US Thai
- Hours:
Tue-Sun 11:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. - Price Range: $$
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: None
12 Reviews for US Thai
My standard for Thai has always been Wild Ginger, which is really the nicest Thai place in town.
I'm really only interested in Pad Thai, but my girlfriends orders lots of things, and she has loved everything we've ordered at US Thai.
One bit of warning - I like spicy food, and I find their medium Pad Thai to be ass-kickingly hot. Strangely enough, it wasn't that different from their Thai Hot Pad Thai. I know that their mild is pepper free, so there must be some medium.
Their Thai Iced Coffees are nice too.
So I have moved on to eating Papaya Salad anywhere I can since I've packed on a few pounds eating Phad Thai all the time. US Thai has me there about once a week for my salad. I get it Medium and 100% of the time, it's burning the hell outta my mouth and my scalp is even sweating but that's how I like it. I couldn't imagine what Hot or Thai Hot would taste like but I can tell you that I'd probably be sitting there in a pile of sweat and my lips submerged in my ice water.
My boyfriend loves his Thai Royal Chicken so much, these two things are the only meals we eat. I've had a taste and it's fantastic. We have had their dumplings as well and those are pretty good too. Good dipping sauce. Tom Kha is a little watery but still is flavorful and the portion is big.
As for the service...well I've sat there plenty of times twiddling my thumbs waiting for the food or bill but they're really good about bringing some really nice ice cold water. Probably because of the spiciness of their food! We did actually wait so long that we just got up and paid for it at the register, where the manager(?) apologized and explained he was short staffed. The cook even asked us how the meal was so we thought that was nice that he was concerned!
So the food is awesome...the service is...well ok but the scarce service that you get is good.
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Why do I LOVE US Thai?
Best Thai Restaurant
(Best of Westword 2007, 2008)
Best Restaurants
(5280; March 2008)
The Upstart
(Denver Post Dining Guide 2007)
Best Thai Food
(Rocky Mountain News 2007 Dining Guide)
Top Picks Thai
(5280 Top of the Town 2007)
It's about the FOOD not scene, silly.
On my second visit, my friend and I both had the Pak US Thai Special - she had tofu and I had chicken. I ordered medium which promptly started rivets of sweat pouring down my face; delicious nevertheless. We also had the AP Combo: spring rolls (with mint and shrimp), crab wontons, chicken satay (love the peanut sauce) and pork dumplings.
Yum. Yum. Yum. I could easily eat here every day.
I love the fact that US Thai is located in Edgewater on a little side street with parking available out front. Better than the congestion and crowds found in the Highlands shopping district. This place is a little hole-in-the-wall (don't expect anything fancy here) Prices seem to have increased (along with everything else!) since my last visit. Still worth every penny.
FIVE STARS for being authentic Thai.
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Very tasty food and good prices. This is by far one of my favorite Thai places in Denver. The people that work there are also very friendly and helpful.
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I studied abroad in Thailand and US Thai is the best and most authentic Thai I've had in Denver. So many places like Swing and Tommy's are afraid to use flavor and are little more than Chinese food in bad drag.
Here's what I ordered:
Som Tam (papaya salad)
The flavor and spice was spot-on. I was pleased to see US Thai used real Thai Chili Peppers and did not substitute jalapenos or cerranos like other local restaurants do. Personally I have a preference for less papaya and more tomato, green bean, nuts and dried shrimp (US Thai had no dried shrimp) but that's just me. Then again I also tend to like my Som Tam beaten to a bloody pulp in a big wooden morter and pestle.
Pad Ga-Prow (holy basil, garlic and chili stir fry)
So far US Thai and Thai Bistro are the only local restaurants able to execute this common combination of flavors that is central to Thai cuisine. US Thai serves bamboo in their standard version of this dish which I asked them to omit.
BBQ'd Chicken (sorry, forgot the exact name of this on their menu)
I'd read in Westword that one of their chefs is Laotian where BBQ'd chicken served with non-sweet sticky rice (Kao Nuan) is a regional speciality of Northern Thailand and adjacent Laos so I figured I'd try this. This dish comes with regular rice by default so if you want to be really authentic you have to ask for the sticky rice. The chicken is served with three sauces -- the best is their home made Nam-Tok (waterfall) sauce while the other two sauces pretty much come out of bottles, Siracha (rooster sauce) and a sweet chili sauce.
Other notes:
US Thai is super divey, you pretty much enter the restaurant through the kitchen.
Service was a little slow, and I was there on a Tuesday.
US Thai is very affordable.
The staff actually speaks Thai.
US Thai's "medium" is equivalent to most places' "very hot."
US Thai uses authentic ingredients while many other places try and substitute.
For being the most authentic Thai food in town I award five stars.
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Both Sean & I had our early dinner today. We ordered these:
Chicken Satay
Crab Wantons
Seafood Toomyam ~ (extra spicy)
Seafood Pineapple Fried Rice ~ (extra spicy)
Royal Chicken
We love the Crab Wantons since it was so crispy and just came out from the fryer aka WOK. The Chicken satay ~ this they could do better, its not that moist at all hence the lack of 1 star. Unfortunately, we forgot to take the crab wantons and chicken satay photos.
As for the soup and the main entrees WE LOVE it!! LOVE it!! LOVE IT!! The spicyness level that we asked for is indeed beyond out of this world!!
I can feel the extra glow in my face since it has been such a long time, I have been "sweating" eating something this Spicy. I still can feel the burn tingling on my lips after the dinner and the "burn" in my tummy. But its aLL worth the cost!!
The drive from our place to US Thai Cafe is worth for The Beyond Heat of Spicyness!!! I would definitely recommend to families and friends who loves eating Spicy food @ this place.
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In the interests of full disclosure, I should start by announcing that I live within walking distance of US Thai. While I feel that my ability to form an opinion is robust enough to avoid bias from this fact, your views may differ.
That said, I can't get enough of US Thai. I'm not a purist, nor an Asian food connoisseur, but I do really like Thai. And I don't confuse it with Chinese. Which should count for something.
I've been to several other Thai restaurants and all the chain names (Swing, Thai Basil), and I've really come to love US Thai's unique flavor. Their menu offers a satisfying selection for any mood I'm in, be it naughty, tasty fried and oily or now-I'm-fat-so-bare-minimum-please. Given my lack of a trained palate, it took me a while to appreciate the variety on the menu and the taste, but it quickly became a favorite.
One word of warning: "Hot" level spicy means a complete loss of feeling in your mouth for up to 2 days. Seriously, they know hot, and it scares the bejeezus out of me (it's not comparable to other Thai restaurant spicy scales). "Medium" is about as high as I can go, but also what I order most often.
The restaurant atmosphere is less than attractive. It doesn't detract from my rating much, though. Brightly lit and tiled throughout, it's not quiet, even with only a couple of patrons. The service is fairly good, trending toward middle of the road when they're crowded. Take out is available and short-term parking nearby is easy, so I would definitely recommend picking up food and heading home. (I know, that's not really what a restaurant is for...)
So, in sum, 5 stars for the food, 3 for the atmosphere and service, avg = 4.
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For Denver Thai, this place is great. If you're looking for a fancy place, or fancy service, go elsewhere. But if you're looking for good t hai food, where they are not afraid to spice it up, get in here.
I rate thai food places by a couple of dishes, but mainly by the Tom Yum. Does it make me cough when I inhale near it? Is there galangal, kafir lime leaves, and lemongrass in it? Us Thai's Tom Yum made me cough, was nice ans spicy enough to get rid of any cold, and had tomatoes, lemongrass, tiny bits of galangal, though the lime leaves were not present.
Overall I will return again and again. Only problem? No liquor, not a Singha in sight. Ah well!
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We moved here a week ago and have, thus far, tried two Thai restaurants. While the one was mediocre, at best, US Thai was fantastic. I love Thai food and try to find good Thai restaurants in whatever city I am visiting. US Thai is, so far, at the top of my list in Denver. One caveat however....if you are someone who must have a certain level of decor in order to go to a restaurant then you may want to pass. If, however, good Thai food is more important to you than curtains then US Thai is worth try.
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As somebody mentioned, for Denver Thai, this place is excellent. The food tastes home-cooked, not chain-ish, and like the owners really care about the food quality. The menu boasts a home-made Pad Thai Sauce, which was very good and much better than the cloying, corn syrup-sweetened sauce that you get at other lesser Thai restaurants. The green papaya salad, which is surprisingly hard to find in Denver (especially considering that you can easily find green papaya in the Asian supermarkets near Federal & Alameda) was also quite good--tangy and crisp and with just a faint but pleasant hint of fishiness. (A plaque on the wall showed that US Thai was awarded best papaya salad in Denver by a local Thai organization!) The massamun curry was also very good, and had a bit of extra five-spice powder than the usual canned stuff you find at other Thai restaurants.
The decor leaves a lot to be desired. The place is the quintessential hole in the wall and the owners' choice in paint colors doesn't help matters much. The service was quick and efficient, and my water glass was never empty. Overall, it is my favorite Thai place in Denver.
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Those with a hot head should skadoodle over to this Edgewater temple of Thai, a sparsely decorated jewel that isn't afraid to Thai on the heat. The curries, most notably the panang, are aggressively flavored, fragrant with coconut milk, and laden with fresh vegetables, and the tom yum soup arrives all citrus-y and pepper-kicked. Even the here, there, and everywhere classics -- pad Thai, drunken noodles, and chicken satay -- are superb.
The service, though, is...comical. Take this exchange between Gastronaughty and her server:
Me: Would you please bring me some Thai chile paste?
Server: Thai chile paste?
Me: Yes, Thai chile paste.
Server: Thai chile paste?
Me: Um... yes, you know, hot sauce
Server: Hot sauce?
Me: Long pause....YES. Hot sauce.
Server brings over a SHAKER of dried red chile flakes.
I've been here before: I know they have chile paste.
Server then brings soup, but no bowl to put said soup. Gastronaughty waits...and waits for bowl, and finally has to get up and ask for bowl.
How about silverware? Silverware would be good.
No problem getting the check, however.
Oy Vey!!!
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I have to agree with Gastronaughty on the comical service. I had to convince my server that i both wanted my pad thai hot and that i could handle it. It was definitely hot, but i took it like a man and showed her i could handle it, as i wiped the sweat away when she wasn't looking.
Get the pad thai with beef and tofu, the tom yum soup is delicious, the curries are also excellent.
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