Thai food in Palo Alto

Thai food has a steady foothold in Palo Alto. Downtown has a long-running Thai dining room with a full bar. California Avenue has a family-run bistro. El Camino Real has a new fast-casual shop built around protein-heavy bowls. Town & Country Village has a counter for southern Thai fried chicken. Midtown adds a restaurant that cooks Thai and Vietnamese dishes side by side.

Every restaurant here was confirmed as operating in October 2026 through its own website or a verified page in our business directory. Two Thai restaurants that older guides list are gone. OpenTable lists Aroy Thai Bistro on University Avenue as permanently closed. The former Siam Fine Thai space on El Camino Real is now HolyShred.

What to know about Thai food

Thai cooking is built on balance. A good dish plays sour lime and tamarind against palm sugar, salty fish sauce and the heat of fresh and dried chiles. Herbs do a lot of work: lemongrass, galangal, makrut lime leaves, Thai basil and cilantro. Coconut milk softens curries in the center and south of the country, while the north and northeast use it far less.

Menus in the Bay Area mostly draw on four regional traditions:

• Central Thailand. The source of most familiar dishes, including green, red and panang curries, tom yum and tom kha soups and pad Thai.
• The north. Milder, herb-driven food with chile relishes such as nam prik num, a grilled green chile dip.
• Isan, the northeast. Grilled meats, larb salads of minced meat with lime and toasted rice, green papaya salad and sticky rice. Jaew, a smoky dried chile dipping sauce, comes from here.
• The south. Spicier curries and a Muslim-influenced food culture. Hat Yai, a city near the Malaysian border, is known for crisp fried chicken topped with fried shallots.

Thai meals are traditionally shared. A table orders a curry, a stir-fry, a salad and a soup with rice for everyone. The dishes are eaten together rather than in courses. That is worth remembering when you order for a group.

Where the restaurants are

Downtown has Thaiphoon on Emerson Street, a block off University Avenue. The downtown guide covers parking. California Avenue has Lotus Thai Bistro on the car-free stretch, where tables spill into the street; see the California Avenue guide. El Camino Real has HolyShred in south Palo Alto and Roost & Roast at Town & Country Village across from Stanford. Indochine is on Middlefield Road in Midtown.

Places to try

Thaiphoon, 543 Emerson Street

Thaiphoon was founded by Tom Vongampai in Palo Alto in 2003. It offers dine-in tables, takeout, delivery and catering for companies and private events, with cocktails, beer and wine from a full bar. Its website lists lunch Monday to Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dinner runs 4 to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and until 9:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Separate menus cover dinner, lunch and dessert. It is the most central Thai choice before a film at the Stanford Theatre or a walk on University Avenue.

Lotus Thai Bistro, 425 South California Avenue

Lotus Thai Bistro is family owned and operated. It serves lunch specials and dinner Monday through Saturday and is closed on Sunday. The restaurant names pad Thai as its most popular dish. Its own recommendation lists point to chicken basil stir-fry, soft tofu red curry, seafood tom kha soup, chicken pumpkin curry, salmon with tamarind and sautéed eggplant. It has indoor and outdoor seating and takes takeout orders through its own Toast page, which it prefers to delivery apps. It also caters office lunches and parties.

HolyShred, 3924 El Camino Real

HolyShred opened on August 8, 2026, as the first dine-in shop of a young Thai brand founded by three people who grew up in Thailand. The pitch is Thai street food with a lot of protein, served fast. The signature dish is shredded chicken noodles with vermicelli, a tangy sauce and crispy chicharrón. Charcoal-grilled chicken rice comes with a smoky jaew. Specials include chicken satay and a larb chicken bowl. Vegan dishes use tofu. Nearly every sauce is made in house, drawing on northern relishes like nam prik num and Isan dips. The room seats about 50.

Roost & Roast, Town & Country Village

Roost & Roast calls itself a Thai-inspired chicken shop. It serves southern Hat Yai-style fried chicken alongside Thai street food at 855 El Camino Real, Suite 157. It is counter service and suits takeout before a game at Stanford or a picnic. There is a second shop in Sunnyvale. The same family runs Hatched, a breakfast counter in the same center, which our breakfast guide covers.

Indochine, 2710 Middlefield Road

Indochine cooks Thai and Vietnamese food from one long menu. The Thai side includes yellow, green, red and panang curries, massamun beef, pad Thai, tom yum and tom kha gai, green papaya salad and a Thai beef salad. Spicy dishes are marked. Dessert is sticky rice with mango. Thai iced tea is on the drinks list. It runs lunch specials Monday to Saturday and keeps a whole section of vegetarian dishes. Our Vietnamese food guide covers the rest of its menu.

INDO Restaurant & Lounge, 3295 El Camino Real

INDO is Indonesian rather than Thai, but its shared plates sit close to Thai food and its menu includes pad Thai, satay and Thai iced tea. Expect roti prata with curry dip, gado gado, laksa and nasi goreng. It has a bar, a lounge and a patio, which suits a group that wants cocktails with dinner.

Dietary notes

• Fish sauce and shrimp paste. Both turn up in curry pastes, salads and stir-fry sauces. Ask for soy sauce instead and ask whether the curry paste itself contains shrimp. Indochine flags shrimp paste in some dishes.
• Vegetarian and vegan. Tofu curries and stir-fries are standard. Indochine has a whole vegetarian section, Lotus Thai lists several tofu dishes and HolyShred has vegan tofu specials. Our vegetarian and vegan guide has more.
• Peanuts. Satay sauce, pad Thai and massaman curry often include peanuts. Say so when you order.
• Gluten. Rice noodles are wheat-free, but soy sauce and oyster sauce usually are not. Lotus Thai does not publish allergen information, so ask staff.

Ordering and spice

Most Thai restaurants in the Bay Area ask how spicy you want a dish, often on a scale from mild to Thai hot. Start at medium if you are unsure. You can always add chile flakes or chile vinegar from the condiment caddy, but you cannot take heat away. Sticky rice is eaten with the fingers in the north and northeast. Pinch off a small ball and use it to scoop larb or dip into jaew.

1. Order across the menu. One curry, one stir-fry, one salad and rice is a good start for two people.
2. Pick jasmine or sticky rice to match. Jasmine rice suits curries. Sticky rice suits grilled meats, larb and papaya salad.
3. Cool the heat with Thai iced tea or plain rice rather than water.
4. Save room for mango sticky rice when mangoes are in season.

Timing and takeout

Thaiphoon and Lotus Thai both break between lunch and dinner, while HolyShred and Roost & Roast work as counters. Lotus Thai is closed on Sundays, so plan a Sunday Thai dinner around Thaiphoon or Indochine. Weekday lunch on California Avenue is busiest between noon and 1 p.m. On Sunday mornings the California Avenue farmers market fills the street, so allow extra time to park. Every place on this page offers takeout. Curries reheat better than noodles, so order noodles last when you are feeding a group at home.

If you are planning a day of eating in San Francisco, you can browse Bay Area food tours and check each tour's stops before you book.

Frequently asked questions