Lanna Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Saint Paul

Visited 02/29/2024: 4/5- Very nice restaurant, superb service & great food. You're in Thailand when you walk inside. Flavors are authentic but lighter aromatically than your your typical Thai. Most prominent flavor is sourness. Five spice levels: 1-mild to 5-Thai spicy. Their Thai spicy is a typical medium spice level. Owner checked in and we had a pleasant conversation about the food (she informed about the spice level and appreciated the comments- that was nice when owners/ managers visit the tables). Definitely check it out- will be back for sure.

First time here so I ordered a few dishes:

Beef Laab 3/5 (spice 5/5): Very tender sliced beef, proportioned vegetable/herbs to meat, and generously portioned. First several bites were great but over time it was very sour. Could have used more fish sauce, rice powder, and chili peppers to my liking and less sourness. Nonetheless, worthy dish. Som Tom Papaya Salad 3/5 (spice 5/5): Very Thai! Perfect texture and portion. Great if you love sour papaya but after a few bites, the sourness was very prominent. Comes with sticky Rice! Still a great Thai dish. Thai Chicken Wings w/ Cilantro lime dipping sauce 3/5: Perfectly cooked- Crispy and hot! Awesome appetizer for sure. Three sauce is supposed to be a chili lime sauce but it was a tangy cilantro lime/ vinegar sauce. Not bad but would prefer nam jim. Still good though. Nam Ngiao 4/5 (spice 5/5): Very decent curry soup. This dish is great because it doesn't have coconut or evaporated milk like typical curries. The spice was very mild but I loved the meat texture, the diced blood & generous broth and herbs. Could have been more pungent with aromatics but a lovely dish. Pork Spring Rolls 5/5: Excellent spring rolls. The noodles, vegt/herbs and meat was proportionate and that's hard to find! Favorite selection of the day. The dipping sauce was very sweet though. Shrimp Tom Yum Soup 4/5 (spice 5/5): Very delicious bowl of soup. Had only 2 lg shrimps but they were perfectly cooked. Very flavorful and tangy. Would have preferred a touch of fish sauce and a more aromatic kick of spices and lemongrass. However, 2nd best...

Still dreaming about that Khao soi!

The first thing I noticed about Lanna Thai was how they transformed the space into a restaurant that is cheerful, bright, and CLEAN!

I pretty much LOVED every dish I tried here. the 1) Avocado Crab rolls were super tasty with chucks of crab meat and avocado that paired well with the homemade sweet/sour chili sauce. Appreciate that this dish was freshly made with the rolls and sauce from scratch, compared with the frozen generic egg rolls and hyper-colored fake sauce you find at other restaurants.

My favorite was the 2) Khao soi. Amazingly flavorful curry sauce with a generous portion of freshly made egg noodles. The chicken was lean, cooked to order, and was delicious with the sauce. I've had other khao soi's and this one is definitely one to try.

Lastly I was daring and tried something I've never seen at other Thai restaurants in the Twin Cities- the 3) Nam Ngiao. Yum yum yum! So glad I did because the broth was deeply flavorful of tomato, miso, and pork with tender chunks of slow-cooked meat. I was afraid it was going to be super heavy but the fresh bean sprouts, rice noodles, and all the garnishments made this dish surprisingly refreshing.

I'll be coming back here for sure! My husband's vegan and I saw many dishes that he would love. Shout out to the new owners and friendly staff. Thanks for taking care of me! I wish you all the best and success on this...

I had a solid experience here yesterday from the food to the service. The portions, pricing and quality of the food was super reasonable and the service was very attentive. I ordered the chicken satay for my meal and the mango sticky rice for dessert since it was in season.

The chicken satay was seasoned well and super tender. It was piping hot, but I couldn’t resist biting into it once it arrived since it smelled so good. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was seasoned with but it reminded me of similar spices I have tasted in Indian cuisine. The peanut curry sauce and the sweet pickled cucumbers it came with were amazing too. Honestly, the peanut curry sauce was so good you could drink it.

The mango sticky rice was a great way to end the meal. I've never had it before, but I really enjoyed it. The warm sticky rice was comforting, and I really loved the subtle nuttiness from the sweet coconut milk sauce. I would’ve happily taken a cup of that coconut milk sauce to go. The mangos were tender as well. I did find them to be lacking just a bit in flavor but we're also in Minnesota so I'm not expecting top tier mango quality.

This was the first time I have had authentic Thai food and it definitely won't be my last. I added this restaurant to my favorites list, and I will definitely be back to explore more of the menu...