The Old Siam Thai Restaurant

The Old Siam Thai Restaurant – High Hopes, Disappointing Reality We came to The Old Siam Thai Restaurant with high expectations. San Francisco is a city that often excels in Asian cuisine, particularly South and Southeast Asian fare, and the restaurant’s venerable name suggested a place of tradition and authenticity. Unfortunately, our hopes were dashed once we encountered the reality. The servers were friendly and accommodating, and the kitchen does offer some vegetarian options. However, the dishes bore little resemblance to authentic Thai cuisine—about as far removed as Chinese-American or Italian-American food is from its culinary roots. The flavors were bland, and more concerning, key elements of Thai cooking were missing altogether. A clear example was the larb salad we ordered. A proper larb must include the distinctive crunch and flavor of toasted rice grains, an essential ingredient in the dish. Here, there were none. What we received was simply a chopped salad wearing the name of a venerable Northern Thai specialty but lacking its defining characteristics. For what we paid, the experience was underwhelming and far from the authentic Thai meal we had anticipated. San Francisco has many wonderful spots for genuine Thai cuisine—sadly, based on our visit, this was not one of them. As ordinary consumers, we are not paid or compensated in any way for this review. We hope the restaurant takes this feedback to heart and returns to the traditional flavors its name suggests.

Came here after a word of mouth recommendation and we weren’t disappointed. Cold beer in a pre-chilled glass 🍺 delicious soup (boat sized portions) 🚤 spicy chicken noodles 🍜 and to finish off some deep fried banana, Nutella and roti rolls! Generous portion sizes (surprisingly!) and friendly service.

The food was very fine, truly authentic. The only minor disappointment was that it had pepperoni in the dish. I noticed that this is standard in Thai meals in America, and it was also added to the Krapau last time. It's a shame, American, after all. I picked it out and put it away, anyway it was really delicious nonetheless. My dessert was also superb. 😎❤️🫶👍

I ordered the medium Red Curry chicken lunch special. Delicious flavors, great service and good portion for the price. At the time I was eating at about 3 pm on a weekday, interestingly there were 3 other solo ‘guy’ diners plus me, all in the same manner served. I think it’s quite the norm to dine by yourself in SF. Funny how group dining is slowly becoming a thing of the past, just like family dinners are rare and far between, in the fast paced day and age we live in, where grab and go and online ordering, rules. You really can't go wrong with food from this looking-outdated from the outside yet uniquely special restaurant. Give dining a try here! Nice price for a whole lotta plate of food.

Had the Pra Ram (#70) the beef was kind of tough. But the sauce tasted good. Had a lot of vegetables included with it. Fried Rice with egg was really sticky.

Excellent food and excellent people. They were able to make my thai noodles veg and it was tasteful. My son had a soupy pork noodles and hubby tried green curry chicken, they were all flavoursome. One of the best Thai food we had. And pls do try their fried banana with ice cream desert. They do it fresh and was yummy.

Came here for a quick dinner and was pleasantly surprised. Ordered the pad see ew but the chicken was dry, otherwise tasty. Generous portions. Reasonable prices.

Food was great. I had the lunch special, a tom kha with beef, penang chicken curry with rice, and some entree chicken skewers. Tasty, moderate portions, and service was low key but friendly. Definately recommend if you want a break from burgers and fries from elsewhere.

Oh man, this place is GOOD. When we arrived in SF around 11am, our hotel room was not ready so we got lunch at this restaurant to kill some time. Everything on the menu is FANTASTIC. Such great, authentic, flavorful food. If you are a fan of thai food, this is the place to go. They have super reasonable lunch specials and lots of a la carts options as well. The staff is also super friendly and attentive.

Old Siam Thai Traditional Noodle Soup (15) - flat noodles with fresh beef, stewed beef, and beef balls in a rich beef broth. I came early to wait for a friend and figured I'd grab a bite. The soup itself was pretty good. Savory and comforting, with a nice variety of beef textures. But I came right when they opened and was the only one there, yet the waitress kept rushing me to leave, which was weird.... Solid food, but the service made it hard to enjoy.

Prior to watching a Broadway musical show of George Michael last Saturday, we dined at Old Siam for early dinner. It was my first time as recommended by one of the friends. It's a casual Thai restaurant from a looking outdated from the outside building. We were 7 diners including our friend's son who turned 21 years old that day. The dining room was hot. I was using the menu fanning ourselves. One friend brought her bottle of red wine from Napa. We shared the wine & raised our glasses to cheer the birthday boy. We had a family style dinner. We ordered the appetizers Fried Tofu, Fried Calamari & Siam Wing. The squid was small & the flavor of the batter overpowered the food. From the main course we had the Spicy Eggplant, Pad Thai, Thai Red Curry, Tom Yum Gai (chicken soup) & Pomfret Fry. The portion was average except for the soup. The fish were so good. The service was nice. The food was enjoyable. We met the owner Nick (I think?) of the restaurant and he was pleasant to talk to. For desserts, we had the Mango Sticky Rice, Friend Banana with Ice Cream, & Roti with Ice Cream. We had Mango & Taro toppings. They ran out of the Coconut ice cream. They did not have a comp dessert so the birthday boy had the separate Fried Banana with Ice Cream. The dessert was delicious. Overall, the restaurant is recommendable.

It was great! The service was friendly and attentive. One of the specials was Garlic Spaghetti. We also ordered a salad with papaya, green beans & peanuts. Portions were generous. We plan to go back in a day or so.

At one of the ends of the Tenderloin is a hidden away family-run Thai restaurant. Despite the old design outside, the inside of this restaurant is quite cozy and everyone was very friendly. Prices are also quite nice given it's location near downtown SF. However, food was pretty average and some of the dishes were a bit disappointing. Thai tea was more on the bland side, and the Pad Thai lacked some flavor + was undercooked.

After having spent a month in Thailand you often come back and a local restaurant. Can't quite hit the flavors. This was not the case here at The Old Siam. I was pleasantly surprised with the flavors, great service, large portions and that they had Singha! Loved it so much I went twice in one week while on vacation in San Francisco.

This place is incredible! We were staying in the area and noticed this was right by our hotel. So good! We ordered a variety of things to share. Their Pad See-Ew is out of this world good. We also loved their Pad Kee Mao. The Tom Kha Gai soup was really tasty. The server brought us a chili paste and dried chili peppers to spice up our food and both were so good. My niece loved their garlicky noodles. We devoured everything. I will be dreaming about this place wishing I lived closer to try it again. The service is excellent. Our waiter was so friendly and attentive to our table.

I'm having lunch regulary at the old siam thai restaurant since I am working nearby. I'm amazed by the quality and the taste of the foods all the time. And the service is also excellent.

Great authentic food. The garlic Shrimp was awesome. Crispy, crunchy and delicious. I had been looking for something similar for a long time and it was just perfect.The restaurant is huge with lots of nice plants. The he servers were amazing and they were nice. I forgot something and they actually ran out to give it to me. I will definitely go back

The fried rice was ok, fried chicken was also ok. Nothing to write home about. I guess it's a place that people would go to if they have no other choice. Now the service is subpar. We asked for added coconut sauce for the mango with sticky rice (not from SF, but from LA and we usually get the coconut sauce on the side). This server did not return to tell us an update when we requested the sauce. When we tried to follow-up he rudely said "We don't have it" then walked away. My point is he could've just told us. But this is some dry sticky rice. Also we had 4 people in our party, they add a mandatory tip. Just fyi

My wife and I used to love this place. We've been going here for more than 15 years, and it has been a local mainstay. However, as is the theme, somethings changed over COVID. This place's food is still good, though the service and quality has gone down hill. My wife ordered one hot tea, and they came with two. I was like, "That's fine I'll drink it." No big deal. The spring rolls came, and they were good. Pricier than last time but still really good, especially the peanut sauce. Next came my duck soup. It was also good, but needed spice, I had to ask for it, and they did provide two types, which I like. Onto my wife's dishes. She ordered her favorite, green curry with eggplant and salmon. She notice the curry not so green or flavorful. Looked like too much coconut milk and not enough of the curry. Her eggplant tofu arrived, and there was NO tofu at all in it. Kudos to the server who immediately agreed and took the plate back and recooked with tofu. At the end, I received the bill with an automatic 18% tip. It was not optional. Actually, I guess I could have put a negative tip if I didn't like it, but seeing as I normally tip 20%, they shorted themselves. I get automatic tip for larger parties, but two people! If I hadn't have looked, I might have tipped on top of that. That really irritated me, and when I looked online, I noticed that automatic gratuity goes to the restaurant, and then the owner determines how it is distributed. Not surprised, as the owner was not nice that day, yelling orders, and just being mean to his staff. Wife and I agree, might be last time visiting, since there are other good options we found.

The service was quick, they were very friendly, and had an easy way to make a to go order. They helped me choose the right dish, which was obviously pad thai add chicken, and gave me a handful of hot sauce options. Thanks so much for rhetorical amazing meal while staying near by! Open late.

Absolutely incredible, family friendly, amazing service, great prices. This place is very impressive, and the waiters are so nice, they check on you frequently, and the food is phenomenal.

First of all they don't even use a wok in their kitchen , authentic thai food is always cooked in a wok. They're customer service is so terrible, i called in to order for pickup and he proceed with my order until i gave him my card info over the phone because i didn't properly knew the menu, mind you guy this was the second time i called in for pickup.The first time i called in for pick i ordered a simple fried banana ice cream dessert,it took them 30 minutes from the phone call to when they made it for me. I would figure it would take that long for 1 dessert order so i show up to the restaurant about 10 minutes later after the phone called,so then they made me wait for another 20 minutes just sitting there...

The lunch special I chose ( yellow curry beef, chicken satay, pad Thai, and rice plate) was pretty good and hefty for the price. The pad Thai though could have been better with peanuts and a little meat. Very reasonably priced. Caveat, it's not a fancy restaurant but more like a hole-in-the wall.

The best Pad Thai I've ever had! My wife loved the Pad Se Ew! Definitely worth a visit!! The owners, Patrick and Nadine, were excellent hosts!

We came here with my colleague as she is friends with the owner (Pat) and his wife. We got seated by the window which was nice and I got to see my car as I parked right outside the restaurant. The location is in the TL..not the best place. However, inside is a large, clean, spacious, family run restaurant. Pat used to have several locations around the bay but consolidated down to this one spot. We came around 12 noon for lunch and ordered a variety of items to share including papaya salad, chicken sq, shrimp over vermicelli, wok tossed steak, chives dumplings, grilled chicken, chicken pad see ew, mixed seafood, etc. We ate almost everything and was super stuffed! No room for dessert here but WOW! The food was amazing, authentic Thai cooking at its best. Every dish was fresh, spiced right (mild was good for me, the med papaya salad my tongue was on fire) and made you want to eat more! If you dont wanna come because of the location, order Doordash! Seriously need to try this spot..you are missing out!

Quaint, friendly and incredibly delicious food. I have to say that out of all the food I ate in San Francisco, this little gem BY FAR was the best. We went to Michelin rated restaurants, restaurants on the wharf, Chinatown and restaurants in and around town only to be dreaming of the food here. God bless these people! Not only was the food absolutely incredible, but the prices were extremely reasonable and the staff there were so nice! We had a party of 6 and we all got different food and they all were delicious! All the food was fresh, tasty, presented well and generously portioned. This place should be a national treasure.

This is one of my favorite thai restaurants! My favorite dishes here are the chicken wings, pad thai and lastly, the papaya salad! When I went to Thailand for vacation, I fell in love with papaya salad, and I can say that this restaurant makes it exactly like how it tastes in Thailand. They can also adjust the spice level, I don't recommend getting thai spicy. It's going to leave your mouth on fire! They also have lots of yummy dishes like their green curry or tum yum soup! The restaurant is pretty spacious and staff here are really friendly and always recommending the best dishes!

Had some interesting items for takeout that was reasonable quality. Pad Thai (A) - This was a pretty decent Pad Thai in my opinion. It was flavored well, hitting the distinct savory, sweet, spicy, and sour components of the dish, while maintaining a good amount of moisture. The shrimp are rather small, but that is alright because they were cooked correctly. I think the presentation could be improved a bit, but otherwise this was a solid dish. Pad See Ew (B) - The noodles here are much thicker than other places, but worked well as there was a strong soy forward flavor that characterizes the dish. The veggies also added texture and made the dish more refreshing; the only problem I have with the dish is the beef is inconsistently cooked with some tender pieces and others dry, which could be improved upon. Palm Juice (C) - I was really thrilled to try this Palm Juice because it seems similar to Sugarcane Juice, which I really like. Unfortunately, at $4 a cup, this tasted like brown sugar water, which does not taste good.

This place was across the street from a conference I was attending and a solid choice! If you are looking for volume and price- I would suggest their lunch plates. One of the people in our group got a lunch plate that came with a mini appetizer, entree and pad thai. They also got soup for an additional cost. Overall well worth it for him. They have a vegetarian section to choose from so it was easy for me to find something on the menu. I got the red curry rice place with tofu and a hot tea- that was delicious and perfect for a cold day. Other people in the group got Beef Pad See Ew and a Seafood salad. The people here could not be any nicer- it was easy to flag them down and ask for stuff (chopsticks etc) and waters were constantly filled. Definitely adding it to my places to eat when I am near the Union Square hotel area in SF.

Good delicious Good service I will comeback again Goodddddd Good delicious Good service I will comeback again Goodddddd

This is a standard Thai restaurant. The food is very good. The customer service is friendly, the food arrived quickly. The restaurant is open late, and very easy to find due to their large neon signage. I recommend their Squid Ink pasta, Fried calamari, Garlic Spaghetti and Roti and Ice Cream. I would definitely come back again.

Had dinner here as I was in town for business and this restaurant was directly across the street from my hotel (Parc 55). It's an older divey type of establishment -- not fancy by any means but good enough for a late dinner in a casual environment. I ordered the Som Tum Salad ($14) which is shredded papaya, tomatoes, string beans, and peanuts in their house spicy lime juice. I asked for it to be prepared Lao style because I like the funk (crab and shrimp paste) but my server said they could not make modifications to their current recipe. Fair. After all, the menu does clearly state "We do not modified our food to be differ to the other than Thai Food." It's on the menu written as such so that's fair. I also ordered Pineapple Fried Rice ($15) which is fried rice with curry powder, eggs, tomatoes, onions, green onions, cashewnuts, pineapple, chicken and a couple pieces of shrimp. The papaya salad was good but it could've used more spice and dressing - I like it when there's more sauce because it amplifies all of the flavors it takes to create this dish. The fried rice was interesting because since it's "Pineapple" fried rice - I expected chunks of pineapple like it's normally received. When I finally noticed there wasn't any chunks, I flagged down one of the servers and he pointed out that there were pineapple pieces as they cut them into really thin slices. That wasn't cool so I asked for some pineapple chunks on the side. I packed leftovers to take back to my hotel room and added the pineapple chunks over my fried rice for my late night snack-- didn't quite taste the same but I made it work. The service was fine. Nothing extravagant but not entirely horrible neither. For my glass of wine, salad, and entree - the bill came out to a little bit over $60 after gratuity.

Nice little spot in the heart of the city. Staff are friendly and greet you right as you enter. The menu covers different regions and as noodle dishes as well as curries and soups. The pad see ew with beef was a generous portion and cooked to perfection. Flavors were on point and a side of fried rice goes well. I recommend walking here as there is little street parking and the block isnt the best or use a garage.

Very tasty food at reasonable prices. We tried the prawns and asparagus, pad Thai oak, chicken satay and the Gang Koor. Everything tasted good!

My sons and I were planning to go to the new food court by IKEA but when we got there they closed. So we were hungry and saw the neon lights that are super cool for The Old Siam. It drew us in! So happy to find a place open and they were very friendly. They seated us and we felt really comfortable and happy to be there. The food is good enough! I am a local and this place is feels like it may get a lot of tourists but I would give it a try.

Haven't been here in awhile and was glad to find the restaurant still in the neighborhood. We sat inside after showing our ID and vaccination cards. For a Friday evening the restaurant wasn't crowded, but the take out orders seemed to arrive on a regular basis. Good food. I had the Old Siam Duck, fried calamari and a curry lamb dish. The calamari wasn't what I expected but still liked it. We paid by cash as we overhead someone say they weren't taking credit cards. So, you may want to ask upon arrival. Prices are reasonable for the area. Definitely will be back again the next time I'm nearby or across the street to see a show.

Great find by the Tenderloin. Tasty dishes and wonderful service, will be back when I am working in SF again!

This was my second time coming here - last time I'd really enjoyed the Pad Thai. This time when I arrived it was pretty busy so it took a while to put our order in and get our food. We got the Pan Fried Chive Cakes, Spicy Thai Pan Fried Noodle, and the Old Siam Fried Chicken. We didn't really like the Pan Fried Chive Cakes - they were PACKED with chives and were chewy - I was expecting more of a scallion pancake vibe so my fault. The Spicy Thai Pan Fried Noodle and the Old Siam Fried Chicken had huge portions so that was great. The noodles had lots of veggies but I felt like the sauce was lacking a little. The Fried Chicken rice is pretty plain but it has a good sauce to balance it out. Next time I'd probably stick to the Pad Thai.

Let me say this, this place was my very first experience with Thai food like 20 something years ago. I will always hit this place up. I don't care if the services can a little wack sometime and their on a terrible street but I don't care. My spot, I claim it and ain't changing it. Come check them out if you want, that's up to you but I'll always be coming through.

I always enjoy the food here; everything is so tasty. The lunch special has enormous portions so is great for leftovers. They are always so kind and the service is efficient.

Normally dirk noodle soup was good any time I go San Francisco alway stop by and eat the food was good. Like this week I go there again I order the same like last time The food was different taste. And the service is ok but just don't like the food but will try again next time and see .

The Tom Kha Soup has a balanced flavor but was a bit thin and not as stocky, as it should be... a bit watery. The fresh rolls consist of a lot of lettuce, mint, cucumber, carrot, and one piece of shrimp. It lacks the rice noodles and ingredients were not evenly distributed, some parts had mint, a few did not. It was a bit bland. Now the Pad Kra Pow was spot on, full of flavor and bursting with flavor. So happy that they recommend mild, because if it were to be spicier it would not be as enjoyable. Perfect blend of spice,and umami, chicken perfectly cooked and juicy. The snafu was the price and presentation of the fresh roll. The picture on their website, single platform, trip advisor, Yelp, and many others reflect that there are 6 pieces for $6.95. As you can see in the photo it was 8 pieces and $13. It was a bit of a surprise, but overall good food. Less water in there soup, more flavor and mindfulness of the distribution of fresh roll, and updated pricing would make this experience a 5.

Very good lunch combination specials. The Pad Thai, satay, Tom Kha Gai soup, & Pra Ram are very good. Service is efficient & polite. The restaurant is spacious. This review is based on several visits.

Good Thai food, friendly staff, wide menu selection, good portions, and overall good ambiance. It seems to be a pretty popular restaurant and I'd see why! For a weekday it was pretty full but the staff is definitely taking precautions to keep the place clean and tables spaced fairly far apart. They do check your vaccination card and ID when you walk in so be sure to bring that! The whole staff was masked and the inside has plenty of room for seating. The food was tasty. Very yummy pad Thai and tom Kha soup. The pineapple fried rice was nothing to write home about but still good. The fresh rolls were also pretty yummy- a nice contrast to the saltiness of my entree. Portions were all appropriate and I was very full after my pad Thai. The staff was really nice and our food came out relatively quickly. Our waiter was waiting on a lot of tables so he forgot to refill our waters but a nice lady came by and did it for him. They thanked us for coming as we left too. Overall, pretty good experience. I'd come back for sure!

Pretty decent flavor, nothing to write home about. I got the house special noodles and they were very edible with a liberal helping of Sriracha poured on top, but can't say much more for them than that. They're open decently late until 11pm every day, so that's a big plus for them. Unless it was late at night, I'd definitely rather walk over to Esan Classic or iThai. Was bored while waiting for my pickup order so please enjoy updated menu photos with prices.

Went to with a group to get dessert, we got seated in the back where there were lots of open tables. The waiter comes and we let him know we wanted dessert and he tells us there's a $15 minimum. Desserts were approximately $10 and if we got drinks, we would have been close. But no, he motions us to leave.

This place deserves such a higher rating to be honest. The Thai food here is delicious and I have been here numerous times with friends and family. I can't stop coming back because of their FOOD! They also have tasty Thai Iced Tea. My recent favorite is their Pad Kee Mao. The wide thick noodles is amazing. I like to add their Thai spicy fish sauce to the dish. Make sure to ask the server for this sauce! Writing the review...makes me want to eat this dish right now! Lol

We ordered the fresh rolls, Pad See Ew, avocado curry, and it was ALL delicious. We will be back.

The worst Thai food I have ever had. Or really just one of the worst food I have ever had. I ordered crab fried rice. The rice lumped together, and the onions, chicken and prawn seems to be cooked separately. So when you eat it, it taste like plain rice with cumin powder and no other flavors. Some prawns and tails are separated. Some are not. Makes me think.. is this a bad prawn or is this someone's leftover. My second dish was crispy pork belly. Pork belly was much tougher to chew than a regular meat. It tasted like regular pork meat over cooked and my teeth can't seem to separate them. That defeats the whole purpose of pork belly. It's suppose to be a softer part of the meat. The crispy part of the pork was smother with sweet hot sauce so, the crisp is gone. It's like chewing flour batter fried and smothered with overly sweet sauce. What am I eating really.. From other reviews I am reading now, looks like new management took over a number of months ago and most of the 5 stars rating were accumulated before that.

Casual spot with fast, attentive service and decent food! Will likely stop by for lunch on workdays again. The location is 2 blocks off of Market St. too, so it's very convenient to get to. I ordered the chicken noodle soup with rice noodles on a rainy day, and a large bowl of piping hot soup was brought out within 7 minutes of ordering. I would say it was worth $13, though the chicken was quite dry. My friend ordered a lunch special for $17, which includes rice, vegetarian pad thai, and an entree and appetizer of your choice - a good option if you want to try multiple things. Unfortunately, with so many great Thai places in SF and Berkeley, the food was nothing to write home about. But it's still a solid restaurant featuring no nonsense, filling food with quick service!

Been coming here while traveling for a couple years. Food is great! The flavors are perfectly balanced. I'd give it 4 or 5 stars if they wouldn't fill the thai iced tea FULL of crushed ice. Why cheap out on that? You're maybe getting 1/2 a cup of thai tea!!! Felt cheated....

Honestly, my meal here has been my favorite in the city. Perhaps I'm craving more soupy foods as the weather here has been foggy and rainy but oh my goodness, I'm so happy I stumbled upon this spot! I will definitely be back to fill my Thai food cravings. I ordered: Pad Prik King (green beans with spicy curry paste) with beef and brown rice. Both were delicious, fresh, and seasoned perfectly! Chicken Noodle Soup and added greens with egg noodles. The broth hit the spot and the chicken were healthy white meat and the egg noodles were the perfect complement! I was impressed by the depth of the broth flavor. On top of fair prices and fresh food, the service was great. Everyone working at the restaurant were eager to help/answer any questions I had pertaining to their food recommendations. Come to this traditional Thai spot where it tastes like homemade food when you are tired from overpriced and greasy foods in the city!

The chicken curry lunch special was delicious! All the fresh flavors we were looking for at the right price. Across from our Hotel Nikko.

Generous servings and delicious food. This is definitely a place I'll crave later on. Definitely check it out. Fast service, too!

Penang chicken curry. Rice. Udon noodles. Chicken satay with peanut sauce. Singha beer.Everything tasted very fresh and flavorful! Other person had a noodle duck soup.... they really liked it. I will definitely be back when in town.

My family and I had our dinner here during our vaca. Everything we ordered was delicious and fresh. Flavor was spot on and prices are very reasonable. The service was awesome as well. Highly recommend!

If you are near Moscone Center and don't mind walking to a good restaurant, this place is good. Loved their foods and Thai tea.