Chai Thai Noodles

Mmm definitely some of the best Thai food I've had in a while! The pad kee mao was so delicious, and it had the perfect proportion of noodles/veggies/chicken in my opinion. The spice level was very tolerable but enough that I'd consider it "spicy." And for the price (about $11) the portion size was generous! The restaurant is a little cramped, but not uncomfortably small, and it was decorated heavily for Christmas :) The service was ok, a little slow at times, but maybe that's because we were off in a little table in the corner. If you're in the area and are looking for good Thai food I would highly recommend Thai Chai! The area is a bit on the sketchy side, especially at night, but the restaurant was perfectly fine!

The only negative thing I can say about this establishment is that the location is plagued by the neighborhood it’s in, which is obviously in all levels of decay. Please be safe. All of this is not restaurant’s fault! Street Parking only. The food is very good. Pineapple Fried Rice, Pad Kee Mao, all the curries and all the soups are amazing. Bon appétit!

Jean Emmanuel

Excellent Thai cuisine. They have quick service and the curry dishes are full of flavor. It's a small restaurant so you can order to go if it's too crowded to find a seat. If you're game for dessert, try their mango sticky rice dessert.

天

So chill. The food is so good I could cry. Kao Soy is my favorite, and they do it so right!! How cute is their lychee Thai tea?! Pumpkin Curry is delicious. “Stay with me” is playing. This spot hits in every direction!! It’s an oasis in Oakland.

Adriana Perez

Best Tom Kha soup I’ve had in months! Absolutely flavorful. And the Thai tea was perfectly sweet. Definitely coming back. —- 9/1/23 Update: still one of my top two Thai restaurants in Oakland. Love the inside decore and how clean it is. Don’t be fooled by the exterior location, it’s quite beautiful inside. Foods flavorful and the staff is great.

Gen GH

We ordered catered food for our wedding from Chai Thai this June. They were super nice and helpful on the phone when they answered our questions about possible dishes and pricing. They were also able to deliver the food to us which was great! The food was enjoyed by all and we were happy with everything.

Anthony Cesnik

Such stellar Thai food. The Laotian sausages were delicious, as was the pork hocks and pad see ew. The mango sticky rice was the best I've had in a long time. Would definitely return!

Bella's Healing Artistry

Omg this restaurant is now my #1 favorite place! Everything I ordered was incredibly delicious, steamy hot and beautifully presented! I visited there June 4, 2021 so dine in just started back up with the whole Covid thing we got going on globally. This place was packed, safely of course! It looked like it could be a local favorite, and I totally see why! *I have milk/dairy sensitivity and I didn't get sick from their curry here! Which means they're only using the coconut milk for their curry like they should and NOT mixing half n half with it! I've gotten sick from other places in the past n it turned out they were adding half n half. The only down fall about this place. .. it's an hour from where I live.

Annie Yip

Amazing thai food without breaking the bank! Delicious red curry noodles and pad see ew was a little sweeter than I what I usually like but still very good. Will definitely return to try other dishes.

Ana Ayala

Favorite Thai place when in Oakland 😀 This is #58 Stir fried noodles with Dungeness crab 🦀meat 🤤so tasty! The prices & service is always great and welcoming! 💛 thank you!

Harry Ye

I might just miss it if I’m driving on the road. I felt kinda skeptical about this place when I saw it on pic. Interior deco is lay back and cozy and the food they serve really blown my mind. Angel wing is a must get, it’s like fried and stuffed chicken wing. Will come here and order it next time. Highly recommend this place.

Elizabeth Rosenzweig

Fantastic little hole in the wall in a Vietnamese section of Oakland. I maintain a ketogenic diet, and Thai restaurants are usually good enough but not my best option. This restaurant actually offers larger "a la carte" portions where the rice is optional! I had the house special pork leg stew, which comes with plenty of meat and fat on a bed of greens and flavorful broth, and a spicy fish/lime/garlic dipping sauce on the side. I also had the hot tea, which is brewed with young coconut leaves (I guessed roasted barley). My friends both got rice noodle dishes, which they found on the sweet side. Service was pleasant. My only nitpick is that they brought out the food for our table at different times, so I had to wait several minutes in front of my food before I could politely start eating. But that's really minor.

Andrew Ratten

Mmm definitely some of the best Thai food I've had in a while! The pad kee mao was so delicious, and it had the perfect proportion of noodles/veggies/chicken in my opinion. The spice level was very tolerable but enough that I'd consider it "spicy." And for the price (about $11) the portion size was generous! The restaurant is a little cramped, but not uncomfortably small, and it was decorated heavily for Christmas :) The service was ok, a little slow at times, but maybe that's because we were off in a little table in the corner. If you're in the area and are looking for good Thai food I would highly recommend Thai Chai! The area is a bit on the sketchy side, especially at night, but the restaurant was perfectly fine!

Delicious quality ingredients with a wonderful authenticity and warmth from the food(&Tea) and people. Absolutely loved the Spicy Crab Noodles and Crab Fried Rice. Great Service, will definitely return!

Marie V

Delicious quality ingredients with a wonderful authenticity and warmth from the food(&Tea) and people. Absolutely loved the Spicy Crab Noodles and Crab Fried Rice. Great Service, will definitely return!

Spent about $44 after tax for the Angel Chicken & 2 Seafood Thai rice. 🤤🤤😋😋🔥🔥🔥 I promise you it’s was all on 10!! Service was pretty quick. Food was nice and hot. Great place for a quick bite and conversation with a few friends or just a solo eat. The Angel Chicken is always the highlight for me just because it’s soo different and most ppl don’t really know about it. Excellent conversation starter. Ahh man I’ve made myself hungry all over again. I highly recommend this nice quaint and hip spot. It’s a certified hidden gem more shots on my IG @Mr.RubberSole 💪🏾🤘🏾💯

This place is really close to Lake Merritt so we were keen on trying a new thai place near home. We went there on a Friday lunch time (they shut at 3pm). Service was friendly and super fast. The restaurant and the bathroom in general was nice, cozy and clean. They had a very reasonably priced lunch specials (2 small curries with rice for 10.95) which was a great option but since no fish was included we went for a la carte. They have great varieties of dishes. We went for the Chai Thai noodles (cause we love our noodles and it's always good to try how well different restaurants prepare them) and catfish curry with rice separately. All in all the bill was for less than 30$ so good value for money. The noodles were flavorful, packed with veggies and not drowning in sauce which was nice so you could taste everything and still fill light. Catfish curry was lovely and again, packed with veggies. The portions were really good for the price and we ended up filling full but light. Definitely coming back to this little gem in East Oakland. Way to go!!!

This is a late post from a couple nights ago. First time here. I had the stir fry beef with vegetables and a side of sticky rice. My companion ordered the fried salmon with yellow curry. Food is delicious. Intimate setting,nice crowd, and really good service.

Hands down the best Thai place I’ve been too. The dishes had powerful and deep flavors. I had the papaya salad lao style, lao sausage, pad kee mao, chiang mai noodles, and tom yum soup. All had their own flavor that didn’t taste like the other. My party was too hungry to wait for pics but it was def worth the trip. I gave it 4 stars because it can be a little pricey. I’ve been to Thai places nationwide and this tops it all. A must go to when in town.

Mr.RubberSole

Spent about $44 after tax for the Angel Chicken & 2 Seafood Thai rice. 🤤🤤😋😋🔥🔥🔥 I promise you it’s was all on 10!! Service was pretty quick. Food was nice and hot. Great place for a quick bite and conversation with a few friends or just a solo eat. The Angel Chicken is always the highlight for me just because it’s soo different and most ppl don’t really know about it. Excellent conversation starter. Ahh man I’ve made myself hungry all over again. I highly recommend this nice quaint and hip spot. It’s a certified hidden gem more shots on my IG @Mr.RubberSole 💪🏾🤘🏾💯

Heliana Mano

This place is really close to Lake Merritt so we were keen on trying a new thai place near home. We went there on a Friday lunch time (they shut at 3pm). Service was friendly and super fast. The restaurant and the bathroom in general was nice, cozy and clean. They had a very reasonably priced lunch specials (2 small curries with rice for 10.95) which was a great option but since no fish was included we went for a la carte. They have great varieties of dishes. We went for the Chai Thai noodles (cause we love our noodles and it's always good to try how well different restaurants prepare them) and catfish curry with rice separately. All in all the bill was for less than 30$ so good value for money. The noodles were flavorful, packed with veggies and not drowning in sauce which was nice so you could taste everything and still fill light. Catfish curry was lovely and again, packed with veggies. The portions were really good for the price and we ended up filling full but light. Definitely coming back to this little gem in East Oakland. Way to go!!!

Nai Saevang

This is a late post from a couple nights ago. First time here. I had the stir fry beef with vegetables and a side of sticky rice. My companion ordered the fried salmon with yellow curry. Food is delicious. Intimate setting,nice crowd, and really good service.

Anh Ngo

Hands down the best Thai place I’ve been too. The dishes had powerful and deep flavors. I had the papaya salad lao style, lao sausage, pad kee mao, chiang mai noodles, and tom yum soup. All had their own flavor that didn’t taste like the other. My party was too hungry to wait for pics but it was def worth the trip. I gave it 4 stars because it can be a little pricey. I’ve been to Thai places nationwide and this tops it all. A must go to when in town.

I’ve been to this restaurant many times and have taken or recommended to friends and family. The food and service is exceptional. My usual order is Kaopoon (vermicelli noodles with curry soup) - the soup is rich and thick *drool. However, I’m giving it a three-star because I’ve found a piece of hair in my food - Twice! The first time was in my sister-in-laws noodle and second time was in my stir-fry dish.

Oakland seems to have a lot of Lao style restaurants and from the lot, Chai Thai Noodles, up until last year, used to be one of my favorite restaurants for noodle soups. It is located next to a park that hosts a homeless encampment so it’s not the safest place to be hanging out at least around their closing time. Over a period of time I’ve tried the Kao Poon (red coconut curry soup, rice noodles, chicken, cabbage and bean sprouts), Kao Soy Thai (yellow noodles topped with yellow curry soup and chicken), Chicken Noodle soup (chicken soup with chicken and noodles) and the Beef Noodle soup. What I really liked was they were able to cook the noodles in such a way that they would not clump-up by the time you reached home and that the soup was a tasty thick curry. My absolute favorite was the Kao Poon. It was like almost eating noodles with a curry dish. Unfortunately something changed and this year the quality seems to have gone significantly downhill. I got the Kao Soy Thai a couple of days back and noticed a couple of differences. The box used to hold the noodles has shrunk to half the size of what it was earlier. As expected the noodles had all clumped together by the time I reached home. They had also simply dumped the crispy noodles on top of the cooked yellow noodles (rather than providing it separately) causing them to absorb all the moisture from the noodles and become soft. The soup was also pretty diluted and you could actually see two different layers in the soup container that needed to be stirred together. Goes without saying I was not happy with what I got. Most of the Noodle soups are around the $10 mark so it’s pretty cheap (I think this year some have gone up by a couple of bucks, but it’s still pretty cheap). Unfortunately the drop in quality this year has given me reason to look for another place for my noodle soup fix. I may come back and try some of their curries and rice dishes but I’m not inclined to return for the noodle soups any more. I’m averaging out an almost 5 star rating for last year with a solid 2 star rating for this year and settling on an A-OK grade.

Pleasant and efficient service. Fresh ingredients and flavorful dishes. The food portions are just right. There is so much to choose from on the menu. Parking is limited in this area however, people are frequently moving in and out of this area and it typically takes a short time before someone releases a parking space. The restaurant was clean and there are plenty of windows allowing plenty light into the space.

Bao Thao

I’ve been to this restaurant many times and have taken or recommended to friends and family. The food and service is exceptional. My usual order is Kaopoon (vermicelli noodles with curry soup) - the soup is rich and thick *drool. However, I’m giving it a three-star because I’ve found a piece of hair in my food - Twice! The first time was in my sister-in-laws noodle and second time was in my stir-fry dish.

Ahmad Jetha

Oakland seems to have a lot of Lao style restaurants and from the lot, Chai Thai Noodles, up until last year, used to be one of my favorite restaurants for noodle soups. It is located next to a park that hosts a homeless encampment so it’s not the safest place to be hanging out at least around their closing time. Over a period of time I’ve tried the Kao Poon (red coconut curry soup, rice noodles, chicken, cabbage and bean sprouts), Kao Soy Thai (yellow noodles topped with yellow curry soup and chicken), Chicken Noodle soup (chicken soup with chicken and noodles) and the Beef Noodle soup. What I really liked was they were able to cook the noodles in such a way that they would not clump-up by the time you reached home and that the soup was a tasty thick curry. My absolute favorite was the Kao Poon. It was like almost eating noodles with a curry dish. Unfortunately something changed and this year the quality seems to have gone significantly downhill. I got the Kao Soy Thai a couple of days back and noticed a couple of differences. The box used to hold the noodles has shrunk to half the size of what it was earlier. As expected the noodles had all clumped together by the time I reached home. They had also simply dumped the crispy noodles on top of the cooked yellow noodles (rather than providing it separately) causing them to absorb all the moisture from the noodles and become soft. The soup was also pretty diluted and you could actually see two different layers in the soup container that needed to be stirred together. Goes without saying I was not happy with what I got. Most of the Noodle soups are around the $10 mark so it’s pretty cheap (I think this year some have gone up by a couple of bucks, but it’s still pretty cheap). Unfortunately the drop in quality this year has given me reason to look for another place for my noodle soup fix. I may come back and try some of their curries and rice dishes but I’m not inclined to return for the noodle soups any more. I’m averaging out an almost 5 star rating for last year with a solid 2 star rating for this year and settling on an A-OK grade.

B Carter

Pleasant and efficient service. Fresh ingredients and flavorful dishes. The food portions are just right. There is so much to choose from on the menu. Parking is limited in this area however, people are frequently moving in and out of this area and it typically takes a short time before someone releases a parking space. The restaurant was clean and there are plenty of windows allowing plenty light into the space.

Talia Han

Gra prao came with no rice. This is one of my favorite Thai dishes that I get almost every time I eat Thai food, but this is the first time I’ve ever ordered it and it came with NO RICE. not even one rice. The container was mostly liquid, not even mostly chicken. Now you tell me, what am I supposed to do with all that liquid with NO RICE? drink it???? To be fair, the chicken was very flavorful. However just beware if you order the gra prao it does not come with rice. A damn shame.