First off, let me apologize. I know the owner is from Thailand, so for me to say this doesn't taste like Thai food might seem a little stupid. HOWEVER, this does not taste like ANY Thai food I have ever had before...and I've eaten my fair share of it. We ordered the Pineapple Curry and the Eggplant dish. The eggplant dish actually reminded us of more like a Chinese food dish with lots of what tasted like oyster sauce (not bad, totally edible, just nothing like Thai eggplant dishes we've had before). The Pineapple Curry was my own fault. I should have ordered medium to offset the sweetness of it, but another reviewer on here said to be careful because it is very spicy. I ordered the mild and there was zero fire.

The short of it is...folks who have never had Thai food before might really love this place. There was an older, cruise-ship couple beside us who were ranting and raving about the Basil wraps because "It tastes so different because it's not deep-fried" (guessing they have only ever had Western-style Chinese spring rolls). For those of you who love your Thai food, if you choose to eat there, just be forewarned that it might not taste like any Thai food you've ever had before, and unfortunately for us, that ended up being a bad thing.

On the plus side, ambiance was good and portions were very large. Price was okay. Staff were friendly.

Food at Sombat's is totally inauthentic Thai food. If you don't know what real Thai food tastes like you might be happy at Sombat's. However, if you know what the fairly standard dishes that they offer should taste like you will be extremely disappointed.

We read so many good reviews so gave it a try. Food is good but they don't warn you that
"Medium" heat is really "hot". We eat food that is typically fairly spicy (raw serrano peppers etc.) - so we can usually handle "hot" food on menus at other restaurants. Our kids love Thai food so we ordered a lot of food with Medium spice but it was so hot for us that we ended up ordering another dish with minimum spice for the kids. We were disappointed that server did not give us a heads up. give some options or adjust the bill for the extra dish we had to order like most restaurants do. (Note: we did not ask for them to adjust the bill). I guess, given that this is a small restaurant, they did want to lose the cost of the dish and we did not push it. We would go back, but will be careful!

We love Thai food and when hungry in Hilo found the good reviews for Sombats on Trip Advisor. Trip advisor was right again. We had satay and pad Thai as we were hungry and not adventurous. We will be back as you can walk in and take ready made food to go for day trips. Great IDEA!