Best food in the city. Will be a return customer for life! Large portions, fresh ingredients and a wonderful owner.

We got sesame chicken, fried rice and egg rolls. The sesame chicken was extremely dry, watching my family eat was like watching the Griswolds eat the turkey at Christmas dinner. The egg roll? Disgusting. The fried rice was okay, it was the best part of the meal but it still tasted extremely starchy. It just sucks spending 77 bucks on food that you could have just made better at home. read more

We wanted some take out Thai on a rainy day and decided on Sam Thai. They offer standard Thai food and we all ordered different things. We went to pick up and it's located in a strip mall and has a very small blue print, maybe only 10 people worth of tables/chairs. The food is very good, just what you would expect. The portion sizes are very generous. I would recommend! read more

Sam Thai Cuisine - Pad Thai with mock duck (this is about 1/4 of the portion! - Thai Near Me - White Bear Lake, Minnesota

I've learned to be wary of places that do more than just Thai (Sam's advertises Thai and Chinese) but I am glad I took a risk on this one! Quiet, unassuming little place, but Sam himself served me a generous, delicious portion of Thai pineapple fried rice and appetizers. He was super friendly, too. read more

Ate there last nite and it was wonderfully delicious. Had the pad woon sen and it was the best. Will eat there again.

I've been going to SAM Thai cuisine for over 12 years now and it's just as good now as it was the first time. Sam is a great guy and doesn't get enough credit for how amazing and authentic his food is. Everything we've ever had has been spectacular. I love spicy food and when Sam asks how hot I want it from 1 to 10, I'll often say "28" and then he knows who I am. It's the only place I've ever gone to that can make it as hot as I want it so I don't have to add more spice when I get home. My favorite is the Pad See Ew and the Thai barbecue chicken. read more

Sam Thai Cuisine - Pad See Ew with chicken (spice level 28) - Thai Near Me - White Bear Lake, Minnesota

Excellent food!! Sam is so nice, too! So much variety. I wish he was full service. The curries are amazing. I like that one can choose level of spice from one to ten. These recipes are from Sam's mother. Interesting and unique food. read more

Awwww...why cannot I give 4.5 stars?!?! There is a difference between a 3 star "good" and "Great." I have lived in many many cities across the western hemisphere (full disclosure, haven't traveled east of the Meridian). Whenever I moved, my first priority was, of course, where can I get the best Thai food? A restaurant that is a small family like the ones I knew in Boston, NYC, and other cities, in which the owner knows my name! I found one in White Bear Lake! This is just...I do not know how to explain...how great this food is, at least in the 15 mile radius. The spice level is from 1-10; 1-5 being for non-spice lovers, and 6-10 for Thai and spice lovers. By spice, I meant spiciness! I have ordered the Pad Thai with Tofu, and another time with veggies. Each time, the quality of ingredients are so great that after reheating left-overs for the 3rd time, the rice noodles in Pad Thai are still chewy and nummy. That is unique. My sister and brother in law always get the sticky rice and panang curry, which they love. The Thai iced tea is great as well The best part is that the owner knows us after only 3 orders! (okay, it was 3 orders over the course of 10 days...). He is endearing and obviously remembers dedicated customers. Ergo, found another local small family owned Thai restaurant to befriend! Yay!!! read more

Ordered beef rice noodles ( beef is over cooked) Container is good ( I mean good size for the order. Waited 20 minutes for the order and his menu is very hard to understand read more

Food and service are wonderful! Pad Thai is the best I've found in the St. Paul area.

How do you say "Yummy" in Thai? That's a 5* for freshness and great flavors! You pick your own spice level (Midwestern vs Authentic Thai) and the "hot" 7 spice is just that! No indoor seating at this time and they are currently closed Sundays & Mondays. There is a nice park on the other side of Kowalski's called Lions Park that you can bring your piping hot food to and eat at one of the picnic tables there. Or bring it home and enjoy it there! Food is made to order, so it will take a few minutes to cook it to your specifications (just remember the spice warning!). read more

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Love Sam's! Greatest Thai food in WBL and surrounding area. He is so gregarious and a wonderful restaurant owner. We've been going to his place for years and will continue. Gotta go back one of these days. 5 stars!! read more

This is my new favorite local spot! My boyfriend & his family have been eating here for years, but it's my first time. I got the Shrimp Pad Thai, my boyfriend got the Chicken Pad Thai, and his sister got the Beef & Broccoli. They were all FANTASTIC!! Big portions with big shrimps. This is the best Thai food I've had in quite a while, and it feels good supporting a local business run by a genuinely nice guy. They have a ton of options so no matter what you're in the mood for, you're likely going to find something you like! They also have a spicy meter from 0 to 10, so if you're a big fan of spicy, eat here! I got the 0 spice since I'm a bit of a wimp, and it was perfect. Basically, next time you're craving Thai food, get takeout from here! read more

Sam Thai Cuisine - Shrimp Pad Thai, absolutely delicious! - Thai Near Me - White Bear Lake, Minnesota

This is a small unassuming place that's big on flavor! My new doctor is about 100 feet away. I had to reward myself with some new food after being poked & prodded & having my blood drawn. The menu is mostly Thai on one side and Chinese on the other side. Of course, I had to checkout the Thai. I love good Thai food. Plus, the owner is Thai. That's a good sign that I won't be disappointed. The food I tried out was great! I received a surprisingly large quantity of food with my Spring Rolls (see photos). And there were nice, ample sized shrimp. This is a pleasant change compared to the microscopic amounts of meat used in most Chinese joints. My Thai beef dish was also very, very good. I enjoyed the spicy brown curry with peanuts. The beef was obviously higher quality than I expected (see photos). It made a big difference. And it was served over a layer of fresh spinach leaves - yum! The rice in the shape of a big heart was a nice touch. Finally, the hot tea was excellent. I haven't had tea this good since...since I don't remember when. Thumbs up! -Daddy Maxx Retro read more

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Delicious food and great service. I love their Pad Thai. Super friendly. The curries are also great.

As is often required with tasty restaurants, you need to get past any biases you have about the less than pristine storefront and take the dishes as face value. Sam is the real deal. We got seven things and would get all of them again. Standouts we're the spring rolls, pad Thai, and Thai fried rice with chicken, which was well loaded up with good veggies like broccoli and snow peas. read more

Worst take out service you can imagine. Pre ordered my food and they said it would take an hour and 15 minutes, not a problem at all, I can understand a busy dinner business. I get there at the time they said and it takes a few minutes for anyone to notice I was even there. The man says it'll be a couple minutes and lets me in to have a sit. I wait for 15 minutes without an update from anyone on the food with 2 other people there before I got there who were also waiting on their food. Finally I have to go check on my dog who is in the car and when I come back it takes another 5 minutes for someone to come to the desk. I finally get to ask how much longer and he says just a few minutes and I ask for something more specific so he goes back and asks only to come back and say it'll be at least another 15 minutes. For it to have taken an hour and 45 minutes for some fried rice and sesame chicken is insane, and it's especially annoying to be told multiple times to be a few minutes only for it to take up to a half hour after I already got there an hour and 15 minutes after I ordered. Don't get take out or give them your business. read more

I'm utterly shocked that they have such great reviews. I ate Thai at Bambu Maplewood, Luis Thai Roseville and Thai Basil in Stillwater (fave!) in the last week so I have some comparison. This was terrible. I'd usually give a place more than one chance but there is no way. I swear she made my curry with dishwater - at least it looked and tasted like it. We were up on 61 and I read reviews (yep, came here because of Yelp!) and happened to arrive at 2:30. You know many smaller ethnic places shut down in the afternoon so maybe she was just unhappy to have to cook one more meal because the cook/waitress was on a break when we came in. But my guess is the gentleman who brought our food - and never checked back or asked how it was, was an owner. Also no questions either when we asked for boxes - why so much uneaten? (Hey - don't judge - I took it home because was $40 and I can drain the tofu and veggies and make my own green curry sauce at home). If they asked, I'd have not written a review but maybe someone will bring to their attention the gray curry, not green. And the Cashew curry, not it's real name but there was nothing but cashews and onions in it (about 1/4 cup potato). The good? Very fresh veggies, generous amounts of fresh tofu. (Upped a star for that) We both thought the fresh spring rolls were very good and fresh. Photos unretouched. read more

I have had Pad Thai at several other restaurants before, but Sam's Thai Cuisine is really good Pad Thai. I got it with a spicy 1 and it's spot on. Comes with a good sized lime. Double the size of some other restaurants and plenty of crushed peanuts. It did cost a bit more than some other restaurants, but I think its well worth the price. read more

Sam Thai Cuisine - Pad Thai with a spicy 1. Comes with a good sized lime. Double the size of some other restaurants and plenty of crushed peanuts. - Thai Near Me - White Bear Lake, Minnesota

Foods excellent and Sam is an awesome Guy! He was even on the phone one time when he called and called me back to make sure I could get my order in. read more

Red curry was pretty low on flavor. Order 3 star out of 10, but I'd argue that shouldn't make it flavorless. Else quality of ingredients is good, and quantity is also good. Neighboring business got that pad Thai. So presumably that's the go to for this restaurant. read more

Sam Thai Cuisine - Spicy red curry (chicken, 3 of 10 on their spicy scale) - Thai Near Me - White Bear Lake, Minnesota

The food was good, but I am never going back again because of the rudeness of the owner. I just can't tolerate bad service more than once. I guess I am going to have to get Pad Thai elsewhere. The ambiance didn't look that great but I guess it's okay because it is currently a takeout only restaurant. read more

I am a huge fan of Sam's Yellow Curry chicken. It is my favorite meal and makes me think of my grandmother who made a similar dish for me growing up. Everything is consistently fresh and delicious! read more

BEST Asian food I've had in the WBL area I've had. We ordered Pad Thai, Yellow Curry, Fried Rice, and cream cheese wontons. I haven't had high hopes because we haven't had anything to great, but Sam's is fantastic. This was our first time ordering and my husband (American) did not have a good gauge on the spice level, but when I picked up the food, I took a menu and the scale is the best I've seen. (We had a good laugh because it's so accurate to our jokes!) The Pad Thai were the type of rice noodles I like, on the thin side, not the wide ones. The noodles were not over cooked or dry, which you sometimes find with Some restaurants. The Yellow Chicken Curry was good, but would have been better at a higher spice level (our fault) overall, the veggies were fresh. These both could have had more meat (Why I gave 4 stars), but it seems like regulars must know this because while I was waiting, I heard a lot of "extra meat" charges on orders. Prices were good for portions (larger portions than most Thai restaurants) Everything seems to be made super fresh so take out takes awhile. He told me Fridays take about 45-60 min, Thursdays & Saturday's take about 30-45 min, but the other days are faster. I totally don't mind waiting for great food close by! The restaurant isn't in the best location (next to a liquor store and smoke shop, not well lit) but don't let that steer you away! It's SO GOOD read more

The Pad See Yew is my favorite!!! I'm vegan. I ask for no egg and add tofu. Delicious!

My goodness, this has to be one of my favorite local Thai/Chinese restaurants around. Sam who owns the place is such a sweetheart! He knows how to treat his customers and definitely knows what he's doing behind the kitchen. His frequent customers even send him postcards when they're out traveling and he'll hang them up around the restaurant. He's a great guy to keep in touch with. The restaurant itself of pretty small but it will never stop me or anyone else from going! They even have a lunch buffet that is to die for! Ugh, I'm literally drooling just thinking about his food. Seriously, I'm getting so hungry right now just typing this up. Unfortunately, I didn't take photos of the food I've purchased on multiple different occasions because I forget all about it. I get too excited from wanting to dig my face into the best Pad Thai that's ever existed. The service is phenomenal and pretty fast. You can dine in or call for pick up. Either way, you're going to experience some of the best foods around! They're opened 5 days a week, from Tuesday-Saturday. You should definitely go if you haven't already! read more

We asked our friends if we could come meet their new baby, and just to get them to say yes, we said we will grab some take out and bring dinner as well! HOW COULD THEY SAY NO! They couldn't so we asked them where to go and they said they loved Sam's! So Sam's we went! And I'm glad we did! I ordered everyone's dishes 2 chicken pad thai for our friends and we got a Green Curry with Tofu, and a Yellow Curry with Tofu! We were going to be late as it took us a long time coming from the city, so we called Sam told him we were going to be late and he said no worries he would keep our food hot for us! And he did, 15 minutes late and the food was still piping hot when we got it to our friends house! The portion sizes were huge and it was just the perfect amount of Spicy! I ordered my curry a 4 spice and my wife ordered hers' a two spice and they were just fantastic! Great tasting, tons of tofu and I was super full when we finished that I didn't even think about eating one of the spring rolls I also got for us.. Sam was super nice and you could tell he took great care of his guest and made sure we got everything we needed! If you happen to be in White Bear Lake, MN this is a must stop for anyone who loves good Curry! Heck take a day trip from Minneapolis and go visit Sam, you won't be disappointed. read more

I can only comment on the Buffet. Which i have always loved. I do hope Sam reads these...as it is something he can fix quite easily. The quality of the food is outstanding...but there isn't ever any food out. If you are there after 12:30 there simply isn't anything out. I just waited 1/2 hour...and nothing came out. I get the food cost thing. I completely get it. BUT either you are doing a buffet or you aren't. The middle ground thing never works. Raise the price if you have to. But putting out (5) chicken wings (that is not a joke, that is real) at 12:15? I left hungry. So anyway, my advice: Get there at 11am or 11:30 and you're golden. by 12:30 the replacing of buffet line pans is over...you get what you get. By 1pm its too late...I don't think he even takes people at that time. It sucks because I really love the food. I would GLADLY pay a few more dollars with the piece of mind that there is actually food out. read more

Great Fresh flavors. I love any Asian buffet, But at Sam's he does not use MSG he uses fresh ingredients and the small size makes sure its still fresh and personal food. His Thai food side of the buffet is healthy tasting with all your favorite fried options as well. I found my absolutely favorite food at his place in Bean Thread noodles. Used as a foundation for the curry chicken and vegetables or spicy beef entree I just love the clear noodles most of all. great chicken wings, egg foo young, and try the sweet Asian potato, which I have also seen him do with pears. read more

I feel bad giving this place one star. The owner is a very nice man and was very sweet to my daughter, but I am rating this on the food, not his personality. I thought I'd try a new place, so I figured I'd give this place a shot. I ordered lo-mein noodles and sesame chicken. I had to wait over 30 minutes to get my food. When I got it home, the lo-mein noodles tasted, I kid you not, exactly like Top Ramen. The only difference between T.R. from my college days and the noodles I orders was that there were a few chunks of meat in it. Oh, that and the $9 price tag just for the noodles. It was in a broth, just like the old poor days. The sesame chickens breading was mushy, and the flavor was bland. It tasted like it had been previously prepared. No spice at all. Simply not good, especially considering the price. The best item was the plain white rice. I think I've said enough. read more

First, Sam's a really nice guy... but, most importantly, his food is equally praiseworthy. The massman curry is a good take on the dish - I like mine with peanuts, whereas he serves it up with cashews, but it's still delicious... But the real highlight is the rama long srong - the peanut sauce is mind-blowing - one of the best I've had in the US, actually... definitely worth a visit. read more

If you think you have had the best thai food but haven't had sam's thai then your surly mistaken. I have tried every Thai restaurant in the twin cities and sam's is #1 hands down read more

Sam Thai Cuisine - Thai Near Me - White Bear Lake, Minnesota

Great food and service every time! Hot, fresh tasting food. Love the pad Thai. Owner is wonderful.

Business has been renamed to Wild Ginger. Please see my review under that listing: http://www.yelp.com/biz/9lw8qsXiEagx2zLgc3iZdg read more

We stopped in for a quick and tasty lunch. I have not visited for awhile and Sam was a friendly face greeting us after the lunch rush. I ordered the Pad Thai (medium Thai level spice 7-8) and it was perfect, an elegant combination of spice and peanut favors. My son ordered the Sesame Chicken which he said was good (from Mr. Finicky) this is a glowing endorsement. If you are looking for something quick and different in White Bear Lake try out Sam Thai. read more

Sam Thai Cuisine - Pad Thai with Chicken spice level 7-8, very tasty and enjoyable. - Thai Near Me - White Bear Lake, Minnesota

The best Thai food!! I go here regularly, The owner, Sam is the nicest!! Try the Thai Tea it's amazing!

We tried Sam's tonight for dinner and it was a great choice. Staff extremely friendly and the restaurant was clean. I was not sure what to order so the owner asked questions about likes and dislikes before recommending a dish. All the food was excellent! Definitely will being going back again. read more

Best of the best of the best Thai food. Sam always uses high quality fresh ingredients and the flavors are awesome! The quality has been consistent for years and years. I would not bother with other places if you are craving Thai food. read more

First time visiting and probably the last time. They close at 8:00 p.m (was a Tuesday night) but got here at 6:30 p.m. after dropping my son off for an event. Walked up to the counter and patiently waited a bit as they were busy. The place smelled wonderful so I had some hope that I found a good local Thai place without having to drive outside of WBL. Without even a simple hello, an exasperated looking man walked by and waved me off and said there was over an hour wait for takeout. Since I didn't have to pick up my son until 7:30 pm I was willing to order and come back to get my food. However, he kept repeating the wait time, almost hoping I would just leave (at least that's how I perceived it based on his words and facial expressions)... which I did. Was it just a bad night? Not sure. But it really turned me off due to the poor hospitality and greeting. Definitely not coming back here for a very long time. Who knows, maybe next time I will eventually get to review the food. read more

generous portions, generous meat, and good vegetables in the dishes... i'm pretty picky and expect my money's worth so when I make comments like the one above it's pretty rare read more