The Best Thai Restaurants In SF
SFGuide
Khao soi, rich curries, and sinus-clearing papaya salads—you’ll find great Thai food at these spots.
photo credit: Carly Hackbarth
The Thai food scene in SF has range. There are neighborhood spots serving street food specialties like khao kha moo, and fancy destinations with multi-course tasting menus. Each spot on this list shines in its own way. Prepare for fiery curries, noodle soups, and heaping plates of pad see ew.
There’s a reason why Nari is so highly rated: a meal at this Japantown place that's overrun with plants is one for the books. Thai dishes are a masterclass in combining spicy, sweet, and funky flavors, and are truly unlike anything you’ll find in town—core memory material. Charred pork jowl and squid intermingle on the plate like a flirty summer fling, and the cubed, fried branzino mountain is topped with handfuls of chilis. Equally unforgettable is the chef’s pick menu. It includes a few off-menu items, like some impossibly flaky duck curry puffs that make the $125 price tag worth it.
You’ll want to send everyone in your contacts list to The Thonglor, but also gate keep this place at the same time—a meal at this tiny Lower Nob Hill spot is the restaurant equivalent of a pump-up album you listen to top to bottom, no skips. You’re treated to a parade of hearty curries, nose-clearing papaya salads, and the most flawless pad thai you’ll ever lay your eyes on. It’s perfectly chewy, a sweet-salty punch, and beyond worth the price of admission, a.k.a. waiting alongside other eager noodle enthusiasts in the narrow entryway for one of only eight tables.
At this Thai restaurant in the Mission, folks will animatedly fan their mouths and flag down staff for another Thai tea—this spot doesn’t hold back on the Thai chilis and leans into soul-curing heat. That heat is the key to each dish's greatness, along with in-your-face flavors like funky, salty, and sweet. The party wings coated in sticky chili jam are on every table, as are plates of umami-packed pad thai and charcoal-grilled pork with a fried egg. Pink lights, neon signs, and a disco ball spinning above create an effortlessly fun night. So hit up your spice-obsessed friends, and get loose over beer and wine.
There's no pad thai or pad see ew at Prik Hom. Rather, you’ll find a rotating menu of dishes like a grilled beef curry covered in mint, parsley, and yogurt sauce, a fried branzino salad smothered in fish sauce fruit dressing, and other seasonal dishes made using whatever vegetables were fresh from the market that day. There are no wrong choices. Just be sure to end your meal with the smoked young coconut ice cream, which comes in a glass dish with Thai incense. It's the next-level, multi-sensory experience that'll have you running back here.
Reservations for the next month open up on the first of the current month at 9am on OpenTable (for example, June reservations will open on May 1st). If you're down to roll the dice, just show up when they open at 5pm—every night they set aside a “couple of tables” that are first-come first-serve.
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We love this Parkside spot for their menu of Thai and Lao specialties. It’s easy to walk into on a weeknight (just note they close at 8:30pm), and it works well for small group dinners over rich curries, charred satay, and flaky roti that leaves behind a buttery sheen on your fingers. Yes, this is a Thai guide, but don’t leave without throwing in an order of nam kao tod—the crispy bits of rice walk the tightrope between salty, sour, and funky.
For the uninitiated, Kin Khao is Nari’s older, less-splashier sibling. But the funk-and-spice-packed dishes coming out of this Union Square destination are a force. Start with the hot chicken wings before turning to the fiery, crispy nam tok beans or caramelized pork belly that glistens. Sure, you might have to dodge a few roller bags to get here—it’s located in the Parc 55 hotel—but seek this place out regardless of whether you’re staying there or not.
Carly Hackbarth
A meal at this Thai barbecue restaurant in the Richmond is always chaotic and smoke-filled, thanks to the pork belly, shrimp, and bacon sizzling away on the domed charcoal grills that are in the middle of every table. As the meat sears, drippings fall down into a broth moat that surrounds each grill, so the broth gets even more flavorful over the course of your meal. Just make sure to come with people who are willing to yell over the sound of meat cooking and don’t mind putting in the work to get this DIY barbecue situation going.
We won’t sugar coat it: the 21-page menu at Amphawa is so long it should come with its own SparkNotes guide. Yet quantity does equal quality at this homestyle Richmond spot. Exhibit A: the kao kana moo krob, or crispy, salty-sweet pork belly served over Chinese broccoli, and the ultra-tender pork leg stew (kao ka moo) with its star anise aroma we want to turn into an essential oil. We also adore this spot because it’s laidback, easy to walk into, and perfect for catching a game on their TVs over dinner.
Longstanding Lers Ros has been operating in the Tenderloin since 2008, so you can trust that they know a thing or two about churning out excellent Thai curries, noodles, and soups. The menu is long enough to pass for a young adult novel, meaning you could come to this place once a week and barely make a dent. Just be sure to zero in on the saucy garlic pork and roasted duck curry, which are standouts on a menu full of hefty-portioned hits. Lers Ros also has two other locations in the Mission and Hayes Valley.
Kothai Republic in the Sunset serves food unlike anywhere else in the city—probably because it’s the only Korean-Thai fusion spot in SF. Settle in with a few of your friends and order a mix of small plates (where this place shines) that blend fermented and tongue-twistingly tart flavors. Think a Thai green curry with a kimchi-covered king salmon, a ceviche that looks like small fish balls atop little gem lettuce, and the crowd-favorite kimchi rice balls covered in bacon and sharp cheddar. Whatever you do, get a bottle of sake, and make sure to get the apple pie cheesecake, which has the right amount of citrus.
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@krazypim
We go to Oraan when we’re looking for modern Thai dishes packed with spice and citrus. Take the tum pon la mai fruit salad, which turns a traditional papaya salad on its head by adding strawberries, pineapples, and grapes all dressed in a thick sweet-chili dressing. Or order the rich tom kha soup that brings mushrooms (and dried chillies) front and center. While sharing the salad and soup is a good move at this Richmond spot, keep your entree to yourself—you won't want to share your plate of green curry layered with medium-rare steak.
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Julia Chen
If we had it our way, the spicy-sweet grilled prawn salad from Khob Khun would be the Richmond’s neighborhood ambassador. It steals the show at every meal here, thanks a chili sauce we want on everything. It’s not the only reason to return weekly to this spot—their menu of mostly Thai staples, like the tender duck curry and beef noodle soup, is fantastic. Plus, Khob Khun is the only spot on this guide that serves brunch. So when you wake up feeling gremlin-like and need a spot to revive yourself over french toast, Thai congee, and moo ping, get here.
Lani Conway
House of Thai in Lower Nob Hill is another casual spot focusing on Thai curries, fried rice, salads, and noodles. But in this house, the funk and spice are at maximum capacity. You’ll see pad see ew with minced pork charred to the point of caramelization, BBQ pork tossed in a chili lime dressing so perfect we want to rename it Bring On The Funk, and a tom kha ga that’s anything but bland or overly creamy. Think of it as a jolt to your palate—even a side of peanut sauce has a rich depth to it.
Marina-based Baan Yaai is a Thai street food oasis in a section of the city that’s seriously lacking in Thai restaurant operations. Just don’t be dissuaded by the Patagonia vest-wearing crowd who use this place as a reliable lunch or dinner standby. For once they know what they’re doing—this spot can run it with the other great Thai spots on this guide. So join the herd, and come here for chicken satay served with creamy peanut sauce, sour tom yum soup, perfectly cooked pad kee mao, and buttery, flaky roti that melts in your mouth after you dip it into the red curry.
King's Thai Cuisine #2 is a late-night spot—which in SF terms means open until midnight. So, pull up with a group after a night out for simple, no-fuss Thai classics, like pad see ew, and spicy red curry that’s served up faster than you can register what happened that night. If you come during the day—and avoid the rowdy groups coming home to this hearty-food promised land—this place is still buzzing. Families and locals gather around wooden tables, drinking Chang beers and eating out-of-this-world crispy chicken wings doused in a slightly-spicy chili sauce.
Ricky Rodriguez
You’re at Sai Jai Thai for one reason, and one reason only—the BBQ pork shoulder fried rice. What this Tenderloin spot lacks in seating, it makes up for with an extensive round-up of Thai usual suspects, from pad thai to pad kra praw and every curry your heart could desire. But, really, the BBQ pork shoulder fried rice is what makes a trek here worth it. Yes, the rice could be more toasted, but we’re not mad since the pork is perfectly cooked, and their BBQ sauce has a tang that hasn't been replicated anywhere else.
