River Kware

Come here every now and then for their cheap lunch specials, I usually just get one of the fried rice ones. Honestly, to me it doesn’t seem like its super authentic and they don’t make all their sauces from scratch. A friend of mine got the pad Thai and the pad Thai sauce tasted like it was from a bottle that you would get from the Asian market, really dark red and sweet, almost like sweet and sour sauce. I have gotten the yellow curry before and that’s my favorite Thai dish so i can say this with confidence, there’s does not taste authentic at all and doesn’t even taste like yellow curry. Doesn’t even seem like it had cocoanut milk in it, was just really sweet and different. This place is not bad, like I said I just come for the fried rice lunch specials, they come with salad, and wontons. For 5 and some change its not bad, its worth a shot for 5 bucks.

Amazing food, lovely people. This place should really have more traffic. The prices are very reasonable and they have specials!

Great little hidden gem. Come here for lunch as it is not as busy as other places. The service and thai iced tea were good. I ordered the beef panang lunch and was stuffed. The panang was not the traditional taste I was used to, but tasty nonetheless.

Honestly, best bang for your buck! The food is amazing and i’ve been coming here weekly for the last 3 years.

Probably my favorite Thai restaurant. No. It is my favorite restaurant. It’s in the middle of a U-​Haul and tire places and across a Skateland so it’s often looked over. The restaurant itself is dark and small, with pictures of Thailand and little trinkets. The bathroom is a little weird, but for the most part it’s clean and stocked. It’s never busy with only one or two people there. Their prices are a little lower than other Thai places and their food is delicious! This was the first Thai place I ever went to and I keep coming back. My issue with Thai restaurants is that their service is not the best. This server is kind and attentive. If I could marry this place I would.

Delicious food and phenomenal prices. I can’t say enough how pleasantly surprised I was by this place. Highly recommend it. Though the bathroom was a little… odd but I’m glad it was functional.

Berry goood!!!

I have been ordering food from this place for years! I absolutely love the chicken and beef panang, the Thai egg rolls, and the fried bacon wontons are scrumptious! My husband loves the combination fried rice. Everything tastes healthy and fresh. However, if you order Pad Thai, do not expect the flat noodles. They def make theirs different. The staff are always friendly and generous! I especially love our delivery guy, he is cute and so nice! He even brought us back souvenirs from his trip to Australia! :) Love this place!

Absolutely loved the food here! I am so happy my mom found this place. Most definitely will be back!

Although my fried rice was bomb I wasn’t too happy with the combo of meat some chicken, 3 small pieces of beef and 1 mutha Fuckin shrimp. I know I wasn’t just paying for a veggie fried rice. Bad impression for going there the first time…

For 4.99 how can you beat their lunch specials. They may not be the best Thai food ever but they certainly do a nice job of quality and value at lunchtime.
I love the convenience and the consistency at a modest price.
Nice job!

Along Parthenia, across from the U-​Haul, you’ll find this little gem. The lunch specials (ranging from 3.99 to 5.99) can’t be beat. The food is pretty good, the curries are better, and portions are large for lunch. If ordering off the lunch special, I recommend trying the Mee Krob if you crave something sweet and crunchy. I don’t recommend the mint chicken since it had more broccoli and bell peppers than a spicy mint taste. It was good — just not what I expected. My friend raved about their Hawaiian BBQ curry. The servers are very nice and check in with you often.
As much as I do like this place a lot, I had to bump them down because it tends to get hot in the restaurant. They have air-​conditioning but during summer months, it still feels like 80 degrees inside.

Went to visit a friend and when I mentioned Thai food he took me here. Don’t let the area or look fool you, you are in for some yummy goodness.
I ordered the drunken noodle, thai eggrolls and a thai tea. All very delicious and highly recommended by moi ;)

The loacation isnt that great, in between a bunch of auto repair shops and the exterior isnt much to look at. We stepped inside and the interior was very outdated but kind of cozy.
I ordered one of their dinner specials of Yellow Curry with Chicken and veggies. The portion was large and came with a small salad with peanut dressing as an appetizer, steamed rice and fried wontons with bacon inside. The curry was sweeter than I was expecting but very good. I ordered it medium spicy and couldnt feel any of the heat so I wound up adding chili sauce for extra spice.
Service was ok and a little slow considering it was a small restaurant and we were one of only two small parties at the time.
I did like this restaurant overall considering the food was pretty good and the portions were pretty large for the price. I seen that they offered one free Ice Tea with any dish you purchase M-​F with the exception of the lunch or dinner specials.

Love of Siam Fried Rice.
Do yourself a favor and try this seriously amazing unique fried rice dish.
I have started coming here again simply for this one dish. It truly is wonderful.
The service continues to be top notch and the quality of food I get here is consistent.
I still stay away from the curries which are still too sweet for my preference.
The noodles remain good and their rice is just really good.
I still recommend this place to friends, and have not experienced any problems with this place.

My first impression was, «The lunch special sign drew us in.»
On one side of Parthenia St. it is easy to pass by this little Thai restaurant if you’re not really looking. However, one day I attempted to take a chance and eat at River Kware. When we walked in, I was impressed for a second at the interior furniture and décor of the place. Much better than what I expected looking at the outside. Although that did ease me a bit, I think I would’ve rather wanted it to be the whole in the wall that I expected, because at least then I knew the food would probably taste more authentic. It smelled really weird, and although we should’ve taken that as a warning we decided to eat there anyways. We ordered pad-​see-​ew (the dish of choice for anytime you try a new Thai place) because we figured they couldn’t really mess up that bad with that dish.
Surprisingly, the food came out super quick. But as expected, the noodles were really light-​colored and the eggs were not cooked right. It was so bland, we couldn’t even finish our meal.
The lasting impression? «The prices were enticing, but in this case I’d have to day ‘you get what you pay for’ or less than what you pay for and I wouldn’t come back. The food, the smells, the service, the décor… it was just all to bizarre.»

Over the years I’ve learned to try a new restaurant by take-​out order first. Usually my husband and I will order one entrée and split it. If it’s great… we go back. If not, we’ve not wasted too much time, effort or money.
I love the fact that their entire menu is posted online WITH prices.
Lunch specials:
are set at unbeatable prices.
Their full menu is also great:
When my husband called to place the order, the woman on the phone was polite and friendly, always a good sign in my book!
Now to the food. We got two entrees because we both wanted something different today. Husband got the pad thai lunch special ($ 4.99). It was a nice portion of lightly stir fried noodles with a pleasant sauce. Not too sweet or pungent. It came with a small (iceberg) salad with a few little croutons and fried wontons (there was nothing inside the wontons, just the fried «chip»).
I got the Tom Yum Kai lunch special ($ 4.99) The soup was fragrant and light, very light. There were a few mushrooms and a few pieces of chicken, lime leaves and a big chunk of galangal. The lemon was so strong in the soup that the vapors made my eyes water. However, an hour later my mouth was SO dry and I got a screaming headache. Sure sign of MSG overload. Oh fun, I am still sitting here in pain.
I realize that some people are not sensitive to MSG, but for those of us who are, it can be misery. And the bottom line is that if your food is that good, why does it need MSG?
Husband might go back for a take-​out, but I’m done.

I must confess I have not yet written a review for River Kware. In April when I moved to Northridge my son and daughter in law helped me and we were returning our truck at UHaul when we saw this little café across the street.
We shared some satays which were good. I liked the peanut sauce. I very much enjoyed my green curry with shrimp. The seasoning was great. Service was attentive. My son and daughter in law ordered pad thais and they also had a good meal.
Being honest about the impression a restaurant makes: I very closely associate the experience with my senses. I also note the cleanliness, service, rest rooms and other features as much as I do the food.
The owner would do well to update the bathroom and not to become graphic with the details while I am thinking about the nice setting, decorations and food, am-​scray with the urinal-​hay.
Anyone sitting in the bathroom has the urinal in his/​her face. The smell of the urinal cake took away from my experience for when I returned to my seat I was sufficiently unable to stop thinking about that geographic placement of a functional item that turned my stomach.
Here goes: stand in front of the urinal. Locate the stop valve: is is directly in front of the hole in the wall at the top, usually.
Locate the hexagon shaped hole in the middle of the valve. Put a hex head key in, turn it to stop water. Verify water is not running. Loosen the fittings on both sides of the flush handle. Loosen the nut connecting the urinal to the tube that leads to the valve with a pipe wrench. Remove the tube by hand. Position an assistant to support weight of the urinal, remove underside bolts, and lift it up to pull it off the wall, then place it gently on the ground.
Seriously: your cousin and a friend can help you with this.
Spend the freakin’ money and the customers will come.
Am I being ridiculous here giving urinal removal instructions? Possibly I am not the only person who has experienced this antiquated setup in the bathroom.
My guidelines for a responsible review: honesty and not having a urinal within 6 inches of my face when I leave a perfectly nice meal to use the facilities.
I am willing to give an A-​OK for the food, service and setup.
I am not going back there for a while though. It took me about 8 months to decide how to word this review. Now it is written.
Food is great: use a bathroom before you visit the restaurant for your best possible dining experience.

We went for dinner last night, 3 of us, and as usual the place was empty. Mind you this is nestled amongst an industrial street with mostly body shops, automotive repair joints and some retail. It sits directly ac cross from Skateland.
The 3 of us shared a Chicken Sate appetizer (very good peanut sauce) and we all ordered different entrees. I had the Red Curry chicken which was o.k. the chicken was a bit stale tasting but the broth was pretty good.
They did have a dinner special for 7 bucks for a few items but we passed.
They are always nice there but to be honest there are plenty of hole in the wall Thai joints with better food at the same price albeit maybe not in the immediate area. This place is nothing to write home about but if you want a sit down meal at a Thai place that is reasonable then give it a go.

Location, location, location…
… is key to success of a restaurant as shown by the Thai food restaurant I previously visited. They serve greasy and unappetizing food, yet get so many students only because they’re near campus.
River Kware, while very close to campus, is very hard to find if you don’t know what to look for. Which is too bad, because the food here is OUTSTANDING!!!
Egg Rolls ($ 4.99) — I swear they have crack in them, because I just couldn’t stop eating them.
Chicken Sate ($ 6.99) — (chicken, marinated in curry, on a stick) Full of flavor and cooked to perfection.
Ground Beef Larb ($ 6.99) — (with veggies and a spicy sauce) Had a great kick to it and a unique taste. Can get a bit messy…
House Noodles ($ 6.99) — (flat noodles, choice of meat, egg, and veggies) This dish was refreshing and full of flavor! All the veggies looked and tasted very fresh. Very clean and non-​greesy, yet overflowing with spices and flavor.
You can tell that the owners take pride in their food when a simple dish, like egg rolls, is so delicious!
FYI: I’m not exaggerating!