Ruby of Siam

We ordered take out, so I cannot speak for the interior of the restaurant. It was easily the worst thai food I have ever had! I really do not understand the four and five star reviews because my experience was very different.
We ordered the pad Thai and another noodle dish. It was very flavorless and the noodles were soggy. Zero heat, despite asking for medium heat level. The other noodle dish was somewhat more flavorful but watery and lackluster. Both dishes were overpriced for the amount of food we got. Maybe we just ordered the wrong items, but they were so bad that I would not recommend this restaurant nor do I plan on eating here again.

Just ordered take-​out tonight and chose the Pla Chicken. It’s charbroiled chicken with lemongrass, onions and chili paste in a lime dressing. It is one of the best Thai dishes I’ve ever eaten. Highly recommended.

Heard good things and was in the mood for Thai food. Sat down to dirty water glasses. Thought it was just ours but as I looked at the glasses on the tables near us that had no one seated they too were dirty. This prompted me to look at my utensils prior to eating and I found quite a bit of dried food on my flatware. Needless to say we left without ordering and will not return.

I really loved this place! I went with coworkers during lunch and no one was there. I think we got there right when it opened but no big deal. It was comfortable seating and had really cute décor.
We all got the lunch special which was around $ 13 for a four course meal! What a steal! Totally worth it. You were able to choose between about five different options for an appetizer, soup/​salad, entrée, AND dessert! I got the wonton soup which was served in a nice big bowl — different from the usual cups I see, and the fried spring rolls which were two-​bite sized items but they served about six for you!
For an entrée I got the go-​to chicken pad Thai since I’m a typical American, but whatever… It was the best I’ve had! So good and filling. I then got the Thai custard for dessert which was a bite size item, but it didn’t really matter at that point because i was stuffed! We even laughed when we got the bill and it turned out to be $ 55 for 4 people. A must go! A hidden gem!

Excited to take my coworkers on a relaxing Friday lunch, I brought 7 very hungry guys ready to eat. We arrived 11:35 not realizing they don’t open til 11:45. No problem… our mistake. We decided to patiently wait. 11:45, door still locked and no one inside but lights were on. Eh, they might be running late…11:50, still nothing even after knocking on window and door.
In the end, we gave up and went down to the street to R.U.B.(Real Urban Barbeque)…excellent food and service as always…

The restaurant is adorable. It was fun for a casual dinner with my kids but cute enough that you could meet a girlfriend for dinner. The combo appetizer that we ordered was perfect. One of my boys loved the chicken skewers with Thai peanut sauce. The other loved the lime chicken (and so did I). Veggie potstickers weren’t bad and the little vegetarian rolls with noodles was quite good. (I totally wanted the scallion dumplings but I cheaped out and didn’t want to spend another $ 8 with the apps already ordered). I stuck with tofu pad thai which was good but I will probably order
Xtra tofu next time because I like larger chunks. (Just my personal preference). The kids didn’t eat their beef fried rice, but I enjoyed for lunch the next day! Stick with the house wine if you are going by the glass! I tried a snazzier glass of red and it tasted old, old, old. I should have sent back. I also tried my friends house red and it was a million times better. I suspect the
turnover is better with the house if you are going by the glass. I haven’t eaten in a good Thai restaurant since my city days. This is definitely getting moved into the rotation!

Wonderful thai food — thrilled to have it in the suburbs! Great pad thai, tom yum and all appetizers and curries we have had are outstanding as well. If you like thai food, you won’t be disappointed. Great quality and flavors!

Shrimp dumpling appetizer was good. Chicken pad Thai and fried rice were okay, but have had better. Entrees took a long time to arrive, service not particularly friendly, and restaurant at most ½ full.

Carried out from this restaurant for the first time today. Was excited to try it based on good Unilocal reviews. Ordered chicken pad Thai. It was absolutely awful. It tasted like plain noodles with some chicken and egg in it. It had no flavor at all. I literally ate three bites and threw it out. Really disappointing and I will not be going back.

I’ve been to the Highland Park location four times since it opened — three times for dinner and once for lunch. I continue to be impressed. The flavors are excellent, and each dish I’ve ordered has its own unique taste.
Last Saturday, we ordered drunken noodles with chicken, a ground chicken dish wrapped in a scrambled egg, duck curry (it came in a cute duck-​shaped bowl), beef soup and a Tom Yum shrimp soup appetizer. The Tum Yum may have been the best I’ve ever had, and I’ve tried it in lots of places. Perfect flavor and spicy but not overly so. Big, tender shrimp.
The drunken noodles were also excellent — far better than the run of a mill you usually get with this dish at other places. The chicken wrapped in an egg was unlike things I’ve had before, and it wasn’t really for me, but others at my table liked. The duck curry was wonderfully rich, though it could have used more meat. The beef soup wasn’t really to my liking, but my son loved it. It may have been too «authentic» for me, honestly. Which is a good thing, meaning they don’t dumb down their foods for a suburban clientele.
The service keeps improving. This was the best we’ve had so far. Food came quickly. Atmosphere is nice as long as they keep the strange music at a low volume. I’d prefer no music, honestly. The décor is very pleasant.

I was seriously struggling between a 3 and 4. Wish we could give 3.5. The service is pretty mediocre. That’s my biggest complaint. Even when practically empty it takes a while to take your order for no apparent reason. Next, I would say the food it’s overly salty. I enjoy the appetizers more than the meals here.

Solid place. Ordered takeout on a Monday evening, was told 25 minutes. Food was ready when I got there. Crispy vegetarian spring rolls and Pad Thai with tofu, medium spicy. Rolls were tasty, good texture on the filling, not to greasy. Honestly, the first couple bites of the Pad Thai didn’t blow us away, but after getting everything all mixed up, the flavors all came together.
Looking forward to trying it in house sometime.

Excellent food and great service. Loved the chicken khao soy!
My husband really liked the Pad Thai. Would definitely go back and often!

This review is for take out only.
We ordered 2 items — the green curry and the tom Yum soup (with lemongrass and no coconut milk). The items were ready upon my arrival and the staff was quick and friendly while delivering my food and taking payment.
The green curry was terrific — just a touch of heat and full of flavor. None of the spices were too aggressive that would require one to have an acquired taste for Thai food to enjoy. There was just a touch of sweetness to the curry that made it more complex and enjoyable. They served standard steamed jasmine rice with it, which was a regular portion size and well cooked.
The Tom Yum soup was very good too. A light broth (not rich because no coconut milk), but packed with complex layers of flavor. Again, just a touch of heat to make it more enjoyable.
I give the restaurant higher than 4 stars since I haven’t tried more things and haven’t been inside for a sit down meal. More to come in the future…
The good news is that we desperately needed a classic style Thai restaurant in Highland Park… So far so good.

What a disappointment! I love Thai food and I was so excited to finally be getting a dedicated
Thai place in my hometown!
Went here for lunch with business associates to check it out and had a major let down. The food is mediocre and service poor.
First we were seated and presented menus. The prices were really high. We thought okay we order a couple of dishes and split them to keep the cost per person within reason. One of my associates had the bright idea to ask if there were any lunch specials. Yes in fact there was a whole menu with lunch specials. Okay, don’t know why we weren’t given them in first place but we had them now. Now we can each get our own. The quantity and number of courses is quite large for lunch. I think they would do better to offer a bit less food and a lower price, Four courses, appetizer, soup, entrée and dessert.
I had the fried egg roll (vegetarian) appetizer and it was the best part of my meal. The Tom Ka soup had slices of lemon grass in it that were inedible. Fine to flavor the soup but don’t serve something that has to be picked out. Gross. Pad See Ew is my very favorite Thai dish and their’s was not good. I actually crave this dish at times but you won’t see me coming back here for it. There are other places in the north shore that I can drive to get my fix.
The service is atrocious. Besides the menu issue, they brought the wrong soup for one of my companions and when we pointed out the mistake no apology and he was made to feel that they bringing the wrong dish was his own fault. The server was difficult to flag down and was fairly rude to us through out.
Still waiting for a really good Thai place in HP. There’s opportunity here folks!

I would give 2 ½ stars if that option was available. I have no complaints about the restaurant décor, but I think that service could be much improved. We have had several dinners here and my impressions have remained the same after each experience.
The staff is friendly, but clueless with the nuances of good restaurant management. One does not want to get entrees served with appetizers, and that has happened twice. Also, for the quality and most specifically, the small quantities of portions served, the restaurant is more expensive than most similar Thai restaurants. I had a panang curry with mixed seafood, and for $ 16.99, I would have wished to see a better preparation. I asked for very spicy and would rate the spicy level to 3 of 5 at best. The squid was overcooked and rubbery, and the dish was disappointing. My daughter had pad thai with chicken, and there was very little chicken in the dish. B*** had requested his dish to have crispy tofu, and the dish did not have any crispy tofu as delivered. I had beef green curry on a prior visit, and the beef was extremely tough, almost inedible. Did you forget to marinate the flank steak?
It is a shame, for the restaurant comes close to delivering a decent product, but price and lack of attention to the details gets Ruby of Siam a severe downgrade. Since Thai is one of my favorite things to cook, I am very well aware of how the dishes should taste and what they should look like. Even if the prices were more reasonable and the portion sizes better, I cannot recommend this restaurant without seeing significant improvement.

Great food. Great service. The price is right. Finally we have good Thai food in Highland Park. Really great with Gluten free options. Going to make this a staple!

Mediocre food, terrible service.
Spoiler alert. I dislike Thai food. Don’t like lemon grass, curry or coconut anything. But, I’ve eaten great Thai food without any of those. Some at Ruby of Siam in Skokie.
Appetizers: They have about 26 listed on 2 pages. Other than the spring rolls and pot stickers, both of which we had and were excellent, everything else is fried. Did I mention I don’t like to eat fried food either?
Entrees: Totally meh. The duck dish tasted like the duck was cooked in dishwater. Maybe lemon grass in the broth? The eggplant dish was rubbery, tasteless, not interesting to eat at all.
Service: Don’t get me started. Some of the staff speaks and understands little English, so getting help on ordering is difficult. That was the case with the first staff person who approached us. Her contribution was to advise us that they didn’t have a liquor license. Some time later another came to help us choose appetizers and that worked out fine, but we then didn’t know who was our waitperson. After we had finished our appetizers, we waited and waited to be reapproached for a dinner order (obviously way to late in the dining experience process) and finally had to flag down the host, who took our order in the absence of a viable waiter. The overlong wait for food that was not up to par didn’t do it.
Bottom line, not returning. Not sure the place will last the winter, unless the Restaurant Impossible team arrives in the interim.

Three stars means just OK. My meal was Par, if that. I asked for the Red Snapper, and the server went back to the kitchen and said they were out. About five minutes afterwards, someone else came out of the kitchen who said «I found it». I was like…“found what?” She said «the red snapper… in back of the freezer». No thanks. I may be a snob when it comes to my fish but I’m not eating frozen fishickles! Instead, I ordered the drunken noodle with beef. I asked for no spice and it was sweet and didn’t agree with my tastebuds. The beef was grounded and not to my liking. Chicken satay was good, the dumpling appetizer was just ok and the sticky rice was the only thing that was great. We also ordered the shrimp curry and shrimp fried rice. Those dishes were both good. Sorry I cheated on you Thai Thai!

I love this place very good food. I love the pad tai and their peanut sauce is out of this world. The owners are so friendly. Everyone is extremely nice. It’s a beautiful place to eat.

Had such s nice dinner here with my mom the other evening. I was so excited to see that Ruby of Siam was coming to HP and this location did not disappoint.
We started off with the crab Rangoon and it was amazing. I mean amazing! They were jolt almost like little cigars filled with imitation crab and a mixture of cream cheese and scallion and engined in a light wrapped. Fried to perfection. If you are a crab Rangoon fan, try these. They were great!
For dinner I had the tofu pad see iew and my mom had the shrimp pad Thai. Both were equally good and had tons of flavor. The ingredients were very fresh and delicious. I would recommend both dishes.
If you are in the area and have a hankering for Thai please try this place, it is awesome. I am so happy Ruby of Siam has arrived!

It’s all about the food and for this, five stars. I’ve been eating at Ruby of Siam for many years. Originally in Bannockburn, then in Skokie. The interior of this new restaurant in Highland Park is beautiful with special touches of Thailand surrounding your experience.
Very exciting to have a quality Thai restaurant in Highland Park. The food is authentic and prepared with huge amounts of flexibility regarding vegetarian gluten-​free and spice levels. As this restaurant just opened last week, there were a few bumps in service, but easy to overlook for the tasty food delivered to our table. Our first visit was on a busy Saturday night and we were seated immediately had a table for two at 6 PM. By 6:30 there was a line out the door :-)
I look forward to exploring more dishes on the menu, as the menu is massive. Keep in mind that it is BYOB until late July when their liquor license goes into effect. Welcome to Highland Park, Ruby of Siam!
Comment added August 13, 2015… Just had carry out and the quality did not suffer. Order was ready on time and packed correctly. Just another way to enjoy ruby of Siam.

Finally Thai in Highland Park. Solid, classic chicken satay. Good spring rolls with chicken sausage instead of tofu as an option, which was interesting, and the sauce was light, not the typically heavy plum sauce. As I am regrettably eating less, I took a pass on the curry but tried Kai Yud Sai for the first time. It’s sauteed ground chicken described as being covered in a thin layer of egg, It comes presented like a square omelet, and the server in fact called it a Thai omelet. I had never had it before and it was really great. The egg paired well with the ground chicken. I am not a dessert guy, but my wife ordered the Mango sticky rice. The sweet but not too sweet rice was flanked by slices of mangoes, oh my, very good.
Certainly for anyone in the area, you should give it a try. They should have their liquor license by the end of the month.
Five stars I reserve for The Publican, Longman & Eagle and places like that, so four stars is a complement. This was a nice place, nice staff, and the food was very good. Give it a try.

I love Thai food but not this place. Been there twice and everything I ordered tasted like it was doused with sugar or something sweet. The menu has pictures of all the food which gives it the feel of restaurant chain at a truck stop. As far as Thai food, this place is not very good. Too bad as I would be there all the time if the food were edible.