Kin Kao Thai Kitchen - Vancouver, British Columbia

One of the best Thai restaurants in town. Decent price for what you get: fresh ingredients and authentic cuisine! I tried the duck curry, beef jerky, papaya salad and drunken noodles.

What we ordered: Red curry with duck Papaya salad Tom yum soup (small) Crispy pork Pad thai Thai milk tea TLDR: Don't take reservations. Walk in only. Saturday night had to wait about an hour to be seated. Very small space, food is good but not so good that we would wait an hour again on a ... weekend. Would go again if no wait, prices are reasonable, and more reasonable than their sister restaurant, Song. Friendly service but didn't check on us and had to ask for water refill. Tip on machine starts at 18%. Auto 20% gratuity on group of 6+. We got a gift card from a friend and thought we would try it this weekend. Little did we know that the gift card was actually for their sister restaurant song by kin kao and they did not accept the gift card at this location on commercial drive. You have to go inside to speak with someone for them to write your name down. They told us initially a 30 minute. Wait so we decided to walk around. Shall drive and come back after half an hour? I walked back inside to check on our place in line and the server now told us it was another 30min. So we waited, it was not an additional 30 minutes probably another 10 or 15, so in total, we waited about 45ish minutes on a Saturday evening around 730pm. Atmosphere/ambiance 3.7/5 Food & drinks 4/5 Service 3.9/5 Food overall was tasty. It hits the spot if you're craving Thai food. The papaya salad was your regular papaya. Salad, nothing reinvented here if anything I wished that there were a bit more green beans and that the dressing had a bit spice to it, a bit one dimensional. I'd say order if you want that sour freshness, but I've definitely had much better. The tom yum soup was fully loaded for that small bowl. Contained 3 shrimps and a lot of mushrooms, fresh lemongrass and lime leaf. The Star tonight was probably the crispy pork. Perfectly fried, and that sauce was spectacular. The pad Thai was a bit too sweet. The tamarind sauce overpowered everything else. Red curry was also on the sweeter side, but I believe if you were to ask for it to be at least medium spicy, then it would have more than just the sweet taste. Thai ice tea was nice and milky quite thick, but a lot of ice. A bit steep at 7$. Overall service is friendly but They never checked in on us and did not come by to fill our water. Maybe because it was quite busy at resto itself was a bit cramped at around 32 seats in the small space. Read more

We ordered two appetizers and two main dishes for the two of us. Portion size is small but still it was just the right portion for us. Prices are on the higher side but still acceptable range to us consider for the food and service quality you get from them. Papaya ... salad was good/average. The skewers were too overly marinated; we probably won’t order it again. Our main red curry duck was delicious, and definitely more special than any other curry’s we have had in other Thai places… the Thai style steak was just ok, again nothing special about this dish, we probably won’t order it again. It was a date night for us, and we wanted to try something new. This place feels like a fusion Thai to us… which is fine but from the four dishes we ordered, I am not sure if I would recommend this place to my friends and family, and unlikely we will go back again. Read more

I had the red curry duck with rice for the main, a Thai ice tea for my drink and coconut crème brûlée for dessert. The duck was nicely spiced with fresh chillies, the ice tea rich in flavour, and the crème brûlée 🍮 did have a hint of coconut. Overall the ... food was delicious and service friendly and attentive. The atmosphere at the time I was there was a bit loud and stark in decor. I also check out the bathrooms as an overall review, as my belief is bathrooms also need to be clean and reflect a part of the restaurant’s cleanliness. This one was passable but not pleasing. Read more

I tried the soup and it had a great balance of sourness and spiciness. The pork in the was tender and juicy, and the soup portion size was a little small for my liking. The sauce had a bit of a kick, which some people may find too spicy, but I ... thought it added a nice flavor to the dish. The fried rice was also good, but I found the sauce to be a little too salty. Overall, I recommend pairing the meal with some water or tea to balance out the flavors. Read more