Sanamluang Cuisine 710 South Indian Hill Boulevard, Claremont, CA 91711

"Definitely a modernized facility. Looks spacious and parking area was large but very packed. The restaurant was extremely busy. We had a party of approximately 20 people. We called a few days ahead and were told they will try their best to accommodate. When we arrived, it was extremely crowded. Even with 20 people they seated us within an hour. Kudos to that! However, the service after that was rather spotty. We ordered several dishes for both tables that split us in. Many of the dishes either didn't come out or came out an hour after we finished the few that did come out earlier. We also had to flag down a few service professionals to remind them about our drinks and dishes. Enough about the service, since we will just blame it on that staff was short. The food was extremely delicious. Portions were okay but not as large as other Thai restaurants. My fave dishes would be the fried catfish. Great spice and well balanced sweet, spicy and savory! Perfect with rice! The papaya salad was definitely fresh with a great kick and umami flavor. The salted fried fish rice was phenomenal! I loved the perfect balance of salty and savory. That fish crunch was awesome! The soups were a bit to vinegary or salty. All the other dishes were yummy too. Loved that the noodles were not over cooked and great flavors. Would definitely suggest to be prepared for a long wait. We were informed that if our party was smaller and we came at a less busy time, the service would be better and the food would come out timely."

"It is my FAVORITE Thai restaurant!!! It has delicious and flavorful food!! I ALWAYS take my friends and family to this place! And everyone that I've recommended it to, has made it one of their preferred restaurants to go for Thai food. It has a great atmosphere, friendly service, they are ALWAYS busy! So plan ahead. They close at 10pm on the weekends. Great for first dates! Definitely nice!! it's much better than casual but not luxurious. Perfect place to impress because of the great food and comfortably enjoy a good time to get to know someone. Competitive prices and to me? Most of the plates (if not all) are meant to be shared. So try to start with only one plate/ soup, rice and maybe an appetizer. I have yet to try a plate that I don't like... Every time I've gone has been an awesome experience."

"This is our favorite Thai restaurant. If you like traditional Thai food, then this is the place as you won’t find “fusion” dishes. Thus it is also one of the few Thai places in this area that serves both Northern and southern Thai cuisines. So it’s a rare find. The pork leg over rice is what I had today and it’s a Northern (very similar to Chinese food in that region). It was very well cooked and tasty. The Indian Curry Noodles were very good as well with coconut curry (not sure why it’s called Indian curry). The service was friendly and fast. The prices were more than reasonable as the owner has done a great job keeping the prices to the pre-inflation level. Highly recommended."

"Sanamluang Cafe is the one restaurant I'll always love coming back to. I've always made it a point to visit this charming restaurant every time I'm in the area, and even after many years, the quality of the food and service has always stayed top tier. My personal favourite and go-to is the Beef Tendon & Stew Soup. The soup consists of a harmonious blend of flavours and textures. The Pad Thai, Pork Spareribs, Roast Duck, and Tom-Kha-Kai are delicious must-tries as well. The chefs put in effort to make the dishes visually appealing, while appealing to the tastebuds. Additional noteworthy features are that regardless of how busy the restaurant is, the servers and staff are always polite, cordial, and attentive to their customers. I also appreciate the fact that the restaurant uses real Thai Tea and real fruits for their slushies. I hold Sanamluang Cafe to the highest regard, and I absolutely look forward to returning here upon my next visit in town."

"I feel bad for reviewing this place... We were invited by an LA local family to dine at what they called the best Thai restaurant in town, so I came with inflated expectation, perhaps. Firstly, the restaurant suffered from insufficient parking spaces for the number of tables they have, resulting in lengthy wait to get parked. The high ceiling made our table scene quite noisy, as the voices of all diners around us were amplified. The restaurant was super full during our visit, and servers struggled to serve our table and kept our water filled. I saw other reviewers suggesting the chicken wings appetizer, but it was disappointing TBH. The wings were small, and at times even cut in half, so they looked plenty, but in reality they're difficult to eat without me having to navigate through broken and brittle bones. The Tom Yam soup came with flame inside the chimney, which was a nice touch, but the soup itself contained more sliced mushrooms than actual seafood. The Pad See Ew was subpar, with singular flavour of soy sauce coating the noodles. The Penang curry was okay flavour wise, but there was remarkably more sliced peppers than beef chunks. The papaya salad, however, was amazing, reminding me of the time I ate something similar on one of many floating market in Bangkok. Too bad the one dish we all loved did not do enough to balm the dinner. Maybe the restaurant used to serve the best Thai cuisine in town, but if so, then it has fallen from grace ever since. I sincerely hope that the restaurant would recover somehow to justify its reputation."