Located in a quiet plaza, Bua Thai looks like a nice quiet place to enjoy dinner. The restaurant…read morewasn't particularly busy on a weeknight. The restaurant is definitely themed but doesn't feel particularly fancy due to the wait staff and their attire/composure. The prices are typical of other Thai restaurants in the area. The thing to praise is definitely the flavor, temperature, and cook of the dishes. The proteins were cooked perfectly and the flavors were spot on. Would visit again!

The basil fried rice hit the spot, with a large serving that lasted three meals for me. The basil…read morewas sparse, despite being a basil fried rice. My friend got the drunken noodles, which were also spot on. Reasonably priced for the meals. Service was quick. It felt a little quiet, though--it was a mid-week night.

A friend of mine turned me onto this place. I really enjoy the atmosphere and the food is really…read moreamazing. The seating and acoustics are good. I took my daughter for dinner who loves Asian cuisine. The Thai Jerk Steak is a great appetizer. If you like seafood then the Fish With Ginger Sauce is great selection in my experience.

Service was nice and quick with the bonus of everything being clean. The fried rice was also very…read moregood however I found the beef to be not up to the same quality as the rest of the dish. Also order Thai tea which did taste very good if not a little small for the price. Otherwise would come again, and would pick this over the Thai restaurant in carrboro.

My parents have been to Asian Kitchen several times already but I was able to visit with them for…read morethe first time about a week ago! While their noodles are definitely a standout in terms of texture and chew, some of the dishes we ordered this time were a letdown... Between the three of us, we tried two noodle dishes (hand pulled noodles with spare ribs & shaved noodles with bean paste aka zha jiang mian) and two regular dishes that came with rice (eggplant with garlic sauce & Hunan roasted pork aka hong shao rou). Outside of the regular menu that comes in a giant booklet, we also ordered the salted egg yolk lava buns off of their separate dim sum menu. In terms of the good, I absolutely LOVED the texture of the shaved noodles and also really enjoyed the texture of the hand pulled noodles, though I personally prefer a wider noodle which would be the shaved ones. Additionally, the eggplant with garlic sauce was solid and so were the salted egg yolk lava buns! Now in terms of the not so great, while we understand that Hunan roasted pork comes with pork belly which can be fatty, many of the pork belly pieces in this dish were pretty much all fat with no lean meat (basically inedible) which I have not seen in this dish at other restaurants. Also, the sauce that came with the shaved noodles was very one dimensional and just tasted of sweet bean paste with very little savory / umami flavor.

Perfect 1st Time Order: Hot tea (yum)…read moreA10 chili oil wonton (least favorite but still good) E4 fried spicy chicken (favorite) H13 chicken stir fry (quality noodles) Cs6 kung Pao chicken (perfect) Stir fried string beans (perfect) After trying the basics, We now have confidence to order anything on this menu. We will be back, thanks so much for a great experience! This place does not deserve 3.5 stars. This place is delicious.the type of food that makes you happy/want to dance. (We drive 32 miles round trip to go here) The wait staff is friendly and attentive, the ambiance is casual and quiet, and the food has authentic taste and portion. Order anything on the menu you won't be disappointed. If feeling adventurous, try their specials. Lunch specials are also a good deal. We showed up at 8:15pm on a Saturday, seated immediately upon walking in, even though it was busy. Food showed up under 15 minutes. Great work team!

I was excited to try Cham Thai it after reading a number of enthusiastic reviews, particularly from…read moreCalifornians who said it reminded them of the kind of delicious authentic Thai food that's easy to find out there and that I got used to living in Los Angeles for five years. Our party of four was seated immediately at 6:30pm on a Friday evening. We ordered three dishes: - pad see ew with shrimp - red curry with shrimp - massaman curry with tofu The pad see ew was the standout: the large shrimp and the broccoli were cooked perfectly, and it had good flavor overall. The two curries were disappointing. The tofu in the massaman curry was cut very small and seemed over-fried, and the sauce lacked the creamy richness I associate with that dish -- the kind that comes from potatoes simmering in the curry for a long time (and the potatoes seemed barely cooked). The red curry had only two pieces of eggplant (!) and was overwhelmed by too many red and green bell peppers -- they dominated the flavor profile. Like the pad see ew, the red curry did include large, well-cooked shrimp, which was its saving grace. Both curry dishes also had far more bamboo shoots than seemed necessary (as another Yelper notes, about 5x what other places put in). Using so much of an an inexpensive filler vegetable looks like a way the restaurant is trying to save money -- just sayin'. I also tasted a companion's tom kha soup, which was essentially warm coconut milk with very little additional flavor. More bamboo shoots... One note about both serving sizes and presentation: the serving platters at Cham Thai are extremely wide and very shallow, which spreads the food out into a very thin layer over a large area and gives the impression of a larger portion of food than is actually there (noting this because many reviews say that the "portions are huge" -- not our experience). For diners needing gluten-free options, the messaging from the staff was very confusing. At first we were told confidently by our server that "any dish on the menu could be easily be made gluten-free" because the kitchen "has three sauces: regular, vegan, and gluten-free." When we ordered a dish gluten-free, however, the server paused, said he "needed to check something," left, and returned to say that dish could NOT be prepared gluten-free after all (?). A "Cashew Nut" entree ordered gluten-free arrived missing the cashews; after checking with the kitchen, the server explained they had been omitted because the fried cashews in the dish could not be guaranteed gluten-free due to cross-contamination. It would have been helpful to know that ahead of time, or given raw cashews when the dish was served to us. Our server apologized and eventually gave us a bowl of raw cashews on the side. It's also worthy of note that NONE of the eleven dishes they call "Recommendations" on the menu are vegetarian (see photo). All in all, our meal at Cham Thai didn't quite live up to the restaurant's Yelp reviews. There is better Thai food in the Chapel Hill/Carrboro area.

Clean Asian decor. Very friendly and speedy service. You can't beat the deals on the lunch special…read morewhich comes with fried wontons and a soup or salad. The salad was simple but delicious. Just lettuce and spiraled carrots with what I assumed was grated carrots with a tasty ginger sauce added. The fried wontons on the plate come with a sweet dipping sauce. I ordered the Spicy Bamboo Shoots with chicken which was hot enough to get a reaction from my body. But not sweating hot. The dish was very tasty and satisfying. I'll have to come back for lunch and try some of their other specials.

An underwhelming hole in the wall. I would skip this place if you're a vegetarian or vegan. There…read moreis, literally, nothing on the menu that I found worth returning for. There is a better Laotian restaurant in downtown Cary and a better Thai restaurant in Chapel Hill. The ambience is underwhelming too. Bida Manda and Thai Station are more expensive but worth it.

Yin Dee is an amazing little spot serving some of the most flavorful Thai and Laotian food in the…read morearea. I usually rotate between the pad thai and the nam khao, and both are absolutely packed with flavor. The textures, seasoning, and balance are spot on ( bold, vibrant, and deeply satisfying)! Every bite is amazing, and the food consistently delivers. The space itself is very small, but that just adds to the charm (for this reason we almost always do take-out). This is the kind of place that feels special because it's focused on the food, not flash. It's also one of my favorite spots to support a local business that's clearly doing something right. If you're looking for big flavor, thoughtful cooking, and dishes that stand out from the usual options, Yin Dee is a must-visit (literally never had a bad dish). Tiny space, huge payoff!

Honestly my favorite of the (two) M restaurants I have been to so far. The biang biang noodles were…read moreumami and hit all of the notes. Unfortunately the jajamyeon tasted burnt initially (it is wok fried so maybe it was too caramelized and charred for my liking), but the chef remade it and the remake was great! Seating is limited but luckily there was no wait for lunchtime on a Friday.

My wife and I are local to the RTP area and wanted to try a new place in Durham. Given the reviews…read moreon this place, we were looking forward to try it. However, we were utterly disappointed with our food there. The bao buns had a tender pork in it but the only sauce it included was hoisin which made it too salty. The Korean fried chicken in the 'Spicy' flavor was flavorless. The sauce was extremely bland alongside the chicken meat inside. Don't let the red bright color deceive you, we kept wondering when the 'spice' would kick it (it never did!). We each got a curry udon and added chicken to it. As frequent curry eaters, we wanted the Asian flavors we enjoy however, this udon was bland as well. The chicken we asked to be added felt like it was just chopped and put over the udon with no actual flavor integration into the dish. We left this place feeling like it was a waste of our money. Given their higher prices, I would've expected something A LOT better with some real Asian flavors.

Thai fusion spot with a good selection of lunch specials, though the lunch option only comes with a…read moreside salad. The salad itself was okay, and it had a unique peanut dressing. The place was nicely decorated for the holidays. I skipped the lunch specials and ordered the pho combination--which, in hindsight, was a mistake given the Thai-focused menu. It only comes in an XL size and was pricey at $22. The meatballs were good, but the other meats were tough and tendon-heavy. Broth was decent but on the lighter side, and there were a lot of noodles. Service was okay but not particularly warm. Overall, I'd stick to the Thai dishes next time if we came back.

Nothing here jumped out at me. I've had the beef salad, quite bland, and chicken satay-nothing…read moreexciting. Charlie had Pad See Ew and it, too, was just alright.

This was our second time dining here because our first experience was so amazing, and it definitely…read moredid not disappoint! The sushi is incredibly fresh, full of flavor, and you can really tell they use quality ingredients. Every dish we've tried has been beautifully prepared and tasted just as good as it looked. everything we ordered: * Crispy Tuna Rice - 10/10 * Thai Crab Fried Rice - 10/10 * Baked Snow Crab Roll - 10000/10 ( sooo good!) * Soft Shell Crab Roll - 9/10 * Big Roll - 9/10 * Tuna Scallion Roll - 10/10 Yellowtail Sashimi 10/10 Unagi Bao 10/10 Drinks: China Colada - 10/10 GAO Tai - 10/10 Cinnamon Song - 10/10 Mei Tai - 9/10 Green Lion - 10/10 ( very strong though) The service was just as impressive as the food!

Tried this place after several friends recommended it. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but the…read moreinterior was very different from what I anticipated based on the plaza location. The atmosphere was quiet, stylish, and reminiscent of an upscale Asian fusion restaurant. The service was attentive throughout the meal. Our server was friendly and eager to help, although a few service practices caught me off guard. For example, staff insisted on opening the lids of all our dim sum dishes upon serving, even though we already opened them (they literally closed them and opened them again lol). The food was on the expensive side--match with then ambience, comparable to what I would expect at a medium-nice Japanese restaurant (like Iza, or Akami)--which naturally raised my expectations. The sushi rolls were enjoyable enough, but I found the portions smaller than expected for the price point. The beef tartare was a generous (huge) portion with a nice texture and beautiful presentation, though I personally would have preferred more seasoning. In fact the tasting was so lacking I could not finish it, so the large portion did not really mean much. We also ordered the buns, and kung pao chicken, which was flavorful and well prepared, but it leaned more toward a Westernized interpretation of the dish and came in a relatively modest portion (which is fair, given their description of "modern asian cuisines"). I found myself a bit unsure of the restaurant's identity. The ambiance, presentation, and pricing suggested a fine-dining experience, while the food itself felt more mixed in terms of value and execution. For me personally, when I'm looking primarily for standout food at this price point, I would certainly choose other restaurants in the area (such as Shijjiri for stronger sushi quality despite the more casual atmosphere, or spend a little more for M Sushi where I know my sushi would be consistently excellent). That said, the atmosphere is lovely, and the attentive service makes it a nice option for a date night where food might not be the main focus.