Kao Sook

This place is great! Awesome lunch specials and great and quick service. Food is very good

The food is fabulous. I have yet to take anyone here who didn’t love it.
The service is an absolute delight. Will, the owner, knows me by name, always gives me an enthusiastic welcome, and prides himself on learning by heart the special dietary needs and preferences of us regulars.
All the waitstaff are sweethearts and immensely helpful and attentive. My friends and I are seriously treated like rock stars at this place — it’s the perfect place to go to bring a long, exhausting day to a spicy, refreshing end that nourishes my joy along with my body.

It’s all about the green curry and the lunch specials here.
My bandmates are all about spicy food, and love to challenge each other to see who can eat the spiciest food possible.
This place will bring on the spicy hot if you ask them.
Me, I’m weak. Give me mild and watch me laugh at my bandmates as they sweat it out to battle for who can eat the hottest dish.
I’m a fan of their green curry here, as well as their satay.
My bandmates love the complimentary coconut soup that comes with lunch, so that’ also a plus here.
The service is great here. Friendly staff that always seems to know our band when we’re here, and is always on top of refilling water.
Best Thai place in Scotts Valley hands down!

Found two hairs on food. Female waitress always in bad mood and attitude. The food is good so we came back and accepted the service from the lady. Now with the hairs, no way we are coming back

Curries are good, the coconut soup appetizer (lunch) is a nice touch. Be sure to ask for brown rice (if you like that). The white rice served is a short grain variety and was slightly over cooked. The brown rice was much better.

Great service, tasty food. Lunch is a good deal there. Best Thai restaurant in the Scotts Vally and Santa Cruz area.

really happy to find somewhere worth eating in Scotts Valley
The lunch combo special is terrific and a great deal, dinner is a little more expensive but you get quite a bit more food.
Always perfect and the staff is great, cant wait to go back.

Delicious fresh spring roles. The chicken skewers were moist and the peanut sauce was heavenly. We had to the mango tilapia and BBQ pork was phenomenal.

Scotts Valley is a waste land for foodies. Kaosook is an exception. Delicious food and fantastic wine choices !

This place is great. The service is quick and polite and the prices are pretty fair. While waiting for my red curry to arrive I was treated to a bowl of house coconut soup; it was a nice surprise for the low low price of free and was delicious! My food arrived promptly and was great! The curry was a little less spicy than I prefer, but the abundance of large chunks of pork more than made up for that. This place serves perfect portions and doesn’t skimp on proteins in their meals. Good place for a quick and filling tai lunch!

Really wonderfully nice service and the food is very tasty. My only complaint is I ordered the prawn salad for $ 9 the portion size was about half what I would have though. For that cost I expected a full size salad, this was more like a side salad portion. They don’t even need to add more prawns, but more lettuce/​veggies at least!

My first time at Kao Sook and it did not disappoint. The modest place seats ~50 people and for late evening dinner it place had a steady stream of customers. I enjoyed my yellow curry with added shrimp (12.) Next time I’ll try their seafood, they had a good selection. It’s a good value and the taste was nice and the owner was very attentive.

I was greeted by a baby cockroach on my place mat as the waitress attempted to place my curry dish on the table. It was a failed attempt because she spilled it on my keys and wallet.
Food wise… curry should never be the consistency of water.

Loved it. So happy to find this place on our trip to Santa Cruz. Eggplant Delight was delicious. We will be back

Stopped here on the way to roaring camp. The food was very tasty the prices were reasonable. My group had the Pad Thai, Moo Yang, Chicken Sa-​Tay and I had the Kang Pa-​Nang. Generous portions fir there $ 6.9−5 lunch items.

Food was great. No complaints there. Service was also friendly. However on the middle of our meal a roach decided he wanted some of our soup so he made himself at home at our table
Being that we aren’t fussy ppl and were really hungry, we pointed out the roach to our servers for THEIR best interest, since it is their kitchen that is infested.
We decided to finish our meal because we had just walked here from home and every thing else was closing anyway. Maybe we should have reacted more harshly because for some reason we still were expected to pay for the bill. Even left a tip because they were friendly after all, however the fact that we were made to pay to eat dinner with a cock roach was very displeasing. I personally will not be returning.

Amazing food! I wish I could give them 4.5 stars. I haven’t tried anything here that I do not love. Even my 4 year old looks forward to coming here. Some of our favorites: chicken satay, spring rolls, tom kha soup, pad thai, pra ram chicken, and green curry.
The only complaint I have is that twice now I have been seated closer to the kitchen where the wood divider is, and I have been blasted in the face with the overwhelming smell of bleach. Its so bad (and why during dinner time?) that it overtakes the taste of food. Avoid that area if you can. If that smell went away, they would be 5 stars all the way.

I ordered a Thai tea with no ice and they filled it up barely three quarters of the way full. Stingy much? Correct me if I’m wrong, but when I order a drink from a restaurant regardless of whether it has ice in it or not I expected to be filled all the way

Best Thai food in the area. I love Thai & not only is this one of my favorite Thai places, it’s actually one of my favorite restaurants.
Staff is all really nice & food is great!

Kao Sook is by far my fave Thai place in Santa Cruz County.
The city of Santa Cruz itself is definitely lacking in varying Asian cuisines (Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese – don’t you dare tell me there are «Chinese» restaurants here – there aren’t!). But it seems to get Thai food right. There seems to be a Thai restaurant on every corner!
But I digress. I’ve had their curry, noodle, and rice dishes, in addition to their appetizers, and I’ve never been disappointed. I think that their specialty is their dry food dishes, especially when it comes to rice. (Tip: This seems to be true as they only have a FEW soup options.)
Also, please ignore other reviewers’ complaints about it being bland. One IMPORTANT caveat to note is that they cook spicy dishes to suit the tastes of their average clientele in Scotts Valley/​Santa Cruz area. Most people here aren’t used to really hot, chili dishes (of which the Thai are FAMOUS for) so Kao Sook tends to downgrade it for the average customer. If you want muy caliente (like I do) please let them know before hand and they will cook it hot! I made friends with the waitress and she promised to make my red curry «extra spicy» and she didn’t disappoint. She told me they tend to cook spicy dishes on the low or medium end, so take the initiative and let them know your preferences! Overall, this bit of advice applies to most Asian restaurants in the SC area, so don’t be afraid to speak up.
Parking tip: Kao Sook is located in the Safeway plaza on Mt. Hermon Road.