Thai House

Definitely a must-​go-​to place if you’re in Santa Cruz craving spicy and phở! I’m sooo glad I found this place through Unilocal.Thai house provides such excellent customer service, not only that, it’s good food at the right price!
As soon as we walked into the restaurant, we were greeted by a friendly waitress who served us the best quality water I had ever been given at a restaurant (they even added a slice of lemon) and that’s when I knew– this is the place for me. The whole place looked so exotic and unique… It was absolutely beautiful!
We started off with appetizers, which were the crab cakes that was beyond delicious, wrapped with lettuce, dipped in sweet & sour sauce. For our main course, my friend ordered spicy curry, and I got phở.
The broth tasted way different than most phở place I’ve ever eaten at. We left $ 5 tip, they deserved it.

For all of you who love this restaurant, it has reopened in the same location under the name Sala Thai and are the same people. Great food, great people. I have come here for years and so glad that they are back open. Extremely consistent, well prepared and so friendly.

Re-​opened!!! Re-​opened under new ownership. Came here last night because I missed Thai house and it was the only place that honored my spicy request. The place looks remodeled for the better. Same great food and staff. I am amped that my staple Thai place in Santa Cruz is relatively back.

Was a really good restaurant, had really good egg noodleunfortunately they have closed :(

Looks like they will soon be reopening as Thai Palace. They hung a sign on the building. I hope it will be the same staff. I really like them. 10÷2÷2015
— — — — — — — — -
Closed, Shut Down, and Gone until further notice.
How can I make this any longer? They put a sign on the door that says, We Closed.

Loved this phở so much. I have constant stomach issues and their phở was the only meal I’ve found around here that both tastes delicious and always made my stomach feel better. Unfortunately they closed :(

Wonderful! Ate here my first night on my vacation in Santa Cruz. The fresh spring rolls are delicious. The ingredients in them taste amazing with the warm peanut sauce. For my entrée I ordered the spicy basil dish a la carte. It was really helpful that they had mock chicken and mock duck options when it came to the protein, since I don’t eat meat. A majority of the options were vegetarian anyway, which is a nice change. The mock chicken wasn’t bad, and my dish was spicy but not too much to take away from the flavor.
My only real complaint would be that my thai iced tea was a little too sweet. Service was pretty average. But nothing too big to take a whole star away for. Definitely want to come back next time I’m here.

Their phở is delicious! I know this is a Thai spot but it’s nearly the only place you can find phở in SC. The only thai dishes I’ve ordered are the pad thai and pad see ew and they were both equally tasty.

I been here a couple of times the past few years and this place has to be the most well rounded Thai restaurant I been to. Thai House is the only Thai restaurant I been to that has an overall good quality for every dish they have. Plus the service is great! I have tried the pad thai, pad sew ew, drunken noodles, rad nah and red curry here and I liked them all! Out of all of them I probably enjoyed the red curry and pad thai the most.
The waiters are excellent, gave me suggestions when I was unsure about the different curries and meat choices. They don’t rush us out when we arrive half an hour before closing and the best part is that they helped us do all the math (calculated and added tax and gratuity for each person’s individual order!)

Food really went down hill once the kids started running this place real Thai kitchen is WAY better they need to hire real Thai chefs and not Latinos cooking (not being racist) but it’s silly and does not taste good and there are also Rats running around there and the back bathroom
Smells like raw sewage it has for over 15 years they never got it fixed they just spray a bunch of stuff so people don’t smell it nasty…

It was my first time here, and last.
Spicy spicy spicy
Very hot spicy
Fire in my mouth
Small portions,

It was my first time here and I loved it! Great presentation of food, exquisite taste of food, and excellent service. As a lover of spice, I really appreciate their varying degrees of spice. This is definitely my go-​to spot in Santa Cruz now.
I ordered the Yum salad and the gra prao (not sure on the spelling for that). Both were delicious!

Thai house has been nothing but amazing each time that I have been there. I mostly get take out, but the times that I have gone to eat at the restaurant they have been attentive and provided great service.
I’ve never been disappointed with the food. I especially like the yellow curry and the coconut soup. I am not the biggest fan of spicy food, but my boyfriend always gets his food level 4 or 5 spicy and he loves it as well.
Thai house is definitely one of the best Thai food restaurants in Santa Cruz and you should definitely check it out if you are in the area.

*Food: I ordered a RED CURRY and it was disappointing. The curry hardly had the curry flavor and there were way too much ingredients… as in too much meat and vegetables and not enough sauce (curry). There was no spicy flavor in the curry nor was there any sweetness to it. However… their best dish I would say is the PAD THAI. I love their pad thai. I tried my friend’s dish and the noodles are quite stretchy and chewy in ways that I really love. It had a sweet/​sour flavor that kind of attracts you to take another bite.
*Atmosphere: It has a very traditional environment. They shop had the dim lightings that matches the design of Thai goddess statues. The drapes and seatings/​tables also have the traditional Thai design.
*Service: Good. I asked for Extra Spicy on the side for my curry and the waiter was not sure how to serve it. So… in order to solve this situation, he explained how the levels of spice are made and brought out the different add ons for us to add ourselves.
PAD THAI

I like the casual atmosphere. They have booths and tables. Every time I’ve come here the customer service is friendly.
Try the coconut soup, it’s good! And the pad thaiiiiiii, yaiiiiii

I’ve been here a few times for lunch and to also try their phở. They have pretty good lunch specials with soup and salad, and the owner is really nice. Each time we’re greeted with a big smile. What’s really awesome about this place is that it offers 5 levels of spiciness. I live a pretty spicy life, and know that if you live by the chili, that you also die by the chili (it taste awesome, but not so awesome the next day).
So far, I’ve tried their drunken noodles and Pad See Ew at level 5, and I freaking love it. My tolerance is pretty high and a level 5 can get pretty spicy, which I find rare. I often come to places and get a bit disappointed when they can’t make it spicy enough, but this place definitely hits my spicy spot.
After trying Santa Cruz Diner’s phở and the phở here, and I prefer the phở here. The menu might not seem very traditional to a phở menu that you would see at a Vietnamese restaurant, like seeing shrimp or duck in the same sentence as phở. The phở is pretty decent as there aren’t a lot (if any) Vietnamese places in Santa Cruz. If I’m craving phở and don’t want to drive back over the hill, this would be my phở spot.
All in all, the spice level here along with great lunch specials make this a nice spot for your Thai food cravings.

Fantastic! !
Everything is seriously so good and authentic! My favorites are the phở, pad thai, eggplant delight, and every hot & spicy soup (uploaded a photo). It’s so hot but so good.
We really were tempted to do the ghost pepper challenge but we saw too many people crying over it, lol

DANK ASS FOODD
I used to get phở ritually once a week back in Seattle and after moving to Santa Cruz this is the best phở! It took me a while to find because it’s called Thai house. But phở combinations are the best shit ever.
Love the eggs rolls, eat as many as you can. All Thai food is real and delicious,
Family owned! I believe the son is now king of Thai house. Staff never fails to impress and super friendly :)

I am well aware that «You can’t judge a book by its cover,» and looks can be deceiving, but in this case, the looks of the restaurant told it all: drab, run down, and in need of some care. We were seated at a booth that had cracks and duct tape on either end and the menus had a greasy film over them from not being properly cleaned in a long amount of time.
The food was underwhelming and under seasoned. The angelwings were okay, and the larb was disappointing with bland flavoring and lettuce that could not really hold the meat in a wrap way. To be honest, this review is lacking in detail because the food was not very memorable at all.
The service was lacking as well. I’m not sure if this had to do with us being seated towards the back, but we did feel a bit neglected. Something needs to be done to spruce the place, service, and food up.

Thai House is a hidden gem in Santa Cruz. You get few authentic asian restaurants in this city, but Thai House is authentic as it gets! The food, décor, and ambiance will definitely make you feel like you’re dining in Thailand.
Food:
Pad Kee Mao: So spicy! Just how I like it, we didn’t even have to request our level of spicyness. The noodles had the perfect texture, and there was a good balance of vegetables and meat. It’s a little oily but that it didn’t throw off the flavor. This was probably my favorite dish.
Pad See Ew: This dish is very similar to chow fun for me, it’s pretty good, noodles had good texture, but I’m too crazy about this dish in general. When I eat Thai I expect to eat spicy and this dish is not meant to be made with spice.
Green Curry: This dish was pretty tasty, you could really taste the coconut flavor which I think always marks a good Thai curry. There was also a good meat to vegetable ratio. It was also made with a good amount of spice.
Price: Pretty cheap, less than $ 10 per dish. I’d say it’s worth it, portions aren’t huge but they are decent and enough to keep you full.
Service: Eh… it was lacking on the day we went. The waiters were distracted and we had to flag them down quite a few times.
Ambiance: This place is good for big groups, there is a lot of seating, and the décor is very authentic.