Thai Kitchen Restaurant — Restaurant in Lakewood

Phenomenal experience start to finish. Extraordinary dishes - start to finish. Our app was Crab Rangoon (made fresh by “K”) Crispy fried kani & cream cheese wontons, Served with sweet chili dipping sauce. Succulent. Out salad was Papaya Salad (Som Tum) Shredded green papaya, green beans, tomatoes, carrots, peanuts in exotic Thai spicy lime dressing. Quite refreshing and sneaky in being on the spicy side. It has a bite. Soups; we had 2; Thai Kitchen Tom Yum chicken - Hot and sour soup in coconut milk with mushrooms, cabbage, cilantro, green onions, lemongrass, sweet onions, tomatoes and lime juice. My favorite Thai soup ever. Also a Tom Kha chicken -Creamy coconut milk, lemongrass, galangal broth, mushrooms, cabbage, cilantro, green onions, sweet onions and lime juice. Light and tasty fresh. Our main courses (2). Fiery Pork Turmeric Curry (Thai Southern Curry) Spiciest Thai curry dish that Cleveland has to offer, this tantalizing curry is inspired by the authentic dish from the south of Thailand. Dried bird's eye chili, lemongrass, galangal, shrimp paste, Thai eggplants broccoli, cauliflower and bell pepper. The curry was so good - i would recommend notching it down a couple of spice levels. I love hot food, and this was almost too spicy for me to eat. It didn’t sacrifice flavor, but it had extreme heat.( Thai spicy). Also we had a Cashew King chicken- Sauteed with roasted cashew nuts, onions, green onions, pineapple, carrots, bell peppers, snow peas, broccoli, cauliflower in sweet chili jam sauce. A nice blend of spices with a medium heat. Plentiful cashew which is my measure of a good cashew chicken. We had two bubble teas. Watermelon and Honeydew. Perfection. Finally but not last. The highest point of our meal. A Sungkaya with sticky rice. A traditional Thai custard that has a delicious blend of egg, sugar, and coconut cream that is steamed. Pairing the custard with the warmth of the sticky rice gave it a buttery, salty and sweet combo. A knockout punch for sure. I want more. “K” an owner , came out and spoke about the dishes and we felt extremely lucky to have found Thai Kitchen today. Yum. I give this restaurant my highest of...

My wife and I went to the "original" Thai Kitchen at this location about 25 years ago. At that time it was owned by an elderly couple and, in spite of the decor, the food was excellent.

John and chef Kwan took over about 15 years ago (I'm guessing?) and they continued the excellent food tradition and improved on the decor with their expansion.

We probably at chef Kwan's well over 150 times over the years and were never disappointed.

When we were informed about the ownership and menu change we decided to try out the "new" Thai Kitchen.

We were not disappointed. There are several new items on the menu (the excellent dumpling appetizer comes to mind) as well as the "standards" of thai cuisine. There is NO dropoff in quality. We'll be regulars!

EDIT: 7/12/22

We returned with a party of 6 about 2 weeks after I wrote this review. The service was excellent and very friendly as it was the fist time, however, after reviewing my $118 bill (which included a total of 2 people dining in and a "to go" order), I've decided that approximately $40 per head for Thai food is on the pricey side (for what is mostly chopped vegetables and rather small portions of protein) and we probably won't be going back for quite a while.

On this return trip they had a sign in the restaurant recommending the papaya beef salad as an appetizer which I ordered. Unfortunately they did not put the price of the dish on the sign and I did not ask about the price.

When the appetizer came it consisted of 8 very small, thin strips of beef, a small bowl of sticky rice and a small bowl of shredded papaya (and maybe some other shredded vegetable?). While it was certainly tasty, we were all SHOCKED when we saw that it was $28 when our bill arrived.

Again, this is partially my fault for not asking the price, but $28 was WAY out of line for the size of this "recommended" appetizer.

The food is good, but in this horrible economy we are now on a hunt for a more reasonably priced Thai food alternative in Lakewood. Fortunately we found one less than a mile away....I won't review it until we go at...

I've been eating at Thai Kitchen consistently for the last 3 years. It's a small, family-run Thai restaurant on the Lakewood/Cleveland border. I'll admit, the BYOB aspect of this restaurant is what first lured me, but after sampling almost everything on the menu, I can say that Kwan is a fantastic chef that has a unique, down-home style that I truly appreciate.

I am very picky about my meats and over time I've found that the most dependable items on the menu are beef and pork (if you're non-vegetarian). The fresh rolls are always an excellent, clean beginning to a meal, and the shrimp tempura (although, as mentioned in another review, are not prepared from scratch) is always a good time. The beef salad is also a great way to kick off a meal (watch the heat level on this!).

Main courses? You can't go wrong with anything. The noodle dishes, soups, and curry dishes are all excellent. If you want to enhance your flavor experience, bump up the spice of any dish with the Thai scale of 1 to 10. 10 is the hottest on the menu, but the current record for heat is something like 93. (I'm not kidding!!).

Thai Kitchen is an intimate, casual, unique culinary treasure on Cleveland's west side. If you are looking for a completely sanitized, trendy, dualistic dining experience, you should avoid the Kitchen at all costs. If you are looking for an authentic Thai meal served in relaxed surroundings by a good family, this is the...