Brian Nagele
Salt Lake City is both the capital of Utah and its largest metropolis.
It’s surrounded by natural beauty, its mountains and lakes home to protected trails and picnic spots.
However, within the man-made confines of the city, there’s plenty to do.
Salt Lake City’s many museums, parks, and theaters are as refined and eclectic as any major U.S. city.
The brewery and restaurant scene are as diverse and burgeoning as Salt Lake City’s cosmopolitan population.
Utah may be the wild west, but there are many eastern culinary traditions represented in Salt Lake City’s restaurant selection.
I went looking for the best Thai restaurants in Salt Lake City and found some amazing options you can explore below.
Sawadee Thai Restaurant
754 E S Temple St ST, Salt Lake City, UT 84102
Phone: 801-328-8424
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Winner of City Weekly’s Best of Utah Award for more than a decade, Sawadee Thai Restaurant is another longstanding downtown haunt for authentic Thai food.
A large cooking staff of Thai natives serves family-style dishes in a refined, industrial-chic setting with lovely Buddhist statues.
They have my favorite papaya salad in town, with shredded green papaya, green beans, tomatoes, peanuts, garlic, tomatoes, lime juice, and lettuce.
Their sticky rice is delicious, made with coconut milk for a rich, savory, and slightly sweet flavor.
My favorite noodle dish is the Pad See Ewe, wide rice noodles stir-fried with beef, broccoli, and egg in a sweet soy sauce.
Skewered Thai
575 700 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84102
Phone: 801-364-1144
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Teetering between Central City and Liberty Wells, a few blocks from Liberty Park, Skewered Thai is a quaint and clean Thai eatery.
The exposed brick walls in the bright and cheerful dining space have authentic Thai paintings, making for an authentic atmosphere to enjoy an authentic Thai meal.
The multi-course menu offers large dishes that serve between two and four guests, so when you go with friends, you’ll be eating family-style.
If you go alone, you’ll have some tasty leftovers!
I was especially impressed by their authentic spring rolls, cut in half to reveal a rainbow of fresh veggies with a sweet peanut hoisin sauce.
Chanon Thai Café
278 E 900 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Phone: 801-532-1177
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Chanon Thai Café is a local family-owned favorite with over 20 years in downtown Salt Lake City.
The humble yet cozy dining space serves award-winning authentic Thai dishes from every region.
Their take-out service is quick and friendly, and their staff treats everyone like family for their bustling dine-in service.
City Weekly awarded Chanon Thai Café Best of Utah for their menu and Best Dish for their Larb Tofu.
The Larb Tofu is a cold tofu salad with shredded, deep-fried tofu, green onions, garlic, cilantro, mint, and toasted rice powder with lime juice, spicy Thai chili, and salt. It’s an award-winning dish, in my opinion, too.
Kao Thai
3011 E 3300 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84109
Phone: 385-202-7257
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Located in Canyon Rim, a few blocks from Canyon Rim Park, Kao Thai is an upscale Thai bistro owned by two Thai natives and seasoned restaurant owners.
They serve a traditional menu of Thai dishes with minimalist yet artistic plating.
The owners also use their experience working in the U.S. to create various fusion dishes.
The menu has traditional starters, soups, salads, noodles, rice, and curry, with a few special fusion dishes in each section.
I loved their take on ceviche, using Thai flavors like Thai chili and mango to mix into the seafood, cilantro, and onions.
They served the ceviche with fried wontons instead of tortilla chips.
Mano Thai Diner
41 W 3300 S, South Salt Lake, UT 84115
Phone: 801-485-1209
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Mano Thai Diner is a fast-casual Thai restaurant with a drive-through window for take-out orders.
Located in South Salt Lake, Mano Thai Diner is casual and family-friendly, with fair pricing and hearty portions for lunch and dinner.
Their lunch specials are unbeatable, offering combinations of two main dishes for under 11 dollars.
I always have a hard time eating by myself at Thai restaurants because it’s so hard to choose just one dish.
I was happy to see the combination lunch offer, so I could get both a spicy and sour Tom Yum soup and my favorite green curry with chicken, coconut milk, peas, bamboo shoots, and Thai basil over white rice.
My Thai Asian Cuisine
1425 S 300 W, Salt Lake City, UT 84115
Phone: 801-505-4999
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Owned by Thai native and talented Head Chef Dee Benson, My Thai Asian Cuisine is a casual, family-friendly Thai restaurant in People’s Freeway.
Chef Benson is the epitome of the American dream, coming to the U.S. in the 70s from Thailand and working her way up from IHOP line cook to college graduate to catering for the U.S. Consulate.
Her home-cooked dishes use the recipes she grew up eating and cooking with her mother.
I thought My Thai Asian Cuisine had the most comforting Thai soul food.
I liked that you got the option to add curry sauce to your fried rice.
I added red curry and basil to my shrimp fried rice with eggs, onions, tomatoes, carrots, and green onion.
Tuk Tuk’s
2222 W 3500 S b7, West Valley City, UT 84119
Phone: 385-227-8347
Located in the neighboring town of West Valley City, Tuk Tuk’s is a trendy Thai restaurant in a fashionably designed space with comfortable booths and modern light fixtures.
They serve authentic Thai street food favorites along with a creative drink menu using imported tropical fruits from Thailand. They are a family-owned restaurant.
I loved the colorful presentation of each dish.
For instance, they served their pineapple fried rice in a hollowed-out pineapple.
I ordered an utterly refreshing lychee lemonade to accompany a meal of drunken noodles, known as Pad Kee Mao, that was certainly spicy enough to cure any hangover.
Thani Bowl Noodle House
365 W 400 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Phone: 385-528-3939
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Thani Bowl Noodle House is an intimate and cozy noodle house in Rio Grande overlooking Pioneer Park.
They serve comforting bowls and dishes of common street food from every region in Thailand and beyond.
They use simple, high-quality ingredients in their affordable dishes that are large enough to get your fill and have some for the next day’s lunch.
They had clever names for traditional dishes, like “designated driver’ for their drunken noodles.
I went for the Goldie Locks, a comforting hybrid between stir-fry and soup, traditionally known as Lad Naa, a veggie and noodle stir fry with beef in a thick, soupy sauce.
Laan Na Thai
336 W 300 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84101
Phone: 801-363-2717
On the opposite end of Pioneer Park from Thani Bowl Noodle House lies Laan Na Thai, a fast-casual counter-service Thai eatery.
The order counter has a glass partition revealing a buffet of stewed curries and noodles.
There’s a small outdoor patio and counter seating lining the walls of Laan Na Thai, but they’re predominantly a take-out establishment.
They’ve received the highest Yelp rating of all the options on my list and have the lowest prices in town.
They’ve got my favorite Pad Thai noodles with a sweet and spicy soy sauce, Choy, bean sprouts, and pickled daikon with your choice of protein.
