pad see ew noodles were over cooked and had no flavor. Â
shrimp and vegetable tempura dipping sauce was too salty.
spring rolls wrap was falling apart.
duck with basil over rice had absolutely no flavor.
the server who was checking me out couldn't figure out how to bill properly.
ended up having 3 different transactions on my card.
very disappointing.
I love this restaurant! I have been a loyal customer for around 7 years now.
This small, family owned establishment serves up consistently fabulous dishes at completely reasonable prices! Their lunch special is fantastic.
My favorite dishes are Pad Ke Mao (drunken noodles) which they do to perfection, not too dry, not too much sauce, just the right amount of spice. I also love their Panang curry! Their Thai egg rolls are not bad either!
This warmly decorated Thai restaurant has improved in quality quite a bit since it opened. The owner is a gracious lady, very friendly and sweet. She often runs the front of the house by hosting and serving. I've tried a lot of dishes over the years and my favorites have to be the seafood hot pot and duck curry. I've always felt they have been light on the spice, so if you you like typical Thai spice, I order it very spicy because light and medium are barely spicy at all. I enjoy the cucumber salad, the beef salad and the spring rolls. I was surprised by a spicy sweet cheeks wing which came as part of the special curry dinner the other day. The yellow chicken curry is also absolutely delicious. Don't forget to order some tom kha or tom yum soup as well- but make it spicy! Until royal Thai I'd never tried Thai desserts, but the owner makes an absolutely yummy coconut ice cream served over sticky rice and homemade pineapple cake with a cream cheese frosting. Very good!
Review Source:It's easy to skip past this tiny lil restaurant that seats about 25-30 max. It's right across the street from Great America, but back off Grand Ave about a half mile quietly hiding in a strip mall with a few other restaurants.
The servers of Royal Thai are always nice and on top of things from water refills to getting you anything else you could need.
I've only been here for lunch so my review is based off those experiences. Their lunch special menu has about 15 options from curries to noodle dishes with plenty of protein options to choose from. I've had the Pad See Eiw and Green Curry. Lunch specials come with a spring roll and soup and depending on your protein range from $9-$12. Maybe a little bit more than your usual lunch, but well worth it. The Pad See Eiw is outstanding. Crunchy veggies and the sweet sauce is fantastic. Their curry dishes are just as good. They can make them however hot you'd like so don't be afraid to ask for a milk version. I like mine with medium heat and I can always kick it up with the chile sauce they put at your table if need be.
Royal Thai is a great alternative for lunch goers in the area since most of your options are either fast food or chain restaurants.
One of my favorite Thai places and definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Gurnee (which is just full of chain restaurants).
The family is super nice and they are passionate about what they do, which is always great.
Some dishes:
Spring rolls - delicious!!!
Pad see ewe - I get this almost every time because I love it so much. I've tried this dish at many Thai restaurants and this is one of my favorites.
Thai custard - it looks incredibly unappetizing, but it is unbelievably delicious. It's served warm, which adds a nice touch, too. A sweet, coconut flavor that ends a meal perfectly. I get it every time!!!
They also always have coupons attached to Jewel receipts, so it's nice to get a discount as well!
This is my favorite local restaurant. Â The panang curry is so good, and the service is friendly & professional. Â I don't really like the eggrolls, but nothing I've ever had there has been bad. Â Tthe wonton prawns are totally awesome. Â I'd also recommend the oriental vegetable soup. Â We ordered party trays from there recently and were very pleased with the price and quality.
Review Source:I love a place that reconizes you, and the owner always does here! i usually do take-out since its close to my work and all us ladies in the office love it! The food is wonderful for any thai place in any burbs! Their lunch garlic chicken special is my fav! cheap and comes with a yummy spring roll and soup! cant beat that!
Review Source:My girlfriend and I were debating on where to eat. We stumbled upon Royal Thai and was really impressed. We ordered the shrimp dumplings for an appetizer and it was great. For our entrees we ordered the Thai Sampler and the Duck curry. We were blown away on the presentation and taste. Five Stars for Royal Thai!!!
Review Source:I'm all about trying new Thai restaurants, especially comparing certain dishes. This so far is the only local restaurant near my work (I live in the city) and I was initially pleased. Once I got a pad thai that was overcooked which was unfortunate. I do like the eggroll and soup that accompanies the dish during the lunch specials (not sure if the same goes for other times of the day).
Decor wasn't too bad. I was a fan of the light fixture/golden umbrella combo hanging from the ceiling. The staff is generally nice and hospitable. I'm definitely open to finding other Thai restos in the area, but this was a good start.
Easily our favorite Thai resturaunt in the chicagoland area. Â we are never disappointed when we go there, I'm guessing the people rating it low either don't know what Thai food is supposed to taste like, or failed to order the right dishes.
My suggestions:
1) Their curry's (red and green) are great, and full of flavour, if you like thai-style curry, this is definitely for you. Â
2) The beef pad thai is the first pad thai I've had at a restaurant  that doesn't taste like a box mix (if I wanted that i'd just buy the mix from the supermarket and make it at home).  if you are used to the Americanized pad thai, this may be a foreign taste to you, but it is a far superior flavor if you are willing to but aside your bias and preconceptions as to what pad thai should taste like.  if you go in expecting boxed pad thai, you might not like it (just like if you order a cola, but they give you a root beer; even though you might love root beer, the taste is going to throw you off because you were expecting cola) .  I'd suggest getting it mildly spicy for an added kick
3) The royal thai noodles are a must, if a place puts it's namesake on a dish, you know it's going to be their specialty. Â medium spicy is my favorite, but might be too spicy for some people (you can downgrade to mild spicy)
4) the egg rolls and spring rolls are both phenomenal appetizers, I prefer the egg rolls (love that pineapple dipping sauce), but if you are looking for something not fried, spring rolls are it.
5) wash everything down with a thai iced tea. Â easily the best version in all of chicagoland.
6) the pad see ew can be hit or miss, but when it's on it's amazing. again, medium or mild spicy is recommended. (and yes, the long/wide noodles are used, which is traditional for the dish, and they are fried up to a crisp exterior with a nice soft/chewy interior with plenty of sauce) Â ask for extra crispy noodles to ensure you get it nice and crispy.
my husband and I have been going to this Thai place for years. Â We absolutely love it. The owners and waitstaff are attentive as well as kind. Â The food is delicious. Â They recently expanded their menu. Â My new favorite thing? Â The dumplings! Â I love their pad kee mao, red and yellow curries, and pineapple fried rice. Â The portions are generous, I often take home half my entree. Â I also find that they will accommodate requests and substitutions.
Review Source:I found this place by chance. Â The food is authentic and very delicious! Â Great service, friendly staff and pleasant surroundings. Â The portions are good sized considering the reasonable prices. Â Terrific fresh spring rolls, nice, plump shrimp in my soup, tasty beef salad, and excellent chicken panang. I live in Lake Forest, but the drive to Gurnee for this Thai gem is well worth it! Â The best in Lake County.
Review Source:Ordered out my usual thai, chicken pad thai. It was pretty good, a bit spicy but I'm sure that could be adjusted next time. I found the price to be higher and the portion smaller than pretty much any other  thai place in the area. Nicely garnished tho and prepared, I would go back again. I did not eat in, but when I picked up I noticed the dining area was very nice, so I may eat in next time.
Review Source:My 5 stars is to offset some of the low ball stars that I read regarding this place. Â Be sure to read all the reviews and give this place a try. Â I bet you'll find more dishes you like then dislike.
Rising out of the fast food and chain restaurant cesspool of Gurnee is good home made Thai food place. This place is close to destination places like Gurnee Mills, Six Flags, and Key Lime Cove. Â We were with the kids and needed some decent food, since lunch that day was a debacle.
Miso soup: Among the best we've had. Â All the soups are available by the serving bowl so that everyone could have some. Â My daughter asked how do they make it so good.
Pad woo sen: wife is an expert of this glass noodle dish. Â She loved it and even took home the left overs.
Combo fried rice: Good enough. Â Would not win a competition, but decent enough to order again .
Eggplant with chicken: good enough for me to finish the whole dish. Â
We ate until we were stuffed. Â What we liked is how nice the owners were and how much they cared. Â We were asked several times if everything tasted good and how much we liked it. Â Extra star for being so caring and nice. Â
Offset extra star: Â way too many petty reviews that gave one or two stars. Â My fellow yelpers, your messing around with someones livelihood. Â If your meal was like cat food, go ahead and rate like you will. Â This is not a 2.5 star place. Â 3-4 would be more like it. Â I feel bad that this couple is so nice and caring that some of the petty issues or lack of the number of reviews would lower this homemade Thai place less then 3 stars.
This place is just OK in my book. Â If you're jonesing for Thai food this place fits the bill nicely but keep in mind the portions are small and they skimp on the meat added to the noodle dishes. Â I had the Royal Thai noodles with beef strips - fried rice noodles with veggies and beef covered in a gravy sauce, very tasty and well prepared. Â The problems: the plate was 3x the size of the entree and I only got 5 strips of thinly sliced beef with the noodles. Â Glad I had a coupon.
Review Source:I had a craving for tom yum soup and this was the closest Thai place. We have eaten there a few times prior and found it very inconsistent. Â The last two times I have gotten tom yum soup has been no lemongrass in it! Â Not even close to the sweet/savory/pungent flavor it should have had, tasted more like Mom's chicken soup. Â No more chances for Royal Thai, I will stick with Lovely Thai in Grayslake for my cravings!
Review Source:I really liked the Pad See Eew. Â I have eaten at a bunch of thai restaurants and this Pad See Eew was different, but yummy! Â The sauce was much thicker than I was accustomed to and the beef was tender and not overcooked like most thai restaurants. Â My boyfriend got the Spicy Basil Chicken, extra spicy, and it was also very good. Â The only thing I was not impressed by was the crab rangoon. Â The only major complaint I have was that it was silent. There were three tables full (I went right at 4:30 for dinner) and there was no music or anything which was a little strange. Â Nice restaurant for a thai place which seemed to do more carry out business. Â I really liked the waitstaff. Â My water glass was never even half full the entire time, they kept coming to refill it! Â Nice and clean with an open kitchen.
Review Source:i went w a couple co workers for lunch, and they both didnt enjoy their meals. Â my pad see eiw was actually good. Â it wasnt great, but yea it was good. Â the service was very nice, but they should have been more accomodating about an order confusion. Â if we had ordered something and they understood it wrong, they should offer to change the order... ethnic restaurants are known to be "bad" at customer service, but this usually comes from the american consumer who has american cultural expectations. Â sometimes ethnic patrons arent being rude or inconsiderate when they seem to be. :)
Review Source:I was happy and a little excited to find out that there is now a Thai restaurant in my hometown of Gurnee, IL. Â Unfortunately, the food was a little disappointing.
I will admit that I only tried three dishes: Â Royal Thai fried rice w/shrimp, chicken satay and pad see ew. Â I didn't try my usual 'control' dishes (pad thai and pad kaprow or gkaprow or whatever. Â spicy basil chicken) because I had eaten some pizza right before I went. Â
The best dish out of the three was the fried rice. Â Pretty run-of-the-mill shrimp fried rice, but nothing special. Â The chicken satay was passable, but it came out already doused in peanut sauce! Â Not happy about that. Â I don't think I've ever had to specify 'peanut sauce on the side'. Â
The pad see ew was really not good. Â The noodles were super long and wide, which is fine, but the whole dish was WET! Â Too much sauce or something. Â The flavor wasn't that great either. Â
I don't claim to be an expert on Thai food, but having lived in the Bay area for over then years has spoiled me with so much great Asian food, that when I have some sub-par stuff, it's painfully obvious. Â Sorry Royal Thai!
I've been here twice. Once, I stopped ONLY for Thai iced tea. The second time, I was seriously craving Pad See Eiw, and this is the only Thai place I really know about in the area.
Maybe I've been spoiled by the numerous Thai restaurants in Southern California, which never disappoint. If I didn't have them as a basis for comparison, I may have been more satisfied.
My total was $13 for Thai iced tea, and Pad See Eiw entree. At $10, for the dish, the portion size was much smaller than I expected, and much smaller than I'm accustomed to. The noodles were good, though more stuck together than usual. The overall flavor of the dish was enjoyable. My biggest gripe? I ordered the dish because I really wanted the Chinese broccoli which is supposed to be in it. Not only was there no Chinese broccoli, there were only about 3 pieces of regular broccoli.
The Thai iced tea was below average as well. I have to remember not to go there unless I'm having an incredible craving for the tea. Otherwise, it's not worth the disappointment.
The owners are nice, as other reviewers mentioned. The first time I stopped, I talked to the woman about my love for Thai iced tea and boba, and she told me I should ask her if she has made any boba milk tea when I stop, because sometimes she just makes some for herself.
Conclusion:
Prices are above average.
Food is below average.
THIS IS MY FIRST ONE STAR FOR A THAI RESTAURANT
Today I had the worst pad thai ever!!!! Â seriously have eaten in umpteen no of thai places in IL and never have experienced such a tragedy... Â the dish was like as tasteless as dry mud and the tofus were surely a week old.... Â on top of that it was too oily.....My friends ordered other dishes and none were good... Â the only grace was the egg roll which was served as an appetizer
.... Â Â U PLANNING TO VISIT GURNEE RT? THERE ARE 15 OTHER RESTAURANTS IN THE MALL, SO SAVE YOURSELF AND GO ELSEWHERE!
I have to say the first time I hit this place up , I wasn't really that impressed. The decor was fine , the service adequate , and the menu selection solid. I ordered the pan fried wide noodles , and sadly they were more like deep fried which didn't jive with me. The veggies and meat were solid but after the shock of the noodles , I wasn't going to be satisfied.  Second time I went with a hungry group of  four and I have to say things were way different this time. We started with the potstickers which were unanimously graded as good , I leaned more toward very good. The satay chicken was a solid good as well , nothing to write home about but still tasty. They poured the peanut sauce on the chicken , which for some reason bothered me , but again I did like it. The Tempura shrimp and veggies was also good , but I felt they used a bit too much batter or maybe it was a bit too thick. I did like the sauces there , they weren't the standard potsticker and tempura dipping sauces , and I appreciated that. The fried rice was very good , it had nice sized chunks of beef , and I can dig that. The garlic beef was very good , and is now a new favorite of mine when I do Thai again . The Pad Woonsen (glass noodles) was very good , with a killer sweet flavor , again an instant favorite. I will admit that I still am not  very well versed in Thai cooking , but I really enjoyed myself here. I will sure be back here at some point , and might even try some other Thai places because of how much I enjoyed my food today. If this place was closer to home , It would definitely make my regular restaurant rotation. The only gripe would be a smidge higher than average price, nothing too crazy though.
Review Source:Just like what I put 3 stars it's OK. This was the closest Thai restaurant in Great Lakes. I wanted to eat a Thai restaurant when I went to a Navy school. So I tried it out. I went here for lunch and the place was empty. So obviously they gave good service since I was the only customer they had to worry about. I guess this place is good if there's really no competition and you don't feel like driving all the way to Chicago.
Review Source:It's a cool place to dine in..I don't know of any other thai place in the area. The Mussamun is alright, though the sauce is a bit watery. The Red Curry is good but I wish they cooked it with squash instead of eggplant..which seems to be the way most places cook it (Madison and Chicago). Plenty of menu choices to go through, appetizers are limited and the variety of beverages are nice.
Review Source:I have to agree with the previous review. Â The Thai food here is alright. Â They do have a large variety (over 65 dishes), so maybe I should try something new next time. Â It can't compare with the Thai in Chicago, but adequate for the suburbs. Â The portions are a fair size, so that's a plus. Â The service is one of the best parts because they are really sweet and helpful. Â Great location across from Great America!
Unfortunately, due to its location being next to a kid's game/entertainment/mini-golf business (Monster Golf), you hear Whack-A-Mole while you're trying to slurp your noodles. Â Even though the unfortunate owners re-constructed the wall on one side of their store to block out the noise, it still remains a problem. Â Yet, the owners of Monster Golf wouldn't do anything about it, like relocating specific game machines. DOWN WITH MONSTER GOLF (which is a rip-off in and of itself)!
I went here for lunch yesterday and it was highly okay. Â I was expecting great things after a vegan raved about how awesome the food is here. Â Perhaps listening to a vegan was my biggest folly, as I am highly carnivorous. Â
I forgot what my dish was called, but it was the last one under lunch specials. Â The taste was decent, and the amount was pretty good for $9.95. Â In fact, I kept forking at the food and it seemed to take a surprisingly long amount of time to get to the bottom. Â However, the chicken was A BIT dry. Â I can give them the benefit of the doubt though, since I got here around the end of lunch time. Â I would try it again, but not go out of the way.
This place is located in what I think is called Pembrook Plaza. Â Great America's main entrance is across the street on Grand, so if you are fiending for Thai that is close by if the park gets shut down for rain, lightning, typhoons, or whatever, this place might be worth a try.
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