Lanna Thai: Reviews | restaurant info + video | full episode video

John Zukoski
Name: John
Occupation: Director of Finance
Location: Pleasanton
Favorite Restaurant: Lanna Thai
Reviewed Lanna Thai: Saturday, December 21, 2013

The Lanna Thai experience leaped off to a fantastic start with the recently unveiled Chicken Dumpling Shooters. This Lanna Thai original features four fun-sized crispy chicken dumplings in sake glasses accompanied by a small carafe of yellow coconut curry sauce. My heart was singing after drenching the dumplings in the freshly made curry sauce and shooting them back to enjoy the spicy and savory goodness that opened my taste buds for bliss of the evening. Next was another Lanna Thai original created by Chef Prakin called Thai Poutine. This twist on the French Canadian mainstay features tender french fries smothered in a cheesy freshly-ground curry sauce, sparking lemongrass essence, snippets of Kaffir leaves to complement the lemongrass, and an egg sunny side up to top off the wondrous creation. Similar to the actors in the cast of "Cheers," while each ingredient was a star on its own, the culminating effect of all the flavors was divine.

Next up was a culinary etude called quite simply the Thai Wrap. Simplistic and yet evocative like Mondrian's Composition works, the Thai wrap featured a spicy and savory rice, al dente Thai-style veggies with a lightly sweetened glaze, and grilled chicken shavings all wrapped up into a tortilla. The point and counterpoint features of the Thai wrap created the perfect launching pad for our final course.

Imbued with a kaffir-infused sauce and accented with delicious scallions, chili peppers, and green and red bell peppers, the 3 Pepper Chicken was an overture of many of the flavors showcased throughout the evening with the bright essence of the kaffir, the savoriness of the lightly crisped chicken strips, the spiciness of the peppers displayed on a canvas of fluffy white rice.

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The quality and portion sizes were very generous especially for the price of only around $20 per person excluding wine and beer. Lanna Thai features a wide complement of wine options as well as an impressive selection of draft and bottled beers. In addition to the wonderful gastronomic experience, the team at Lanna Thai ensured that our every need was met.

Rachel Tripathy
Name: Rachel
Occupation: Project Assistant
Location: San Francisco
Favorite Restaurant: 20 Spot
Reviewed Lanna Thai: Sunday, January 5, 2014

Thai food is one of my favorite dinner choices, and I was excited to dine at Lanna Thai. While the food was enjoyable, and the prices were more than reasonable, the atmosphere and service could be improved to create a better dinner experience.

The menu is typical of many Thai restaurants in the area, with appetizers such as Chicken Satay, Spring Rolls, and Papaya Salad. They offer a variety of curries, noodle dishes, and wok sautéed vegetables and meats. I wanted to order everything, but limited myself to an appetizer, entrée, and side soup. They offer wine by the glass, carafe, and bottle, so I ordered a glass of a 2010 Pinot Gris by Acrobat. The wine was nothing to write home about, but it was just fine for some Thai food.

I ordered the Lettuce Wraps with Tofu to start. While the romaine was a little too small for making actual wraps, I really enjoyed this dish. The fried tofu was perfectly seasoned, served in a slightly sweet and tangy sauce with carrots and green onions. The bright acidity of the lemon and ginger in the dish worked perfect for an appetizer. The portion is easily sharable between 2-4 people.

For my entrée I ordered the Pad See Ew with Chicken, and a cup of the Tom Kha Soup. The Pad See Ew was good, although not the best I have had in the Bay Area. The healthy serving of wide rice noodles was served with a savory brown sauce, scrambled egg, broccoli, and chicken. I would have enjoyed the addition of more vegetables to this dish. The soup was amazing! The coconut milk soup was served with tofu, carrot, white and green onion, and garnished with sweet chili oil that I loved!

If I lived in the area, I would probably return—especially because the staff was so nice—but I won’t be making the drive out all the way from San Francisco.

Andrea Ramirez
Name: Andrea
Occupation: Custom Marketing Manager
Location: San Mateo
Favorite Restaurant: Chalet Ticino
Reviewed Lanna Thai: Saturday, January 4, 2014

Lanna Thai is family friendly Thai restaurant that offers a broad menu of expertly prepared Thai dishes. Parking is very convenient. It's a casual restaurant that was very clean and was the kind of place where you could go for lunch, dinner or even for takeout. They deliver too.

We were seated immediately. I ordered a Thai Iced Tea, while my boyfriend ordered a Singha. The menu has a lot of affordable options. We went nuts ordering.

First were appetizers: the flavor of the Tom Kha Soup ($7.95) was as good as it gets. The soup itself could have been a bit hotter but it tasted wonderful. The Crab Rangoons ($5.95) were clearly homemade – so many restaurants serve frozen ones. They weren't greasy or fishy, though they actually didn't taste like there was much crab inside. They were the perfect blend of creamy, sweet and salty. We also ordered Roti ($5.95) which was tender and neither too doughy, too moist nor too thick.

Midway through the appetizers our entrees arrived. We had ordered everything of "medium," heat. I'm so used to Thai restaurants having things be fiery hot, but the medium here was truly medium (maybe less) and I wish I would have ordered hot, since I like heat. On our server Rose's recommendations, we ordered the Pumpkin Curry with Tofu ($11.95). I think this one would have been most delicious if it were all Kabocha. I love kabocha though, the texture of it was firm enough you could chew it. The Sweet Chili Beef ($9.95) was sweet, mildly spicy and came with onions, and the Massamun Beef Curry ($9.95) was on par with the Thai restaurants I patronize in my area. Both beef dishes used good quality meat which was neither sinewy nor fatty. That shouldn’t be overlooked.

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After barely putting a dent in all of the food we ordered, I was grateful to our server for packing it all up in to-go boxes. It made tasty lunches and dinners for the next few days. We did decide to try dessert and went for the Sweet Sticky Rice with Mango ($5.95). It was a nice and light sweet-finish to our meal, but by that point I was ready for a nap.

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