Similan Thai Restaurant

Really authentic and fresh and tasty. I loved that they served the meat with stick rice and Papaya salad .The salad and sticky rice is a common way of serving and eating food in Thailand ! We also orderedThe yellow and Panang curry which we loved also got the pad see ew and the shrimpPad Thai which was all very fresh and tasty !

I was craving Thai food to celebrate my birthday and my aunt found this place in Solana Beach! I've been to Solana Beach several times and I just learned about this area. It's around the corner of Cedros Avenue (Design District). To the left of the restaurant, there is a liquor store. The exterior of the restaurant is nice. A white paint-coated wall with their name and their brand symbol. It's cute and the choice of blue waves is simple but beautiful. As you walk in you're greeted with a warm toned lit space and dark wooden tables. The tables are nicely proportioned for parties of 2-4 (probably could do more with pushing tables together). They play soft music which is nice because it's more of a background thing and adds to the ambiance. The only thing is that they still have their Christmas decoration up and I think the space would look much more charming without it. Upon walking in the place we were greeted with a sign that said to wait to be seated. It didn't take long before a waitress came around and welcomed us in. The restaurant wasn't too busy because we got there around 7:30 pm. It's up to you to dress casually or a little more dressy. My aunt had some red wine and I ordered an iced Thai tea (they also have Thai iced coffee which is very yum, but quite late to order a coffee for me). The Thai tea wasn't overly sweet like in other places (some places use too much half n half). It was more tea strong, which I enjoyed. And the little ice nuggets were a great touch. They also brought out glasses of ice water for us. The colored glass it came in was stunning! I love the weight it had to the glass. For appetizers, sadly they don't have money bags anymore --- but we went with the chicken satay. And OMG! I highly recommend ordering this. It's quite lovely because they take it off the stick and slice it for you. And honestly, I think you get more chicken this way. The chicken was juicy and well-seasoned. The peanut sauce was light and so delicious. On the plate was a small bowl of pickled cucumber spirals that refreshed our palette. In addition to that, there were cute slices of bread. We took a little bit of everything on the plate and ate it in one bite. 10/10I will admit that I am a sucker for Pad Thai, the classic go-to for people in California. We asked for no chives, no crushed peanuts, and extra tamarind sauce! Some places underseason their Pad Thai, but not here! The noodles were super thin but they weren't overcooked. The sauce was well incorporated and we asked for it to be stir-fried with beef. The beef was so tender and flavorsome. I loved that there weren't too many add-ins (like fillers-- eggs and stuff like that). The main focus was the Pad Thai. Remember to give the plate a little mixing before eating so you can get all the bean sprouts well incorporated. We also asked for some lime because it gives extra moisture to the dish. 10/10Then we also ordered a Green Curry with Fried Tofu. They have this as a medium spice but put in a note to make it a little less spicy (toward mild). I've never had green curry before, but my aunt usually orders this so I went with her recommendation. I think this is a new favorite of mine!! So long, panang curry!~ It included: eggplant, bamboo shoots (not a raw veggie, this is the texture it's supposed to have), bell peppers, and Thai basil. Well, I will admit there was a bit of heat to this curry but having it with the white rice helped lower the oomph of the heat. The flavor...can't describe it but it was light and unlike any curry I've tasted. The green curry was not too salty and the Thai basil was very fragrant in it. I loved the bell peppers as well. 9/10 I am a slow eater and to my surprise, I overheard that the kitchen was closing in 10 minutes!! I was freaking out inside because I thought I was too late to order dessert. Luckily our sweet waitress remembered I wanted to see the dessert menu and said they could prepare the dessert for us. I went with the Banana Delights because who doesn't like fried bananas? It was fried in a puff pastry-- so flaky and puffy. Hot banana inside-- reminding me of the fried banana I had in VN. So good!! I liked that the banana wasn't sweetened. It is served with a berry cream sauce and we also had a serving of coconut ice cream. The hot dessert paired with the ice cream was heavenly! My aunt and I were celebrating my birthday and so they came out with a candle in the ice cream and sang Happy Birthday to me. It was a kind gesture and a lovely surprise. There were only 4 pieces of the dessert on the plate and just to tell you how good it was-- I would pay them extra for a brown baggie filled with them. Just pop them in my mouth and eat it. 12/10!! The service was very satisfactory. The waitress and waiter were both accommodating, friendly, and fun! When we asked for extra bowls of the pickled veggies they brought more. They even gave us bigger plates to eat in so we could share the main dishes.

Nice restaurant kind of small food was good but little disappointed by the chicken basil stirfry with vegetables there was literally 3 thin pieces of chicken in my dish.The flavor was good, but very disappointing on the protein !After spending $120 I don't think I'll be coming back .Service was good. The people were nice.

Impressive restaurant. Was looking for a restaurant in the area and came across this one. We were about 15 minutes early before it opened at 5pm for dinner. So were drove around the area and returned just in time when it opened. The artistic designs inside the restaurant is beautiful and unique. We ordered the following Appetizer:*Coconut Crusted ShrimpWtih assorted vegetables fritter, tamarind and sweet-chili saucesSoup*Tom KhaLight coconut broth, galangal,napa cabbage, and mushroom.Our entrees:*Pad ThaiPan-fried thin rice noodles, egg,bean sprouts, tofu, Chinese chives, and crushed peanuts with added tofu*Pad Khee Mao NoodlesWide rice noodles with chili-garlic paste, egg, bell pepper, Chinese broccoli and basil with added chicken For dessert :*Mango Sticky RiceFresh mango served with sweet sticky rice and toasted sesame seedsFrom the shrimp, the soup to the entrees all were wonderful, flavorful and delicious. I enjoyed every bite. Of course we had an abundance of leftovers but all consumed at home. Lol Our server was Tan and he was awesome. He was attentive, kind and personable. Definitely recommend this place! Look forward to returning and exploring the Solana Beach area.

interior was nice, i could tell that there was a lot of effort put into the decor and the vibes on the inside. It didn't take long for us to get seated (took longer to find parking tbh) We got the chicken satay (6.5/10), jasmine tea (5/10 overbrewed), the pad thai (8/10), and the thai basil (9/10). The thai basil definitely took the cake because it was packed with veggies and a good time! The servers were attentive and doing a good job of checking in with things. Overall, would give an 7/10 for price and how the food compared!

After our trip to Seaworld in July, we found ourselves craving Thai cuisine. We looked up Yelp and found Similan as a top-rated Thai restaurant in Solana Beach.We noticed right away the warm hospitality of the staff. The venue gave an authentic Thai ambiance, with chosen furniture and decor.The food did not disappoint. We ordered fried rice, ground chicken wraps and green curry. The spices elevated the flavors of every dish.We found the pricing to be remarkably reasonable considering the generous portions served.

Stopped in for lunch and was pleasantly surprised by how tasty the meal was! Perfectly plated, portions, taste, such a reasonably priced meal! Highly recommend for authentic thai

We have driven by here for years and finally decided to try it out. Quaint, clean and Thai decorated restaurant. In a very understated location.Great panang curry, one of the best I've ever had! I love fish curry and asked if they could make it with their white fish filet...they did and it was AWESOME!Thick, creamy, medium spice and full of vegetables. Comes with rice. Super filling and the flavors were amazing.We also got the miso steamed fish with vegetables. Very unique Asian soup with a light shitake mushroom flavor.Thank you for great service Ahn!PS - wonderful fried spring rolls.

We tried this restaurant before a concert at The Sound. We had the salmon green curry and the pad see ew with chicken. The curry was relatively mild since we went with the default medium spicy. It was chock full of veggies and the salmon was cooked very well. It was delicious. The pad see ew seemed freshly done as opposed to some places with wads of noodles. It was full of Chinese broccoli and was very tasty. The service was attentive. We would return here again, but next time order with a bit more spice.

Pad Thai! Best I've had in a decade! I used to go to this place in Oklahoma where a thai couple made the best ... since they moved back to Thailand 10 years ago I've been on the hunt and this is the first time I've found someone with a similar style of cooking the dish.