Khao Tiew

On a foggy night in West Portal, my friends and I stumbled upon a recently opened Thai restaurant. After reading some reviews, we decided to give it a try and put our name on the waitlist. It turned out to be well worth the wait - 20 minutes but once you smell this place, you'll understand.

The food was so delicious that it silenced the table, not because of hunger but because of how much we were savoring each bite. I even had a moment of pure joy when I remembered my Thai tea.

I highly recommend this place to friends; you can't go wrong with anything on the menu.

Amazing, me and friends alone driving in the roads at night. Hungry af went there and had amazing time and yes dinner was amazing. Had a time never to forge

Great vibes, great food! Doesn't matter what entrees you get, you HAVE to get the pandan toast for dessert. They give you a generous scoop of ice cream with coconut bits and drizzled on pandan sauce. Bread is soft, almost mochi-like.

The crab clay pot rice was my favorite! Lots of crab bits and full of flavor for $28! The value is there and the flavor is unmatched. Definitely recommend.

Service is attentive and great as well. When busy, it can feel a bit understaffed, but it's not the worst. Overall will definitely be back!

Get here while the getting is good. The Panang Duck curry is amazing. The Khao Pad Mun Nuer is equally as impressive. And the burnt butter kaya toast for desert, yum yum yum, so good.

I think if you are looking for traditional Thai, you may be disappointed. What we had could be more generously called "Thai-inspired". That said, they seated us quickly and the food was served promptly. This place has much of the same decor as the last Thai place that was in this space, but they jazzed it up with funky signs in Thai.

Go to there.

Had a high hopes for this restaurant but our expectations were not met.
The flavors were not to the level we are accustomed to.
It's not the spice level, it was the lack of the flavor explosion we were expecting.
Khao Tiew was very busy at opening on a Friday night.
The dining area was loud and some tables are shared.

Heard a lot of great things about this spot but was let down by all of the dishes we ordered. It felt like there was something a tad bit off about each dish. The presentation and service were great but did not make up for the missing flavors.

Pad Thai w/ Crispy Chicken (too sweet)
Tempura Tofu Massamun Curry (bland)
Kraprow Moo Sab (too salty)
Khao Pad Mun Khoong (bland and the shrimps were tough)
Khai Soi (barely any broth and somehow also soggy)

We had ordered a majority of dishes to be medium spicy but I would say almost all of them were mild at most.

One of the best meals i've had in a while! First the restaurant is very cutely decorated. The Vibes were casual but fun and trendy! Lots of girl dinners, friend groups and dates going on!

The food, omg the food was so good. We got the crispy fried papaya salad, this was by far the most unique dish I've had in a while. It reminded me of those hong kong crispy noodles that you drench with seafood and sauce! Must try! We also got the steak over fried rice, that rice was soooo good, with crispy but and likely stir fried in beef fat. The beef boat noodles, the beef was super tender and the soup super flavorful. The duck curry was good too. Lastly and definitely the best of the night is kaya brick toast with coconut ice cream on top. I'm usually not a huge dessert fan but this brick toast was sooooo good crispy and sweet and chewy. It was huge and def need to share but sooooo good. Must try!

I honestly cannot wait to go back and try their crab clay pot and other dishes! Highly recommend this place.

Please make a reservation or add yourself to the waitlist ahead of time. The 3 of us waited an hour to get seated on a thur night.

Came here because of a recommendation of a neighborhood community leader who leads hundreds of people every weekend in the community. He gave praise to this place. He said he sees a star in the future. With his blessing I had to check it out this spot for spiritual healing. This restaurant is located less than a block away from one of my favorite Woody Allen movie " Blue Jasmine " filmed in San Francisco ( got watch his other classic film like Bananas ) I got the Khao Tiew Special menu and it was the Kahob OB Mun Published aka , the Crab Clay Pot rice and it was so amazing. First of all each bite and each scoop was just flavor explosive. I like crab and even the rice had that bottom popcorn texture which was on point. It came with a tasty crab paste. Of course I had to pair with a New Zealand Chardonnay ( rare since I am a redwine guy). The Thailand trend for salad is the Papaya salad. It was the best new salad I like. Then dessert was the Burnt Kaya Toast with Coconut Ice Cream dessert . I was stubborn about the coconut ice cream but this was the creamy type and an amazing flavor ( I think there was a hint of vanilla). The Kaya toast was like an entire caramelized waffle with some maybe brown sugar . The sauce on top of the Kaya toast looked like matcha but tasted like crème brûlée. The ice cream wouldn't melt in over 85 degrees weather . Overall goodness in this Thai affair.

West Portal on the rise with from great food from Thailand that's legit and valid

Get the duck curry, crab clay pot rice , Kraprow Moo Sab and the Papaya Salad

I love the location and look of this spot, super cute and easy to walk in too! All of our food was great, but I would pass on the wings next time. Good, but nothing unique about the wings or the dipping sauce.
I loved the beef tallow fried rice, but it does feel as fatty and oily as it sounds lol. The beef was cooked perfectly though and I loved the bits they put in there. My favorite dish overall was the fried mushrooms, I could've eaten just that for the meal and been completely satisfied. Super crispy and flavorful!

Hands down this has become my new favorite Thai restaurant in the city! My second time dining here and the food was just as delicious as the last even though we forced ourselves to try ALL new dishes even though I wanted that fried papaya salad again bad lol. We are gradually making our way through the menu so we can try everything!

Unless you come really early for dinner there WILL BE a wait. Do yourself a favor and sign up on the waitlist on Yelp when you leave your house. We did that this time and it was clutch! 2 blocks away is the Goodwill boutique so you can kill time there. I got a text saying our table was ready and was seated within a few minutes. 

Fried papaya salad - Must get! Such a fun, unique and tasty dish. I'm not often surprised and delighted by a dish but this one did it for me. 

Hed Tod (fried oyster mushrooms) - Not greasy! Fry was excellent and you still got the taste of the mushroom. 

Duck breast panang curry - Tender duck and the sauce was spot on. I was actually spooning some of it over the Kraprow Moo Sab since I didn't want it to go to waste. It is missing some texture since it's all meat, sauce, and 2 shishito peppers so I was glad I still had some fried mushrooms left that served as a nice counterpoint.

Kraprow Moo Sab - Ultimate comfort meal. Flavorful and had the perfect amount of heat for me.

Service has always been so warm and inviting. Love the vibe in the restaurant. The only downside I can think of was our entrees did take a while to come to us (it was probably peak dinner time though and the restaurant was popping) so just make sure to order an appetizer or two to tide you over if you're hangry!