Chaba Thai Kitchen

I love you forever. That is all.
Here’s what you need to order in a nutshell: Panang Curry (I like to order an extra side of steamed veggies to mix in), Crispy Basil Chicken, Drunken Noodles with Beef. And everything else. Do it!!! You’ll thank me later.
See you next week!

First time here. I ordered the panang with chicken lunch special with brown rice, small veggie soup (delicious), and two wontons. The price isn’t bad ($ 7.95 before taxes). I also ordered a Thai ice tea but something was a little off with it. I think they water down the tea portion or use unfiltered water. Now I’m starting to sound uppity but I promise it tastes different… I guess they could be using a different tea brand/​blend from the other thai restaurants in San Diego.
The food was flavorful except I didn’t enjoy the curry because of how spicy it was. I’m not big on spicy foods so I ordered a 3 spice level. Now, disclaimer, they do have something on their menu saying to be wise when choosing your spice level because they will not accept any returns. Knowing this I should have ordered a 1 or 0 but I read this after I had ordered off of a to-​go menu.
Oh, I did mention this to the younger waiteress and she chuckled and said it’s because the food is «thai spicy,» which I thought was a little rude. I’ve been to many thai restaurants and if you’re restaurant has a tendency to be extra spicy then please mention this to your customers! Or else what’s the point pf having a 1 – 10 scale? By the way, my level 3 dish tasted like a 7 and my nose was literally sweating. I couldn’t even finish the meal. I may be back to try something else but with so many options in sd I may hold off (i.e., thai house, plumeria, bamboo thai fresh, bahn thai).

I would consider moving to San Diego to eat here every day.

Authentic Thai food!!! We were a group of four and came on a Friday evening and had to wait for ~20 min. We ordered papaya salad, crispy chicken with basil, kao soi, and pad thai with shrimp.
My favorite was the kao soi by far. I had it in Chiang Mai and have to say this tasted even better. lol
Crispy chicken was also really crunchy when it first came out but a tad too salty.
Generous portions too!
Service could be better and faster though. So –1 star.

Food is great and serving size is acceptable. The only reason I’m giving them 4 stars is because of service. Servers are not friendly. When they gave me my bill, it took them more than 10 mins just to get my payment. Other than their service, food is simple awesome. Price is not bad too!

Love the lunch specials here! It was only $ 8 for my meal that came with a soup and 2 small appetizers which is an amazing deal!
The place itself is not that large so they were packed during a weekday lunch. Service was friendly and very busy the entire time. I got the beef drunken noodles ($ 8). The soup they serve with it is light and tasty. I asked for spiciness level of 3 out of 10 for my noodles but it ended up to be extremely spicy for me (closer to what I would expect a 6 or 7 to be) so be careful. The noodles themselves were full of wonderful basil flavor and crisp bell peppers and onions. I am a huge fan!
My boyfriend got the panang curry with chicken ($ 7). He asked for spiciness level of 4 and it was actually less spicy than my dish for some reason. It came with a scoop of rice. The curry was also delicious but a little on the watery side.

I usually order Panang Curry, but I tried the Khao-​soi today and it was phenomenal! Our waitress correctly encouraged me to dial down my spiciness preference to 6. This was a great lunch with portion size large enough for lunch tomorrow. My wife had the panang Curry and she enjoyed hers as well.

Thank you, my fellow Unilocalers for this delightful recommendation! Located on CMB, it’s in a small shopping center by Fan Diego.
First time here with hubby and it exceeded all of our expectations!
M-​F 11am-​3pm are their lunch specials that range from $ 6.95 (tofu/​veggie/​chicken/​mock chicken/​mock duck) — $ 7.95 (beef/​shrimp/​calamari) — $ 8.95 (mixed seafood). They include soup (a chicken broth soup with veggies, tofu, and the secret ingredient which makes everything better, roasted garlic), white rice (for non-​noodle dishes), and two little appetizers (a curry wonton and a cream cheese wonton). Holy cow! What a deal! We ordered 6 entrees for the both of us (lol, we wanted leftovers ;)
Our sweet & amazing hostess, Amara, took time to explain their spiciness level. It’s authentic thai/​fresh chilles, aka, spicier than usual. So we played it safe and ordered everything level 1. I’d rather it be less spicy than way too spicy.
We got everything tofu (you get choice of fried or soft, we opted for fried, as I love the consistency of that) and one chicken dish.
Yellow curry: Flavor wise, very good. Would’ve liked it thicker though, as I don’t care for watery curry.
Pad Prik Khing: This is automatically a level 2 – 3, so it mixed nicely w/​our other level 1 food. Very tasty. I’m not a big green bean person, but hubby is. But it still tasted good to me, mixed in with everything.
Basil Eggplant: Holy Mother! This was our fave dish. Next time we are doing a double order of this. I LOVE all things eggplant and this did not disappoint!
Drunken Noodles: Had a nice hint of a smokey flavor. I would’ve liked even more smokey flavor, but I’ll take what I can get, as not a lot of thai restaurants do that.
Pad Thai: YUMMERS. I love me some pad thai. This is one of the better PT dishes I’ve had.
Ka-​Pao Chicken: This was the only chicken (breast) dish we got. it came topped with an egg. Very good but next time I think we will stick with all tofu dishes.
The soup: Hands down, best soup I’ve had at a thai restaurant. It is their daily soup for the lunch special. Amara kindly pointed out on the menu that we could order it for dinner as the Home-​styled meatball soup. I wouldn’t eat the meatballs, so we’ll stick w/​the vegetarian version of it during lunch.
The appetizers: curry wonton was like a sweet, mild baby curry puff lol. YUM! The cream cheese wonton is like the typical one you get at other restaurants. We liked the curry one better.
Serving size: AMAZE-​BALLS!!! Very generous. So worth the $ 6.95. Move over Sab-​E-​Lee, you’ve been replaced.
Next time we will get half of our order spicy level 1, and the other half of the dishes level 2, to get me the perfect 1.5. I definitely could’ve gone higher than 1 today but the 2 – 3 tasted plenty spicy and we prefer more of a mild, flavorful taste.
Ambiance: Casual, small restaurant. Only one uni-​sex bathroom, which is probably the only con about the place. It was a little warm in there until they propped the doors open and turned on fans. We will probably opt to come here for lunch towards the last hour to avoid crowds.
Service: Best service we’ve gotten at any thai restaurant. Amara was attentive, refilled our waters, and was proactive about everything, esp. since she knew we were first timers. First impressions are everything and she made a great one for this establishment! LOL I wouldn’t mind having her as my daughter-​in-​law! Loved her tons & bunches! Will definitely try to come back for lunch when she’s working. She was THAT good!
TIP: lunch special soup is for dine in only. We ordered 6 entrees (don’t judge! lol ;) Amara just had the chef serve us a big bowl of soup instead of bringing out 6 little bowls. So order away and try out multiple entrees. You can always take some home… and you can get filled up on their soup as a starter. BEST SOUP EVER. Did I mention that???
Hmmm what else is there to say? They do NOT use MSG! And nothing was overly salty (I hate salty food). Yay, pretty much a perfect first experience! I loooooove thai and this was a great discovery! Open Monday-​Saturday 11am-​9pm. Love that they don’t close for a few hours during the day in between lunch and dinner.
Enjoy my foodie pics. Don’t be jelly! lol ;p

Came here for lunch and I was surprise how small this place is.
I cam here to get their lunch special, paw see ew ($ 6.95) with tofu. And it came with a cup of soup which was perfect since it was cold and raining of outside. With the paw see ew, it came with curry puff and cream cheese wonton. The dish itself was one of the best I had. I love how they didn’t over fried the tofu, and cooked it super well. I love how it came with carrots, bok choy, and broccoli.
Overall, a nice cozy place to come get your thai food craving fix. Only complaint would be parking, parking lot is small and theres a lot of restaurants in the same complex so especially during lunch time its hard to find a parking spot.

My boyfriend liked this place, but I didn’t like it. Everything that I ordered was overly sweet to me. If you’re someone who likes sweet and salty then maybe you’ll like the flavors here but to me, every dish is just way too sweet.
I got the Curry Puff, Khao Soi, and Basil Eggplant. This was one of my least favorite curry puffs and I order that at basically every Thai restaurant. The filling was too sweet and the sauce was even sweeter. I decided to be adventurous and try the Khao Soi which is a curry soup with noodles. I just checked the menu and it was supposed to be garnished with crispy egg noodles but I didn’t get that :(Boo. The noodles in this were rubbery. The curry soup was good (again, kinda sweet) but I just feel like I would rather have had rice with the curry than rubbery noodles. The Basil Eggplant was just average. The sauce was wayyy too sweet.
I don’t think I would come back here, because I just don’t like the overly sweet flavor profile that seems to be the theme here at this restaurant. I gave it 3 stars cause my boyfriend liked everything, but then again, he doesn’t have sophisticated taste buds like me ;)

This is hands down my favorite Thai restaurant in San Diego. The food is excellent, but it’s the service that keeps me coming back. I don’t know the name of the main lady who usually serves us, but she always remembers that I do not like cilantro in my food. I’m rarely remembered (and acknowledged!) at restaurants. It’s silly, but it makes me happy.
Now back to the food– I highly recommend the Khao Soi, which is the only thing my husband will order. We’ve tried the same dish at several other places around the area, but no one makes it quite as good as Chaba Thai. It’s a delicious coconut curry broth with egg noodles, topped with more crispy egg noodles.
I recently attempted to broaden my horizon by trying something new and was pleasantly surprised by the Khao Mok Kai. It’s seasoned chicken with a curry rice. All the flavors worked so well together, I sometimes find myself randomly craving it.
It’s a smaller restaurant with ~10 tables, so sometimes there is a wait. Your glass of water will never be empty and you’ll see smiling faces everywhere you look. Definitely give this place a try!

The menu contains an eclectic selection of menu items. We ordered:
1. Thai iced coffee: not as sweet like Vietnamese iced coffee, delicious.
2. Duck larb: I don’t really like this dish, it’s got itty bitty pieces of skin, meat, and liver. I was hoping the pieces would be larger. And also my bad for not reading the description that there is liver. The seasoning also tasted a bit lacking in flavors, but plenty of salt.
3. Small Po Tak: yikes this was so sour! It’s spicy but the sour overcame me and just made this inedible by itself without rice. The seafood in there are fresh and cooked just right though.
4. Khao Mok Kai: This was actually surprisingly delicious. The curried chicken is juicy and flavorful, the saffron rice is also very fragrant. The sauce on the side (maybe it’s tamarind?) is sweet and adds such a refreshing depth to the rice/​chicken. MUST TRY.
When our last dish was served on the table, the staff saw me digging into the duck larb and found a piece of blue rubber band in it. The staff apologized. At the end, they offered to comp our coffee without us asking. I appreciated the gesture.
I would come back and try the other unusual dishes!

Last night on my evening commute, I was craving for something spicy, asian, and flavorful that packs a mean punch to the mouth.
In my car, Spotify started playing the Spice Girls’ hit single, «Wannabe» from a 90’s pop radio playlist. Caught me off guard, whoa.
Well, I found out that:
«Yo, I’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really want»
I really want Pad Thai and Thai style curry, and I needed to get in that Thai cuisine again. I have been eating Vietnamese food as my regular Asian dining option and change it up. I needed variety.
This place shares the same shopping area as Crab Town and Care Hielo. I came here a little after the dinner rush so the place was not busy by all means. Quickly sat down and away from the door as it was brisk for the evening. Restaurant was small but clean and cozy. Waters came by fast without missing a beat.
Tofu vegetable pad thai and red curry chicken curry without bamboo shoots and bell pepper were ordered. Thai spice levels are no joke. From previous experience, a ³⁄₅ star is a haymaker to the mouth for me. I ordered ¹⁄₅ for now as thai restaurants can have variations with their rating level. I am glad I did, the pad thai was hearty and the spice rode through the nose and into the palate with no offense. Sweet taste, noodles were chewy not hard to bite with the molars. Dang, I have not had good pad thai in a while. Tofu cubes were well cooked and firm, green onions were sweet and crunchy. There was alot of eggs in it too. Best part is the lime, love that citrus addition to an already well cooked dish. Maybe it is the Filipino in me to like adding citrus to pan fried noodles to my food (calamansi anyone?)
Red curry was full bodied, coconut milky, creamy goodness. chicken was tender and the amount given was decent. They give you am ice cream scoop of rice with it. Spice was not overpowering, and this dish was also well made.
Service was awesome. The waitress was very friendly and great offering suggestions. As a matter of fact, I felt like I had two waitresses. It did not matter who I asked for things, the staff were helpful and with a smile. Loving that customer service.
They were playing music in the background that reminded me of my high school and college freshman days, so legit.
I will most likely come again to try out the lunch specials. Thank you, Chaba Thai Kitchen for awesome service and great food.
Random note, how come there was not an «Old Spice» version girl in the 90’s British girl pop group?

For the past year or so, my friends and I have been doing Thai Thursday. Each week, we pick a new spot, though we’ve repeated some good places. I’ve been to the majority of Thai places in central San Diego and even some in outlying parts of the city. Chaba is on my list of the top 5 best Thai places.
Why you ask? The food is so good and much more authentic than most places. They serve my the best pad thai around and I love their curries! Spicy level 5 is about an 8 at most places so beware; I love the heat though! I also love that the pad thai has the small pieces of fried tofu that is traditionally part of the dish (though most places skip it). The prices are also great at $ 8.95 for a noodle or curry dish with chicken.
The décor leaves a little to be desired but the food is so good, I really don’t care. They staff are very nice. They usually flip the tables pretty quick, but have never made us feel rushed. Overall, I love coming here!

Prelims: a small restaurant with plain decorations, simple chairs and tables with minimal staff, this place really does give the mom-​and-​pop vibe. Located on Convoy street, this place is a little hidden because it faces away from the street, but is easy to find once you know where to look. Parking is not really a struggle, because when I went, there wasn’t many people eating inside, but this isn’t indicative of the quality of the food that I got. Normal pricing for what you get, I would definitely come back again.
I ordered the pineapple fried rice and the crab fried rice. The pineapple fried rice was for me, and it came with massive chunks of pineapple, 2 shrimp, and bits of chicken throughout. It was quite delicious, with great flavor, nice textures, and it was piping hot even though I took to-​go. The fried rice was a good combination of salty and sweet and it was thoroughly enjoyed. I only got to enjoy one shrimp because the other one got snagged while I wasn’t paying attention by my better half :/​Plenty of garlic, lots of pepper, and it was delicious to look at and to eat.
The crab fried rice was equally delicious if not more. There were large chunks of crab throughout the entire fried rice, it was crispy in some places and soft in others, just the right amount of seasoning, and supplemented by my own singular shrimp. This was just enjoyable all throughout, as per the SO.
TL;DR For the price, pretty decent and delicious fried rice.

Chaba Thai is probably now my favorite Thai restaurant in San Diego. They have some Northern Thailand dishes, which is usually really hard to find. The restaurant is pretty small, but there usually isn’t a wait. I guess people just haven’t found out about Chaba yet. The plaza is small, and parking can be tough on weekends (as expected in Convoy).
+++ Khao Soi
Egg noodle in a curry soup, similar to Malaysian laksa. Comes with a side plate of pickled veggies, chili, and red onions. So, so good.
Standard noodle dishes
Pad Thai and Drunken Noodle are both good, but try the khao soi first!
+++ Khao Kluk Kapi Fried Rice
Jasmine rice with shrimp paste and dry shrimp, side of honey pork, egg, cucumber, red onions, and green apples. The perfect melody of flavors. The rice has a nice shrimp flavor and is paired really well with the sweet pork and raw, red onions. Just mix everything together for an interesting combination of tastes and textures.
Papaya Salad
Warning: Stay away from the Laos Style Papaya salad (uses fish sauce instead of the usual tamarind and lime juice in the Thai style). As a lover of fish sauce, I thought this would be the perfect dish. This was way too pungent and strong.
There’s a lot more I want to try, and I’m sure it’s all pretty good.
Thai Style Papaya Salad
Larb– minced meat with lime juice, ground rice, mint, onion, and chili
Khao Mok Kai– Rice with fried shallots and saffron marinated chicken
Nua Nam Tok salad– beef salad with lime juice, ground rice, mint, onion, and chili

Does Chaba Thai have the Best Thai food in San Diego? Maybe!
I’ve dined here a number of times and never been disappointed with the quality and taste of the food. And the service is great, too.
I «test» new Thai places by ordering the Pad Thai, an Americanized dish that is usually number one on the menu. Chaba Thai makes a great Pad Thai, but don’t stop there. I have left that dish behind in places I visit regularly, and one of my favorites here is #67, the Spicy Basil Chicken & Preserved Eggs. It consists of ground chicken that is stir-​fried with basil, roasted garlic, fresh Thai chili, onions, bell peppers, and crispy preserved eggs. The crispy black eggs look a little scary to westerners, but the dish is delightful.
All of their soups are wonderful, and a really tasty appetizer is the Fish Cakes, which are uniformly bad everywhere else I have tried them. These don’t smell funny and are full of flavor.
If you have a hankering for great Thai food, be sure to give Chaba Thai a try. Because the place is small, a reservation is usually a good idea, and the place fills up with eager diners after about 6:00. You won’t regret it!

3.5 stars.
There are plenty of parking spaces in this plaza.
The waitresses are very attentive and nice, and this is a big plus for this restaurant!
I ordered pork neck, drunken noodle with chicken, red curry with duck, and a Thai iced tea. The pork beck was pretty good, and the drunken noodle was amazing!!! My favorite above all the stuff I order was the drunken noodle. YUM!
However, the red curry with duck was a little bit too watery. The taste was on point, but the curry was a little bit too water down. The Thai ice tea was too sweet for me ! I have had better ones.
Overall, I think I will be back just for the drunken noodle, pork neck, and the great service.

This is a small Thai restaurant. We came here on a weekday evening, around 7pm, and there was a steady flow of people. Good for small groups, maybe call ahead if you’d like to come in with a larger group…
Very clean dining area and the service was friendly.
Thai iced Tea– pleasantly surprised by the very creamy, yet not too sweet taste. Yum!
Cream cheese potstickers– presented nicely with a generous serving of cream cheese inside. Flavorful.
Curry puffs– small and bite-​sized. A mild curry flavor. Flaky crust.
Chicken phad Thai– nice portion, noodles had a nice chewy texture, very dense. It had a sweet taste to it.
Chinese greens with crispy pork– the greens still had a nice crunch to it. Same with the fried pieces of pork. Had a oyster sauce taste, a bit on the salty side…
So when we ordered, we asked for chicken phad Thai and beef pad see ew… But they ended up bringing us 2 phad Thai and no phad see ew. I told our server, who was about to correct it for us, but my hubby said it was fine and we settled for 2 phad Thai dishes o_​O I wish I could have tasted their pad see ew!
So while the food, atmosphere, and service was good, I still left with some mixed emotions because of that pad see ew mistake. Even though my husband said that we were okay with the 2^nd phad Thai, there was no further attempt at service recovery or apology for the mix up.
Otherwise, this place is definitely a place worth trying. Yum!

If I had to describe this place in one word, it would be: FIRE. Every bite I took, I literally felt like flames would leave my mouth. With that being said, this was some amazing Thai food!
My friend and I came here around lunch time, which was the perfect time. Not only was it not too busy, but also there’s a lunch special here. As we sat down, no more than a few minutes later, complimentary soup and salad was placed on our table. Once again, it was during lunch time, so I’m not exactly sure if they gave it out for that reason, or if it’s standard for every meal. Regardless, it was tasty.
We shared a Thai tea (which was poured from a can rather than homemade), and it was huge! Despite it not being fresh, it was still good. Now this is where it gets serious… I don’t exactly remember what the menu said, but it mentions something about their spice level. I didn’t mind it because I love spicy foods, and whenever I go to a Thai place, I don’t go less than a 5 spice level! Boy, should I have taken that little note as a warning!
We ordered the panang curry (with chicken) and pad Thai (with chicken) and holy smokes it pretty much killed the both of us. My friend eats and breathes spicy food, and even he was tearing. I downed four waters like it was nothing. The food was SO amazing – compliments to the chef! It came out so quick also. What would’ve made the food better was if I was able to actually taste it after the first few bites. No matter though, because we pretty much annihilated the food. It was THAT good. Our total was about $ 17 only, which was pretty cheap!
Comparable to other Thai spots, the service here was alright. Sometimes I felt as though we were bothering the waiters. I got an «I’m annoyed» vibe rather than a «I’d be happy to help» vibe, but I didn’t mind it much.
I warn you all… Don’t think of the spice level as a joke. I’m not sure if it was just today’s meal that was extra flamin’, but next time, we’re getting our spice level at a 3! That’ll test the spice consistency for sure.