Zen Yai Thai

Super authentic and cozy spot, for an unbeatable SF price too! My Thai friend brought me here and was my time having boat noodles! Went for the yon fo tai which had a sweet and sour broth, shared a papaya salad with fermented crab (so good) and sticky rice (dip in the sauce!). The catfish was surprisingly good too! Would def be back despite the location 😅 The service is super friendly as well!

Authentic Thai option frequented by local Thais. Zen Yai Tom Yum noodle encompasses the sweet, sour and fragrant mix quintessential of the Bangkok street food palette. Yen Ta Fo, a playful mix of textures and flavors: seafood cake, shellfish, fungus, and pork blood. Beef noodle soup with beef balls, fragrantly spiced and deeply beefy. Ask for the spice tray for some heat.

Phenomenal authentic Thai dishes. There are so many Thai dishes I haven't tried before?! We strayed from the usual crab fried rice, curry and pad thai. We started with: bone-in catfish $15, e-saan sausage $9, fried calamari $11 and a spicy papaya salad $12. Each dish was delicious with various level of spiciness, taste and textures. For the e-saan sausage, they provide fresh carrots, ginger and lettuce to make sausage wraps. The sweet Thai sauce for the calamari was wonderful. The highlight of this meal was the combination Thai boat noodles $13. They put in meat balls, sliced meat, pork liver and braised meat with an option for beef or pork and thin rice noodles, flat rice noodle, vermicelli, egg noodle or silver noodle. When the noodles came out, it smelled wonderful. That first taste of the dark broth was enjoyable. Great job chef and waitstaff at Zen Yai. This has to be the best lunch of the year, so far.

The best pad krapow in town. I’m visiting from Thailand and can’t live without Thai food more than a day. After I saw the photo I know This is Thai style pad krapow. Then I showed up and I’m so impressed because I love this taste. I can’t even wait until finish my dish cuz I’m writing at the restaurant.

Very authentic Thai spot, helps to come with a native speaker! One of my favorite dishes here is the boat noodle. It's actually very hard to find a place that can do small bowls allowing for multiple options! I love the fact that they leave out all the extra seasoning/condiments to allow you to edit your dish to the flavor you like. I have never had anything bad here and I've tried many of the dishes here. I highly recommend this spot if anything just for it's boat noodle!

We stopped in about 40 minutes before close. The staff was still very welcoming and accommodating and straightforward about when we could get a last order in. We ordered the combination Thai Boat Noodle flat rice noodles, Kra Prow Moo Grob (Crispy Pork Belly), Green Papaya Salad, and Chicken Fried Garlic. We asked for everything to be spicier than Thai spicy, but I felt like the heat was less than that. The flavor of everything was great though and we actually finished off the four dishes. I liked the Kra Prow best, and the Fried Garlic was good with chili oil added. We got both of those with rice, which again, was cooked perfectly. We also got a pandan cake dessert that wasn't on the menu but was at the counter for $4. This was a great place for our last meal in San Francisco and I would definitely go back on another trip to the city.

Ordered Prik prow and pad thai, both delicious. Their medium spicy for prik prow is too spicy for me. Asian size serving (just right amount). Staff are very friendly. I didn't get to finish but still brought home to go. The price is okay. Just walk or take the bus here because street parking is always full.