Royal Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Tampa

Living here in Tampa/St Pete area since 2000 and I've tried about 50% of Thai restaurants here in the area and given up on it. Yes some are decent with a few good dish here and there but not all under one roof. Pad Thai is usually drowned out in sauce and Massasman Curry are way too sweet and Americanized and the focus is on money making sushi.

You won't find any sushi here and my first thought was this was a terrible location for weekend diners with only airport traffics helping them to survive on the weekday. I tried the food Friday night since the boat noodle looks very legitimate. I also had grilled pork with a side of sticky rice, and one order of pad see ew and one order of Pad Thai. Didn't take any picture since my expectation was very low.

The boat noodle, grilled pork and pad see ew was great but I still like the Pad Thai at Ken's Sushi and Bistro better since it's flavorful without drowning in sauce. Had a chat(in Thai language) with the owner/server/cashier to confirm that she is really Thai and she said she had a restaurant in Los Angeles, CA and just open this restaurant in August of this year. She recommended more dishes to try and I was back for Sunday lunch.

Again I expected little crowd arriving at noon but while we were eating, more Thai and Vietnamese clienteles arrived. I just want them to have enough business to stay open on Sunday for lunch.

We had some fried pork for appetizer, duck noodle soup, drunken noodles, and a rice dish with crispy pork, roast pork and duck. You can't go wrong with any of the pan stir fry noodle dishes. The drunken noodles arrives hot with a nice wok flavor. The charred tomatoes was a nice touch. The pork protein used are not the lean pork loin that most place used that looks like chicken breast meat more than pork. All the porks used here seems to come from the pork butt or pork belly which are more flavorful and not dry and lean.

The crispy pork has a nice crispy skin and not salty or gamey and she said that's made in house. The duck noodle soup base looks similar to the boat noodle soup base but a different flavor. It's flavorful without being heavy in taste.

Since we cook at home with high quality ingredients, we really appreciate restaurant that takes pride in their ingredients and flavorful cooking without trying to hide mediocre ingredients behind lots of sauces. This place is a winner and finally after 24 years in this area and given up on Thai foods in general, we...

My boss treated me for work lunch at the Royal Thai restaurant this past Monday. Being a foodie himself, he tends to be fairly on point when it comes to judging restaurants. But also beggars cant be choosers - can't really complain about a free meal especially when it was at the Royal Thai restaurant.

It had been a hot minute (probably going on a year) since I dined at a Thai restaurant (exempting my experience at the Wat Mongkolratanaram). I am very temperate when it comes to Thai food considering that it's more on the sweet side relative to other Asian cuisines. And usually, my last Thai meal will determine the amount of time before I start craving Thai food again. With that being said, I am probably going to go for Thai again in the next week, if not, definitely within the month after having Royal Thai.

Royal Thai sits along Hillsborough Ave (580) on the westbound side headed to the airport. It really blends in with the cluster of buildings of the Airport Industrial Park Plaza, so it can be easy to miss. There is plenty of parking within the spacious plaza lot.

While not the biggest restaurant (perhaps a dozen tables at most), it seemed capable of accomodating large parties of 10 at most. Walking in during lunch, I was surprised to find that almost all the tables were occupied with diners. If that was not a testament to either an extremely loyal fanbase or great food, then the steady stream of patrons during our entire time there definitely speaks to how legit this place is.

I ordered the Thai Papaya salad at Level 4 and Pad See Ew with Beef at Level 3 (5 spice levels). The papaya salad was refreshing - the peanuts and dried shrimp gave it that extra crunchy textures that complimented the papaya nicely. It was a bit on the sweeter side but great nonetheless (if you're into spicy food, get this at a Level 5). The Pad See Ew was also delicious. The flat noodles were cooked to perfection. It was not overcooked to where it stuck to each other or was mushy. Interestingly, at Level 3, the Pad See Eww had a bit of a kick to it.

Overall great Thai food. Come visit Royal Thai and you will not be...

This restaurant located on busy road of Hillsborough avenue in Tampa (down the road from Pinchasers bowling) is by far one of the best Thai cuisines I've ever had. I am very acquainted with Thai cuisine for 12 years where my past boyfriend's mother was a phenomenal cook. I had chicken Larb which is ground chicken immersed in aromatic and flavorful dressing decorated with red onions, ground toasted rice , etc and served with jasmine rice. My husband had Pad see Ew with chicken : fat rice noodles tossed in signature sauces like oyster sauce and soy sauce , etc. I almost felt like it was made on hibachi grill with that fresh grill taste, but just to give you an idea of the experience . It was the best I've ever had as I sneakily kept stealing off his plate! lol... Lastly, one of my favorites my son has was beef noodle soup (Guitao) and the other enjoy Red Curry which was really filling. We topped it off with Thai donuts , which was a hefty amount. For 4 of us it was 96 with tip. Staff was very nice and accommodating. There was a wait as it is a Friday , but after tasting the cuisine, I understand why. You can watch the planes take flight off the runway with Tampa airport directly across. Parking is abundant; honestly I think they are going to have to get a bigger restaurant because it was incredibly good! Glad to spread the word . Thanks for...