BKK Thai Cuisine

It’s only been a few years but you can still read the sharpie on napkin sign clearly showing that they’re remodeling. I’m going to keep checking back. I can’t wait to eat here again.

Closed. As in I was hoping and hoping they’d reopen, so I tried calling their phone number and it’s disconnected. No more dine-​in or delivery I guess. Bye bye BKK Thai…

The food was not great. Key word here: WAS. place is closed, yo. or rather being «permanently remodeled.» even though it was yards from my apartment i often went further afield for Thai. They do get bonus points however for putting frogs legs on the menu, an authentic Thai thing you rarely see at Thai places.
RIP

Walk into BKK and take a whiff.
The smell isn’t some exotic rare spice or special ingredient collected from a thousand perfect lotuses.
No, it’s mildew.
Why, because this place is in a basement. Sure, the food’s edible. But having to down a bottle of Claritin to eat in here ain’t worth it.
Just go to any other Thai restaurant on every corner of SF. Osha, Thai Stick, and Thai House Express are all nearby.

Best Thai food I have ever had to date.
I used to live a block away from here and would order delivery and dine in often. They have young Thai guys cooking in the back and the food is authentic and full off flavor. it’s a freakin hole in the wall and I probably would have never eaten here, but I’m glad I did. Sometimes the best places are holes but the food is amazing.

Update: I’m starting to fear that they’ll never reopen! When, BKK, when do you return to me?
My neighborhood Thai place. They reopen January 2008 (says their delivery number) so I’m going to have to settle for King of Thai Noodle for now. Love BKK. Order and then walk down to avoid the delivery time.
I’m a sucker for their Pad Se-​Ew with Pork. Great Thai iced tea, too. Mmmm…

Bkk has a great panang curry with chicken.
It is a creepy basement type place. I know that they do A LOT of delivery because there is a guy running in and out of that place all the time delivering food.
Great reliable Thai restaurant in the city.

Two things about this place make it noteworthy — they deliver and have incredible soup. Whenever I feel a cold coming on, I crave BKK’s soups — and they aren’t afraid to prepare things extra spicy (with your permission). It literally clears my head every time. The curries and chicken satay are nice, as well. If you choose to dine in, it’s kind of freaky, as you feel like you’re in the unfinished basement apartment of some out-​of-​work, distant relative, so I suggest take-​out or having them bring it to your door.

Seriously…
I was suffering from the biggest case of lazyassitis this weekend. Apparently, the heavy drinking from Friday night progressed my virus 3-​fold. I was so exhausted and unmotivated, I couldn’t even walk ½ a block to Jasmine’s. I was in desperate need of bed-​rest and 2 DVDs of Grey’s Anatomy Season 1. Apparently it’s the only cure for exposure to tequila shots, multiple mixed drinks and beer — trust me, I called the nurse at St. Francis.
Somehow I was able to unearth a BKK takeout menu that I tossed at the boyfriend begging him to get me some sustenance, I was DYING! So in less that 20 mins we had:
1. Pad See Ew — delish, with every bite I regained more energy to lift another forkful.
2. LARB — dude, how can you not be curious about something named larb? I thought it migh be a swear word they put on there for shits and giggles. Apparently, it’s a chicken salad dish. It was a little weird at first but not terrible.
3. Tom Yum Soup — can anything else besides wasabi clear you sinuses like this shit? Seriously?!
4. Green Curry — The boyfriend tore this container apart. In fact, I suggested we throw it out after all of the meat and veggies were gone, but he wanted to keep the sauce to eat with rice. VERY unlike the boyfriend… I think the virus affected him too, or he caught it from me.
After this feast of food, I was able to lift the DVD remote control to watch Grey’s. Seriously, the best cure to lazyassitis… seriously.

Spicy goodness popping in the nether-​regions of my mouth.

I’m puzzled by any poor reviews; but the person who said those reviewers focus on décor is right; they do tend to. I only care about the food, and BKK is fabulous.
I have ordered many times (always takeout, because parking is difficult), and have never been disappointed with any of the food *or* the service. I live a ways from the restaurant but I always get everything within 45 minutes.
The tofu and chicken satay are perfectly prepared, tender and flavorful. The pad thai is beautifully blended with plentiful chicken, shrimp and egg. The pla rad plik is spicy without being overwhelming, and the fish is always fresh. The BBQ beef has just the right balance between sweetness and mellow meatiness. Smooth crispy tofu, piquantly seasoned tod mun, refreshing dancing prawns, and buttery-​tasting garlic noodles with tofu or chicken are all wonderfully turned-​out dishes. I love the Thai iced tea, and the sticky rice and cucumber salad are perfect on the side. Even the presentation of the food is lovely!
I’ve been to at least five other highly-​rated Thai restaurants in the City, and their menus have been shorter and food way overrated. This is some of the best Thai food I’ve ever had, and the owner gives me top-​notch service.

BKK Thai looks like it serves two purposes — the first as a sit-​in restaurant, the second as a home for my make-​believe Thai grandma. It really feels like someone lives here. I wouldnt be surprised if this were a family operation — sis takes the order and waitresses, brother does delivery, mom and grandma cook in the back and dad sits on his ass and «supervises.»
I ordered take-​out. Got the panang curry with chicken, an eggplant dish, pad thai, and egg rolls (not all for me — you piggy). Everything was spiced just right and extremely tasty. Its a good find in the hood, and I will more than likely order delivery from here every week.

****BKK is currently closed and has had a sign up saying closed for remodel. The sign has been up for 8 months at least, so I am thinking it is never coming back.*****
My favorite item has been the Chicken with basil and vegetables. The portion is Thai portion, not American. The flavors are great and this place reminds me of many of the restaurants I have been to in Thailand. I would either do takeaway or be ready to spend some time in the restaurant. They serve Thai style, meaning not all the items are going to come out at the same time, so share and be patient. Plus this place does a large amount of delivery via the different delivery services.

No place special. I have only ordered for delivery. None of the dishes I’ve had jump out to me as great. I’ve had so far:
–pad thai
–crispy tofu
–yum woon sen (not that great at all)
–roasted duck (not very good)
–red curry (better than the rest i’ve had here)

This restaurant should seriously consider becoming a carryout only restaurant. They make a half-​hearted attempt of serving dine-​in customers, but their décor is terrible (see pic). Sure, not all restaurants have the money to design their interior like Bushi-​Tei (
) or Anna Mandara (
), but BKK has some serious issues. Who chose to use the ugliest cups EVER to serve water? Placing a table for carryout items in the middle of the restaurant is a good idea? An employee eating their dinner in the restaurant is unprofessional. Why leave so much mess in sight of customers?
Food was pretty good for the price, but I found their dishes to be on the sweet side. I prefer it to be Thai spicy. A good place for carryout, but there are so many alternative places for good Thai food below $ 10, I don’t need to come back to BKK. I much prefer going to places like Sai Jai (
) or Manora’s Thai (
).

I’ll give it two stars ’cause it delivered to me (which was nice of them) but…
When we called they said it’d be an hour ’cause they were busy. We decided to go for it anyway. Too bad, it was closer to two hours.
The good. The chicken satay was good.
The not so good. Everything else. The silver noodle salad wasn’t great. but it was etter than the rad na (noodles in gravy). By the time this got to us the noodles were in one big clump in the middle of the gravy. Not a good thing to get as delivery.
The green curry was OK.
but they deliver. If you do call, get something other than what we got.

Although my heart still belongs to Chai Yo, this place has won me over. The chefs have honed the will of the basil and the cilantro as their own.
Please be aware, the quizzical look on the waitress’s face when you order your food spicy is a warning that should not be ignored.

I just found my new favorite Thai place in SF — tiny, delicious, inexpensive.
Btw, ‘BKK’ is Bangkok’s airport code.

Notice how most of the negative reviews about this place are only negative because somebody had a problem with the service or décor?
Let’s forget about all of that and focus on what actually matters, about a restaurant: the FOOD. BKK has become my favorite thai restaurant in the city and has never let me down as far as the food goes. Virtually everything I’ve tasted there has been among the best in the city and a couple of the dishes (homok curry, banana-​leaf wrapped salmon) are among the best thai I’ve had, period. Also, the menu is about twice as long as the average thai restaurant so there’s plenty of dishes to choose from that are not the generic pad thai and green curry that most people seem to cling to. The only drawback is that it is slightly more pricey than the average thai place, but the bottom line is that it’s well worth the few extra dollars for the extra quality.

This place is DAMN good… It’s honestly one of the few things I miss about living in that neighborhood… Their food is fantastic and their staff is too… My only complaint is that the place is really tiny… But, that can easily be overlooked… Yummy…