Third thai spot we've tried in Santa Cruz, and so far it's been the best one! Pros- good flavors on each dish. We actually reordered all the dishes we had at the last Thai spot (Real Thai) to compare... it wasn't a comparison! I actually enjoyed their beef salad so much that I ordered one to go! Curry also had carrots, so it wasn't one dimensional either. Cons- getting here from my son's place is a little tricky, turning into their lot from Mission (turned left into parking lot), there's also a blind spot when leaving their lot too (turning either direction) it's nice they have a lot, just be careful! We didn't take pictures, but I will next time! read more

The Good: the fried sweet potato fries were crisp and tasted great. I liked them with the sweet and sour sauce they came with. The portions were very large. The Not so Good: the Pad Thai tasted bland and there were almost no vegetable; maybe you have to order extra vegetables? the OK: the basil fried rice was fine but there was very little basil flavor. read more

Our nephews favorite restaurant in town, so we took him here for lunch last weekend while visiting him at UC Santa Cruz. We parked in their private lot and sat at a corner table, then ordered drinks, a large assortment of appetizers, a couple of entrees, and sticky rice with mango, of course! - Favorites: tofu spring roll, crab Rangoon, satay chicken. - Passable: calamari, chicken pad see ewe. - Didn't enjoy: crispy pork with house special sauce. This place isn't cheap but portions are generous. We paid a little over $180 after tax and tip. Service was fine, and bathrooms were adequate. read more

See all

Was visiting Santa Cruz and saw this spot near where I was staying. Wifey and I decided to try this place out for dinner. Nice looking little spot and service was friendly. The food was good but not what I was accustomed to. Everything was a bit on the sweet side, which some people like or even prefer. We did like the eggplant. The yellow curry was decent, but a little sweet. The pad thai through us off a bit. Once again, a bit sweet, and we're much more accustomed to thicker noodles. Not super wide, but these were super thin spaghetti type noodles. The sweetness and texture wasn't what we're accustomed to. Nice place, not a great place to what we're accustomed to in the Bay. read more

At Thai Recipe - Inside - Thai Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

The ONLY Thai in town that is just consistently amazing! We just absolutely love this place. The massaman curry is probably our favorite and if you haven't tried their pineapple fried rice it's a must have! On top of the amazing food the service in general is top notch. Super nice workers. This last time they even hooked us up with spring rolls on the house! such lovely people. ​​ read more

We came here on a Sunday night for dinner and the place was pretty empty, we were seated as soon as we came. The ambiance was pretty quiet overall and our server was very patient and friendly! We ordered: - Tom Yum Soup (with Tofu & Veggie) - Delicious and I love how flavorful the hot and sour soup was and the veggies and tofu were a good addition. - Ginger Soup (with Tofu & Veggie) - It was a light (but flavorful) broth with small stalks of fresh ginger, which was refreshing and perfect to drink on a cold day - Pad Thai (with Tofu & Veggie) - It was flavorful and a bit on the sweeter side. I liked the combination with the tofu and bean sprouts. Not my favorite pad thai, but it was alright - Pineapple Fried Rice (with Tofu & Veggie) - I didn't like this, the combination looked very promising, but I found it was very bland. I wouldn't order this again. We had a great time eating here and will be back again in future to try other items on the menu. read more

See all

Anytime my husband and I visit Santa Cruz, we make it a point to always stop by this amazing restaurant. The food is phenomenal and the service is exceptional! No matter what you order, you will not be disappointed; everything is absolutely delicious!! read more

See all

Authentic and friendly service. The menu is diverse and delicious. Cute 7-table dining room and no tables are directly next to the bathroom. Nicely decorated and well-lit with lots of sunshine to pour in. Thai music playing. I come for the pink soup (yen ta fo). Not every place has it. Usually have to drive over the hill for it. I will have it delivered on occasion. Had thai tea with lunch. Had the place to myself plus beside some to-go orders. read more

See all

Food was good. A little on the sweet side. Chicken was pre-prepared, not fresh, it was obvious. Staff was kind and fast. The Soups were excellent. The pad Thai was good - again, sweeter than I anticipated. The spring rolls were outstanding. I'd try it again to try some different items. It was our first time - and we never know what to expect when a place has mixed reviews. Worth a try! read more

Ate here again and the food is consistent and really good! Restaurant is clean and servers are very friendly. Just a great little Thai place to eat at! read more

See all

Take out review only This is my go-to take out for Thai food on the West Side -- heck, for all of Santa Cruz. The food is fresh and tasty, the people are nice, and the food is always ready fast. My favs... Penang curry, tofu & veggies: i get it medium which has some kick but doesn't burn me. Despite including coconut, it doesn't have the cloying sweet overtones. The eggplant is tender and not rubbery. Crispy spicy chicken: Thai chicken nuggets. Joke aside, this is good quality chicken and not fried. Generous portion. Spicy green beans: really nicely spiced with chili paste. Once the green beans were a little too wokked. You can add a protein for a full meal. Seafood fried rice: crab & shrimp, tomato was unexpected but complements. Pad Thai/See Ew: I don't usually like Pad Thai but theirs is quite good. For a different taste, try the wider noodle with broccoli. Room is plain but then I've never eaten inside so can't really comment on the environment. read more

See all

A tiny place in a strip mall. People were nice and the food was fine. The Tom Kha soup was a bit too sweet for us, the green curry was quite spicy, but good, and the pad see ew was solid. Nothing amazing,but fine. read more

Best Thai food in Santa Cruz Great service, great food, and great ambiance. They are super nice people

The perfect comfort food for a chilly evening. Went to the boardwalk and after a long walk back to the hotel we stumbled upon this gem. Sooo hot and yummy. It really hit the spot and the ladies there were nice and attentive. It's a little hole in the wall but it was so delicious. The pad Thai was saucy and sweet. Everything was so hot and fresh and they really appreciate that. read more

At Thai Recipe - Thai Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

See all

I get the pineapple fried rice with pork belly on top with a little kick of spice. It is amazing. Food for the soul.

While visiting Santa Cruz, we went with our two grandchildren because we were craving some Thai food. This is a very small spot with a few tables and they do a large takeout business. It seems like we had an eggplant dish and I had a spicy noodle dish. Everything was very tasty read more

Maybe it's because what we ordered but the chicken and beef were overcooked and tasted bland. The noodles in the pad thai dish were clumped together and tasteless. The veggies in the sweet and sour dish were ok though. read more

Small cozy place to enjoy delicious food. Service was fast and staff very friendly. Portions were large and are great for sharing. Not fancy inside read more

See all

It's a smallish place: seats 30 people. Vegetarian's POV We come here early ~5/5:30pm. Order: *Veggie Panang Curry *Plain white rice Kids gobble it down so quick which makes me so happy!p This was our spot for spring break; so close to the beach and home. Everyone is Zzzing on the drive back!! read more

See all

We went for dinner with the kids. I had spicy basil chicken (not spicy), kids had Tom kha soup and yellow curry, plus shrimp rolls for appetizers. Shrimp rolls were the best- meaty and flaky. Yellow curry and soup are always tasty. Servers are always nice . Great small find! read more

See all

Great service, great food ! Real definition of hot and ready me n my moms dood was out less than 10 minutes! Now the scenery is beautiful small and home like feeling . Calamari was 10/10 super crispy and savory, pad se eww 10/10 everything is a 10/10 . If they stay in Santa Cruz they'll have me for a loyal customer for as long they're here read more

At Thai Recipe - Thai Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

I'm Thai -Laos I was living here over 20 years . I'm give 10 out of 10 bc service and food quality! Every time I'm visiting Santa Cruz I always visit @thai restaurant . Sai read more

Straight rip-off at this place. The pad-thai was almost 100% noodle with about 3 pieces of chicken, 3 more of tofu, a couple bean sprouts and almost devoid of sauce--$18.00 for NOTHING!! Unbelievably bad thai food at any price. If I was given free food from this place I wouldn't want it. This is "cafeteria" grade food at best and it would be easy to find something better. Heck a pre-made sandwich at Safeway might be better, might. read more

Super amazing food! Service was excellent and the ambience it's great. I will be definitely coming back. Thai food it's just my favourite!

Simple cute Thai restaurant. The crab langoons were delicious. The chicken pho was good but lacking a bit of salt so I added some soy sauce and that helped. My mom enjoyed her fried rice and they were accommodating to her seafood & gluten allergies! read more

Delicious reasonably priced Thai food in Santa Cruz. Everything was great and service was quick We got the - Seafood Tom Kha Soup - Fried calamari - Pad Thai with chicken The flavors were unique and different from typical thai places where there isn't much difference between similar dishes. We'll definitely be returning to try their other offerings. read more

See all

the upbeat unpretentious ambiance and service are so sweet and authentically Thai that i have once again decided to dine in rather than take out. I chose my favorite green curry with eggplant, basil, red peppers. This time I had it with pork and it was utterly delicious! Just the right amount of heat dazzeling my taste buds. Definitely ample nourishment for two servings. I intend to take home the leftover sauce and morsels but i have to admit its so yummy its hard to stop eating. read more

At Thai Recipe - 1st of several servings of Green Curry Basil Eggplant with Pork - Thai Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

At Thai Recipe is a small and welcoming restaurant. Great service. Staff members were friendly and checked up on us periodically to make sure we have everything we need. My wife ordered the Chicken Laab. It was spicy. Delicious, but too spicy. Staff came by to check up on her because we needed our waters refilled. Turns out, there's an even spicier level. Avoid if you're not into spicy. My wife was rainforest sweating. We ordered an bowl of rice to mix to spread out the spiciness and it helped a lot. My wife powered it through. The Pad See Ew was well done. The wonderful chargrilled flavor with a bit of sweetness and vinegar-y taste. It was mixed well and the portion size was more than I could finish. I believe this was around $12.95 so that was a pretty good deal. Parking is very limited on a very busy street though. read more

At Thai Recipe - Thai Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

See all

We usually do take out here-great tofu and black bean dishes! Very small little place super friendly. read more

At Thai Recipe - Tofu black bean sauce with eggplant - Thai Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

See all

Mediocre. The Tom Kha Gai is way too sweet. They use some sort of thin sliced chicken that is dry and rubbery. It just tasted like commercial grade deli meat, and not a home-cooked dish. Pad Thai is probably everyone's benchmark for the quality of Thai cuisine. Their version is somewhat dry, lacking in sauce, and the noodles don't seem fresh. What killed the dish are same dry commercial-grade chicken deli slices. This dish really does require fresh chicken. I can't remember the other dishes we had, as they were underwhelming. read more

At Thai Recipe - Pad Thai - Thai Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

The food was excellent. We got Pad Thai, Tom Kha, and Sa-tay for two people and would have been happy with only two things. Mild spice Tom Kha was perfect for someone with low spice tolerance while still having great flavor. Those three items were $48 without tip. Food all arrived at the same time. We ordered chicken Sa-Tay, tofu Tom Kha, and beef Pad Thai but our order was recorded wrong, and we received chicken everything. The restaurant was comfortable except for the music which was too loud which made it hard to converse. Overall, would order the food for take-away in the future. read more

Stopped at this place on our way out of Santa Cruz and boy were we glad we did! The food was delicious and the service was quick. It is not a fancy place by any means, more of a mom and pop shop with a nice feel to it. In terms of spice level it was perfect for us but we can handle heat so ask for less if you aren't used to it read more

At Thai Recipe - Spicy rice and spicy chicken - Thai Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

See all

Love the Thai spicy option for food! Tom yum, pad Thai, fried calamari, and pineapple fried rice are some of my favs here. Also, mango sticky rice is super yummy. read more

Stopped here on our way home from a long road trip. Best thing that happened on the trip! We were greeted warmly in a cute little restaurant, beautifully decorated with a great ambiance. The food.. it was the best tasting Thai food I have had in a long time. We started with some spring rolls- fried lightly with immense flavors. My daughter, friend, and I shared the pad Thai noodles, yellow curry, and orange chicken with rice. Lots of food, lots of flavor and very satisfying. We talked about it the whole way home. We also loved the two ladies and gentleman that were working that evening. They were so sweet and welcoming. I highly recommend it! read more

I ordered their yen ta fo online, via their website. It includes shrimp, squid, and fish balls. On their website (NOT DOORDASH OR ANYTHING), it tells me to choose a protein. I found it weird because shrimp, squid and fish balls were already included. Anyways, I chose chicken because the website won't let me checkout without choosing a protein. If I chose seafood, it would've been $6 extra. Anyways I came hone and noticed my noodles had ONLY chicken. I called At Thai and they said I needed to choose "original". On their website, there is no "original". And for seafood it's extra $6 that would've been charged to my card. Disappointed. read more

My significant other and I placed and order online and it was ready for pick up within 15 minutes! We ordered: Boat Noodles, Green Papaya Salad, and Satay! The boat noodles were alright, less flavorful than i expected and the noodles are similar to pho noodles but still hit the spot since I was craving soup at the time! We got the papaya salad in extra spicy and it tasted sooooo good! Full of flavor, I definitely recommend trying! The satay was also super good and came with cucumber salad and a dipping sauce on the side! read more

At Thai Recipe - Boat Noodles - Thai Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

See all

Clean sweep...great food, friendly service and breezy dining room. It was wonderful. The yellow curry was vibrant. The sate was fat and succulent. Go try them out and do it now! read more

See all

Ordered Pad See Ew. Dish was flavorless, noodles soggy, chicken overcooked. Threw out most of it.

My absolute FAVORITE Thai restaurant in The 'Cruz. This place holds a special place in my heart because it really came in clutch for me all four years of college. I would always get the Phad See Ew ($12.95) and the Thai Iced Tea ($3.50)! Sooo tasty, you CANNOT go wrong with this S-tier combination, made to S-tier quality. The restaurant is small and cozy with a lot of seating but very close together. Back when I would eat at the restaurant (before the pandemic hit), I remember there being little to no wait to be seated. And the staff were, and still are, very nice :) During the pandemic, I would order online and pay on their website then pick-up around half an hour later. My order would always be done before I arrive! Never ran into any issues. Overall, At Thai Recipe's sweet and welcoming staff, and delicious food and drinks make it my 100% my go-to restaurant in Santa Cruz. Lots of good memories here and can't wait for the next time I get a chance to come back for another round of my favorite Phad See Ew and Thai Iced Tea! read more

At Thai Recipe - Phad See Ew (sorry about my ugly nails) - Thai Near Me - Santa Cruz, California

Very welcoming hosts, very fast service and delicious tasting food. Live out of town and I drive to this place just for Pad Thai sometimes. read more

At Thai Recipe - Chicken Pad Thai, Thai Tea, and noodle egg rolls. - Thai Near Me - Santa Cruz, California