Thai Restaurants in San Rafael

The first thing guests see when they enter My Thai Restaurant is a woman sitting in prayer as water rains down on her, surrounded by foliage. The fountain carving, along with gold- and burgundy-striped walls, infuses the eatery with what the San Rafael Patch dubs a “trendy, modern, and comfortable” atmosphere.

The menu includes both traditional and eclectic dishes, including curries, noodles, fried rice, and barbecue dishes. To contrast orders of panang curry with chicken and barbecue roasted duck, the kitchen also churns out more than a dozen seafood-specific dishes, including the popular "healthy bowl" with grilled salmon, mixed grains, shredded green mango, avocado, pickled ginger, and dried cherries and blueberries.

Thai food is a traditionally spicy cuisine, and the chefs at Heng Heng Heng! Thai Noodles want all of their customers to realize that before ordering. On the menu, nine of the nearly two dozen entrees come marked with two or three tiny peppers, denoting that the dish either packs a lot of heat or hates being left out. The boat noodles, for example, stew with beef, flank steak, and spinach inside a housemade spicy chili sauce, and the innocent-sounding chicken with basil teems with extra-hot chili peppers. Diners looking for a subtler flavor have a fair share of options as well, from pad see ew to prawn fried rice.

Travel has long helped rejuvenate the mind. Proving that point, Koh Samui & The Monkey's owner's extensive journeys have served as inspiration for a menu that plays with flavors and spices, along with the ideas of traditional and modern. Mieng kum plates a pillar of traditional Thai cuisine with spinach leaves, which act as a wrap for chicken or tofu. Concerning the aromatic pumpkin curry, the San Francisco Chronicle's restaurant critic Michael Bauer praised it in his review, writing that "the pumpkin curry, crushed scallops and fried bananas are exceptional."

The artistry in each dish extends from the recipe to the presentation. Beautiful, colorful dishes first entice the eye as they're presented on crisp white tablecloths, on which candles cast the flickering shadows that keep the dying art of hand-puppet theater alive. The drink menu shakes and stirs with similar creative flair, mixing hip, top-shelf cocktails such as the pineapple-spiked Monkey in Paris.

A menu with inventive twists on tofu, duck, and pork dishes, many infused with surprising fruit accents, aided Be My Guest Thai Bistro in snagging a nod from Best of Citysearch 2008. Skilled chefs ramp up pan-fried rice and noodles with mango, avocado, and fresh pineapple, and pans crackle happily beneath seafood such as salmon and shrimp. To send mouthwatering dispatches to distant bellies, the eatery’s online ordering database aids delivery service, and a slew of sake cocktails clink together to offer joyous rice blasts without the hassle of sneaking into a king's wedding.

Noodle Bar and Grill plies each patron with a heaping helping of noodles, bathed in zesty Asian sauces or steeped in curry sauce. Named for both its wide range of noodles and the fact that diners recline on pool noodles, Noodle Bar and Grill pairs bowls of thick egg noodles or thin vermicelli noodles with tender portions of chicken, duck, or filet mignon. The savvy servers can gift feasters with soups, salads, desserts, and sides inside the restaurant or deliver them to doorsteps in nearby neighborhoods.

Infusing its menu with authentic Thai foodstuffs, TaRa Restaurant fills guests with Southeast Asian fare that satisfies stomachs and delights the eyes through artistic, colorful plating. Dream about paddling through a countryside canal while lunching on fried egg rolls with shredded veggies, shiitake, taro, and silver noodles with sweet-and-sour sauce ($6), followed by a plate of dancing beans, which combines sautéed green beans, bell peppers, and Kaffir lime leaves with rice, rhythm, and a spicy chili paste ($10). For dinner, guay tiew ped yang—a soup of noodles and roasted duck slices ($10)—beats colds better than its wimpy chicken soup cousin, and the peanutty panang curry ($12) gives patrons the power to turn peanuts into peanut butter with a single super-strength squeeze. The pad ma kuer bedecks sautéed eggplant and your choice of meat with bell peppers, basil, Thai chili, and sweet soy sauce ($12). Substitute shrimp or seafood for other meat in most entrees for an additional $3.