Muangthai Restaurant in Albany

Muang Thai Restaurant, which also called itself DaNang Muang Thai, CLOSED around January 2017.         The location, 905 San Pablo Avenue, Albany, CA has now operated since July 2018 as Da Nang Vietnamese Restaurant by the people who opened it in 1983.  Lots of confusion, but it now serves Vietnamese food exclusively, NOT Thai food.     Hope this clears the confusion over what cuisine currently is being served.

The sign out front says Da Nang.  I first went here for Pho - which was good, then realized the place now primarily had Thai food. The place is fairly attractive and simple.  I don't much care for the music on the sound system (last night it was 97.7 FM, which just isn't my thing), but it wasn't obtrusive. These are about my only complaints.  This place has quickly become a favorite restaurant of mine.  I think the food is outstanding.  The spices taste fresh, and the flavors sparkle.  I really like their curries, their rainbow trout is delicious, and I really like the Tofu Pad Prik Khing (I hope I got that right) - green beans lightly cooked with fried tofu, a bit of red pepper, and chili paste.  It's always easy to find parking nearby, so it's been a great place to take my mom - or myself. I had some surgery yesterday and we went t...

We came here based on Luke Tsai's review in EBay Express. Sadly, we can't agree at all with his raves. We got a mix of Viet and Thai dishes, but the food barely reached average. (Please note: we have heard reliably good reports on their curries, so we may return to try them. Maybe. No promises on this one.) Fish cakes: Mixed with chile paste, so lightly spicy by itself. The paste makes the cakes darken too much in the frying, and overwhelms the pureed fish flavor. Chicken wings. Overcooked and a little greasy. Dry-floured, not the crusty thick batter. Sweet/sour sauce on side. Big size, but not that interesting. Tom Kha Gai soup. Lots of chicken, good. Lots of onions, bad. Broth lacks the depth of Siam Bay/Oakland or the coconut cream richness of Sabuy II/Berkeley. Deep-fried catfish with green beans, stirfry. Good: sauce was just ground chiles, not super-hot but no sugar at all, just pure chile flavor. Really good! Bad: the fish was thoroughly DOA, cooked until dead and then some. But the green beans were half-raw, meaning they tasted grassy with no sweetness. Al dente may work for some vegetables, but green beans are NOT one of them. Pad Thai. Muang's version is more sweet-tart than just sweet, with a dose of finely crushed cashews. We liked that they put the extra raw beansprouts on the side as we're not fond of them. But overall we prefer the old-style savory version, now very hard to find. Spouse found this salty, too. Fresh spring rolls: shrimp, rice noodles, lettuce, mint and basil, wrapped in rice pa...