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Jitlada Thai
Category: Restaurants Thai Thai [Edit]
5233 W Sunset BlvdLos Angeles, CA 90027
Neighborhood: Hollywood
(323) 663-3104
- Hours:
Mon 5 pm - 10:30 pm
Tue-Thu, Sun 11 am - 10:30 pm
Fri-Sat 11 am - 11 pm
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street, Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Ambience:
- Casual
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
813 reviews for Jitlada Thai
Review Highlights
"The Morning Glory Salad is fantastic."
(in 96 reviews)
"Coco Mango Salad - This was a surprise last night."
(in 57 reviews)
"the crying tiger dipping sauce is definitely spicy."
(in 144 reviews)
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813 reviews in English
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Review from Catherine D.
Los Angeles, CA
2/4/2012 2 Check-ins Here
My first time here a couple months ago I came with no expectations, and my mind was sufficiently blown.
I had vaguely heard of Jitlada from a few people and then my boyfriend and I came on a whim on a Wednesday night about 7:30. There was no wait, but the place was almost full. We ordered the Spring Rolls, Crispy Morning Glory Salad, Crying Tiger Pork, and the Green Curry with Chicken. We definitely could have done without the spring rolls, but everything else was truly the best Thai food I've tasted. I've tried other Thai places around LA (Cholada, Saladang, Palm, etc.) but Jitlada definitely has the edge.
Seeing as I liked it so much I decided to bring one of my Thai-loving friends for lunch today. We got there about 1and there was no wait and the place was maybe a third full, if that. Since she had never been before, I insisted she try the Morning Glory Salad again, and this time the Crying Tiger Beef, which I think I liked better than the pork. The portion size of the Crying Tiger is a little on the small side, but delicious and spicy nonetheless. We also tried the Spicy Mint Noodles, which were indeed spicy and good.
My only qualm really is that the menu is just too damn long. How is an indecisive, food-loving girl like me supposed to choose just a few dishes from a menu of hundreds!?!?!
Next time, I shall venture beyond these delicious standbys and try something spicy and new! And I'll probably do it at lunch time again when the place is less crowded... -
Review from Chris B.
2/2/2012
"Foodlatio" (140 character reviews blog):
So this is where chefs go after hours. A beautiful gut punch of Thai flavor. Crying Tiger, fried papaya salad. Great food. Free Parking. Win. -
Review from Sonho L.
Woodland Hills, CA
1/31/2012
Why have I not been here before???!!!
I have no idea what the poor reviews are about. Everything we had was awesome.
Morning glory salad.
Steam mussels.
Kau mok Kai - a fried or baked rice with chicken dish with this spicy, sweet sauce that is out of this world.
Tiger crunch beef.
Everything was very, very tasty. Loved it!
A bit of a wait, so dress warm during winter. But definitely worth the wait.
Oh, also very spicy, so might want to order medium or mild. -
Review from William S.
Los Angeles, CA
1/13/2012
I have visited Jitlada over 10 times (with friends) and my sense is every time I've visited this restaurant it thrives on overplaying how spicy Thai food can be. The staff also oversell these dishes as though this is the reason why one should come here. The Food Network having discovered Jitlada has made it even more desireable to diners and trendy chefs.
Perfect example: it's humorous that a person from the Food Network was in awe over the Crying Tiger Pork and how spicy and delicious that dish was. Really? To me, crying amounts of spice does not a dish make. When I sampled this dish, I found it to be aweful: cheap cut of a tough undercooked meat, with lots of sugar, lots of chilis and fish sauce thrown in to make it salty. There was no balance to this dish, no balance of chili and spices which to me, is why Thai food is so delicious. Even a spicy Thai dish has balance and this dish was salty, overly sweet and spicy all at once. And yes there were lots of chilis and chiles. Then, a lot of dishes here contain sugar and random piles of vegetation make it on the plates which are HUGE turn-offs for me. Good Thai food is not about infusing dishes with sweetness but many dishes here are sugared.
Finally, this restaurant is a celebrity/Hollywood hangout and WAY more expensive than very good Thai restaurants in the area. On more than one occasion, I noticed the owner paying lots of attention to celebrities and the Hollywood crowd and found servers clamoring over them. Service to non-celebrities like us was close to absent and hurried. It convinced me that day that Jitlada is not about cuisine. I have not returned since.
I can get Southern Thai food anywhere in LA. Yelp has directed me to some of those and have gotten better advice from Yelpers as opposed to relying on Food TV, LOL. I believe LA has the best Thai restaurants outside of Thailand. To me, Jitlada does not rank among the best in LA, but for trendy chefs and guests who follow them, Yes! LOL -
Review from Ongo B.
Torrance, CA
1/18/2012
Really enjoyed the dishes here. Ordered something that was off of the spicy menu, which wasn't and actually wasn't all that tasty either. some beef dish, really helpful review, huh.
We did really like the lamb curry though, delicioso (i believe that's thai for delicious) and spicy. almost too spicy.
we also had some crazy seafood fried rice that was also phenomenal, but blew our checkbook, so it may be worth asking the prices of dishes on the special board since we assumed they would be closer to the avg prices on the menu. this was not.
I probably should've looked at this link before we went:
http://www.flickr.com/... -
Review from Ivy W.
Los Angeles, CA
I'm still not a fan of Thai food, but this is still my favorite Thai restaurant!
The last couple times I've visited, the wait hasn't been that bad; 20 minutes tops. If you go later, obviously the line will be shorter. My usual is the Pineapple Fried Rice, Pad Thai, Crying Tiger Beef (non-spicy), and Mango Sticky Rice. All dishes are so, so good (as well as their Thai Iced Tea) and imo, completely worth the wait.
Service is extremely slow, so I recommend going when you're not that hungry yet.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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4/24/2010
And I don't even like Thai food...
My friend and I came here on a whim after looking through his… Read more »
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Review from win k.
1/19/2012
Yes, the Thai food here is indeed very flavorful and popular. The menu is extensive. There's southern Thai food menu section which apparently has the really spicy stuff you normally don't get in many places.
Anyways, some of the dishes I had were Crying Tiger with beef, which was well-flavored and not as spicy as I thought. The Chili Paste Crispy Chicken (I think that was what it was that was recommended by the waitress) was absolutely amazing. It had a sweet, spicy glaze that almost felt honey-glazed. The Red Curry (forget the full name) was slightly sweet and super-duper spicy (which doesn't hit you until a minute later), and perfect with my rice. The more regular "safe choices" like Pad Thai and shrimp-fried rice were quite pleasant. I admit, though, I tend to lean toward the more "daring" stuff on the menu. Spicy and sweet seem to be a common theme here. A good change of pace from the saltier dishes of Western variety. Overall, the food here is excellent....and unique.
The interior is brightly decorated with yellows, reds, and various kinds of that colorfully decorated, hole-in-the-wall look. The interior has two sections, which are generally two small rooms merged together. A group of 4-6 would be an ideal number to bring. There is parking, but the restaurant is nestled amongst other restaurants, so one may have to park on the street. There is a Zankou Chicken (one of my favorite chicken places ever) across the street.
I will have to come here again. As Thai places go, this place has some truly excellent and unique stuff. Much of the dishes are $8 and higher. Admittedly, the portions aren't particularly big, and that might be a downside for some. Still, I had just the right amount of fill. If you are more about the portions than flavor, there are certainly other cheaper Thai places out there, thought not quite as flavorful. -
Review from Michael M.
Newport Beach, CA
1/7/2012
Confession: I have jungle curry fever.
The first few times I came here, I was underwhelmed. I now see the problem though. I wasn't following the golden rule of Asian restaurants--always get their specialty. At most places, this rule is easy to follow: just order the "number 1." But since Jitlada's menu is as long as War and Peace, you have to search around on your table for a plastic stand that contains an abbreviated guide to their best dishes. One thing I can say for Jitlada is that they know what they do well. The lamb jungle curry and the mussels are so good, I haven't ordered anything else for a while.
Service is often slow, but they do get celebs in here from time to time, so it helps to make your presence known and be friendly with the waitstaff. Besides, the food here is worth the wait. I get more peeved with rude service than slow service. Just make sure you have someone to talk to while you wait, because it does make an excellent date place. It strikes a nice balance between being crowded enough that you feel like you are in a place to be, but not overly loud or cramped.
One of several must try Thai joints in Thai town. -
Review from Joe B.
Cincinnati, OH
2/4/2012
Everything we got was great, except for the Dynamite Spicy Challenge. This is not a true spice challenge. I can eat food as hot or hotter than anyone I have ever met. I keep pure Red Savina habanero mash, Ghost Chiles and Trinidad Scorpions in my fridge and cook with them all the time.
I couldn't finish this challenge, however, not because of the spice level, but because there is no flavor to make you want to continue eating it. I make stuff this hot at home all the time, but I put tons of other herbs and spices in so that it's not just hot, but sweet, savory, salty, etc.
I got the tofu version of this challenge, and my friend got the beef. He had the mint sauce, and I the curry. I was expecting something along the lines of a typical Thai curry dish, bursting with coconut milk flavor, but with a ridiculous amount of fresh chiles. What I got, what we both got, was a plate with tofu/beef, some green beans, and the rest was nothing but paste, oil and seeds.
That is not a spice challenge. One might as well tell me to eat 3 fresh ghost peppers and nothing else, or take a bottle of extract and say "drink this." That actually might have been more enjoyable, because at least then I would have had the fresh chile flavor, which I love and crave.. This dish tasted so horrible that it just wasn't worth it. I literally took 5 bites and couldn't bring myself to take another.
Again, I want to reiterate that everything else we got was excellent. My friend got the Dungeness crab off the shell, curry-style (special order off the menu). We also got the blue crab soup, soft shell crab roll (lightly breaded fried, then wrapped in rice paper) and fried wontons (potato curry, similar to an Indian samosa, but with less intense herbs and spices, and a much thinner, cripsy wonton wrapper). It was all wonderful, full of flavor, everything I look forward to in a good Thai meal. I would definitely recommend this restaurant to anyone, and I would go back myself. Just don't get the Dynamite Spicy Challenge. It's inedible and not worth the money. Stay home and film yourself eating raw Trinidad Scorpions instead. That would be more impressive, and more indicative of your true spice tolerance. -
Review from laura j.
1/8/2012 1 Check-in Here
So my understanding is that Jitlada Thai is different than most Thai restaurants because of the large selection of southern Thai dishes it offers. Yes, Jitlada serves the usual suspects of pad thai and curry, but when I ate here I chose to stick with their regional dishes:
-The morning glory salad: not what I would expect a salad to consist of...lightly fried green vegetables, shrimp, red bell peppers, and refreshing citrus dressing. This was definitely unlike any salad I have eaten before and I really enjoyed it.
- The crying tiger beef: apparently this talked about dish has been noted in various food articles and even on The Food Network's show, "The Best Thing I Ever Ate". Personally I am not a big beef fanatic, so maybe that is why I didn't think this dish was anything to rave about.
- I can't remember the name, but I also had a hot noodle dish, that had chicken noodles, vegetables in a light sweet/sour broth.
I'm glad I checked this place out and I enjoyed my experience dining at Jitlada. The interior decoration is nothing impressive to look at, in fact the restaurant looked like a hole in the wall, but don't let the looks food you, as the prices are pretty typical of any other Thai restaurant...that is...not cheap. And don't expect to take home any left overs. Between two people, we cleaned out all three dishes. -
Review from Kaylee C.
Tujunga, CA
1/19/2012
The food is good but it isn't worth the hour plus you will wait to eat it.
I've been 3 times in the past 2 months and ordered from both the traditional and southern section of the menu and the food from both sections has been good.
The big problem with Jitlada is that after you wait 10 minutes to be seated, you will often wait 30 more minutes before you are noticed by the wait staff or even brought a glass of water. Once your order is placed, the wrong items will be brought to your table or parts of your order will be forgotten altogether. The last time I went with two friends, our drinks and water were brought after all of our food despite asking three times, very nicely.
I completely understand a popular restaurant like Jitlada gets busy and that a wait is normal but with so many other complaints about this issue on yelp and by customers each time I've been in Jitlada, I would think they might add a few more on the wait staff to help out. -
Review from Paul K.
San Clemente, CA
1/15/2012
I guess the first thing to say about Jitlada is that we live in San Clemente and will drive (as we did yesterday) all the way to LA to eat lunch or dinner here.
While the wait for a table can be long, the menu can be confusing and the service infuriatingly slow - it's all worth it for the best, most authentic Southern Thai food I've found in So Cal.
One of our fave dishes is the Coco Mango salad - layers of flavor with bits of raw shrimp - next time we're just going to have to order two so we don't have to share. Also, the Crying Tiger is amazing - the dipping sauce is complex as is the spice rub on the steak strips. My wife loves a fairly mild noodle dish (can't recall the name) and I love the oxtail curry (spicy savory & sweet). The morning glory is also one of the better dishes on the menu.
I really don't get the negative reviews and complaints about the level of heat in the spice. Get over it - I've been to Thailand several times and this is authentic Thai cuisine, not adulterated for American taste buds. They will turn down the heat (a bit) if you ask, and I've never regretted any of the wait staff'sr recommendations - we first tried the Coco Mango salad when they didn't have the Catfish Salad one day and it's become our favorite dish at the restaurant.
Don't go if you you're in a hurry - plan to stay awhile and order several different dishes - you won't regret it. -
Review from Kelly J.
Los Angeles, CA
1/14/2012
Really all I have to say about this place is that it had the best mussels I've EVER had. I mean so, so, so, so good. Holy shit Star Wars / Lord of the Rings trilogy good. Other than that, everything else was average-good. Also, I thought mu shu chicken was a Chinese thing, but I'm scandinavian so what the hell do I know about Asian food categories? That's right, nothing. And yes, it was pretty delicious.
The menu is absolutely gigantic, so if you're one of those "has trouble making decisions" types, I would probably avoid this place just to keep your sanity. For everyone else out there, definitely try this place. Good stuff. -
Review from Kristine P.
Walnut, CA
2/6/2012
one of the best pad see eew i've tried!
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Review from Eileen E.
Los Angeles, CA
12/24/2011
Their menu is off the charts - at least 100 entrees. The restaurant is also very, very small and the wait can be over an hour if you go during peak hours!
Recommendations:
Crying tiger pork
Steamed Mussels w/ lemongrass and green chili sauce
Morning Glory Salad -
Review from gwen c.
Los Angeles, CA
1/2/2012
Wow, such a disappointment.
I figured since I'd heard what a great "thai" place this is I'd check it out.
Having actually been to Thailand, I was assuming, like many of the other places in the neighborhood, getting actual Thai food wouldn't be hard. Well, I was wrong.
No green papaya salad on the menu, I had to ask for it and when it arrived it was completely devoid of any heat at all and was missing the dried shrimp. This dish is famous for how hot it is supposed to be.
When I ordered I asked for my food to be prepared very spicy, my dish had ZERO spice to it. I had to ask for the 4 condiment caddy that should be standard on the table at any Thai restaurant.
This place clearly caters to people who want "thai" food, not actual Thai food. If you hate spicy food, this is the place for you.
If you want authentic, tasty Thai food go to Hollywood Blvd. -
Review from Donna G.
Los Angeles, CA
Jitlada Thai is definitely one of the best Thai places my neighborhood! We arrived at 5pm, and the place still had plenty of room.
We ate family style and ordered Tom Yum Soup, Steamed Green Mussels, Coconut Mango Salad, Pad Thai, Lamb Curry, Fried Soft Shell Crab in Southern Curry, and Crying Tiger Pork
It is hard to pick a favorite out of all those dishes, because they were all so good !
By the time we left, my tongue and mouth were definitely hot. There are lots of spices in these dishes, and even though it may not seem that spicy when eating it - well, I felt the spices by the end of the meal.
Arriving at 5pm for dinner turned out to be a good choice. By the time we finished our dinner, the place was packed with people and a line was forming out the door.
We tried to order coconut ice cream, but the waiters were busy running around and seating the latest mob of customers. So we skipped the ice cream this time.1 Previous Review: Show all »
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5/8/2010
My friends said Jitlada was one of the top-rated Thai restaurants in LA, and we had to try it out.… Read more »
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Review from Anita C.
Los Angeles, CA
1/19/2012 1 Check-in Here
our party had the morning glory salad, crab fried rice, ox tail soup, and pad say yew.
beware the ox tail soup is excruciatingly spicy even though there's no warning on the menu. i was almost crying at one point. morning glory and crab fried rice were meh though the pad say yew was decent. having being around thai food for years, i am confident to say i've had better elsewhere.
aside from the food, this place is packed and the parking is terrible. not worthy of the hype bestowed upon. -
Review from Sam N.
Los Angeles, CA
12/12/2011 2 Check-ins Here
The service here is absolutely horrible
The food is good...at least some of the entrees
Some look good when they come out but then, for example, you wait 20 minutes for the rice to come out to eat with the entree...and by that time everything on the table is cold -
Review from Diana K.
Burbank, CA
12/13/2011
Okay. This place was recommended to me and a friend by someone we trust.
Well, that was a mistake. It took 45 minutes for us to get a server, our appetizer showed up as desert and the portions were very small and not worth the wait. We asked them to remove it from the bill and we left, but they insisted on giving it to us anyway, Nice of them, I guess.
I think this place should stick to the unusual southern Thai dishes that can't be found elsewhere, since they seem to have too extensive a menu for such a tiny kitchen.
Lots of disorganization in a too-hipster location. We won't be back. -
Review from Vic P.
Los Angeles, CA
11/27/2011
I have been here four times this year. I really, really tried to like this place. People I know like it, so I thought it was me. It's not me. It's you, Jitlada. You suck.
Let's first start with their no-reservation policy. My time is valuable, Jitlada. For you to make me wait instead of taking reservations is silly.
Now, the service. The service is abysmal. I have had to literally yell 'Excuse me' to a waiter and pantomime food to get their attention. This was after fruitlessly waiting and trying to catch their eye. They forget the order. They bring the wrong order. They bring it to late. etc. etc. And every single time I just walked up to the cash register to pay instead of waiting for them to bring the check etc. Last time I went, three other people were doing the same thing.
The food. I have tried many different dishes from their menu. I tried the Flambe Prawns, at 21.95. I tried the country fried chicken, the pad see ew, the whole fish, etc.
The Country Fried Chicken was about the worst thing I have ever had a sit-down restaurant. It was basically random chicken bits cut into cubes and deep friend. A very tiny portion, and half the pieces were pure gristle. Absolutely useless at 8.95.
The Flambe Prawns is supposed to be a signature dish, but it is just some oversized prawns heavily sauced up. Fail.
At my last visit, the owner, a woman of considerable heft, struck up a friendship with the couple next to our table, and spent half the evening chattering away with them. That would be nice except for the fact that she faced them and shoved her rhino-sized butt in our faces for the entire meal.
Please please skip this overrated, smelly unfriendly restaurant. -
Review from Somsak A.
Burbank, CA
1/22/2012 2 Check-ins Here
Love original thai foods
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Review from Sak Y.
Redondo Beach, CA
11/19/2011 1 photo
Tonight was my last trip to Jitlada. When I first started going here a couple of years ago it was good, an authentic Thai restaurant that served dishes that were out of the ordinary. The owner of the restaurant would come by the tables and chat, explaining that Jonathan Gold from LA Weekly liked to eat there.
OK, fine, Jonathan Gold comes here. But now, when you go there you can't help but see that Jonathan Gold goes there. His review is on every table. Print outs from LA Weekly and Gourmet are in the windows. And sadly, I think all the attention has cause standards to slide (and prices to rise).
Got the crying tiger which is on the list of "must have" dishes. It came out and I thought, where's the rest of the tiger? It came on a salad plate and the quantity did not justify the price. Jitlada's version of Hainan chicken was unlike any other version of this dish I've ever had. The chicken was sliced, boiled, and dry. The rice was gummy. Got morning glories - and how they managed to make them greasy is beyond me.
Prices are much higher than other restaurants in the area - like Hoi-ka, Sapp, and Ruen Pair. And none of them charge $5-6 for Thai ice tea/coffee like Jitlada does. -
Review from Alfonso L.
CA
11/26/2011
Giant disappointment --and overpriced. I tried the Crying Tiger Pork, not the beef. The problem was not so much the spicy sauce, which came on the side. It was the quality of the meat. I had to ask whether they brought me beef since it was stringy and just not the right taste at all. Pork should have much more flavor in general and this wasn't something that I'd serve if this was my place.
The Tom Ka coconut soup with shrimp was very rich and delicious, but really after a cup, it's just a chore to eat. The broth was much too much and the tomatoes were rather slimy after a while of being heated.
The worst was the basil noodles that I ordered. Completely tasteless and devoid of any heat, despite it having a spicy symbol. I left most of it on the plate.
It's just so disappointing to land at a place that had gotten so much praise and find out that it's really like any other Sunset Blvd Thai place ---and that isn't necessarily a good thing -
Review from irene s.
Burbank, CA
Updated - 1/18/2012
I still love Jitlada. I go there as often as I can, which hasn't been as often as I'd like lately.
But some new things that I've been loving:
- Dungeness crab (the chef will even shell it for you if you prefer!) with garlic sauce OMG.
- Crispy honey duck
- Lemon water cress
- Oxtail soup (YUM!)
- Softshell crab noodles
- Green curry with dragon eggs (not actual DRAGON eggs - but fishballs wrapped around a duck egg yolk! Sound gross? IT'S NOT.)
If there is one dish I consistently order on every visit without fail, it is the sticky rice with mango. I may have said it before, but I can't stress enough - that shit is ADDICTIVE. You know you're in trouble when you drive 20 mins to Jitlada just for this. Story of my life...2 Previous Reviews: Show all »
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2/26/2011
Okay, let's try this again.
First, I want to address all the Yelpers who are griping about a)… Read more »
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Review from Miss C.
Los Angeles, CA
1/15/2012
Hrmph. 2.5 I am not a Thai expert by any means but I am reputed to have tastebuds and of my 10,000 buds about 9,900 of them were not impressed by the famed Jitlada. I was excited for Jit, crying tigers and flowering salads, oh my! After all that hype, the morning glory salad was limp and nasty, the infamous crying tiger was well seasoned but overcooked and tough. The only takeaway was the unknown emerging emo artist, the green curry, which was delicious. Service is as slow as reputed to be and the wait was long. A friend of mine has been going here for years and claims all the media hoopla has caused the quality to go down. Seems to be true in my case. What a let down. If I am not hungry and willing to wait 2 hours for food, I might try the mussels. Then again ...maybe not.
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Review from Alex S.
11/30/2011
I have a love / hate relationship with Jitlada.
How else could you describe the intense spice that permeates your body from head to toe? It's awesome.
But it can be awful!
One time my two friends and I ordered the extra spicy challenge. What a mistake. I would never wish this on my worst enemies. The waitress warned us that the spice would be so intense that the people in the table next to us would feel it just by its smell. "TOO BAD," I thought. "That's what you get for eating at Jitlada! HAHAHA".
Karma's a bitch.
We got the special with beef and, admittedly I've accomplished many spicy challenges before but this was the worst, we barely finished the dish.
When we did, we were in pain.
When we left we were in pain.
And when we tried to sleep, we were in pain.
I couldn't even sleep. After a 4am visit to CVS to pick up extra strength Tums I knew there was no escape. Was I going to survive? I drove myself to the ER. I waited. While I went to the bathroom, someone who was recently shot was wheeled in and took my spot on the queue. Fair enough. It was 7am, time to go to work. I drank coffee, found out my friends suffered the same fate. It was like someone shot us in the gut. The story had a happy ending, well a fiery, painful, bittersweet ending.
Spicy challenge a side, the food here is GREAT!
The Morning Glory Salad is the dish to order. It's fantastic. Sweet, yet spicy. Very refreshing.
The mussels in green curry is very good, but unusual.
The crying tiger is fine, doesn't quite live up to the hype.
The jungle soup is great, but very hot.
Any of the standard thai fare that you'd get anywhere else, pad thai, pad see yew, the curries, are all fine and dandy, but the real reason you're here is for the Southern Thai cusiine. I.e. the back two pages. The stuff you can't get at most of the other places in Thai Town. -
Review from Keila N.
11/6/2011 5 photos
I went here a little after 11 on a Sunday with my involuntary partner in crime, i.e., date. He's such a good sport. He never complains about my rampage as a foodie. He doesn't even flinch when I whip out my camera.
There was no parking in the lot, but I was able to find a spot on the street. I didn't see the hookers that others have mentioned although I looked for them.
We ordered the morning glory salad based on the reviews. It was excellent. Pad thai was good. But I was most impressed by the spiciness level of the Chef's Challenge. It was actually spicy-even for me. I ordered the shrimp version of the Chef's Challenge, which only had about 5-6 medium sized shrimps. Most of the dish was just the curry sauce.Listed in: Spicy Food
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Review from Xue Qin L.
Los Angeles, CA
12/20/2011 1 Check-in Here
Food is amazing. Tried this place for the first time and all 3 dishes were superb.
Service was rude at first, but I think this was due to being slammed with customers (the place was packed). As the crowd lightened, the waiters/wait staff became more warm and friendly.
I recommend the Crying Tiger (beef) and you can't go wrong trying something new--it's really good!! -
Review from Bobby A.
11/15/2011
I died of a joygasm and went to food heaven here!
Oh my God! Where the hell do I start to describe a life-altering experience like this!
It all began on a boring, wintery Montreal Sunday evening watching Food Network's "The Best Thing I Ever Ate" - the heat episode, many, many moons ago. Jitlada's Crying Tiger Beef was featured and noted spice and Asian food addict Bobby A. took note. Took deep note and vowed she had to try this place sometime in her life.
Circumstances eventually led her to the City of Lost Angels and with it came an opportunity to try the legendary eatery which Matt Groening of Simpson's fame regularly frequents and posts his drawings.
If there is anything I learned about my time in LA, it is this: DO NOT BE FOOLED BY APPEARANCES. Yes, this is Lalaland, where plastic surgery is a given, dog grooming assistants become celebrities and everything is beautiful and perfect. Like Aladdin's lamp, be a little patient, rub anything a little and you'll find out things very quickly. Jitlada sits in a grungy New Jersey-esque strip mall on a part of Sunset Boulevard which seems to have a high concentration of Thai businesses. Forget about the locale, just shut up, drop your attitude and just go sit your ass down and wait for the food.
A word of warning, if you find cinnamon gum or even Mexican food too spicy then forget about coming here. I'm sorry to say that you won't be able to stand it. if on the other hand, foodstuffs like vindaloo curries and fiery red chillies are your calling card, then you have no choice but to come here and trust me on this one, you will never forget it.
I walked in one night, no reservations at around 8pm on a weekday and the place was jam-packed. The smiling Thai Auntie must have caught the gleam in my eye and despite the crowds, sat me down at a table near the back, near the linen closet in less than a minute. I didn't care I what table I got, I just wanted to try the food and I'm almost positive she caught my drift.
Walls are decorated with Groening's drawings, reviews from publications like the New York Times, Gourmet Magazine and LA Weekly, all attesting to the virtues of Jitlada. Believe the hype.
After looking over their daunting and overwhelming menu of over 200 items, I just decided to chuck it and I automatically ordered the two most popular dishes, the Crispy Morning Glory Salad and the Crying Tiger Beef and they were on my table within 10 minutes so I have no idea what the people who complain here about slow service are on about.
I took one bite of both dishes and something happened.
Time stood still. The stars stopped twinkling. A sleeping god blinked in the darkness somewhere. A sweet joyous calm overtook me. I dropped my chopsticks. I was having a full-on out of body experience. Dorothy, we ain't in Kansas anymore!
People, this was easily one of the best things I ever ate in my life ANYWHERE. Thai food will never be the same again for me because they will be a pale imitation of what I ate here and the memory of it is now forever embedded in my DNA. I cleaned off all my plates and the Thai Auntie smiled with joy. She was right about me.
It was so good I came back here for dinner 2 more times and each time ordered something different. I had the beef salad, the BBQ Giant Thai Tiger Shrimp with Garlic and chilli sauce, the Coco mango Salad and Spicy Red Chicken Curry.
I plan on going back to LA if for anything else, to just eat my way through Jitlada's menu, that's for sure. -
Review from Anne A.
Los Angeles, CA
Updated - 11/19/2011
Went with Jonathan Gold's recommends and had an excellent dinner! Menu is overwhelming but now I know to order anything from the 2-page Southern Thai menu! Order the fried morning glory salad, sataw dish, fried catfish with tumeric and toasted garlic and do not (I repeat, do not) order the pad thai. Pad thai is the worst one I've had...it was way too sweet and tasted and looked like brown sugar. Stick to the unusual menu items in the Southern Thai menu.
As good at it gets, but just know what to order.Listed in: Best Thai Food in LA
1 Previous Review: Show all »
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11/18/2011
Me: Best Thai Food in LA?
Jonathan Gold: Jitlada. You were expecting another answer?
Me: I was… Read more »
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Review from Selena L.
Los Angeles, CA
10/8/2011
Part 6 of a Series: The PMD Chronicles (How I Fell in Love with a Murderer)
Across the street from the most glorious Thai restaurant in Los Angeles is a 99 cent store. Why am I telling you this? Because after eating at Jitlada, you will need to pop into the discount mart to purchase a pregnancy test (for one dollar) to confirm that you are indeed knocked up...with flavor!
Before I made it out to Los Angeles this time, I polled a group of friends on where I should eat with my murderer. Time and time again, the same few restaurant names were mentioned: Providence, Animal, Son of a Gun, Pizzeria Mozza, and of course, Jitlada. Tucked in the corner of an unassuming strip mall in Thai Town, you'd never think this gaudily decorated space would serve some of the finest food you'll ever eat, but it does. Don't believe me? Fine: ask Matt Groening, whose personalized Simpsons doodles festoon the walls.
Do you know how difficult it is to render two loquacious lookers silent? It ain't easy, but your best bet is to either challenge their genius with a pop quiz on Hitchcock trivia or feed them the oxtail curry from Jitlada. My suggestion? Go with the latter. Fiery, complex and deeply, profoundly beautiful, this dish, unctuous with collagen and heavily spiced will restore your faith in humanity, or, at the very least, banish a head cold.
Think mussels are no big deal? You thought wrong. The New Zealand steamed mussels arrive in a perfumed broth that you will try to ignore at first in favor of the plump bivalves. But that liquid will seduce you with a chili spiked heat that hints of lemongrass and basil. You will wind up spooning it into your mouth as if you were Ponce de Leon. Maybe you'll shave a few years off (I won't tell if you're using Botox).
Do not miss the Crying Tiger, preferably in beef. On a subsequent visit, we had the pork, and while that was flavorful and appealing, the pretty sister usually has a much more lovely one. In this case, the bovine is the real beauty. It's just the way love goes, Janet Jackson. Don't forget to douse it in the red chili flecked oil that comes to the side. Perhaps spoon it over everything, even your water.
Plaa Pear, the deep fried red snapper filets served with coconut and basil fritters, were addictive and crunchy. Morning glory salad, consisting of deep fried watercress topped with marinated shrimp, was a study in contrasting textures. Jungle curry was nearly spicy enough to be incendiary and a dining companion needed to request the fresh vegetable & ice "salad" to cool her mouth down. (I secretly judged her as a wimp.)
On our first visit, we were so visibly smitten that the chef gave us his own "cheat sheet," circling suggestions on a take out menu for us based on what we had initially ordered. He beamed with such pride and we could not stop gushing over just how much we truly enjoyed that meal. It was so gorgeous that we actually rescheduled our "fancy pants" dinner later that evening for another night because we had overindulged to the point of bursting.
Now back to the 99 cent store across the way. They also sell antacid and gas relief pills. Pick some up while you're getting that pregnancy test. At a dollar each, you'd be a fool not to get three of everything! Trust me on this: you'll need them all at some point in your life. Best to be prepared.
In my case, the results came back positive! Jitlada: I love you and will bear all your children to term. I don't care if you're seeing other people - in my heart, you will always be the true father of this food baby.Listed in: my bucket list, The PMD Chronicles (How I Fell…
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Review from Negin N.
Hollywood Hills, CA
10/16/2011
Jitlada's food is quite good, but the owners really need to either: (i) expand their kitchen and retrain their staff; or (ii) stop seating diners in a volume that they cannot handle.
Jitlada, it's not okay to make people wait 35min after they've been seated for a menu. It's also not okay for staff to roll their eyes at you when you request a menu after said wait. It's not okay to make people wait an hour for their appetizers, and then another hour for their entrees. It's just NOT OKAY. -
Review from Katie g.
Los Angeles, CA
1/8/2012
crying tiger pork
coconut mango salad
crispy morning glory salad
green mussel curry
turmeric sea bass
curry pork spare ribs
ordered to share, the above menu is highly recommended!
also tasty:
crying tiger beef
chicken satay
i hear they have a delicious off-menu hamburger at lunch, which i have yet to try.
not tasty:
pumpkin salmon curry
we've never had much luck taking recommendations from the waitstaff,
always better luck taking yelp recommendations or published reviews.
tables have reviews under glass, in case you come unprepared!
only order from the southern thai menu.
expect a wait, especially for larger parties.
*will eat here many times again
*will enjoy some of the same dishes again -
Review from Michael K.
Pasadena, CA
12/19/2011 2 Check-ins Here
Jitlada is like that one uncle... he has so many stories to tell about his life, some are just plain boring while some are amazing... yet in the end, you realize that you probably really won't remember any of his stories save one or two.
The first time I went to Jitlada, I was told by my good friend that this was a place where many celeb chefs and culinary students went to eat due to their complex and delicious use of spices, curries, and other exotic flavorings. I became excited that I would join the culinary geniuses in trying to decipher all these different flavors... but then I saw the menu. Simply put, the menu is way too freaking huge. There has to be over 400 items on the menu... and that's without the "southern Thai style" or the "Must try" menus. Due to this, it took over 15 minutes for me to decide what to get. In the end, we asked our waitress for her suggestions. We ordered the Jungle Spicy Noodle soup, a dry curry pork dish, and the Crying Tiger.
When the food came (took about 20 minutes on a Sunday night), I was immediately drawn to the noodle soup as the aroma was complex, savory, and spicy. The soup was absolutely delicious! There was a tang, a spice, a sweet, and a salty flavor all in one bite. I couldn't help but keep eating it no matter how spicy it was. However, the dry curry pork dish was a pretty big disappointment. The dry curry caused our pork to seem pretty dry (I admit, this wasn't exactly the best idea... but it was on the "must try" menu). The crying tiger had a very delicious lime sauce along with a very tender beef.
The second time I went back, I had the noodle soup (because it is so freaking delicious) along with the yellow curry with rice. The yellow curry wasn't too bad... but it wasn't amazing either... however, the soup was still BOMB. I get chills thinking about how good it was...
Anyway, can't say that I'll be back for anything other than that soup as the impression that I got was that Jitlada isn't completely focused on providing excellent dishes across the board with their huge menu. However, I do believe that there is something special about the use of their spices... when done right. -
Review from Nelly G.
Los Angeles, CA
11/16/2011
I got good reviews to go and try this place.
I went there for lunch and the Pad thai was ok.
The food is a little too spicy and the noise level is high.
I think it was better before. -
Review from Alicia J.
Ventura, CA
11/18/2011
Crying Tiger Beef wasn't nearly as spicy as I thought it would be but I'm so glad because the flavors were so amazing that if it had been too hot, I couldn't have enjoyed it. We also ordered Spicy Sugar Brown Chicken which was a curry dish. It was also really good, but halfway through the dish, I realized it was almost too spicy to eat. I like heat, but not when my gums burn for 20 minutes after I take my last bite. I might ask before I order!
Food's great, just don't go if you're in a hurry. Overall great experience, but like other reviews say, the service is very very slow. Took forever to get our order taken and then again to pay. We were there during an off time and were only 1 of 4 tables, not sure what happened, but we had to go up to the front and say we wanted our credit card back so we could leave. -
Review from Alex G.
Los Angeles, CA
12/31/2011
Good quality, overpriced, famous for being spicy and I managed to order the one mild dish.
Kai kua was delicious but it wasn't a big portion for $10, and the Thai iced coffee was also good but for $5 it just pissed me off. -
Review from Matthew C.
Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, CA
9/30/2011
A study in complexity, depth and the variety of Southern Thai cuisine. The variance between and often combination of fierce heat, sweet fruitiness, musky earthiness (hello, stinky sataw bean) is breathtaking.
The "hits"-list on the tables is a great place to dive into the vast menu, which, it should be said, should not be judged for American Thai standards - if you want those, you'd be better off at Sanamluang.
The Crying Tiger Beef is minimalist perfection, perfectly marinated and grilled beef with a beautiful chili oil/lime sauce of stunning subtlety and yet bold flavors. The morning glory salad is a good representation of how shrimp/fruit/spice can work harmoniously, although if pressed I'd go for the Seven Seas. The pumpkin curry is awesome with lamb or fried soft-shell crab (its hard not to order this dish). A hit or miss dish (I'd order it earlier in the day rather than later) the deep fried sea bass with a chili/oil/lime drizzle similar to the Crying Tiger can either be brilliant or mushy. I've had it both.
The so-called spiciest curry in LA, and much raved about Khua Kling Phat Tha Lung, is deep. Three bites in you're probably doing ok, discovering the density of flavor and thinking 'really, this is it?' Then all of the sweat glands in your face, nose, head and ears all simultaneously start melting, resulting in a fiery religious experience leaving you shaken to the core. In the true sense of the word awesome it leaves you in a state of awe. Just submit, its worth it.
Quite simply, there is not another place that tastes like this, so shut up and deal with the miserable parking, so-so service, occasional lines and effusive hype. -
Review from Nam g.
Los Angeles, CA
1/6/2012
So Ive been on a 2 year hiatus of this restaurant so I decided to come back.
Boy was I in for a treat. You wouldn't eat at the Chinese restaurant that you don't see any Chinese people in, and that's what happened when I walked into Jitlada.
After eating here a few years ago, I remember the large pot of steamed mussels they had with the lemongrass chili broth. After ordering that, a pot came out with 5 mussels -_-. The broth was watered down from what was offered before also.
Not only did all the prices inflate because of the hipster invasion, the portions also got halved. Thanks Silverlake patrons, thanks...
