Ratcha

Maybe I should’ve stuck with the normal dishes, but I decided to go with the Thai Seafood noodle soup. The description says fish ball, shrimp, calamari, tofu, spinach with flat noodles in thai red soup.
1. soup wasn’t red
2. no shrimp, tofu and spinach
3. they put in some pork wonton … to substitute what they were missing I guess?
4. soup was very, very, very sweet. Not what I was expecting.
5. Oh, delivery took more than an hour. I put in the order at 4:30pm on a Sunday! I didn’t get my food until almost 6pm.
No thanks!

I am writing as I dine. First impression is that it’s not what I’d call cozy. Not bad décor but a bit cold and hard. Also empty at 9:30 on a Wednesday night.
Second impression; wait staff is a bit green. I ordered a glass of Pinot Noir (included pointing to it on menu) and I got a glass of some kind of white wine.
Ordered Tom Kha soup and Pad Thai, basic Thai fare.
The food was decent, but nothing special.

Everywhere else was hella packed so our group ended up here after a night of clubbing in sf. I got to try the crispy chicken (good but a tad salty), soft shelled crab fried rice (very good, highly recommended), chicken fried fried (good), pad thai (ok) and tom yum (…no comment). Our group ordered several curries but I wasn’t in the mood for that. Service was good, very friendly waiters who kept refilling our waters.

One of the many late night munchie spots in North Beach, Ratcha is one of the better places. Very typical menu with usual finds at a Thai restaurant. Curries were pretty good and has that sobering kick you’re looking for. Restaurant is pretty clean considering the location. Service is a little inconsistent.

My out-​of-​town guest and I tried to hit up the Viet place across the street, but a group that walked in behind us got a table first because they had more people and spoke Vietnamese. Couldn’t the server see that I’m half Viet?
Anyways, we ended up here for our second Thai meal of the night. We were the only customers in the restaurant at first. Then, within about 10 minutes, the place was really packed. I guess that’s how it works at 2 a.m. when you’re this close to North Beach.
We ordered some spring rolls, I got Pad Lemongrass w/​pork and I can’t remember what my friend got. It was all ok, nothing great but certainly not bad. It definitely hits the spot and it’s open late, so check it out.

I ordered Thai food delivery for 10 people from here on Halloween and it was a hit. They delivered within 30 minutes and got our order right.
Everyone loved both the yellow curry and the pad thai. We got chicken, veggie and prawn entrees and everyone kept asking where I’d ordered the food from because it was so good.
We were also able to have more than enough food for $ 9 a person.

It’s the only Thai food within walking distance from my apartment in Chinatown, and sometimes a girl just needs a Thai ice tea 2:30am.
Good happy hour prices, pretty decent food. The fried tofu appetizer is good, and the curry isn’t too bad either. Although I was a little annoyed when the server tried to talk me out of getting «extra spicy» because «Thai people eat really spicy food and I probably wouldn’t like it…»
Don’t get a side of egg fried rice though. Not only is it super tiny, but it looks like a scoop of white rice with a few dashes of soy sauce on it.
Overall, not a bad place, but if I’m calling for delivery, I always go with Ozone Thai.

Came for: Thai food; shocker!
Come back for: Tom Yum Noodle Soup (many times over)
It was a few years ago that I first came here — when a co-​worker made me trek all the way here for lunch (before it was Ratcha Thai).
Well, I’ve learned since then that the trek was and is worth it for the one dish that I always get and can’t seem to get anywhere else; Tom Yum Noodle Soup!
Other places may have the Tom Yum Soup, but not necessarily the noodle soup. The thick (oh, probably made with oh-​so-​lots-​of-​goodness of coconut milk and meaty broths) with the perfect twist of tangy broth holds fish cakes, some other meats, fried wontons and el dente noodles warms up the tummy and body.
Although I can’t seem to be steered away from the same one dish, I’ve been told the other dishes are quite good.

Came here today for lunch around 12.30pm. Party of three. When we arrived there was probably two other tables full. The place is nice and spacious. A little bit dark.
There were two waiters. They were pretty nice; helpful but wasn’t annoying. Everything arrived pretty fast. They didn’t have that much customers considering that it was peak hours.
The food was pretty good. I was thoroughly full.

Love the Tom Yum noodle soup.
It’s pretty much the only thing I order here.
I liked this place when it was called Thai Chef too. Same place really with a new name.
Don’t know how much the kitchen changed.
I tend to think I spend a little too much for what you get, but we do enjoy it as a take-​out choice.
And my mother-​in-​law likes it too, so that’s a plus.
Service is normally fine. When we’ve been there, it’s usually not very full.

The food is good… service sucks. Food deserves 1 star. Relatively nice and clean area deserves another. That’s all I give you.
I’ve been here a few times, and I do like the food. Its not greasy (which is easy to do with Thai food). They need to fire all the staff and re-​hire. Seriously.
Story? Yes…
We ordered a ton of food from them. They came to our office, located all of…1 block away (cross the street, walk up a block, and there ya go). We gave them a decent tip, but not outrageous. The delivery boy looks at us, looks at the tip and says «don’t order from us again.» So we didn’t. Sucks for you, Ratcha.

This is one of those places that I have no idea what the food tastes like sober hahahahahaha… It opens late, so that’s a plus. The dishes are roughly around $ 10 – 11. Not the cheapest after club choice, but sure gives u a different option that danny’s Ihop phở or HK café food.
I usually get the soft shell crab fried rice, it’s very garlicy, and pretty good from what I remember. Again I tried everything when I was drunk so I am not sure how it tastes to sober people hahaha. Sometimes I get the red curry, it has a nice kick to it and tastes good w/​rice. My bf always orders the pad thai. A lot of us order the soft shell crab fried rice thing. That’s about all that I can remember hahahahaha.

The first time ever at any restaurants where we were served room temperature soup. Yes, you are not mistaken — I said room temperature.
Maybe there’s a reason why this place never drew us in. We thought this was the same Racha that was once in the tenderloin but it’s not — I realized afterward from the spelling and from asking the waitress. Anyway, we were with friends and one of them wasn’t feeling well and wanted some hot soup. I couldn’t think of a place for good hot and sour soup in CT. We walked by a couple Thai on Grant but passed but my friend wanted to give this place a try so we walked in — the place was empty around 7pm on a Saturday night… I’m not sure if we would have ever walked in.
The menu looks promising. A short but reasonable wine list. Ordered a bottle of Simi Chardonnay for $ 18, I think.
Food we ordered:
tom yung w/​seafood — like all Thai places, this was served in the silver pot with the heat canister. The waitress served out 4 bowls of soup — when we took our first sip, we all looked at one another. Finally, I said this is not even hot. We asked them to please heat it up to boiling piping hot for us. She asked if we wanted it microwaved. No, please put it back on the stove and heat it until it’s boiling hot. After 10 minutes, she returned and once again served the soup. It was unfortunately still just warm. We know returning it once more will not improve it and may risk having additional liquid added to our soup. Unfortunately, this was one item my friend had really wanted to help w/​her cold.
sauteed green bean w/​pork — tasty with garlicky sauce — beans were cooked right. this was likely the only dish that was close to being hot in temperature.
eggplant w/​tofu with basil — this was disappointing. the tofu was tough, so it’s either old or not cooked enough. the temperature of this dish, you guessed it — was just warm.
green curry chicken — it’s sweeter than we have had elsewhere and also lighter in texture. It’s ok, at least it was better than warm.
Maybe they are trying to save energy? Whatever the reason, there is no excuse for serving lukewarm soup and warm food. It’s not like they were busy. We were the only table there for 30 minutes and during our stay, there were but 3 other tables of 2s and 4s.
For the price, go try other Thai places around the neighborhood.

I can’t complain when every other restaurant in a 2 block radius had a line out the door and refused to seat us cause they close at 3:00 am (or it could be b/​c I was with a guy aptly named Stiffler). Oddly enough this place had open tables and graciously seated our drunk table of 7.
Van got some beef curry and I got the tom yum noodle soup. One friend got the appetizer platter which look very deep fried. Another friend, a former vegetarian, ordered the beef pad see you. Service was fast and they were pretty good at keeping our water glasses filled. The thai iced tea, while it looked delicious, didn’t taste right. I’m not sure how tasty the food was since my taste buds were completely shot on ultra strong drinks, but it all hit the spot and was a great way to end a night of dancing.

It was raining the whole day today and I didn’t want to leave the house. I went on Unilocal and decided to order in. I wanted Thai so Ratcha… you have been chosen.
Tried the delivery service. I ordered the chicken wings, the shrimp pad thai, and the mince pork with basil and garlic.
The chicken wings were ok. It was a little on the dryer side. The pad thai is not the best but it’s edible. The mince pork with brown rice is ok. They were punctual and the food is good but I wouldn’t crave for this place.

Food/​Quality:
The food here was just ok. I tried some of the fried items for appetizers: tofu, vegetable spring rolls, and wontons. They all arrived crispy and hot and came with tasty sauces. For my main course I had the red curry with beef. It included bamboo shoots and peppers. The meal was mediocre and I feel that I have had better Thai food at other places. I also ordered brown rice to go with my meal. I was so unimpressed with my food that I left still feeling hungry and needed to grab food elsewhere.
Atmosphere:
There were very few other diners in this place while I was here so it was very quiet.
Service:
Service was decent.
Value:
The price wasn’t bad for dinner for two with beer, but the food wasn’t as good as I hoped.
Overall, my dinner here was just ok. I am still willing to try it again in the future though.

I’m leaning at 3.5
I like this place, it’s the only Thai place that’s really close enough to work. It’s a good place for groups and I’ve been here a lot with my co-​workers even when it was the older owner/​under a different name. They have very accommodating service but their Pad Thai needs work. ³⁄₁₀ of my co-​workers ordered Pad Thai the other day including myself but only one of us got peanuts on top… I mean ahhhh how can you forget the peanuts!!! I know you put peanuts on all Pad Thais @ this place because we’ve been here before! Other than that, this place is pretty decent… aside from this one incident where my co-​worker found a rubber band in his soup… but that might’ve been the old owner.

A solid, pleasant oasis of calm, comfort, quiet, and sanity in a neighborhood that often goes completely berserk after midnight. Sure, there is some very good cheap hole in the wall food nearby where you will wait in a long line to slurp noodles and dissect whole fresh fish next to packs of ten or fifteen youngsters who just got out of a nightclub. Ratcha is more sedate, thoughtful, polite, and less crowded. Décor is standard but moody, atmospheric, well kept and clean for inexpensive sit-​down Thai. That makes it a more romantic date option.
The menu has most of the classics but tends to the curries and pan fries rather than the soups. It’s loungey enough but it is NOT one of the new breed of rock-​n-​roll noodle shops. My tom yum soup was tasty enough but frankly a little one-​dimensional, too heavy on the sweet and not enough depth. Maybe needs more fish sauce. Service was quick, staff very friendly and attentive. I know you can get young coconut various places but I really loved my coconut, you sip it out with a straw, then you get the meat out with a spoon. Half the fun is in eating it, it’s like the vegetarian drink version of dungeness crab.

There is a reason why I come here 3x a week. Ok, maybe I’m exaggerating a little bit, and really only come here twice a week. But nevertheless, this is one of my favorite casual places to dine in the neighborhood. Aside from reasonable prices and good eats, there are 3 things about this casual Thai place that are unique:
1) It’s never crowded, not even on weekends. It remains to be one of the hidden gems in the greater Chinatown/​North Beach areas.
2) It has a nice ambience, and you could actually take a date here given its nicely decorated/​clean interiors, and friendly service.
3) It is open late (3am) on Fri/​Sat nights and makes a great after hours place to sober up with all of your friends. Again, no wait, good service, and good food.
In addition, unlike most hole-​in-​the-​wall Thai places, Ratcha offers a wide selection of noodle/​rice plates, as well as curry and family style stir-​fly dishes. To date, I have tried a majority of the items on their menu and enjoy most of them. A few of my personal favorites: Pad Ma Keur, Pad Kee Mao, Raad Na, Salmon Mango Salad, Shaking Beef, Duck Curry, Panag Beef Curry, Combination Fried Rice.
Again, you can’t go wrong with many of what’s on the menu, although I would stay away from the Tom Yum soups. They are not as spicy, and lack the lemongrass flavor which is what I often crave for when I think of Tom Yum.

I stopped in Ratacha Thai after partying in the area Saturday. I usually end up at Thai Osha Noodle on Geary to end a night of partying in the city. But apparently I wasn’t THAT drunk that night (swear Thai Osha Noodle has a homing beacon for drunks that gets turned on after midnight.).
Anyway, Ratacha Thai did everything right. We were seated and ordering in two minutes. Cold appetizers came out cold and hot appetizers came out piping hot. Both soup noodle dishes ($ 6 for the beef noodle dish and $ 7 for the sea food noodle dish) we ordered were good sized portions and tasty.
Also, they didn’t charge me for hot tea. Not sure if they forgot or it was a gesture hospitality. I also was surprised by the presentation of the food. I was expecting to see a lot less.
The only thing missing from my late night Thai dining experience in the city is people carrying other people into the restaurant. Can’t dock any stars for this. This isn’t part of the entertain I should EXPECT to see.