Chabaa Thai Cuisine
2123 Irving St
(between 22nd Ave & 23rd Ave)
San Francisco, CA 94122 (415) 753-3347
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 11:00 a.m.-1:00 a.m. - Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: Yes
- Delivers: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
323 reviews
Neighborhood: SOMA
"What a nice surprise! This restaurant sits above sidewalk level, so the floor the ceiling windows create a feeling of elegance that many…" read more »
146 Reviews for Chabaa Thai Cuisine
I just recently moved to the inner sunset, and this is one of a handful of really good Thai restaurants in the area. The restaurant is small, but the portions are large. The staff is very friendly, the food is delicious, and the prices are reasonable. Unlinke many of the restaurants in the area, this spot is open until 11 pm during the week and midnight on the weekends. Whether you are dining-in or just grabbing some quick take-out food, I would highly recommend this location.
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Friendly
Great food
nice ambiance
Ask for V or O ...........they are the best.
Curry duck
mince pork with basil over egg
pad thai( for some reason I always order pad thai at thai restaurants and california rolls at japanese restaurant)
pad se ew(sorta like a chow fun with beef in a wet sauce)
They open late on the weekends and the girls are very sweet..........not in taste but as in kind..........you know what I mean. Tell them I sent you
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I was so over Thai until I visited Chabaa. The curries are awesome, reasonably priced ($6-7), and require me to take leftovers home. The service has always been fast and friendly and the ambiance is very nice. When I'm in the mood for Thai this is the only place I will consider going in my neighborhood.
I love this place since they made amazing penang curry with roasted duck. What was especially awesome about this place was they delivered!
I worked a lot and would come home dead tired after a grueling day of work -so I would ring Chabaa Thai up and place my order. Within 10 minutes, it was at my door - my lovely penang curry with roasted duck.
It was sweet and if you request it (Thai Spicy), they will make it hot for you. I love them, I love them, I love them.
God, do I miss them!
First off! The A+ version of King of Thai. I hate King of Thai now ever since I discovered Chabaa! Knowing that Chabaa opens just as late as K.O.T makes me have another reason for coming here. Not only is the food good, the hours of the business is great as well. You can have a late nice dinner at a Thai place without being harassed by men in purple. The atmosphere at Chabaa actually have a Thai essence to it. I would come back and I would totally recommend this place to my friends. No doubt! I would totally come back whenever I want a PAD THAI! The pad thai here is great. Really nice peanuty background to it.
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A recommended 18% gratuity for six people or more.
We came in with 7 people, darnnit all. but we didn't pay 18%, muahaha.
Anyways, my group and I had sweet tooths this afternoon, and we all ordered fried banana and ice cream (green tea ice cream and thai ice tea ice cream, though it also came in coconut) Someone else ordered mango sticky rice.
There was just a little too much honey on the fried banana, which was super fresh and crisp, and that extra sugar overwhelmed my taste buds! I couldn't savor my green tea ice cream at ALL, which, just by the way, tasted tacky. Overall OH-kay for $4.75
The mango sticky rice was pretty good (stole bites from a friend), but the portion was, in my opinion, teeny tiny for the price.
They have this strange "add .50 cents to everything on the menu" thing.
On another note, the servers are pretty nice! Friendly and helpful, though they seem to take their sweet time. The ambiance of this place is pretty nice too; cool lighting.
Dessert place? NOT really.
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Standard Thai food at standard prices with standard service and ambiance. The crab fried rice was original and pretty good. It's open late.
I have nothing else to say. It was just okay.
Umm..not sure what to think of this place. They didn't give my change back after I paid for my takeout. They were too busy talking to each other I guess. It also took forever to acknowledge me and give me my takeout. On top of all that the food was just OK.
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While walking around Irving back and forth, and standing at a corner taking up space, six friends and I decide to enter a Thai restaurant, including Colleen M. We were also indecisive since there was another Thai restaurant less than a block away.
Walking into a nicely dimmed restaurant, it would've been a nice spot for a date, however, we were in a group. Although the dishes on the menu looked tempting, we all decided to get desserts, which sounded really tasty in words. Browsing through the menu, I noticed a "18% gratuity for six or more," however, they didn't charge us the 18% in the end for odd reason (maybe we ordered just desserts). Also, I didn't notice a "add $0.50 to everything on the menu" until later. Our group ordered fried banana and ice cream, which usually comes with coconut ice cream, but we all substituted it with either Thai Iced Tea or Green Tea ice cream. The exception was a Sticky Rice with Mango.
While waiting for our food, I felt that our table was disturbing the other customers because of the noise. I could practically feel the glares from the other tables even though my back was toward them. Here, the waitresses seemed to take their time, since it seemed like forever before we received our food. Personally, I didn't mind the wait.
Since I sat closer to the waitresses, I received my food first. However, by the time the other dishes came, my Thai Iced Tea ice cream became a puddle, which I didn't really mind too much. However, after trying to move my plate around, I was disappointed to find my fingers sticky from either the plates of the honey on the side of the plates. Eating the fried banana was also disappointing. I think they overkilled the honey and I would often eat ice cream with honey, which totally ruined it. The ice cream was also still semi-frozen hard in the middle. I would recommend that if you ever order the Fried Banana with ice cream here, tell them to lay off the honey. However, the Sticky Rice with Mango was really tasty, although it came in a really small portion.
Other than that, I rated 3 stars mainly because of the atmosphere. I felt that it was really comfortable, and it was rather quiet in there (maybe it was just me). Other than that, I haven't tried the main dishes yet, but I wouldn't recommend desserts in this restaurant on Irving since there are many other better choices on Irving alone.
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Why hello upgraded+++ King of Thai. I'm sure if any of you have been to King of Thai and then mosied on over to Chabaa, you'd notice the difference in decor, cute thai tea cups, and silverware. I'm not bashing on King of Thai or anything because I go to that place a lot, but for some reason the food tastes better to me at Chabaa. Not to mention that the price for food is pretty much the same at both places. The pad thai tasted a little weird here, but the dish i usually get: rice with pork and garlic is super delicious.
Ask for spicy pad thai . It is DELICIOUS !! Sure , it might be kind of pricey at around $8 .. but hey , they give you a really big porpotion !! Best pad thai I've ever had !! Just for that alone , I give it four stars and forgive them for their poor-made curry . Do not , I repeat - DO NOT order the curry . It is ridiciously yucky . It is so watered down and lacks so much flavor . The rice was cold and hard too . I never really sat down here to eat because I always get take out but I will be sure to do so next time .. I like the atmosphere of this place . Btw , the candy they have at the counter is nasty . Don't think you will like it unless you like sour plums .
We came here one night because we had a crazy Thai craving.
It was pretty empty inside when we got there. We ordered crab fried rice and this other noodle dish with ground beef, chili peppers and bell peppers. I never remember the name of that dish.
We didn't stay very long. We ended up getting our food to go because we wanted to go home and watch a basketball game that was on that night.
Quick and good experience :) would def come back here again
Tried this place the other night for its late hours and four-star average review. Truthfully, it was not very good, and I was unimpressed with everything that we ordered, except for maybe the thai iced tea. What really irked me was that instead of using beef slices in the pad kee mao, the restaurant uses ground beef, which brings down the taste and quality several notches.
Look, the food here's not terrible, just mediocre and very forgettable. Two stars for the food, with an extra star for staying open so late.
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Love this place! We went there last weekend for a late dinner and we had the spicy chicken wings, the duck, and a seafood dish. The food came out hot and quickly. I am definitely coming back to try the other dishes. Chabaa is open late...YAY!
I think this place is slightly better than King of Thai. My old favorite used to be Marnee Thai but I was there recently and I feel like most of their stuff just aren't up to par anymore. Either they are slacking or their main chef left. So i decided to give Chabaa a try.
I feel like their food is really solid and the prices fine. Gave an extra star for the service. They were real attentive and the food came fast, but hot!
I will def. be bck.
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This review is for take out only. I agree with Tony L. that Chabaa is just a glorified King of Thai Noodle House. The menu is very similar to that at the various KOTs around the city. I've had the Tom Ka soup with chicken, the Tom Yum soup with chicken, the spicy chicken wings, and the Pad Prik King with tofu rice plate. Of the above, I would only order the Tom Ka chicken soup again. Solid three stars.
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Stumbled in here by accident because me and some friends were planning to go to Marnee Thai but we couldn't find it. (Marnee Thai was a block away when I went back on yelp to check the address after lunch.)
Anyways this place was not a disappointment and I was kind of glad we stepped in this restaurant. Parking was easy since it was a Sunday and for all my San Franciscans know what that means....FREE METER PARKING!
The place was kind of small but cute. The waiters were really nice and patient since our table took a pretty long time to decide what to order. More because they have a lot of the items on the menu with pictures. I'm the type of person that reads the description of the entree that I'm about to order but doesn't look like how I picture in my head then the menu should be helpful. I had the Pad see ew(sp?) and that was pretty darn good. It didn't have a lot of oil in the food and for $6.95 it was a pretty decent portion. The waitress always came by to make sure our water cup wasn't half empty so we had plenty of water to last for a lifetime ha just kidding but it was really sweet of her to check back on us.
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Had dinner here. I forgot the exact dish I ordered, but it came with chicken and I asked for brown rice. Tasted good for me. I'm used to all those thai joints downtown and it's not like this over there. Their green tea ice cream with fried banana was pretty good too. Was well woth my money.
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This restaurant was a pleasant surprise from the entree to the dessert. Everything was tasty and full of flavors.
Given the atmosphere and prices, I'd give this place a 4.5. It took me a long time to order because there were so many choices on the menu, and everything seemed really good. Anyway, I had a fun lunch on a hot day here; it was like I was in Thailand or something. Well, maybe not, but I had a nice time and didn't complain about the bill after.
A bad craving for Thai needed to be fulfilled, and I didn't want to venture too far from where I was. And of course I looked to yelp for some help. Seeing that this place got great reviews, I took off for my adventure. This adventure was successful in fulfilling my hunger state, and I don't mind returning for my fill of Thai food.
The food was pretty good, and the portions and prices are well worth it. For roughly $7-8 a plate, you get a nice warm cuddly plate of savory and spicy food. I tried out the Duck fried rice, Beef with string beans, and yellow chicken curry. All full of flavor, and the right touch of spiciness! Quite fulfilling for two! The complimentary tea was excellent as well.
The food was great, but the service made it even better. The minute we walked in we were greeted and seated right away. The waitresses were very nice, and made sure we were happy. It's not a huge restaurant, but still enough seating for small parties. Quite enjoyable, plus we got a little distracted to the movie playing on the tv :)
Chabaa made it a great relaxing Saturday evening dinner. I will definitely be happily distracted again to this pleasing lime green awning to enjoy some great Thai food!
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A mountain of Thai food. This place is a 4 star if you don't take that into account. If you are seriously malnourished and are craving Thai, $7 gets you food for your next two meals and a nice round, impregnated-looking belly.
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A couple of friends and I found came to this place because Marnie Thai was totally packed. I am so happy it was. This place is the ultimate place for thai food. I only get the pad thai, spicy chicken wings and satay chicken. TOTALLY GOOD! I really like their complementary tea( hot thai tea). And their desserts are the greatest. Only flaw is the parking. Its pretty tough to find parking around the area, but most of the time, my friends and I get pretty lucky.
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Thai cuisine makes a strong showing in the ring of fire with Chabaa Thai in the Sunset. Taking no prisoners, Chabaa's tom yum soup, pad see yu, or any of its curries leave lasting impressions. I admit this is one cuisine I was cowed by after asking for "as spicy as possible," and was soon brought close to tears as I feebly attempted to lift the chili oil-covered chopsticks to my lips. You win, Chabaa. You win.
Pretty good thai food and some fantastic thai food. The Tom Kar Gai was fantastic, and I never imagined it would be so huge, more than enough for 2 people for just $6. They may want to rethink how they name some of these dishes, like the Gae Tue Lord. It was pretty good, but made me feel kinda funny to eat it!
When you want some simple yet authentic thai cuisine... this is the place to go. I've tasted almost everything on the menu at least once... but i just love the curries. They're full of tastiness and it leaves you craving more when you get to the bottome of the dish. Pineapple fried rice is awesome. Not too pricey as well. Well worth it.
I came here when they first open about 2 years ago. Since then the food quality has stayed the same with the portion size decreasing slightly. I usually visit once a month and the food is always good. The staff is attentive and friendly.
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I really really liked this place! It's so rad that they're open late...I'm always looking for places that are open past 10. There's easy parking, the decor is really pretty (I love those glass lamps), the waitstaff were all friendly and attentive, the menu's got old favorites and new stuff I haven't tried, and everything was delicious (I had the raad na and he had the duck fried rice). Plus they gave us this really cool salty plum candy with our check. And the bathrooms and kitchen area (which you kind of go through to get to the bathroom) look really clean. I'll totally be back!
I've eaten here a few times, and was pleased to find it's open until 1am. The service is pleasant and friendly, the place is clean and the atmosphere is fairly laid back. The food is pretty good; I like the tom yum soup in particular.
However, I recently ate at Marnee and thus am not sure when I'll be coming back to Chabaa.
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Coming from New York where everyone delivers, to San Francisco where no one does has been a shock. I'd resigned myself to thinking that the pizza delivery guy, UPS and my postal worker were the only delivery people who would ever cross the threshold of my front porch. Then came you, Chabaa. Your tasty pad thai and your yummy tom yum were delivered to me hot and and before the 30 minute time window the guy gave me when I phoned in my order. I was so happy that I overlooked the fact that your price was a bit higher than I'd hoped. I know, I know, I can't have it all. Thank you for delivering, my sweet little Chabaa, I hope to see you on my front porch again soon!
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Ok, the reason I was brought to this place was not for the food, initially, it was because a guy friend of mine told a bunch of my guy friends that there is a HAWTTT waitress there. I'm not a huge fan of thai food, nor do I ever CRAVE thai food. If I've I'm ever eating there, its not b/c it was my decision.
I have yet to see this hawt waitress that they speak of....
But I have been pleasantly surprised by the taste of their food though!!! This is WAAAAAY more important to me. HA!
Out of all the thai places I've been to, I'd like to say that I like chabaa the best. But my flavor for thai food is way limited, so I can't say I'm a super reliable source.
Last night I had their crispy noodles with veggies, fish cake and gravy, SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD. I believe its #35 on their menu, there's a picture of it too. The other times I've been there I usually order pad thai, b/c that's the "safe" choice, and usually you can judge a thai restaurant by their pad thai anyways, but I like #35 WAAAAAAY better than their pad thai. Usually you get these crispy noodles in gravy at Chinese restaurants, this one is way better since I like my crispy noodles crispy, and not drowning in gravy, the gravy is at the bottom, so for you soggy noodle lovers, you have plenty to love down there too.
I also really like their crab fried rice. Nothing out of the ordinary, but I love it and I'd order it. And I usually don't like paying for fried rice too. Next time I want to try their pineapple fried rice, but I always steered away b/c it looks like cat food in the picture. But since they secured my trust with their crispy noodles, I will try pineapple fried rice next time.
Place is clean, and their bathroom isn't super nasty either. I approve.
Dcor is simple and clean, I like their light fixtures. Always fresh flowers at each table.
Service has always been very good here. Never had any problems.
Also this place is good for groups!
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Went here with two friends on Easter since none of us had anything else to do....it was nice and empty. The space is really cute, nicely decorated. I had Cashew Chicken which was really good, but I was under the impression that the chicken was going to be sauteed or something, but it was pretty much deep fried. No so good for those jeans. It kind of bothered us that one of my friends and I got our dishes first, and then had to wait quite a while for 3rd friend to get hers. But it was worth it, she had some curry that was FANTASTIC. I would definitely come here again, really well priced and the servers were super friendly.
My favorite thing about eating anywhere in the Sunset is the easy parking, puts me in such a good mood.
I just tried this place out for the first time. One star for generously delivering to me when I was outside their normal delivery zone (although on second thought I would have had a better night if they'd said no and I'd called somewhere else) and one star for food that was edible and didn't make make me sick or anything.
That said, I am truly flummoxed by all the positive reviews here. Maybe the food is different if you eat it there? I tried three different dishes, and they ranged from okay to nasty.
The fresh spring rolls were wrapped in some kind of unusual wrapper, not the rice paper wrapper I am used to. This wrapper was thick, stiff, and dry, and each roll had a line of mustard on top, which to me really clashed with the dish. Perhaps this is a regional variation of the delicious fresh spring rolls I'm used to, but even the mustard couldn't save these from deathly blandness. The vegetarian yellow curry was fine. The predominant flavors there were sweet and ginger, never a bad combo. The vegetarian Pad See Ew was revolting. Overly salty, heavy sauce with no complexity to it at all. Not too greasy, which is always helpful for this dish, but just entirely dull and kind of lumpish. I ended up throwing most of it away - there was just nothing appealing about it that might entice me to consume it.
There's so much Thai delivery out there these days that I've been researching, trying to find one that really delights, but I think I may stick to the already known solid-3-star places for a while, not wanting to risk another disappointment like this one.
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This is a Thai restaurant I like to go to since it's near home. I rank it above King of Thai for quality and the price is similar to King of Thai as well.
Overall very impressed with Chabba. Very clean and cool decor inside for a place where most dishes are under $10. Started with the Chicken Satay which came with peanut sauce. For an entree had the chicken noodle bowl with a side of brown rice. Service was short and to the point (in a good way). Would definitely go back as I walked out full for less than $10.
I don't eat thai often, but decided to try Chabaa as an alternative
to Marnee.
Pretty bare bones and on the cheap side. Not a lot of ambiance.
Our corn cakes were crispy and pretty tasty. The
tom kha/coconut soup was thicker than usual but not as flavorful
as Marnee's. We all had veggie curries(red, yellow, and peanut) and they were ok but lacking a little zest. I'm giving them an extra
star for quick and friendly service.
I'd give them 2.5 total.
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Chabaa is good food, really good hours, average price, good service.
Overall, it is average to me though. I got the pad si-yu and that was above average and then I got the yellow chicken curry, which was confusing to me. I can't understand how chicken and potatoes sitting in sauce can be so dry?? It was disappointing. Plus, the portion of curry was small.
It kind of sucks that you have to spend $15 to use your card, but $15 is only 2 dishes, so it's not that hard.
Chabaa, an unassuming little shoebox of a place with earth tone walls and a surprising lack of crowds for a saturday night, is not a place that gets your expectations particularly high, so it was a welcome surprise when they brought me the best-tasting thai curry in San Francisco (though, admittedly, I haven't sampled much competition yet). Some thai curry sauces have a tendency to cop out by over-relying on either spiciness or creaminess, but Chabaa's nails both aspects (I had the red curry, but also got to try a bit of panang and tom ka soup--amazingly consistent). Throw in the crisp veggies and chewy rice, and you've got everything you need. It'll be very interesting to see how it compares to Marnee's. One word of advice: don't let them sit you by the door, unless you have a wool coat on you and don't mind wearing it.
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i had take out from here last night, and it was pretty good. i had the seafood rice noodle soup, and it hit the spot on a cold night. they forgot our order of veggie pad thai when they delivered the food, however, but they quickly came back and brought it for us. if i am in the area again and have a thai craving, i will come back. portions here are hefty.
i know a lot of good thai places, and this has to be my 2nd favorite. theyre curry is on point and their pad thais are yummy. their waitesses are cute and nice. very clean. clean restrooms and kitchen (you can see it as you go to the restrooms). the one thing that sets this place apart from all the other ones is their desert. THAI ICE TEA ICE CREAM. ive never had or even heard they made that before. the 2nd part of why i love this place is that its QUIET.
HIGHLIGHTS: Silence, flavorful currys and pad thais,and desert
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