak English. Definitely the case at this establishment that my Spanish was better than their English. Just a heads up.

The food was very tasty and came out as it was ready instead of all together. Fine by me because we were there with hungry kids. I had a pumpkin flower quesadilla (similar to a cactus or peppers consistency) which was fun and interesting, and most importantly... tasty. I do wish it came with a side of salsa or something. My hubby did a bunch of different tacos and was pleased with his lunch. Fast and easy. I'd visit this place again. Wasn't too expensive either so it was a good value, which is getting harder to find these days. Seating was somewhat limited so you're probably better off with 5 (or fewer) people in your group.

This place gave me a strange vibe. I just wanted a simple pedicure for an event, nothing crazy. I had nail strips that I picked out specifically for the event and I was really excited to use them since they matched my dress perfectly. From the second I said that I just wanted a simple nail polish (not gel) pedicure, I just felt ... judged? Like, I couldn't afford the mani/pedi combo, or something? I pointed to what I wanted on their "menu" multiple times and I felt like they were purposely mishearing me and repeating it to try to guilt me into something I didn't want. The pedicure was fine, like they did an adequate job on my nails, but they also managed to suck all the fun out of it until I just wanted to walk out the door. Then, I asked her to break a $10 so that I could give her a tip and she brought me two $5 dollar bills. I'm pretty sure that was intentional to try to suggest her tip, but that means you only get $5 instead of more, soooo....

I try to be kind and I know people are struggling with everything getting a little expensive lately but I just personally ended up leaving with kind of a *eye roll* of an experience.

Is it possible to have an extensive but simple menu? Sure is! I feel came here for brunch at a friend's recommendation and I can definitely see why she suggested it. They have stuffed French toasts, omelette, and simple lunch choices. I tried the Vegetarian Eggs Benedict and really enjoyed it. The one remark that I have is that I wasn't personally a fan of the hollandaise sauce, as it was almost a nacho-cheesy consistency, BUT it was served on a generous portion of spinach so it was easy to dilute and get my veggies in for the morning. I'm not sure if I'd order the same entree again but it was tasty enough that I'd get something else here, for sure.

They don't do bottomless mimosas, but they serve them by the glass or bottle. My friend and I just shared the bottle and it came out nicely presented in a large silver champagne ice bucket, which is nice for making you feel fancy while you're day drinking. I also enjoyed that they offered a flight of juices to accompany it for only a couple dollars more. I wish more places did this!

Restaurant staff was very friendly and attentive. We asked to slide over one because we were underneath a television that made it tough to talk, but they were very chill about it. They do close a little early so make plans to meet here and mind the business hours. I guess they've been here in operation for like 60+ years, and I can definitely see why!