Top 10 Best Thai Restaurants In Chicago

Rosemary September 08, 2024 | 19:38

Thai cuisine is widely renowned globally. Residents of Chicago seeking spicy and sour cuisine from Thailand can search for these restaurants.

The Most Famous Thai Restaurants In Chicago

Chicago is abundant with exceptional Thai restaurants that offer a genuine experience of the region with minimal exertion. You will embark on a gastronomic expedition, savoring delectable dishes such as crying tiger beef, tom yum soup, and the universally beloved pad Thai.

However, those dishes merely provide a superficial glimpse into the vast array of Thai cuisine, leaving plenty of unexplored options for daring gastronomes. The menus offer a variety of interesting dishes, such as a unique green papaya salad with preserved crab and fish, as well as a Northern Thai-style larb made with ground pork and intestines. Additionally, a significant number of these establishments are renowned for being the top vegetarian restaurants in the area.

Presented here are the top 10 Thai restaurants in Chicago, renowned and highly recommended by KnowInsiders.com:

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Top 10 Most Famous Thai Restaurants In Chicago

1. Spoon Thai

Website: http://www.spoonthai.com/

Location: 4608 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60625

Many people in Chicago first tried Thai food at Spoon, which is a Chicago institution. Papaya salad with preserved crab and pickled fish is one of the salads. Yum talay with a spicy lime dressing and chicken larb are also on the menu. You shouldn't miss the Thai boat noodle soup, but you should ask for and look through the secret menu for some unique northern Thai dishes. Your order can be placed by phone, fax, or online.

READ MORE: Top 5 Best Dishes in Thailand

2. Andy's Thai Kitchen

Website: https://andysthaikitchen.com/

Location: 950 W Diversey Pkwy, Chicago, IL 60614

The owner of Andy's Thai Kitchen, Andy Aroonrasameruang, left TAC Quick Thai Kitchen to open his own restaurant. He makes his own unique pork-and-rice sausages, a silky tom kha soup, Chinese broccoli with crispy bits of fried pork belly, and a spicy and cool minced chicken salad. This is how Thai food should taste.

3. Immm Rice & Beyond

Website: https://immmchicago.com/

Location: 4949 N Broadway St, Chicago

This Thai treasure is hidden among the many pho shops on West Argyle Street Historic District. The kitchen prepares foods found at street stalls and carts in Thailand, so while the pad see eiw is required, we recommend exploring the entire chalkboard menu.Som tum puu plah rah takes the traditional green papaya salad and amps it up with preserved crab and fish.Another must-order item is Moo grob (fried pork belly). Stop in between 11:30am and 3pm for a fantastic lunch deal: You can get up to three proteins and rice for $12 or less.

4. In-On Thai

Website: https://www.inonthaichicago.com/

Location: 4641 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640

This Thai restaurant has been a Lakeview favorite for a long time. It reopened in Uptown earlier in 2020. The food on this small menu comes from Central Thailand. Newcomers will be drawn in by the crunchy fried chicken (Larb moo tod). The salad bar stands out because it has a green bean salad with a spicy and sour sauce, hard-boiled eggs, ground pork, and some tender shrimp pieces on either side. The eggplant and pork salads that are grilled are also worth mentioning. It's cool and refreshing, but it's still very hot. One of the most unique Thai restaurants in Chicago. Place an online order for delivery or pick-up.

5. Rainbow Thai Cuisine

Website: https://rainbowthaichicago.com/7072

Location: 4825 N Western Ave A, Chicago

Rainbow Thai Cuisine, a Ravenswood favorite for BYOB and takeout, excels at traditional Thai dishes. The menu caters a little more to Western tastes, with items like crab rangoon, which appears to be a rite of passage for many Asian restaurants in America. However, if you look deeper — and ask for the Thai menu — you'll find dishes like spicy papaya salad and funky nam kao tod. Only takeout is available.

6. Herb

Website: https://www.herbrestaurant.com/

Location: 5424 N Broadway St, Chicago

The owner and chef of the restaurant, Patty Neumson, wants to change the way Thai food is served at her high-end Edgewater location. Guests can pick from a three- or five-course prix fixe meal instead of a long menu. Some elevated dishes with well-known tastes are fried prawns with sweet and sour mango sauce, seared scallops in spicy chili lime sauce, and beef or tofu with green curry. The menu changes with the seasons to feature the freshest foods. You can order the whole menu online and have it delivered.

7. Tuk Tuk Thai Isan Street Food

Website: https://www.tuktukthai-isan.com/

Location: 2852 N Clark St, Chicago

Tuk Tuk is a small restaurant with a view of Lake Tahoe that lets you bring your own alcohol. They serve delicious Isan Thai food that is full of herbs and chilies. It's easy to get a table during the week, and you'll have a great view of dishes like the fried whole red snapper covered in dried red chilies. You can also order popular dishes like pad kee mao and green curry to go. The restaurant stays calm even when all the tables are taken, but you might have to wait a while for your food to come out. It just gives you more time to convince the people at the table to eat the ka prow moo krob.

8. Same Same

Website: https://www.samesamechicago.com/

Location: 2022 W Roscoe St, Chicago, IL 60618

From the streets of Bangkok, this small restaurant in Roscoe Village gets its ideas for its delicious southern Thai-style fried chicken with chili honey. There are also rice plates, stir-fried noodles, and curries made in-house. Our favorite is the green curry with chicken. A tropical drink, like the My Thai slushy or the Monkey Business (gin, banana Combier, honey, lime), goes well with these tasty snacks.

9. J.J. Thai Street Food

Website: https://www.instagram.com/jjthaistreetfood/

Location: 1715 W Chicago Ave, Chicago

As the name suggests, J.J.'s serves delicious street food made by the owner and chef Jiranya Thosatheppitak. This West Town storefront has 28 seats and lets you bring your own alcohol. Most nights of the week, it fills up quickly, but they do a lot of takeout. Don't eat too much of the more delicate dishes, like khao mun gai tod, which is fried chicken covered in ginger and garlic rice with sweet chili sauce on the side. You can get lighter meals, like the tender pla muk yang, which is grilled squid covered in a spicy seafood sauce.

10. Ghin Khao Eat Rice

Website: https://www.herbrestaurant.com/

Location: 5424 N Broadway, Chicago, IL 60640

This small restaurant in Pilsen serves Northern Thai street food and home-style cooking. It is run by Nova and Kami Sasi, who are siblings. The first thing you should eat is tod man pla, which are crunchy fish cakes served with sweet chili, cucumber, cilantro, and ground peanuts. The menu doesn't have pad Thai, but you should still order Grandma's Pork Belly. Fried pork slices that have been marinated are served with a sweet and spicy Jaew sauce. You'll wish you could have dinner with the Sasi matriarch every night. If you want to drink, you should bring a six-pack.

Bottom Line

Ending up reading here, are you mouth watering with various Thai dishes offered by the most famous Thai restaurants in Chicago? Come to enjoy the best food served by excellent chefs from Thailand!