Amphawa - San Francisco

Came here on a Saturday for lunch with some of my friends. The place is pretty small, and it took a while to get our food. I was feeling hungrier than usual, so I ordered 2 entrees: a Pad Thai and a Kao Ka-Prow Moo Krob (Crispy pork belly with chili, onions, bell peppers, and fresh basil with rice). The pork belly was very crispy and delicious, and the Pad Thai was pretty good too. Definitely going to come here again if I'm in the area.

We stumbled across this tiny but delicious Thai eatery while riding a bus to Golden Gate Patk. Ed knew that Geary Street in the Richmond was famous for great world cuisine offerings and Boom! We hit the spot! She had her favorite Pad Se-Ew which was not very exciting to look at but more importantly one if the best I ever had . I tried the Hot Sour Shrimp Soup and I 'm glad I did. Broth was super spicy, ie very flavorful but not killer hot.

Haven 't seen our friend Aur for... what, 2 years??? Can 't believe that. Girl, we saw this (a different) Thai place, when we were out for dinner Saturday. What do you think? She says, mm maybe. But do you want real Thai food? This place is better. Ok. We 're in. Meet up, 6 of us 3 kids. 2 of em 96% plugged into phone gaming. Whatever. At least they 're quiet. Aur does all the ordering. And DAMN .... That was the right decision. Mmm mmm mmm. Started with seriously refined looking chix sate w little saucer of peanut sauce. Now I 've had hundreds ok. Something special about this one: cut of chicken cook ultra tender. P 'nut sauce.. mm that 's better balance than I 've had. And a barely an afterthought little cuke red onion salad. Made a la minute. And I mean like 10 seconds before it was served to us. Ok. Ok. Next up: a sushi crepe with piped gelled sauce topping. Hmm, interesting. Like 6 pieces interesting for me. Hey, the rest of em are chatting. Or playing Roblox. Son, I KNOW why I came here. Next a sliced roasted spicy sausage. Good kick. Did a couple of after the fact coughs. Yeah, I admit it. I also had 3 more pieces. Then I lose track but there was: yellow chicken and potato curry not a spec of heat but delicious, a pork 'stew ' really just falling off the bone tender, bone in chunk of roasted pork in the cooking jus w a typical Thai vinegar dip. Also a whole pompano in a simple sweet and sour with fancy cut poached veggies covering it head to tail. What else? A blanched green beans or maybe long beans dish. Another sauteed bumps/balls of chix or pork w peanuts and another type of green beans. I 'm probably forgetting something. That 's what the pics and videos are for. Verdict: Stellar. I 'd come back here in a minute. Especially if Aur 's doing the ordering.

From word of mouth, had a few Thai friends mentioning this place as the most authentic Thai restaurant in the City or even the Bay Area. This is a small to medium sized shop and can get quite busy during the lunch rush. I went on a Sunday and then place filled up quite quickly. Plan ahead and arrive a bit early. Noise wise it was on the low to medium noise level. Do keep in mind this shop is on the smaller side so noise will bounce around. On this section of Geary Blvd (especially along 14th Ave), street parking is available. As a side note, (imo) they do have a whole book for a menu so ordering might take a while (too many good choices). Luckily I already had recommendations from a friend. They also have bottled beer as well, for those who wants those. Food is great, it was balanced and flavorful. The garlic rice in my opinion could use more garlic but when mixed with the curry, it doesn 't really matter. Pad Thai is definitely the best I had so far (for within USA). The fried fish cake was really good too, it wasn 't chewy and had a nice texture to it. I would say come here and give this place a try if you haven 't already. Tip for ordering: request for 'less oil '. The flavors are better too.

The ambiance was a 3/5. It was cute, not nothing special; just super casual. The whole place was very clean too. We started with the fish cakes which were alright. The dish was saved by the cucumber salad because it gave it the pop of flavor and crunch it needed. We also got the angle wings as an app and those were down right delicious! They were saucy but still crunchy and crispy. For mains, we got the green curry which was solid but missing some kind of hero spice and zing. The pumpkin curry was awesome. One small note would be the butternut squash needs to be cooked a bit more as it was a little hard. We each got a cocktail too which the mojito was mid but the Pomrita was simple but fantastic. Service was good. They were consistent and attentive, but not overly in your face.