FOOD | Hanuman Thai Eatery
6/21/2021
Ever since moving to Irvine, my family and I have been struggling to find a Thai restaurant that lived up to Rice and Spice (no longer open) in Rancho Santa Margarita. It’s been over a year since we moved, and we’ve tried several Thai restaurants around the Irvine area. Things were looking bleak… until we finally stumbled upon Hanuman Thai Eatery - our new favorite local Thai restaurant.
The Pre
Reservations:
An absolute necessity for the weekends. Note: you have to be there physically to put your name down. We arrived at the restaurant on a Saturday evening to put our names down for a party of 2, and the wait time was 1.5 hours (indoor seating). For outdoor seating, the wait time was 1 hour. The restaurant itself is fairly small inside, and they have about 5 or 6 tables for outdoor seating.
Attire:
Casual attire.
Parking:
There’s a free parking lot right in front of the restaurant, with tons of spaces.
Location:
Currently, their only location is in Costa Mesa. It’s in a random plaza in Costa Mesa that I’ve actually never passed by before, but boy am I glad I found this place.
The During
Order: This is family style dining, so I recommend ordering a few dishes and sharing so you can try more flavors!
Karee ($17) - Their version of yellow curry, paired with your choice of protein which includes options such as chicken breast meat and hangar steak, and a side of white rice. Yellow curry is a dish I always end up getting at Thai restaurants - this was definitely one of the best I’ve tried. The savoriness was balanced with the perfect amount of sweetness and creaminess from the coconut milk. The chicken breast was tender and juicy, with not a hint of dryness. They definitely don’t skimp out on the breast meat portion sizes either. The presentation as well, was visually stunning (my sad unedited photos did not do these dishes justice). I have never seen a curry dish plated in such a way, and it made me kind of sad to pick away at the presentation.
Pad Kee Mao/Drunken Noodle ($17) - Thick, flat rice noodles stirred with onions, tomatoes, and basil cooked in spicy garlic chili sauce. Again, you have a variety of proteins to choose from as well. I usually can’t eat spicy, so we ordered the medium spice variant, and it had just the right amount of kick to it. Just for reference, I can barely handle hot Cheetos without needing to down a glass of water. Rice noodles were cooked to perfection: soft but with a very slight chew to them. Aromas coming from the basil and garlic filled the air, and enhanced the flavoring of the food tremendously.
Service:
The host sounded a bit arrogant. For whatever reason, he had an cockiness in his voice that kind of bothered me, but other than that he was a nice guy. As soon as we sat down, our waitress took care of us immediately. She got our drinks started, and came back a couple minutes later to take our order. The service was so quick, we barely even had time to glance over the menu. We ended up asking for a few more minutes to look over our menu options. The food took about 15 to 20 minutes to prepare, and like I said above, it was well worth the wait.
I have a strange way of measuring how the service is at a restaurant. I like to drink a LOT of water with my meals. Often times at restaurants with poor service, I have to ask several times for my water to be refilled. The less I have to ask for water, the better the service is because it means the waiter/waitress is constantly checking in on us. At Hanuman, I didn’t have to ask for a refill ONCE. Superb.
Ambiance:
We opted for indoor seating and it was quite cramped inside. I’d say there was room for about 5 parties in there and thats about it. The walls were decorated with beautiful Thai artwork. There was so much to look at in the restaurant, that every time I looked up from my food I felt I’d discovered something new on the walls. Noise level was a bit high, and since all the tables were so close to each other, it was easy to hear what people at the other tables were saying. This isn’t the place to go if you’re looking for a nice and quiet dining experience.
The Verdict
My family and I have finally found our go-to Thai restaurant. It only took us about 1.5 years of trials and tribulations, enough said. Hanuman Thai Eatery is an absolute gem in terms of Thai cuisine in Orange County. The food as well as the presentation of the dishes is hands down the best I’ve ever seen at a casual Thai restaurant. If the food is this good, the excellent service is just a cherry on top. We didn’t even try any of their signature dishes. If you get a chance to try Hanuman, their most popular dishes are the “Gai Todd Hat Yai” (fried chicken with sticky rice and a side of house special dipping sauce) and the “Khao Soi” (creamy curry broth over egg noodles with a chicken drumstick). I’ll definitely be a regular here, and I’m really looking forward to exploring their signature specialty dishes next.
Kha’s Official Rating: 8.5/10