Jitlada

Really great Thai food. More southern style, many different and creative things on the menu. Sometimes the items can take a little longer to come out but that is because their kitchen is small, they even have signs up around the restaurant explaining that. The crying tiger beef is excellent and so is the celebrity chicken. I highly recommend this restaurant. Only down fall is its pricier than other places in the area. But I don’t mind because the food is so good.

Fame (fame) brought my friend and me to Jitlada
Fame (fame) made their prices high and hard to swallow
Fame (fame) I think their fame is somewhat hollow
Fame (fame)
Fame (fame) from the Best Thing I Ever Ate, while some dishes are great
The food doesn’t quite radiate, and it’s not worth the wait.
Fame
Fame (fame) made us buy the Crying Tiger
Fame (fame) after a few bites my tongue started to tire
Fame (fame) so salty we couldn’t finish the dish entire
Fame (fame)
Fame (fame) from love of Jonathan Gold, and from many others I’m told
Yes the flavors are bold, but on this place I’m not quite sold
Could it be the best, could it be?
Really be? Really, Unilocalers?
I can only say that for the curry…
Green curry with eggplant…
Not so spicy yet so creamy…
Fame, fame, fame, fame
For this dish they should get first prize, I surmise
Fame (fame) made us get the deep fried basil with the fried fish
Fame (fame) it did not live up to what I did wish
Fame (fame) it was crunchy but a bit too oily
Fame (fame)
Fame (fame) led us to the mango salad, it was refreshing for the palate
But when I saw the check I grew a bit pallid, $ 80 for three dishes and a salad
Fame (fame)
Is it any wonder that I reject you for your fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame
The food is good but not for that price and fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame, fame

I like their flavors a lot. It tastes how I expect things to taste, which I know is a bit vague, but that’s the best way to describe it. The things I didn’t like were the prices, which are relatively high for Thai, and their meat quality. The beef is just not that great. Chewy, sinewy, and disappointing for the price.

This is it my friends.
LA has so much Thai it’s hard to get a handle on it. But Jitlada is the golden goose.
Are prices a bit more than your average place, yes, but this place ain’t average.
Go with a group, order family style and prepare to feast.

Believe me the food is outstanding I don’t need to tell you about it. See the photos and read the other reviews. This is about the comical terrible service here that they really don’t care if you come or not. Because you do come!!! Arrive at 5 Sunday the first customers several behind us. Seated given menu and then waited for 15 minutes for a waiter to approach us. The one of two waiters was talking to people that came after us. Finally had to flag down one of them to order. Now we were here for almost two hours remember first ones here. Now the comedy. We finally get some food. But wait it’s a main dish not the salad or appetizers we ordered??? Then another main dish then the salad then the appetizer. Now this is waiting at lest 15 minutes between each item. Had to continually ask for our food. Oh then the last two main dishes arrive 1 hour 39 minutes after we arrive. OMG. You can give this place all the great reviews you want. Zagat and Jonathan Gold never told us about the absolute ridiculous service. Will never return even though the food is Great.

Every time I go here I am amazed by the wide variety of offerings: from Thai lamb
noodles to fried morning glory stems-​a bit like eating weeds but even for the
uninitiated, this is the place to eat Thai food-it’s hardly a hidden gem and i think that at dinner time, there must be hordes of people who want to eat here, but go at lunch. Everyone
who knows anything about exotic Thai food goes here as well as those who want to
take people who have had no or little experience with this complex cuisine. Go
beyond the Larb, the Phad Thai and all the other standards which are done well here,
to be sure, but the least interesting items on the menu if you ask me. The fine
dishes are NOT inexpensive: basic sea food dishes which ARE fresh are not
cheap but who cares. Quality and fine dining with very friendly waiters: ours, Ken,
was superior –espeically since there were Buddhists praying in the next room as
we ate.

Cranky hostess, prices double that of basically anything else in the area (you’re literally in the middle of Thai town and are surrounded by delicious options for Thai food), no toilet paper in the lady’s restroom (and a staff that looks blankly at somebody who requests any) and 7 dollars for valet parking.
The food would have to be way better in order to justify this.

Came here early since we had a party of 12. But they won’t seat us until everyone arrived. We ordered 2 sets of crispy morning glory salad, 2 spicy basil clams, 2 tea leaf curry catfish, 2 duck salad, crab fried rice, crying tiger beef, duck egg noodle, Prik King shrimp, crying tiger pork and pad see ew. Loved everything except crying tiger beef and pork and pad see ew. Beef was a bit dried and pork was too salty. Pad see ew was nothing really special. My two favorites were crispy morning glory salad and tea leaf curry catfish. Morning glory salad was light and refreshing. Crispy watercress was crunchy, shrimp was cooked perfectly and dressing was flavorful. Tea leaf curry catfish was spicy and catfish was moist. Food didn’t take long as we expected. Only item that took forever was the duck egg noodle. Everything was pricey, but the food is pretty darn delicious.

The woman who was hosting the door was extremely rude! Prices were a bit high and sadly we did not stay to eat after waiting for 30 minutes. The last straw was when my friend went to use the ladies room and requested toilet paper but was asked if coffee filters would be OK, LOL!!!

Very poor service, we waited a long time just to get a menu, and then they did not give us enough menus. My daughter ‘s food was so spicy, that she could not eat it. The waitress did not come and check with us, so we had to flag her down to get my daughter’s food replaced. We had all finished eating by the time it arrived. We actually like spicy food, but this was way over the top, and nowhere was it labelled as spicy. My son ordered Coco mango salad it was so small. It was more like an appetizer portion, but priced like a main course. Frankly, I feel ripped off! The food was overpriced for what it was, and the service was terrible

Andrew Zimmern, hosted a show on either hidden Los Angeles gems, or off-​menu offerings, or great burgers. What I saw, led me to the venerable, Hollywood, Thai establishment, Jitlada, where I lunched on their secret: Jazz Burger.
With the Jazz Burger, Jitlada has done something very difficult. They have made a truly, singular burger. The Jazz burger is a large, satisfying, patty, loaded with richly spiced, Thai flavors. Mmmmm… Wish I could be more specific, but I’ve told you about as much as I really know. The Jazz Burger is served on a platter, with copious leaves of Thai basil (use it) and iceberg lettuce. I have no memory of ever, previously, enjoying any placement of iceberg lettuce, but in this setting, it provides a cool, crunchy, respite from the burger’s mild heat, while it nicely hosts a lovely dressing, in which the flavor of palm sugar is deliciously forward. The meal paired perfectly with a tall Chang Lager.
My meal was limited to the Jazz Burger but with what I saw and smelled, I have no difficulty imagining the on menu fare is spectacularly good. Jitlada is a hole in the wall, set in a cramped strip mall, but a perfectly nice hole in the wall, in a flatly serviceable strip mall. The staff was more than capable.
The Jazz burger, on it’s own, was easily, worthy of a 5 star rating. However, the obstacle thereto, was price. The Jazz burger is, indeed, special. Now, I like special, and am happy to pay for it, BUT fancy preparation (?) be damned, $ 18 is close to a bridge too far for any burger. The $ 12 for a pint of fairly commonplace lager seemed a touch steep as well. BUT…
My complaints are relatively small and none involve the food, setting or service.

First of all i have to thank «The try guys» from Buzz feed on Youtube who inspired me and my friend to give this place a shot. By my first thought when we arrived there i had feeling of prejudice. We were seated on the corner of the other part of the restaurant that it was fine. I’m kind of simplistic person. I started to observe people in the restaurant at 1 pm there were few tables probably 5 maybe. I made my personal hypothesis toward the price in the menu that i was unexpectedly shocked that there are over 150 things and average price is around 11~15 dollars per dish. Such an optional restaurant for people who like to take a look this and that on a menu and consider carefully what they want to have for the meal.
It took me a while to pick which is worth to try. My friend is american. He has tried Thai food so many times because i’m Thai and we usually have Thai food at least once a week. He immediately picked Thai Curry green beans with chicken which the price a bit higher than other places where i’ve experienced.
I ended up by biting my lower lip choosing Spicy noodles with crispy pork and also Mango sticky rice for a dessert.
And an awkward moment occurred when i thought my waiter was Thai, but he wasn’t. Right after my friend told him what he wanted. I turned to him and started to place an order in Thai. Lol and he made a poker face to me so I switched myself Into English mode right away.
While i was waiting for my food, i spent most of the time reading one star comments on Unilocal and i noticed that most of them are mentioning to pricing which I quite agree with them. (sometime, it’s probably their restaurant strategy.)
Now it’s all about food.
Priking came with the reasonable portion. Not too big not too small. Texture was great, not too viscous, there were some coconut cream and curry to put on top of my rice. It’s quite salty if you eat just by itself without rice.
Then my crispy pork spicy noodle something was brought to me. Second surprise that it was glass noodle. Again i’m simplistic enough to get 19 dollars dish with crispy pork which hard to tell that it’s crispy or soggy. And you can’t even hurt your teeth from chewing it. So i give ⁴⁄₁₀ for this dish.
The waiter came by again and told me a sad news that they didn’t have mango sticky rice and offered me coconut ice cream thing and smiled back and said no. Although, i was screaming agonizingly inside.
Alright question is
Are we gonna go back?
Answer is No
The list why i wouldn’t go back
1. Very time consuming.
2. Pricing is kind of cost an arm and a leg.
3. I don’t eat beef, lamb all those kind a thing. And when I try to spend my money intelligently, i probably can order few things like appetizer or some basic food. Those are the cheapest.
4. I don’t like the atmosphere in the restaurant. It’s uncomfortably compact. I just can’t imagine the time when the restaurant gets busy. I don’t even know which corner I can be standing.
5. I glanced over the wall with the notice «please wait and be patient our food is worth for sure» something about this. For me it worked cause I totally understand restaurant people but somehow i was thinking about some other customers. It just sounds exaggerated.
No hard feeling. Give it a try people. You probably like it. :)

Sorry Jonathan Gold, but this place doesn’t exemplify what I’m looking for in a competitive Thai-​eat-​Thai world!
Whilst they do have great food, very authentic Thai dishes and flavors, and a huge variety of food items, this place is a very poorly run business.
Sign your name on the wait-​list just outside the glass door prior to entry, and continue to wait for an eternity, because the open seats inside and frantic service will entirely overlook your arrival. They rarely check the wait-​list and are better at seating you if you void the list entirely and tell them that you’ve arrived.
Plenty of time is put into making sure that every table has a table-​side sign stating that their food is worth the long exacerbating wait that you’re expected to endure. Trust me when I say that the sign should be trusted. Our wait for the food made me question if the cooks were out on a grocery run.
My sole agreement to the Famous Jonathan Gold’s stamp of approval is that the food itself is quite delicious. The flavor complex and exotic nature of virtually every dish is satisfying to all five areas of the pallet. However, please take into account that the flavor is directly proportionate to the cost.
For these reasons, I can only enjoy Jitlada once. If this were my weekly Thai visit, I’d afford no roof or transportation and likely would need to set up camp outside next to their transparent wait-​list.
PS: Good luck finding the item you want on the menu. Their expansive 1000 item menu shares the organization system of the big bang.

Omg. This is truly a gem in the rough!
The variety of options is wide and deep. Seafood is their strength and the spicier the dish is equivalent to most customers preference. Hot is spicy hot! And so so soooo good. I sweated like crazy!
This is a hole in the wall restaurant. So come casual. It is not fancy, but is the best Thai food in Los Angeles by far.
Order with confidence.

Jitlada’s Crying Tiger made the list of «Best Things I Ever Ate». And no wonder. Like Jitlada itself, these strips of grilled beef are subtly sweet n’ spicy and just so perfect.
You really have to work to find Jitlada. It’s tucked away in a random strip mall, like most places authentic. But believe me, it’s worth the effort.
And it doesn’t get much more authentic than a Papaya Salad or sauteed Morning Glory, some of the lighter, warm-​up items on the menu.
The Crispy Catfish Salad is amazing. The catfish is so light it floats, and the bed of mango underneath is just as good.
The Honey Crispy Duck was a disappointment. Not at all crispy and a bit on the soggy side.
They tried to warn us about the Jungle Curry is one of the spiciest items on the menu, and there is no adequate way to warn of its effects. The curry is earthy and fragrant, and at first you think you can handle it. But then it punches you HARD and you will literally cry as your whole face goes numb! But you’ll keep eating because it’s impossible to stop. Highly recommend Thai iced tea to dull the flames.
I often joke that if the service is good, the food is not authentic. But here the service left little room for complaint. The line was long, but it was a weekend, and the wait was fairly short. The wait for our food was even shorter, and the dishes came out at an edible pace so we always had something to nibble on without overcrowding our table. The food is phenomenal, and I can’t recommend it enough. Add this to your LA bucket list STAT.

Certainly the best Thai I have had outside of Thailand but the portions tend to be tiny and a lot pricey for a hole in the wall place. The morning glory salad was good but the crying tiger beef was tiny because they said it was an appetizer, and it was not great. The steam mussels were good but the turmeric catfish was just a few thin slices of this cheap fish and there was no hint of turmeric, not bad but not great either.
The fried rice was better than most but not exceptional. All in all the meal was not enjoyable because the portions were disappointingly tiny.
If you have an adversity towards salt or msg stay away from the broth that comes in your steamed mussels.

First of all, I’m Thai. I know what is authentic and what is NOT. This place is not just only bad service, not authentic, no ambiance but also pain in the ass price. I only saw server 3 time. The first time when we got menus (20 mins after got seated), second time when she took our order (15 mins after we got menus) and last time when we got our bill. Server never came back to ask if we wanted some seasoning or condiments.
Hrrrrrrr disappointed. 2 apps for $ 32 and one main course for $ 29
Let’s me go to somewhere else for cheaper price with better service. Bye bye forever

I m an easy going person but this place drove me crazy with the taste, service and huge price.
Appetizer for $ 16. I could get a nice entrée with salmon or scallop with that price from somewhere else that may come with potato or rice. From Jitlada what I got was a small portion of salad!!! I also ordered extra spicy but it turned out super sweet
Main course for $ 29 and I ordered rice on the side = $ 31 holy moly!!! I expected to get bigger portion of this plate bcuz of the price. They let me down by the super small prawns and extremely sweet sauce all over.
I was going order desserts but those plates were as sweet as dessert already. Zero possibility to return. I’m smarter enough to know where to go next time for better service, taste and price

The best of the best of the best Thai food I’ve ever eaten, and that includes Thailand itself! The menu is a bible of selection. If you plan ahead, you can call and request the famous «Jazz Burger», and I recommend ya do that! Don’t forget to order the celebrity chicken because it legit makes you feel like a celebrity it’s so good. Jazz and company are the sweetest and give every customer amazing hospitality. Can’t wait until my next visit. Cheers to Singha beer too!

This is without a doubt the best Thai cuisine. The menu is extremely authentic, the staff is welcoming and they are accommodating when it comes to your food allergies or dietary preferences. I get all of my dishes vegetarian without fish sauce and it is no big deal to the chef to do so as I think it is a common request. Here are the dishes that I love and think you should try…
* Spring Rolls are crispy and fresh and a good way to start your meal.
* The Yellow Curry is out of this world, and I recommend that everyone try it at least once. You just can’t beat the balance of warm spice and sweet flavors.
* Tamarind Pad Thai is sweet and savory.
* Pad See Ew is always my go to noodle at any Thai place, and it is of course very good here.
*The southern curry was way too spicy for me but my boyfriend loved it!

Went back to Jitlada after 7+ years and boy has it changed for the worse.
While I respect Jonathan Gold’s opinion of restaurants in general, he does not have a palette for good Asian cuisine.
This restaurant is ok but nothing special and when you are paying nearly twice the price as any Thai restaurant you expect better whether it be the décor, service, presentation, or taste. None of them happened to be better. Green curry chicken was bleh filled with a few ounces of white meat chicken. What Asian restaurant uses white meat? The black pepper chicken was dry and tough. You get the picture.
Oh by the way I didn’t see one Thai person in the restaurant – enough said. Will not revisit for at least another 7 years.

By far the best Thai food I’ve ever had outside of thailand, and I’m a regular to thailand… this is the way thai food is supposed to be made…
They never disappoint and the quality speaks for itself, if you like heat. trust me you’ll get heat. don’t underestimate their spiciness.
No need to name dishes as most of the menu is awesome… have never been disappointed yet.
Their service is great, (Sugar) she’s wonderful and super nice…
Price is fair
parking can be interesting… but worth the hassle.

6:00 pm, saturday night.
we walk in and the place is empty. awesome! i love dead times in restaurants when you get lightning fast service.
i was wrong. very, VERY wrong.
despite the emptiness of the restaurant, it took TEN minutes to seat us. that’s when things really started to go downhill.
we ordered two fried chicken dishes. and waited. and waited. and waited.
and waited some more. by now it was 6:40. i told my guy i was ready to stab someone for a drink. he, in fear for his life and very familiar with my foul temper when crossed in food or drink, wisely chose to hike it to a nearby liquor store. one airplane-​size bottle of johnnie walker black later i am fuming and hungry.
at 6:55 we receive our food. the fried chicken is good, though ridiculously, outrageously, preposterously overpriced.
the hat yai fried chicken, ringing in at a whopping $ 22 is (i fucking kid you not) a chopped up chicken breast with some limp carrot sticks as garnish. $ 22. for one fried chicken breast.
the turmeric garlic fried chicken, more modestly priced at $ 14, is also one chopped up piece of chicken that has been fried. not ONE chicken, one PIECE of chicken, chopped up. with tax and everything, our check for two pieces of chicken came to $ 41. i was FURIOUS.
this place is a complete fucking rip off. portions are tiny, prices are slap-​in-​your-​face high. service is atrocious. again, an hour wait in an empty restaurant for two pieces of fried chicken is ludicrous.
there are hundreds of thai restaurants in hollywood. whatever you do, don’t go to this one.

Came here for lunch. Food was good. service was okay. our bill was pricey and I was surprised that the dishes didn’t include rice– we had to separately pay for a side of rice. The had a wonderful verity on their menu.

Went here with a friend and had high hopes, pretty disappointed
Pros: the interior is beautiful, the menu is super creative and we wanted to try one of their weird unique items but just couldn’t do it
Cons: very pricey, portions were small, avg Thai food nothing great

When I’m in Los Angeles a friend of mine insists we go here, maybe it’s nostalgia because she lived around the corner in the 70’s and was one of the first Thai restaurants open in LA, and ate there all of the time. Well it’s obvious I’m not a fan of is. Where do I start on my latest Jitlata debacle. I’ve learned the this place gets busy fast for dinner, so I try to get my friend to go to the end of lunch or 5:00 pm sharp when Jitlata opens for dinner. This time we show up at 5, walk in say server says to use, we not open, no staff here, while she was on phone. I bark at her then when do you open?, she said, nothing and we just stood there waiting for an answer. Server get off phone and then seats us, with no explanation, whatever I guess.
We get menus and, server disappears for about 20 minutes. Finally she asks us if we would like some drinks, Thai joint, fucking duh, yeah send over some Singha beers to cool down my yapper with my Thai food! That took about 5 strong minutes to get that task done. Now there is maybe 3 or 4 other table seated, and I see the same level of service for them also! Slow shitty service drives me nuts!!! Finally we place our order!
Let me tell you that there menu is extensive, and has a southern Thai part that is impressive only because of the quantity. I’m one of those kind of people that don’t like too many options. One of the menu items that we ordered is the morning glory salad which is quite tasty I must say, and would highly recommend. I’ve eaten a lot of stuff off there menu, and it’s all decent, not mind blowing, but decent. Maybe my palette is not sophisticated but I don’t get the hype here.
Let me try to sum up the reason for one star. The service is piss fucking poor, and I don’t think they give a shit. Be prepared to be there for a long time, for the food will come out one entrée at a time slowly. It seems we are there an average of 2 hours or more! The price point is around the high teens per entrée. I’m guessing that it’s high because they have not learned how to turn over a table timely. Just because this place have been featured on the food Chanel and written up every where means it’s that it’s great! Beware! There is a lot of great Thai in Los Angeles, save your aggregation and eat else where.

Some of the best Thai food you’ll find in all of LA. They’re pretty busy often as the shared parking lot fills up once in awhile. The resto itself isn’t big, so the food might take awhile if they’re particularly busy that day.
But if you can wait (impatiently like me), you’ll be rewarded with really good food. I recommend pretty much everything you’ve had at other places and thensome!

I recently, FINALLY tried Jitlada and was blown away. It’s easy to see what all the hype is about!
We were lucky to be sat immediately as a patry of four — I guess we beat the dinner rush by coming in early Sunday evening. Not long after, a small mob of waiters formed right outside the door.
I was immediately struck by the thoroughly decorated, cozy space as well as the warm welcome by the server. She was working hard across the whole restaurant, but she took the time to greet us, make us feel welcome, and answer any questions we had about the food. It took us awhile to work through the extensive menu, but we finally decided on some of the Southern Thai home-​style curry dishes.
The food was out of this world. The flavors were intense and complex with way more taste than the standards coconut milk and curry paste. It was clear that our meals were prepared with care, and we savored every bite. The spice level was perfect — but be warned, the food here skews hot! I consider myself a spicy food diehard, so I was humbled to learn my meal was only a «medium.» Real Thai food brings the heat!
The rest of our experience was as good as could be, and we enjoyed a couple follow-​up visits from our server (who actually seemed to be more of the restaurant mom!). We left with happy hearts and full stomachs — it was as if we had just left a friend’s dinner party.
A word about price: most of Jitlada’s entrees are around $ 18 – 20 — a bit steep compared to the average Thai Town entrée of $ 10 or even less. The thing is, Thai food is often undervalued as «cheap and greasy,» but Jitlada is serving some of the best Thai food on this side of the Pacific with a lot of love. Don’t come here expecting a budget meal, but don’t be afraid to spend a bit more for excellent Thai food. It’s 100% worth it. Would you second guess a $ 20 Italian entrée? Probably not, and this food is food is even better.

Jitlada Restaurant is a gem tucked away in the corner of a strip mall on Sunset Blvd in Los Angeles’ Thai Town. All I can say is that the menu is HUGE! There are over 100 items on the menu… AND that’s not including the Southern Thai menu, which Jitlada is know for and which adds another 100 or so dishes! With so many choices, making a decision seems like a daunting task but there is definitely something for even the pickiest of eaters.
We ordered quite a few things. The Steamed Mussels dish were New Zealand green mussels cooked in a lemon grass and basil broth and served to the table in a pot over an open flame. The mussels were tender and very meaty. The rich brown broth was very flavorful and salty with a slight hint of spicy heat. If you like extra spice a green chili sauce is served on the side.
Ranong Lamb is listed on the Southern Thai menu and consisted of egg noodles, lamb, bean sprouts, and ground peanuts in a spicy lime sauce. I don’t eat a lot of lamb, but the lamb in this noodle dish was well cooked and tender. The spicy lime sauce was a bit too spicy for me but it had a pleasing tangy flavor. The noodles were a bit too soft in texture though.
Another Southern Thai dish we ordered was Plaa Thawt Mamuang, which was a deep fried sea bass smothered with a spicy sweet chili mango sauce. The fried fish was crispy, crunchy and meaty. The sweet chili mango sauce cut through the oiliness of the fried fish. Listed as Market Price on the menu, this was the most expensive dish at roughly $ 30. But man, was it worth it!
My favorite dishes of the meal were the mussels and the sea bass. Even though I am not a huge fan of Thai food, I would definitely return to Jitlada for the steamed mussels and Plaa Thawt Mamuang.

Love love love this place! Today being Christmas, nearly everything was closed so my family and I decided to come here for lunch. There was a large party in the next room by the staff was more than happy to set us up at a table.
Knowing that Thai food is usually spicy, I asked them to make our food non spicy and they happily did so.
The food is wonderful and you get a lot for the prices! The Thai iced tea was delicious as was their mango sticky rice. Probably the best sticky mango rice in LA!!!
The staff is so friendly and prompt with the service. Always lovely to dine here!
I need to come here more often!

My husband and I came for dinner few months ago after raving reviews from friends about the flavor and spiciness. The restaurant has $ 6 vallet which is ridiculous considering that it is a parking lot and they literally just park for us. I’ve paid more for vallet at different places but it really depends on the place and the space.
The service was poor and we were ignored many times throughout. The menu is huge so we picked out some of their well known dishes to try. The spicy soft shell crab was mostly batter. I went through and picked at each piece and some didn’t even have any crab in it. The sauce was ok but not spicy at all. The morning glory salad was oily and mostly fish sauce with no other flavor to balance out that fish sauce (usually I find this type of sauce to be very well balanced at other Thai restaurant). Crying tiger beef was unfortunately also overhyped as it is a bit chewy and again not spicy. The best thing we had was the Southern curry. It was full of flavor but again not spicy. All these dishes were a bit more expensive but not worth the price.

This place is hot, hot, hot! By hot I mean spicy. The menu items are so eclectic, there are so many unique choices to choose from. It’d be awesome if they had a menu that included pictures. I’d imagine they’re # of order would sky rocket.
Really dig the home-​style ambiance. You come in and it feels like you’re eating at someone’s house. 5 stars!

Wow. Just wow. It will be impossible to come here and not enjoy yourself. Especially if you like spicy. Jitlada is the kind of restaurant that will expand your culinary horizons and give you a deeper understanding of the depth of Thai cuisine. They have a menu that is pretty intimidating at first because of the sheer number of offerings but this space specializes in Southern Thai dishes that are classified in the back of the menu. I suggest starting there. I did a fare amount of research before arriving to find out what they were best known for and what to order your first time so here it goes…
1) Morning Glory Salad — fried watercress w/​shrimp — AMAZING this is a must order
2) The New Zealand Mussels w/​spicy broth — if you love spicy look no further! Amazeballs
3) Crazy Tiger Pork or Beef — I got the pork but many people dig the beef — tender, flavorful — definitely recommend.
4) Spicy Seafood Fried Rice — very good
Next time I go I will get the garlic soft shell crab and the spicy beef curry as they are also must haves based on food critic reviews.
This place is special and if you love Thai food you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not going.

Jitlada has been on my Bookmarks list since i was in college due to Jonathan Gold’s essential LA restaurant list and i FINALLY got to try it
many reviews say that Thai people dont eat here (which may indicate something about the food authenticity) and it’s true I did not see one Asian person eating here besides myself and my friend
prices are TWICE what you would pay for the same dish at another Thai restaurant but having visited Thailand myself, i think the flavors are pretty authentic
—Kaeng Leung cha-​om khai (first of the specialty curries on the menu): this hot & sour curry is not like most coconut milk based thai curries but it was good! i enjoyed the omelet & shrimp inside. you can choose your spice level & medium spicy was JUST at the top of my limit even though i like spicy!
—pad thai: also good, noodles were cooked well
—rice is ordered a LA CARTE, white rice was just $ 1 for a bowl
NOTE: parking in the plaza is limited but there are many meters on the street

Although we’re out-​of-​towners from SF, my other half not only lived near Thai Town during college, but is from Thailand! One could therefore say that we know a few things about authentic Thai food, spice levels included. When we heard about Jitlada on TV, I knew we would be making a visit sooner or later.
I was slightly dreading how high the spiciest items we would get could be, considering I was not personally raised eating such foods. Still, we must try everything once!
We started by prepping with smoothies: Mango+Coconut and Jackfruit+Coconut, respectively, plus water. These were not had for random sips — they purely combatted spice, and lasted most of that evening. Did try to order one with lychee but they were out. Two Thai iced teas followed, not too sweet, just right.
Onto the food! There actually were two sections of the menu, wherein a «Southern Style» label could be indicative of *THE* most intense levels of spice from Thailand, and we ordered some from each:
–Rice Salad
–Morning Glory Stir Fry
–Fish Curry Custard Southern Style
–Duck Stew
–Fish Gut Curry
Similar to our beverages, the rice also helped consume everything as a spice combatant. I took it easy, and sure took my time!
Three notes: my favorite spicy dish, which is the highest spice level I can handle here, was the Fish Curry Custard Southern Style. Came with an edible leaf at the bottom of each cup. Goodness, that dish gets your foreheads dripping. Take it easy, have plenty of rice bites by itself, space it out. But ultimately, was so unique and vivid that I would still call that delicious!
Second note: Fish gut curry was even spicier! Peaked beyond my abilities after just two sips of it. Was so spicy that my other half could not finish more than ¼ of the bowl — mouth was on fire! If you want full-​blown *SPICY* then this dish will do the trick.
Third note: Duck stew was not spicy but sweet in comparison. May not have been a bad thing at all, just something to note in case you’re expecting something else. Could even have it at the end to relieve the taste buds???
Ultimately, not only did we survive, but we were mostly satisfied. We came to Jitlada for very spicy Thai food, and I can guarantee we were not let down.

Came in for their Crying Tiger Beef, and I left crying alright, about how much money and time it cost me to come here.
I really can’t stress how much the Food Channel continues to lead me astray.
And at around $ 22 a dish this price makes Nobu look cheap.
Let’s start off by what was recommended to me by the patrons and the waiter of this place. Yes, I did ask those around me what was good since there were several locals next to us who said, «OMG the Crying Tiger Beef is so good.»
Um, no. Think cooked beef jerky with some hot spices to it and you’ll get this sad excuse for a dish.
Now onto a classic, the Pad Thai. How do you mess up Pad Thai? Well for one, add too much sweetness so that no one at our table couple eat more than 3 bites of it.
I’ve had Pad Thai from the frozen food aisle at Safeway that tasted better and was more edible than this stuff.
Now, you might be saying, but Jack, you don’t know traditional Thai food. Um, I spent almost a month in Thailand traveling around Phuket, Bangkok, etc. I’ve had street vendor Thai food that was 10x better than the Pad Thai here.
Onto their Green Curry. Another classic dish. It was spicy yes, but other than the spice, I didn’t feel it really wowed. And at double the prices of other green curries at other Thai restaurants, I felt, well ripped off.
$ 5 for a glass of Thai Tea? Say what?!?
Lastly, their Jazz Burger, secret menu item. Think undercooked in the middle, spicy burger. Again for $ 23, I’m expecting a whole lot of this burger in terms of flavor and quality. It’s mixed with thai chills and herbs like mint, but once again, for one patty to be $ 23 and not be Waygu, I’m thinking this is crazy.
Now, you may be saying, but their other dishes are great! Well, that’s well and good, but I tried what was recommended and my party did not enjoy what we had. And Unilocal is about opinions, and our opinion is that this is 2.5 rounded to 3 stars.
P.S I actually came here twice. The second time was for their Jazz Burger which was sold out the first time. Wish I would have stopped at the first visit.