Nara Thai Kitchen

If you haven’t lived or traveled much outside of Orange County, you might take for granted the area’s incredible array of culinary options representing every conceivable price point – for example, it’s possible to find Vietnamese restaurants offering everything from budget to mid-ranged to luxury experiences within a 15- or 20-minute drive of one another. The story is somewhat different with Thai food: There are countless mid-ranged options locally with some offering slightly better value than others, as well as some budget-ish places, but few if any true luxury Thai experiences. Nara Thai Kitchen is trying to change that. From its social media presence to its menu and dining room, Nara pitches itself as a place for “romance and exquisite Thai cuisine,” spotlighting its modern plating, dim-lit “date night” ambience, and “luxurious and comforable” environment.

Normally, that preface might serve as a setup for a contrary conclusion: “sorry, no.” But in Nara’s case, we found it to be at least partially justified. On review sites, the biggest knocks against the restaurant have been its pricing, which is a step above Chiang Rai, Hanuman, and Manaao – perhaps 50% or more what one would pay for a similar meal at Kanok Thai Bistro – and its somewhat Americanized, “fusion” approach to certain menu items. There’s also an unpleasant little 4% surcharge on all bills paid by credit card, which “is clearly noted on our menu and our website.” But if you can put these issues aside, there’s much to be said for the quality of ingredients and strong flavors in Nara’s recipes, as well as its plating and overall presentation, which while imperfect convey a completely different vibe than visiting, say, Vientiane Lao Thai. Literally every dish we tried here was very good, though anyone insisting on traditional Thai authenticity could buzzkill any of them with nitpicks.

Selecting appetizers from a compact collection of nine “smalls and sharing” options, we were thoroughly pleased with a smoky Moo Ping ($16), four ultra-tender, not particularly fatty, garlic/cilantro-marinated pork skewers served in a two-tier presentation bowl with a soy-fish sauce dip, and a Thai Style Fried Chicken ($17), commonly known as Hat Yai-style, with four golden-breaded wing pieces, a salad, and a sweet chili dipping sauce. Gently salted, tender inside, and crispy outside, the medium-sized wings had all the flavor and texture we’d hoped for – plus no residual oil – though a small portion of fried shallots were hidden under an included bed of salad, discovered just a little too late to enjoy together.

We picked three entrees from a short list of 16 total “mains” and “curries” options, finding each delicious, though sometimes with small caveats. A substantial portion of smoky Pad See Ew wide egg noodles arrived with thin-sliced chicken and nice stems of wok-charred broccoli ($28); there were no issues here. Thick Green Curry with tiger shrimp ($30) was perhaps the best-tasting version of this dish we’ve found locally, with a thick, intensely flavored curry that was not as spicy as suggested by our server (nor offered, in local Thai restaurant fashion, at variable spice levels). But there were too few ingredients in Nara’s beautiful, large bowl besides sauce, sliced bamboo shoots, and three admittedly colossal shrimp; we wound up sopping up almost all of the curry with included jasmine rice. Last was a Nam Tok spicy lime beef salad with filet mignon ($39), effectively a miniature steak citrus marinated, pre-sliced, grilled, and served on a bed of greens. The flavors and protein quality were great, but the price was quite high by Thai beef salad standards.