Sanamluang Cuisine — Restaurant in Claremont

My parents and I ate at Sanamluang this evening, and I can only highly recommend this place to anyone!

For appetizers, we had Chicken Satay, Braised Short Ribs, and Thai Beef Jerky (which is not jerky in the traditional sense, obviously, and which is instead I guess closer to something like candied tri-tip, maybe, with some crispness and admitted toughness, but which is accompanied by a spicy chili-sauce).

Then, we had Som Tam (which is a papaya salad served with chopped vegetables and little dried baby-shrimp). Along with that we had three main entrees:

a) Emperor's Noodle (Thick, flat egg noodles with choice of protein (we agreed on chicken, shrimp, and squid), with a healthy covering of think gravy (I don't know exactly what it is, but it's savory, quite viscous, and the same kind they use on Rand Nah, if you're familiar with Thai food));

b) Roast Duck over Rice (which happens to come with a delicious black sauce chock full of wonderfully spicy (I wouldn't hazard to guess the scoville units, but I'd say it's probably midway between a Jalapeño and an Habañero) peppers);

c) Panang Curry with Shrimp and Chicken (a coconut-based curry in which is slowly simmered your choice of protein, and accompanied by bite-sized red, green, and yellow peppers and green beans, which is best poured over rice).

For dessert, we had Mango over Sticky Rice: A perfectly ripe and juicy third of a mango, pre-chopped and layered delicately next to a warm pile of sticky-rice, sweetened with sugar and drizzled with condensed milk before being sprinkled with pebble-sized bits of fried rice (it's like if Rice Krispies were somehow turned into fresh chicharrones). Pure heaven!

For those interested in the cost, the total amount of the bill (including tax) was $142.84, and it was so much food that the three of us only got through about two-thirds of it (and one of the best things about Thai food is that it reheats extremely well (in fact, I find that if you order Cha-Po (which is a delectable combination of BBQ pork, BBQ duck, and fried pork-belly, served over rice and with two sauces - plum for the duck, and a soy-vinegar-chili concoction for the duck, both of which are utterly delectable), it actually tastes better the next day (protip: don't overcook it, or it will be dry; I'd recommend 45-second bursts; no more than a minute - the fat in that pork-belly crisps quick,, lol)))). Also, this includes one Thai iced tea (with boba) and three Thai iced coffees (without; I had two and my dad had one).

The service was prompt, courteous, and attentive, and the time between ordering and food delivery was impressively small. Parking, however, is a challenge (not that it's any way the fault of the restaurant), because for some reason you can't park in the Western Optometry lot even though it's obviously closed and which would greatly alleviate the situation... nonetheless, I can attest that it's definitely worth the wait - plus, their take-out business is pretty brisk, so people are coming and going all the time.

Chapter II: A Full Cost-Benefit Analysis of This Meal Considering the overall ramifications of these comestibles... you actually thought I was gonna do it for a second there, didn't you? Don't lie.

Point-being, if you live within an hour of this place, you should eat here. I don't know what that is in Michelin-Star rating, but in meta.jpg-rating, it's freakin' awesome. 5/5 freakin' awesomes, if that kind of objective representation of ultimately subjective data guides your decision-making process.

Thank you, and good night.

P.S. I apologize for the disheveled quality of the photo; it has been cropped from a family picture one of the wait-staff (it wasn't even our server, they're all so nice) took, and doesn't reflect the superior plating by...

Here is my humble and honest review on this gem, and yes although I gave it a fair three stars it doesn’t mean I don’t see its value, because I do!

But here are my issues with this place.

One the cutlery, the cups and the plates are appalling. The clear cups have this water residue on them making them look disgusting and dirty, the water isn’t even filtered it’s straight up tap water, can we get with filtering out water? There’s serious health issues with tap water…the cutlery is dirty like all the time because they’re so busy they don’t inspect it sadly so if possible ask for plastic utencils I promise I’m not making it up,to give you perspective we did see across out table another couple cleaning their table ware with napkins because theirs was dirty as well. Lastly their plates almost every plate is broken from a corner or chipped…it’s pretty bad, thus the minus one star.

Now if you thought I was done on the cleanliness portion, I’m sorry to say that it’s not. The table we were sat on smelled like a dirty rag was used to clean it and to finish it there was fresh black hair stuck to the table from whatever they used to clean it. I think it’s fair to say that cleanliness says a lot about how a kitchen where food is being cooked is going to look, and to be totally honest my trust is not in it, but I was feeling “adventurous” so what the heck, lol.

Okay now on to their food, I’ve had their spicy beef salad (amazing), they use a fire cooked short beef rib meat that is just amazing, it’s actually char most of the time and it’s big and hearty and oh so savory!

The chicken fried rice is a joke when speaking of the chicken, the chicken has freezer burns and is dryer than sand! It’s awful, but the rice it’s self is subtle and savory we love it so we decided to opt the meat and just get it with egg, we also don’t like it soggy so we do no tomatoes or onions and stick with just green onion. It’s great! We love it!

Their won ton soup is also yummy nothing I can really say other than they have two sizes and so it’s perfect!

They have extremely savory crispy pork short ribs that just make you want more because their so tiny and delicious but it’s an appetizer so it’s expected but still so savory and delicious!

Oh don’t let me forget about their pad see yew (might have spelled that wrong oops!) it’s amazing! They actually kill this dish because it has authentic Chinese broccoli which I really appreciate it’s amazing as well!

Their service is okay, the waiters always seems nice definitely overwhelmed but nice over all, on both occasions I’ve asked for to go cups for our drinks because of what I had mentioned and both times they forgot to bring it so not to on point with the service but def on the accuracy of food, spot on so yay I guess.

Bathrooms are not so great, not kept up with as one would hope but what can you expect, cleanliness isn’t to great a priority it seems so no I won’t use their restrooms….minus one star.

Pricing is moderately fair for portion so no problem here.

Last why I took another star off, waiting is ridiculous! And parking is a night mare.

So yeah, that’s pretty much what my experience has been and although the food is enjoyable, because it is. I now bring my water canine with me and ask for plastic utencils so yes you’ll enjoy the food but caution it’s at your own risk, lol. Jk, if you’re a clean freak or have great attention to detail it might feel like a tough pill to swallow but I encourage you to try the food anyway. It’s surprisingly...

I swore I have already wrote a review on this place, but I guess not. I have been going to this authentic Thai Cuisine since 2013, when they were at their owls location. Their food is always spot on, and their staff has always been nice. They must have done something right for them to move to another location, 2 or 3 times their original location furnished with great seating and awesome decor. Too bad people can only experience togo at this time due to COVID-19, but they have made changes to make it safe for their customers. They have installed plexiglass by the registers and have different social distances spacing when you are picking up or ordering togo. One other thing to note, is that they will text you when your order is ready. This is extremely useful as it does take some time for your order to be ready. Keep note that every time I ordered, it seems to be at least a minimum of 40 min wait.

Food Although I have tried many things on their menu throughout the years, I’m gonna list the ones I ordered this time. Papaya Salad - always really good, they always put this in an extra bag in case the juice was to leak out. I’ve had it spicy or no spicy, never disappoints. Pad Thai Tofu- really enjoy their pad Thai here regardless of what protein you want to put. The noodles and sauce, is always consistent with the bean sprouts, peanut toppings worth the side of lime. Spicy Mint Leaf Fried Rice - one of my favorites at the place! It’s just enough spicy that you want more each time, but not too spicy where you need to stop. To make this dish even tastier, they add half a salty egg to go with it. Delish!

One thing to know, is that you can request things in your order, like not having something included, no msg, etc.

Again, if you want Thai food and you live around the area, give this place a try. Food is always on point (although it takes a while, but worth the wait), and they are very generous on their portions. The added COVID -19 measures makes me feel safer to...