This is a fantastic taste, anytime. Excellent tasting dishes beautifully decorated and served with a smile. Thom Kha was excellent, fresh spring rolls are always a favorite. Eggplant basil dish was out of this world.

My dad and brother both love Thai food, so we took them there for dinner on Father's Day. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea because it ended up being busy, although we were the first large group there.

The food was wonderful. We started with crab rangoons, and they actually have real crab meat in them. I had panang curry, probably about the best I've ever had. I asked for a medium spice level, and I thought it was perfect. It had a kick without being overwhelming. My brother is a huge fan of the drunken noodles. My dad got the mango curry. Everyone else got some variety of fried rice, and they were all happy.

The only complaint really was that half of us got our food and then some no insignificant number of minutes later, everyone else got theirs. But overall, we all thought it was great. I'm sure I'll be back in future visits.

This place is a hidden gem. It’s in a strip mall away from the street so you cannot really see it as you drive. The place is not crowded and the food is good. The price is reasonable and the quantity great. This place has a nice ambience. There was only one server but she was very efficient, extremely courteous and helpful. We were large party and she was not overwhelmed inspite of being the only one to serve.

Love the ginger tea and fresh spring rolls yellow curry delicious

Bua Thai is one of my FAVORITE Thai restaurants in SD!! Their menu is very expansive with many super traditional dishes. Everything is made from scratch including many of their seasonings and sauces. You can taste the authenticity in every dish because the chef takes so much pride in her cooking.

Worth the drive from anywhere in the county to have great Thai food! Curry is really well made with just right spices. Now I see why they have such high reviews. Service also is outstanding!

I don't know if I just got unlucky or what because this place has good reviews but I ordered chicken pad Thai 10/10 spicy and it was completely tasteless and dry. The noodles were so dry and stuck together I had to add water and reheat them, and even then it was barely edible. The mango sticky rice was good at least..

When the food is terrible it trumps everything else. I’ve bought food here afew times and the last two times I gave them a benefit of doubt but it seems their food is not fresh and has slept afew days.

Pad Thai is hard to chew and the meat is even worse.

For the premium price of $18 a plate for pad Thai, you’d think someone will put in a little effort.

I do not recommend this place, at least if you are looking to enjoy a meal.

What a find! The food was spectacular and the presentation beautiful.

very good and calming atmosphere.

Love the ginger tea and fresh spring rolls yellow curry delicious

Great place for Thai food. The service is always amazing. They have the best chicken larb wings. This place is definitely a gem.

Never again. Ever. Don't waste your time go somewhere else.

When the food is terrible it trumps everything else. I’ve bought food here afew times and the last two times I gave them a benefit of doubt but it seems their food is not fresh and has slept afew days.

Pad Thai is hard to chew and the meat is even worse.

For the premium price of $18 a plate for pad Thai, you’d think someone will put in a little effort.

I do not recommend this place, at least if you are looking to enjoy a meal.

This is a fantastic taste, anytime. Excellent tasting dishes beautifully decorated and served with a smile. Thom Kha was excellent, fresh spring rolls are always a favorite. Eggplant basil dish was out of this world.

Food basically tasted like fast food.

Food was excellent. They were very busy tonight, and they were running to keep everyone taken care of. Highly recommend!

I don't know if I just got unlucky or what because this place has good reviews but I ordered chicken pad Thai 10/10 spicy and it was completely tasteless and dry. The noodles were so dry and stuck together I had to add water and reheat them, and even then it was barely edible. The mango sticky rice was good at least..

Food was delicious and made well. Excellent customer service. Restaurant is clean and beautiful interior design. I work in Poway and this will be my go to Thai restaurant. The Tora milk tea was soo good.

Delicious food with a friendly family atmosphere. Bua Thai does fantastic Dine in and Take out and has wonderful music to accompany the Mouth watering food. Thoroughly reccomend their Pad Thai, especially the stuff with the Glass noodles.

Food is always immaculate, the people are friendly, the vibe is ambient. Every dish I've had here is superb.

The drunken noodles were flavorful and the massaman curry was also delicious, but the papaya salad can taste better. The spicy level 10 isn't really spicy at all here.

+ Update: their tom kah is a bit more on the watery side than creamy and the chicken tasted wild. Get shrimps instead for protein.

Excellent Thai Food Restaurant!
Ordered Panang Curry and Fresh Rolls

I recently visited Bua Thai and found it to be quite mediocre. The atmosphere was average, and the decor felt a bit outdated. I ordered the Pad Thai, but it was overly salty and lacked the balance of flavors I expected. The curry was surprisingly bland as well. While the service was decent, nothing stood out to make the experience memorable. Overall, Bua Thai didn’t leave a lasting impression, and I’m unlikely to return when there are better Thai options nearby.

I love their chicken satay!

My dad and brother both love Thai food, so we took them there for dinner on Father's Day. Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea because it ended up being busy, although we were the first large group there.

The food was wonderful. We started with crab rangoons, and they actually have real crab meat in them. I had panang curry, probably about the best I've ever had. I asked for a medium spice level, and I thought it was perfect. It had a kick without being overwhelming. My brother is a huge fan of the drunken noodles. My dad got the mango curry. Everyone else got some variety of fried rice, and they were all happy.

The only complaint really was that half of us got our food and then some no insignificant number of minutes later, everyone else got theirs. But overall, we all thought it was great. I'm sure I'll be back in future visits.

Went on a weekday around 12.30 PM. There was no wait. The service took time though. We ordered from the lunch menu hoping it would be faster but the waitress lost our order and came after 15 mins to take it down again.

Very nice and polite employee

Really great Thai food with several gluten free options. Menu clearly shows (GF) next to almost half the dishes. Service was great too.

Sap Sap

very good food ...Happy the original owner is back..the crying Tiger is cooked perfectly...and the shrimps were Awesome and this is their thai tea and ginger tea with the crying Tiger..Yumm !!!👍👍👍

Really great food. We ordered takeout from here for the first time and we loved it. We’ll definitely be getting food here again! They were friendly when we picked up too!

Extremely delicious!

Delicious Thai food offered by very hospitable owners and staff. 👍👍

Absolutely delicious!

Has mums kitchen kinda vibes!!Had non greasy, fresh and mouth watering thai food.Every dish was delicious 🤤 and staff/owners were very sweet & welcoming! Mandate shoutout for this hidden 💎!

Excellent food, even better service. I didn’t know I was part dragon until I breathed fire from a pepper sample lol. Great job guys!

Delicious, looking for great Thai food in Poway, this is your spot! 😄

This place is a hidden gem. It’s in a strip mall away from the street so you cannot really see it as you drive. The place is not crowded and the food is good. The price is reasonable and the quantity great. This place has a nice ambience. There was only one server but she was very efficient, extremely courteous and helpful. We were large party and she was not overwhelmed inspite of being the only one to serve.

Very tasty Thai food at a fairly reasonable price.

Was pretty good.

The food itself is really good, but they consistently mess up orders. I'm a vegetarian and ordered the vegetarian dumpling soup twice, and both times they've brought out the meat version. The first time they fixed things and brought out the correct dish, and I ended up giving the meat dumplings to a non-vegetarian friend of mine to avoid wasting them. However, the second time was significantly worse. They once again agreed to bring out the correct ones, left us waiting for about twenty minutes for them, got them to go, and when we got home, this batch was also ALL meat. To add insult to injury, they said they'd comp us the item, but when I checked the receipt, I was still charged full price for them. It's the first time I've gotten bad enough service at a restaurant to leave a bad review.

Solid place for your Thai food cravings! Everything we ordered – quality, taste, portion – was amazing, and the service here is great. Would recommend.

Pad Thai was wonderful!

Stopped by here for lunch on a Saturday and was seated promptly. They have lunch specials that come with daily soup and salad. We ordered some chicken satay and a lunch special (I got pad thai). Chicken satay pieces were huge and tasty. Portions for lunch entree were also decent. Overall a great thai place in the area.

I used to love this place. The food was amazing. The prices went up and the portions went down. I had the panang curry. It wasn't very good at all. There was almost no veggies in it at all. Like a few little pieces.

Es la primera vez que vamis a este lugar, la comida está muy buena y el servicio bien

The best restaurant , clean, excellent service

Some of the best drunken noodles in San Diego! The tom kha was fragrant and delicious as well.

First time here with my adult daughter. She had the Drunken Noodles with mock meat (spice level 10) and I had the Tom Kha soup (not spicy). We both had the soup and it was delicious! My daughter enjoyed her noodles, but said it wasn't spicy enough. People might look at her and think "Oh, she can't handle a true 10” but she likes it SPICY! The server did bring the plate with all the pots of extra spicy stuff which my daughter used. The portions were very generous! We will definitely go out of our way to go here again! Highly recommend!

Great food, great prices and nice staff!

Horrible Horrible Horrible service. I just tried to call and order some food to go and the lady who answered the phone is so so so rude and hung up on me twice and all i was trying to do just order a few dishes to pick up. She got so mad for no reason hung up. I tried to call again to ask her name and who the manager was and she said “i am the manager, my name is NO”. Omg! what a horrible horrible customer service! why is this place even running. I will be reporting this to Better Business Bureau!!! This is not acceptable!!! I will never ever order form this place again! Insane!!!

Good flavors and appropriate spice level. Fresh shrimp rolls are large but not overly flavorful. Fried chicken spring rolls were tasty. Both the pad see ew. And pad woo sen were very good, however the chicken was overcooked and dry. I’d suggest pork or beef instead- those were cooked perfectly. Curry was delicious but the portions are small (very small) so be aware of that when ordering. The other portion sizes were generous.
I’d order from here again without hesitation.

their drunken noodle was soooo good. i got the yellow curry and it was good too but ive had better. but the drunken noodle my partner got was DELISH

Some of the best Pad Se Ew and Panang Curry ever, So good!!! Friendly staff. 10/10

Worth the drive from anywhere in the county to have great Thai food! Curry is really well made with just right spices. Now I see why they have such high reviews. Service also is outstanding!

Good local Thai restaurant, fresh food with good flavor. Good service,
too!

I usually like Thai food but the preparation at this place is a bit different. Food was ok ok. Chicken satay probably should be renamed here. It’s way different than other places.

The Drunken Noodle is excellent!! Very friendly service as well!!

Nice Thai food. Good service

🤮 thai chicken was supper rubbery and every thing just tasted off

Very fresh and delicious! The service was fast and polite.

Fresh simple Thai food. Friendly service just a nice hole in the wall. Definitely recommend.

Highly recommend this place. The food is great. Good Thai iced tea, big fresh tofu spring rolls with tasty sauces. The chicken satay is very good and great size portion. The pad Thai is pretty good along with the panang curry.

All the dishes we ordered are pretty good! I recommend their coconut ice cream

This great little Thai place was recommended by lovely friends of mine (Joyce&Jim) and I love it. House salad comes with fried tofu and the Tom Kha is very tasty and filling but just a heads up…I got spice level 5 on 1-10 scale and thought it might be too high but got a small chili paste in case and with chili paste I still could’ve gone up a notch or two on spice level. Lovely, clean, quaint and courteous, friendly service.

The food and service here were absolutely amazing!!!! Can't wait to go back!

I've had food delivered for work. Decent vegan options.

This place is very good. Clean, recently remodeled, and the food is excelente. They have a lunch special during the week w soup and salad. Love their veggie delight and their noodle dishes.

Amazing Thai food and Great people!

This is my comfort Thai food place! I find myself coming back here all the time!

The coconut soup (Tom Kha Gai) rocks, and the presentation was great…but the Crying Tiger tiger was tough and not in traditional marinated strips; Its dipping sauce wasn’t the traditional spicy lime (nam chin chaeo) but tasted like bottled hoisin sauce. Really a disappointment:( will try again! Hope to give it five stars

Ideal place for a quiet dinner. Happy hour beers are very reasonably priced and nice portions for the duck entrees. Newcomers to Thai; a six on the spice scale is around jalapenos

Tried this place for the first time last Saturday.
Food was excellent. Had the yellow curry, drunken noodles with chicken, and crab cheese wontons. Everything was very good. Wontons were the most flavorful I think I've ever had anywhere.
Service was great, prices were quite reasonable. Interior is nice, simple, clean.
Would have been an easy five stars, but the portions are just a tad small for the cost. This will not at all stop us from going back.
Highly recommended.

Great Thai food. Lots of food options available, good variety that clearly calls out vegan/gluten free dietary accommodations. The service is very helpful in adjusting menu items to the level of spicy preferred.

Very pleased with the recommendations, service and food.

Fantastic experience. If you want great Thai with some style then look no further. Awesome food and excellent staff!!!

Bua Thai is one of my FAVORITE Thai restaurants in SD!! Their menu is very expansive with many super traditional dishes. Everything is made from scratch including many of their seasonings and sauces. You can taste the authenticity in every dish because the chef takes so much pride in her cooking.

Very good plates are large enough to share. Everything was tasty and plated so nicely. The calamari appetizer was a hit! Service was great. Will be going back!

Spicy food but very good 👍

Great place tucked away at the back of a shopping center. Amazing food and great spice level. We had 3 dishes and loved all of them our new favorite Thai food!!! Also don't get too full before dessert or you will miss out on an amazing dish.

Good sticky mango rice.

Delicious Thai food with a wide ranging options to order. Very vegetarian friendly with tofu and fake meat options. Highly recommend for a chill weekday meal or even a weekend one if you're looking for a semi-fancy dinner.

Great food and service! The duck is delicious!

Food was absolutely fantastic. I definitely will be back again. Red curry (if you are into curry) was probably the best I've had.

DELICIOSO! Aroi mak mak!

This is typical Asian food for westerners, it's not bad but not authentic. Most westerners will give it a good rank, but I bet the real Thai won't. Remember, it won't be authentic once the menu is English only.

Placed an order online and used Paypal. The site gave me a time for pick up, 40 minutes. When I arrived, the lady told me that they didnt start the order because they dont accept Paypal. Well if you dont accept Paypal then why is it available to use as payment?? She didnt offer any discount or anything because of their issue, just to pay there and they would start the order. I ended up having to cancel the Paypal payment and wasting so much time waiting, then the dumb explanation of their Paypal issue.

Do yourself a favor and get Thai food down the same strip mall at Thai Ladle. They were cheaper, had my food ready in 10 minutes and the food was great.

I had dinner there last week and I was so happy to find such a great Thai restaurant in Poway--I didn't know it was there because it's kind of hidden around the corner of the shopping area. I ordered steamed dumplings and red curry and they both were delicious! I will definitely return.

This place was so great. The food is both beautiful and delicious. I ordered dried tofu and mango curry. The tofu was fried perfectly and was served with a dipping sauce. The curry was so flavorful I couldn't stop eating it. Sometimes chicken can get overcooked and chewy in curries, but it was very tender and flavorful here. Check them out!

Bua Thai is a quaint Thai restaurant tucked into a strip mall in Poway. Don't let the location fool you though, you walk on and the resteraunt is beautiful inside. My daughter and I shared the drunken noodles with beef and the crab fried rice and it was so good! You can order your dishes on a spice range of mild to hot (1 through 10). We got midway at 5 and it had just enough kick but not so much you burnt your taste buds. The drunken noodles were long and thin, perfect to soak up the tasty sauce and it was loaded with fresh carrots and plenty of thinly sliced beef. The crab fried rice, oh that rice. I have never had anything like it before. A large plate piled high with perfectly delicate fried rice and tons of real crab. They have something for everyone from noodle and rice dishes to soups and appetizers and even dessert. Plate prices range but are well worth the cost and each plate has plenty to share. I would suggest getting a few items, bringing some friends and checking Bua Thai out. The staff is wonderful, there were only two employees helping that we saw but they were super friendly, very helpful and on the bal with everything. The food and drinks came out hot and pretty quickly. For sure check them out! Can't wait to go back!

They were very crowded. The food was tasty.

This place is pretty small. But they have a few large tables that if you go with a big group you can sit at. It is rather easy to find.
I went with the drunken noodles with beef spice level five. I felt like the noodles were really spicy for level five but it wasn't like that spice where you couldn't eat it. It was still very flavorful. I kept having to drink allot of water but still wanted to eat more!
The meat was nice and tender and chewy.
I had picked up yellow curry for my coworker too since she wanted Thai food and shes said it was very good. I saw her lunch portion and it's a pretty big portion for being lunch.
Definitely going to be recommending this Thai place for all my coworkers now!

I also got their coconut Thai coffee and yummy! I usually get Thai iced tea but this was something I haven’t seen on a menu before so I tried it and was not disappointed!!

Food was really great!
Papaya salad was fantastic 🔥

Family had three delicious meals. Will be back to try some of the other dishes. Recommend the Pad Thai or Yellow Curry.

The pad see ew was amazing, but the wait for it to arrive was very long, though the restaurant was mostly empty. Definitely worth stopping by and sampling if you're in the area, but perhaps not the place to go if you're in a hurry.

Sour potato in Massaman ribeye.

Best Pad Thai in San Diego. Super flavorful and properly spicy when requested. My prior favorite spot closed but this is even better than pattaya was. Curry is excellent as well. 8 spicy was equivalent to a medium at koon Thai. I suggest sticking to 5 spicy or less unless you really like spicy. I can taste the fresh Thai chilies.

Love this place! This is our families go to Thai restaurant in customer service is great and we have never had a bad meal. Everything is delicious!

I love this place. I recently found it on uber eats and the food was amazing. Pumpkin curry is one of the better ones I’ve tried and perfectly spicy!

This place is consistently good!

Amazing food ❤️

Pad thai is decent

Great food at affordable prices. We love the Thai Fried Rice and the Chicken Satay.

Requested medium (5 out if 10). Love hot food but was being cautious. It was almost inedible due to heat. Be warned.

I’ve lived in Poway for three decades now and have tried many Thai restaurants in Poway but somehow missed this one when it’s the closest to where I live!

I ordered crab fried rice, duck pad see ew, and curry puff chicken on line. Not many places make crab fried rice so I had to try it. My go to for a new place is to try the pad Thai but this time I went with Pad see ew. For a protein, I was excited to see duck as an option.

The app said pick up in 30mins so when I got there my order was ready at the front door. Dine in options is closed at this place and only available for take out.

The containers were carefully lined in foil to keep the dish moist and from leaking.

The crab fried rice was average but it had lots of broken crab pieces. I got this as a level one and it was not spicy at all. I got the pad see ew with no spice and it was sweet. The duck was a great amount not stingy like most places. It was juicy not dry. Thai dishes tend to be sweet if not spicy. Still very good. The curry puff was delicious. Again, this was sweet. It came with a vinegar dipping sauce but I didn’t use it.

The portions were generous where I had left overs the next day. Looking forward to try other dishes.

Very flavorful food. The noodles and the rice are overcooked, but the spices were perfectly blended. This was the first time ordering and I would like to try it one more time to see if they regularly overcook the noodles and rice.

If you are looking for authentic Thai at very reasonable prices, look no further than this place. There Penang curry is next level delicious!! Definitely a lot of vegetarian friendly options, if that is what you’re interested in. I am so glad I found a quality neighborhood Thai restaurant!

Great Pad Thai and fried rice!

I work in Rancho Penasquitos and would rather drive to Bua Thai for my lunch, than eat at the Thai place near my work. It's that good!

Friendly team and good pricing. I love their lunch special, I come about once a week to pick up my phone orders. Thanks guys

One of the best Thai restaurants in San Diego! Their Spicy Fried Rice and Drunken Noodles are my personal favorites. They have vegetarian\vegan options for people like me. Their spice levels are very true to taste. Try out their lunch menu, which is served with soup, salad and a spring roll! :)

Good food good service, what more do you need! 5 stars.

A world apart in Thai food

Outstanding food and service. Loved it

My family and I went here for my birthday and we really enjoyed everything that we ordered. Best Thai place that I've been to so far. Our server, Mona, was very friendly, kept on checking if we were okay and if we needed anything, very attentive and didn't have to wait for a long time for our food to be served. Customer service, food portions and price are all 💯!

Awesome green curry!

Best Thai food I've had since I was in Thailand. This is very authentic Thai food

Delicious food and great service.
I had Simple yet tasty chicken fried rice

Great real family owned restaurant! Best Thai food we had in the area. The staff is great and good keeps you just speechless!

Great food and good prices

Great food in large servings
Srrvive was top notch

Stumbled onto this place and I'm glad I did! Super friendly staff, clean establishment, and aesthetics is much nicer than a lot of Thai Restaurants I've been too. It's a little tucked away as they're in the back of the shopping center but not a big deal. Got the chicken Pad Thai, mango sticky rice, and the black chai tea all of which were delicious. Highly recommend as I'll definitely be back!!

I had lunch here today, and ate the Pra Ram with tofu. It was so good, so nicely prepared and delicious! They even brought me a small salad and cup of soup before my meal. Unexpected, and so good! Also, the service here was so friendly and caring. If you're looking for a good Thai restaurant in Poway, this is it!

Fried rice and pad thai are the best I have ate so far in San Diego. A lot of people eating here for a reason.

One of my favorite Thai spots to go! Service is ok, but food is awesome.

Very similar to Bangkok food

This little place was extremely good. I was very surprised and it seems like a hidden gem. We got a couple different Curry’s. The shrimp was so good and yellow curry was so food! The dumplings were also really good.

This restaurant is a hidden gem, tucked in the corner of the Big Lots shopping center on Poway Road. The service was excellent, the food was very good and the establishment very clean. I ordered wine with dinner, but it was warm, like really warm. In the future I will skip the wine and go for tea or Thai beer. We had the Tom Kha soup with shrimp, which was very good and savory. I had the Crying Tiger, from the Chef's Menu and the steak was tender and flavorful. Overall, a very good experience.

Best yellow curry.

Great food, authentic tastes, excellent vegetarian options.

1st time there ~ Really enjoyed the Food, Service, & the great Peanut sauce for the Spring Rolls ~ They were Large one's & Very Tasty ~ ~ ~
Hot Rod 🌴

Great food for a great price. The food is much better than many Thai places that are more expensive.

If I have a choice of giving more than 5 stars I would definitely do it. I ordered all vegetarian dishes for 20 people. Panang curry with white rice,green curry,fried rice with vegetables spicy noodles with vegetables ,fresh spring rolls and soft tofu. Every single dish was so delicious. All my guests asked the name of the Restaurant. On top of that they delivered right on time and ready to serve. It was really amazing. I would definitely recommend to try all these wonderful preparations there.

My favorite place for Thai food. Love the duck salad and pad thai.

Pad Thai was perfect, Tom Yam was not so good.

Our favorite Thai food in Poway!

Really liked the drunken noodles

服務好，但食物有點甜。

Wonderful experience. Staff was friendly. Food was delicious. Great place for a quick lunch.

I've been twice now, the first time my food was very good (had the crying tiger) very good, then chicken panang, chicken was old and dry. Bummer. I might give a 3rd chance, hopefully the old dry chicken was a outlier occurrence. Pro tip, don't look at the ceiling...

My favorite spot.

The panang curry was delicious!

Awesome food!

My husband and I were running errands around this area and he wanted Thai for lunch so we decided to try this place.
Let me just say that I found my new favorite Thai restaurant and will definitely be back.
The restaurant is clean (bonus: they don't have the disgusting table cloth kept under a clear glass that never gets changed).

Staff was super friendly and sweet, a little on the slower side, but given there is only 2 wait staff, I wouldn't fault them for it.

I discovered Tom Yum noodle soup on a recent trip to Portland and have been on a search for this same dish in SD. The dish at Bua Thai was amazing! The portion was very large, I "allowed" my husband to help me finish. There was plenty of protein (4 large shrimps and some shrimp meatballs), plenty of noodles and veggies; the soup was flavor and spicy enough for my liking (spicy level 8).
My husband ordered spicy noodles with chicken, and he stated it was one of the best he's had in SD.
We are already making plans to go back soon and I can't wait!

Excellent service and great food. We ordered the panang curry and it was delicious. Staff is very friendly and professional. Prices are reasonable. The rice portions are kind of small, so we ordered two extra. Overall great experience.

Great food, and awesome staff

Loved 'Hawaian Pineapple Veg fried rice'. Was so yumm that we went again next day to have some more!! Cant wait to go to San Diego again to have it again!

Great food, friendly staffs. The decorations and lighting are pleasant.