Jhanthong Banbua

This place came highly recommended to me. I was not impressed. I was with a party of 5 and 2 of the 5 meals came out first. We waited 10 minutes for the rest of the food. Two of the items we ordered were not made correctly. I said no meat and no peanuts on my pad Thai and it came with chicken and peanuts. The service was ok. Would probably not come here again.

We ordered Tom Yum and Panang Curry. Both lacked flavor. The curry portion was so small it was a joke! When I brought this up with the restaurant, they were full of excuses. I make better Panang Curry for ¹⁄₃ the cost. We won’t return!

Large Pink Building in front of a motel along Mendocino Avenue. I read Geoff’s review a couple years ago and just now went to this outstanding place for Thai food. Not only was it delicious and tastefully decorated (great ambience), the prices are beyond reasonable.
About a month ago I bought a group of people in here from my exercise group at 24 hour fitness. Great group of people — we go out every month for lunch (something I created a few years ago to celebrate the ladies birthdays).
There were 12 of us on this occasion — they had a table set up for us, service was excellent as well as the food.
They have this lunch menu set up where you can order a combination of one, two, or three items for one price. You get a little less of the item when you get three which is great because you get to taste everything.
The ladies were all quite happy with their dishes — I chose 2 of the 3 combo with Pad Thai and a slightly spicy chicken and veggie plate — Wonderful.

I no longer live 10 minutes away from this cute little restaurant neatly off the beaten path connected to a mildly shady motel, but when I am in town and wanting Thai, this is where I go. In my lifelong quest to eat ALL the Thai food, I’ve sampled every Thai restaurant in Santa Rosa. This is my favorite.
The staff is always friendly, prompt, and the lunch special is great if you like to try out multiple dishes. My partner always does the special, I’m a bit more of a purist and always order pad thai or pad see ew. These are the dishes I try first at every Thai restaurant to gauge their quality. If these pass the test, I branch out and see what else the menu has to offer.
Jhan Thong has passed the test, and the other menu items I have tried, mostly appetizers and what is offered on the lunch special list, have been tasty. While certainly not the absolute best Thai food I’ve ever had, the meals here are always refreshing, bright, not too greasy, and consistent. I could critique the pad thai as needing a touch more saucy flavor, but overall, the food here is above the curve. The Thai iced teas, another staple that I always order, are tasty here as well.
In conclusion, if anyone ever asks me where to get Thai food in Santa Rosa, I refer them here as the food is great and the locals know it. I normally would rate this 4 out of 5 stars, but since this is my top choice for the area, it gets a 5.

I agree that this was the best Thai in Santa Rosa, but after they changed owners the flavors went from savory to solid sugar with no other flavors coming through. I heard somewhere that this represents a diffference in the north vs south Thai cuisine. Can someone tell me which region has the savory curry flavors??? I am desperate to find a good savory curry Thai restaurant in Santa Rosa. All others I have tried are overwhelmingly sweetened.

I was starting to give up hope of finding a good thai place in sonoma. I tried thai time asian bistro, tiny thai etc… all were too Americanized for me, and not so good. This place is authentic and delicious! Comparable to socal where I’m originally from and there is a large Thai population. Try the lad nah with seafood. It has the best squid I’ve ever tasted in my life. Flavorful and fork tender. I ate too much :’(. Price is fair and standard. Good size portions.

My favorite Thai restaurant in the Bay Area! Their gang masaman and tom kha soup are SO tasty!!! Everything I’ve ever had there has been delicious.

Good Thai! I love it — though I expect it is more authentic than a lot of the other places around SonoCo. Never had a bad experience and look for to many more good ones in the future!

absolute favorite thai restaurant and I am a thai food addict. I work at a sushi bar, frequent local asian fusion, noodle bar, vegetarian places and this is my hands-​down go-​to.

I’m rating this three stars because this restaurant used to be hands-​down the best Thai restaurant, not just in Santa Rosa, but the best one that I’ve ever been to in my life. My mom and I used to go here seriously once a week when I was a kid and the food was incredible, everything was perfect and then when I moved to San Francisco I was never able to find Thai food that really measured up to what I was used to. But several years back, the owners changed and they totally screwed up all the recipes, it was like they took the curry and just poured a gallon of water in it. I really should make my way over here and see if they got their act together because Unilocal is making me think that maybe they did…
They used to make these lettuce wraps that had these pieces of beef with these crunchy fried thin noodles and this delicious sweet and tangy sauce, topped with roasted cashews. The only way I can describe it is that the beef tasted like it was candied. I know that sounds weird but it was so good. But as I said, the last time I was there, they had totally wrecked the place. I’ll update this soon.

Had a really good meal, here! Good value, good service, will be back! Might be some of the best Mussaman curry I’ve had. The Pad Thai was very good (I’m usually less than satisfied with the local Pad Thai) and the Mein Kum appetizer was excellent. Tom Kha soup was average. Nice friendly service.

Really delicious eggplant with garlic sauce!

This is my favorite Thai restaurant in Santa Rosa. I used to live in a neighborhood in LA with a large Thai population, so I had my pick of delicious restaurants, bakeries, and groceries. This place is easily as good as them.
In addition to the standard noodle dishes and curries that every Thai restaurant has, they have mung bean pancakes and other hard-​to-​find specialties. Everything is flavorful and perfectly cooked. I love that they have a huge vegetarian menu, and are very accommodating when I ask for no egg in certain dishes (I’m vegan). I eat here regularly.

Very reasonably priced Thai food. The quality is probably not the highest in town, but it is fairly reasonable. Service is a little on the slow side though so don’t come here if you are in a hurry. Also, be sure to explain clearly what you want cause a few times I have come here things have gotten lost in translation. Overall a decent place to go for inexpensive Thai.

This is my favorite Thai restaurant in all of Sonoma County. Great selection, very high quality food and reasonably priced for what you get. You get to choose 3 items for lunch for about $ 10. Dinner runs about $ 15 per person — without tip or drinks.
My favorites are the Mee Siam — a wonderful curry noodle dish, the «drunken» noodles, and of course all of their curry dishes are wonderful. Perhaps my absolute favorite thing on the menu is their Curry rolls. You have got to try them. Delish! Also, save room for dessert as their sticky rice with mango is so good. If you haven’t tried it, go ahead and splurge. It’s the perfect way to end your meal. It’s very, very good.
My friends and I often call this place the Purple Palace because of its color and the motel behind it. But don’t be fooled, this place is awesome. For me, this is my first choice for dinner. It’s always outstanding.
The one negative is the service. It’s so slow and the waitresses seem to forget everything. I seriously think some of them have dementia. The best waitress is «Nan.» She always gets the order right and remembers to bring the water. Everyone is super friendly.
Try Jhanthong Banbua. I guarantee you’re going to fall in love with this place!

I have gone to just about every thai place in SR proper– and have always had the occasional issue with certain dishes– nothing big, just avoid the pad thai here or the drunken noodles here.
Not at Banbua.
Every dish is amazing. Pad thai? Peanut-​y and perfectly cooked. Tom Ka? Spicy and coconutty and just. so. good. Chicken Param? Don’t get me started.
The prices are reasonable, the restaurant is beautiful, and so long as you’re not bothered by the somewhat creepy motel out back (not really a big deal– more of a quirky character trait) there’s really no way to go wrong with this great thai restaurant!
Don’t try to walk– driving is easiest and there’s always parking.
But there’s really no reason NOT to go to this restaurant… so why are you not there now?

Came here for dinner and would give it 3.5 stars. The restaurant is in a nondescript place (the sign says a matter-​of-​fact «THAI RESTAURANT»), and I’ve driven by the place countless times without paying attention to it (though it’s an entirely purple house next to blue-​ish mobile homes). The inside, though, is quite nicely decorated and clean, like visiting a Thai home.
The menu is extensive, and you’ll see a lot of dishes you weren’t familiar with at other Thai restaurants. I got the sense that this is an authentic-​flavor restaurant, but it was hard to pick a dish because the names were in Thai and the descriptions were pretty generic. In fact, the drunken noodle is the signature dish, but it’s not labeled as «drunken noodle.» The flavor was great, and it was a nice portion — a bit oily and heavy, but as to be expected. We had a special appetizer which was a small lettuce wrap with toasted coconut, ginger, lime slice, dried shrimp, and peanuts. The combination of flavors was unique, but I wouldn’t order it again. The sauce also tasted sour but like fish sauce and it was strange.
I’d come here for an authentic experience, but if you’re looking for a more upscale (and less homey) experience, I’d recommend a place like SEA Thai Bistro or SEA Noodle Bar.

The food is really good. The ambiance from the exterior to interior is authentic thai and also the music. Definitely Will come back.

I discovered a hidden gem in Santa Rosa that highlights three distinct and robust flavors in Thai cooking viz sweetness, sourness and spiciness. These are the hallmarks of traditional Thai cuisine. The name of the restaurant is «Jhanthong Banbua» and it sounded so Thai. Whenever possible, I always prefer the authentic and traditional when it comes to ethnic food and JB did not disappoint.
The location however leaves something to be desired. Don’t be put off by the building’s exterior as it belies a warm welcoming interior. Women are clad in traditional Thai attire. The walls are adorned with interesting Thai knickknacks, carvings and masks. The haphazard collection of various kitschy artifacts helps me rekindle my waning memories of Thailand.
We started with the iconic Tom Yam Soup, ($ 8.00), a perennial favorite in Thailand. This is Thailand’s answer to our grandma’s chicken soup and is supposedly a panacea for colds and other related ailments. We ordered a teeming bowl of this ultra vibrant soup to jump-​start our appetite. It had chunks of chicken, limejuice, kaffir lime leaves, lemon grass and they all interacted well to strike a harmonious balance between sweet and sour. Heat level may be adjusted according to individual taste.
If you have been to Bangkok, you can often see a lady pushing her cart with the scent of fresh fish sauce permeating through the pollution. She is a Son Tam street food vendor. Son Tam ($ 8.50) is a green papaya salad that I noticed was popular in JB. Unripe papayas had a tangy rather than a sweet taste. They were mixed with cabbage and string beans and tossed in a sweet, spicy lime dressing and fish sauce. JB added some crushed peanuts for better crunch. This was indeed another winner!
Pad Thai ($ 9.75) needs no introduction and has acquired international fame and popularity. It is often used as the benchmark to judge a Thai restaurant but the irony is Pad Thai should be more appropriately named Pad Chinese, as everything about it is Chinese in origin. JB whipped out a over simplified and abbreviated version by stir-​frying rice noodles with only bean sprouts, cabbage and a sprinkling of crushed peanuts. Thank God there was no ketchup and it wasn’t overly sweet! On the downside, there were no eggs and green onions. The overall taste did lose some oomph plus it did lack wok heat.
We ordered a well-​known Thai classic Pad Pik Khing ($ 10.75), a unique Thai specialty of red curry pork that was stir-​fried sans coconut milk. JB knows how to do curry right! The curry was used only as a sauce in the stir-​fry. The upside of dry curry was the superb lip smacking taste, so aromatic and just spicy enough to whet our appetites.
I felt that no Thai meal was complete without tasting the quintessential Sticky Rice and Mango ($ 6.00). Since we were told that mango was not in season, JB very cleverly substituted it with custard and topped it with a generous sprinkling of shredded roasted coconuts. I just love the sweet and salty combo flavors mixed with the fragrant coconut-​y crunchiness.
Treat the location as an unavoidable quirk with the one-​of-​a-​kind purplish colored building that matches the purplish doors of the dumpy motel. I understood their predicament with one simple explanation from the server…“We are only tenants …”

I will DEFINITELY be back here!!! Some of the best Thai food I’ve had (in America) :). I lived in Thailand for a year, and after coming back, I haven’t really found many Thai food places that can measure up. But I decided to give it another shot… and am so glad I did! This place was great!
Pros:
–They had a lot of my favorite dishes that not all places seem to have. (I posted pics of some of them.)
–All of the dishes were made very well and tasted amazing.
–Friendly service.
–Food came out pretty quickly.
–Can substitute tofu into any dish… so it’s great for vegetarians such as myself!
–Large menu… lots of food options!
–Cute inside. Quiet. Not too packed full.
–Great location in Santa Rosa (for me!).
Cons:
–Outside looks a little sketchy.
–Not the cheapest place ever. For three people we ended up spending over $ 70 (not counting the tip).
–If it’s busy, I imagine it would be hard to get parking.
I cannot wait to go back!