Thai Restaurants in Irvine

Cuisine Type: Thai Food
Established: 1994
Reservations: Optional
Handicap Accessible: Yes
Number of Tables: 25–50
Parking: Parking lot
Most popular offering: Pad Thai Noodles, Curry, BBQ and Vegetarian
Kid-friendly: Yes
Alcohol: None
Delivery / Take-out Available: Yes
Outdoor Seating: Yes
Pro Tip: We offer gourmet Thai food prepared fresh to order, fast, at a clean and casual dining place

Q&A with the Owner / Manager

What is one of your most popular offerings? How is it prepared?
Pad Thai is our most popular noodle dish. Stir-fried rice noodles with chicken, shrimp, egg, green onions, bean sprouts and our special blend of spices, then sprinkled with ground peanuts.

In your own words, how would you describe your menu?
The most popular dishes of Thai food are selected in our menu with variety of flavors. Many beneficial herbs, spices ,and seasonings such as ginger, basil, galangal, garlic, fresh chili, [and] lemon grass ... are used in our dishes.

Is there anything else you want to add that we didn't cover?
The taste of Thai dishes mainly depends on the freshness of ingredients, the harmonious blending of poignant flavors, and the method of cooking that has been handed down for generations. We cook the way we eat at home and take spice very seriously. For our cooked to order menu, the customer can specify a spicy level as No Spice, Mild, Medium, Spicy or Fire.

Black-and-white photographs provide a stark contrast to Tasty Thai's bright fuchsia walls. The chefs strive to strike this same balance between bold flavors and delicate accents in their traditional Thai dishes. Accents of pineapple, lemongrass, and coconut milk appear in pan-fried noodles and fried rice. For many dishes, guests can choose from a host of proteins, such as chicken, shrimp, and tofu, then select a spice level, which, like lists of your favorite fingers, is on a scale of 1 to 10.

Thai Dishes Restaurant utilizes authentic cuisine to load bellies with a balanced blend of exotic ingredients and spices. Arouse appetites with starters including spicy, deep-fried fish cakes ($6.95) while titillating eyes with one of the eatery’s four LCD TVs. From 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., patrons can climb over midday humps with lunch specials, such as Thai-style barbecue chicken served with steamed rice, fried wontons, and salad ($6.95).

When the family behind L5 Thai Restaurant & Lounge immigrated to the United States from Thailand, they brought along a deep love for their native cuisine. The menu aims to capture the region's complex and distinctive blend of flavors and spices. However, truly re-creating these flavors requires a more personal touch, and the chefs acknowledge this by making some noodles in-house and by giving nicknames to every single peanut. This commitment lends even more authenticity to the selection of familiar Thai staples, including fragrant curries, stir-fries with spicy chili sauces, and Thai-style barbecued spare ribs.

The dining room's white tablecloths appear crisp and minimalist, but the red walls, ceiling-mounted surfboard, and chrome-laden bar seating area imbue the ambiance with some casualness and whimsy. Leafy plants sit in the corner, adding a verdant splash to contrast the reds, golds, and ambers defining the majority of the space.

Thai Juan On features a menu that is chock-full of authentic Thai taste foundations, slightly altered to fit the grooves of American Thai eaters' taste buds. Kick things off with the likes of crispy noodle/mee krob ($6.95), before diving mouth-first into the rest of the menu. The dinner terrain covers more than 40 soup, noodle, rice, and entree dishes, including the magnificent noodle/mee phat num prik poa, which melds egg noodles with shrimp, scallop, calamari, and veggies ($15.95). The mermaid's dowry/pla prik lets diners sample the spicy taste of grilled sole, bell peppers, carrots, mushrooms, and onions before awkwardly explaining to their parents that they're in love with a human-fish hybrid. Thai Juan On's daily lunch menu features midday palate jolts like the Crying Tiger ($9.95)—grilled beef with spicy lime sauce—and the Red Devil ($10.95), spicy beef masaman curry with potato and onion.

Spicy scents abound at Siam Palace, where chefs use traditional Thai recipes to create mouth-watering vegetarian and meat-based dishes. Stir-fried wide rice noodles form the base of pad see eew and pad kee mao, while fresh vegetables are simmered in green and red curry sauces. To create the restaurant's signature Thai-style barbecue entrees, the kitchen drenches marinated steak, shrimp, and other meats in a housemade sauce. The restaurant also provides catering and complimentary delivery to homes and offices, as well as to the occasional alternate dimension.