Siam Thai Eatery Chicago — Restaurant in Chicago

Visited on a Friday night and, as expected, there was a bit of a wait (about 30 minutes). The restaurant has a self-check-in kiosk and will text you when your table is ready. While waiting, you can browse the menu online so you know what to order when you get seated.

The decor is thoughtfully designed, with a warm ambiance. Service was good overall. My only complaint is that our appetizer (the Siam Platter) came out after the main dishes.

We ordered the Siam Platter, Crab Curry, and Chicken Pad Thai.

Siam Platter: 3/5 The platter was okay overall. The standout was the money bag dumplings, delicious and definitely worth ordering on their own. The rest of the platter was overly greasy. The chive cake and triangle fried dough were especially oily. I ened up reheating them at home in the air fryer to get some of the grease off. The chicken satay was decent but lacked depth of flavor. I’d recommend skipping the platter and just going for the money bags.

Crab Curry: 4.5/5 Rich, flavorful, and worth a try. The curry had great depth, and the flavors really came through. My only complaints were that I wish there was more curry sauce, and the crab meat had a slight crunch, possibly a bit of shell or sand? Still, a fantastic dish overall.

Chicken Pad Thai: 4/5 A solid, classic option. It came with spice, peanuts, and bean sprouts on the side so you can customize to your taste. Great choice if you’re in the mood for a comforting,...

Thai restaurant operated by Chinese. The Chinese wait staff are not very good (messed up our order, never checked in to see if we need anything, and were unapologetic for the mistake). There were a couple of Thai waitstaff, who were much nicer and accommodating (willing to actually do their job with pride). I’m not trying to discriminate, just being honest…this place has potential but the management needs to learn about customer service.

Food - pad thai and basil beef were pretty good, the tomahawk shortrib curry (which is one of the signatures in their original new york location) was so poorly cooked, the meat was like dry rubber. We had to send it back…sad given its one of their most expensive entrees and short rib should be tender and falling off the bone. They also completely forgot our appetizer and brought out the entrees first…so we never got to try the zapp wings. No apologies, nothing done to make up for it. Papaya salad was nothing special, no spice to it at all. Use some more chillis!

Overall, if they are going to use the name and recipes form a well established NYC Thai restaurant, they should spend some more time training there. This would not cut it in NY or any other city with proper Thai food. They have an opportunity to be one of the best Thai restaurants in Chicago (since sadly we don’t have a strong Thai food scene in Chicago), but they seem to not...

I found out about the restaurant via Instagram. I was a little apprehensive going inside because restaurant ads on social media can be deceiving or disappointing, but Siam Thai was a pleasant surprise. The service, the atmosphere, and the food were all pretty good.

I have no idea why some of the reviews felt the need to bring up the staff/ chefs’ ethnicities. I’ve never had to consider that when deciding whether or not I found a restaurant as good quality. Is it the most authentic Thai food I’ve ever had? No. But were the options I chose delicious? Yes. The tiger cry steak, papaya salad, and the coconut soup were all flavorful (just wish there was more heat). They’ve got a large enough menu where I had a hard time choosing what to order for each course.

The restaurant is still fairly new so they don’t have their liquor license yet, but the nonalcoholic choices were all so good I honestly didn’t feel like I was missing out on the alcohol.

The vibe kind of reminded me of White Lotus on hbo in the sense of being kind of tropical/ resort/ aesthetic. Which I liked personally.

I’m planning on coming back in the next few months and trying a bunch of new...