(CLOSED) Thai Ritz Cuisine- Irvine

*UPDATE December 15, 2011: This restaurant is now closed. A new Thai restaurant, Papaya, replaces it. 

Searching for a restaurant to eat at sometimes can be difficult. As always, I have a list of places to try out in Orange County, but the problem is that almost none of them are close by to UC Irvine, our main point in going to Irvine in the first place. So, without any choices to choose from we just headed off to Diamond Jamboree in the possible search in finding a restaurant.

When we arrived we were in a bit of a dilemma. BCD Tofu House was full, Kula was full, and both Capital and Tokyo Table were available in Arcadia. So what other place to go? My dining companions decided on Thai Ritz Cuisine, which I had read about in Eileen's blog, Eileen Likes to Eat. The post wasn't completely positive on Thai Ritz, so I wasn't very convinced on trying it out, but what other place to go? Plus, it was late, so we just went in.

Inside, it was styled quite lightly, with not too many Thai decorations all over the place. Apparently, they also won an award for their food, but that was in Australia in 2004. Who knows if the food changed or not? And yes, I drew over the person's face since he was an employee which I think even if I blurred him out, you would be able to tell it was him.

Thai Ritz also had a gelato bar named Stars Italian Gelato. While we were waiting for our table, we glanced at this for fun, but didn't order anything since it was a tad cold in terms of weather.

For an appetizer we ordered the Papaya Salad (7.95 USD). I haven't had papaya salad before so this was something new. The papaya was quite crisp, and so were the carrots. There were also cucumbers, green beans, roasted peanuts, and tomatoes. Why peanuts? I don't know. Anyway, everything was doused in a sweetened fish sauce mixture and lime for an additional punch.

We also ordered two noodle dishes; one was the Pad Thai (10.95 USD). In terms of flavor, this was a bit lighter. There wasn't that much tamarind and the pad thai looked like a light orange in contrast to places like Lotus of Siam where they are of a darker orange/brown. Less tang and sweetness. Otherwise, the noodles had a nice chew, but overall the dish was quite oily for Pad Thai.

We enjoyed the Pad See Eaw Noodles (8. 95 USD) more (but I think I had Pad Kee Mao). There was more flavor, but it was still oily. Plus there were more vegetables, and the large rice noodle sheets were not charred nor too oily in taste.

As for the Pork Noodle Soup (Thai Boat Noodles) (9.95 USD), it was interesting. It tasted like pho to me with nothing on the side, silly enough. Probably the spices were just very similar! The chewy noodles were nice. Otherwise, a nice bowl of noodle soup if a bit on the expensive side.

Anyway, Thai Ritz Cuisine is an OK option for those who want Thai food in the nearby area, but probably some other restaurants would be better if you want a more authentic place to eat! And I still have my list which hasn't been shortened yet. When will the next trip to the OC be? :)


Thai Ritz Cuisine
2700 Alton Pkwy #141
Irvine, CA 92606
Tel: (949) 587-9418