Siam Central Thai & Sushi Kitchen

As fans of LA’s famously delicious and expansive Thai restaurant Jitlada, we were hugely excited to learn that Siam Central Thai Kitchen – a restaurant from Jitlada’s former owners – had opened in Mission Viejo. After a generally positive write-up from the Orange County Register, we went right over to check it out for ourselves, but unfortunately discovered that there wasn’t a lot to love about the place.

To clear this up: Jitlada became famous for its chef-owners after Siam Central’s team left, so there’s really no link between the restaurants today. And the only item we had that approached Jitlada levels of presentation or flavor were the pork ribs, which as seen above were gorgeous, meaty, and nicely garnished, though not especially tender.

That dish aside, we were pretty underwhelmed by the flavors of most everything we tried here. Despite hype over their sator bean seafood entree, which vaguely matched its reputation for being “stinky,” the only reason to order that dish was its novelty; the garlicky, spicy bean can’t be found elsewhere in Orange County, most likely because it’s not particularly compelling in texture.