Krua Siam

Although Garden Grove is known primarily for its endless collection of excellent Vietnamese restaurants, one can also find very good Thai (Thai Avenue) and Laotian-Thai (Vientiane Lao Thai) options within the city, as of 2025 including a new choice: Krua Siam. Unlike others that have built their reputations on regional Thai culinary niches, special pricing, or limited seating, Krua Siam is just a nice place with nice service and a nice, approachable menu. It’s probably never going to win an award for “best Thai restaurant in Orange County,” but it delivers the sort of thoroughly pleasant experience that will make people – including us – want to come back again.

Krua Siam’s oversized single-page menu is about the size of a placemat, laminated to present a small quantity of color photography along with largely English descriptions of almost exclusively Thai dishes. While a handful of starters cater to those needing cream cheese wontons or basic dumplings with their meal, most of the choices represent well-known Thai choices – satay, tom yum soup, spicy beef salad, six curries, pad Thai and other common noodles, seven fried rices, and a handful of “spicy” items ranging from eggplant to catfish, clams, or seafood. Across starters and entrees, dishes generally average around $17, with some fish and seafood items hitting $25 and some appetizers in the $10-$13 range; Northern-style specialties including Thai sausage, khao soi noodles, and larb are nestled among other choices for those who know to look for them.

Soft drinks, teas, beers, and wine are available; the three drinks we ordered (Thai iced tea, lemonade, and roselle/hibiscus juice) were all good, though a little overpriced at $6, given that Thai beers go for $7 each.