Ronnarong Thai Tapas Bar

A long-​time favorite — Ronnarong is the only Tai tapas resteraunt in new england and is easily the best asian food in the Somerville/​Watertown area. (Most likely a larger area as well, but I have only tried so many places so far.).

It isn’t very fancy or big or anything other than a small thai place for that matter, but it is awesome… I need to get back here soon, as Thai is my favorite food.
The menu is pretty extensive and easy to find something for your meal. It is reasonably priced.
The food is amazing and delicious and I can’t wait to come back here.
Now it’s a tapas bar apparently, which I also love.

When I heard «Thai tapas bar», I thought that Ronnarong would offer dishes far more unique or eclectic. Instead, the menu was divided into two sections — the tapas page, which seemed like common dishes in smaller form (e.g. mango salad, coconut soup), and the dinner page, comprised of typical entrees (e.g. pineapple fried rice, pla choo chee). Nevertheless, I’m the kind of person that never says no to a Thai eatery, so I left Ronnarong quite the happy camper.
The food:
— Crispy chicken served w/​sweet and sour sauce: super crispy on the outside, super juicy on the inside
— Paradise beef (marinated and deep fried): truly a delicious and tender version of beef jerky; beautiful flavor
— Tasty pork BBQ: prepare your taste buds for SPICY! This was okay. It’s sliced BBQ pork with cucumber and onions. I’ve never really been a fan of Asian BBQ — I find that it can be very dry — and this was no different
— Tom yum soup with egg noodles: a must-​try. Served with two crispy wontons. We got it with shrimp and it was sooo yummy. The broth balances spiciness and a light sweetness, and a generous coat of peanuts adds the perfect texture. I repeat: this was delicious.
Three tapas + one soup entrée + one iced coffee = $ 40 even. Throw in friendly service and a relaxed, cozy atmosphere = good experience. They also have a decent selection of beers, wines, and specialty cocktails.
PS. Those of you who have to use their bathroom for #2 are in luck. They covered their walls with pictures and scenes from all over Thailand. Lots of eye candy to keep you entertained on the john.

The food here is really incredible. Top notch and filling. But the best part was when our server, an otherwise understated and quiet Asian man, BELTED out:
«SWEEEEEET CAAROLINE! OH OH OH!!»

Fresh rolls, drunken noodles, and red curry are really good. The salmon cakes appetizer were overcooked and dry.
It’s conveniently located and the atmosphere is welcoming. The bathroom is filled with beautiful pictures of Thailand and if it were anywhere else, I’d have spent more time looking at them.

No wait on Tuesday nights and I liked the chicken wings with duck sauce even better than the paradise beef.

Living in Union Square means that we have a multitude of options when we don’t feel like cooking. One dreary night we wandered over to Ronnarong where we were two of six people in the restaurant, and those four were some old ladies getting in on some kind senior night out. So the service was okay, except they really couldn’t answer any of our questions. Pete loves spicy things so wanted to know all about the chili liquor they have in drinks — but all they could say that it was chilis soaked in liquor and it was spicy. Hmm useful.
The cocktails we ordered were strong enough, but I wasn’t a fan of the flavors. We ordered the Paradise beef which though a little greasy was like the most flavorful tender jerky in the world — and that’s a good thing. The curried shrimp cakes were okay, and the summer rolls were meh. I was underwhelmed by the pad thai, which didn’t have enough sauce. I would say if you want Thai in Union Square go to Sweet Ginger.

Went here on a groupon. More than enough food for two people, even had left overs!
Coconut soup made spicy — yum! and clears up those sinuses of yours.
Thai Roll — crispy and comes with yummy dipping sauce.
Paradise Beef — like meaty beef jerky, a little tough.
Grilled Shrimp with stir fry asian broccoli — I wanted to lick the plate
Pad See-​U — A heaping portion, slightly less flavorful, but still great
I realize that this isn’t as descriptive as I had intended, but overall a good meal, and I would go back.
Also — this is a bad place for a first or even second date. The lighting is not intimate, and the general décor, although trying really hard, is not making up for it.

This was a very unique dining experience, and I have to say, that’s pretty impressive. I’ve had tons of Tha food but never thai food like this.
My fiancé and I came in with a buywithme for 4 tapas and an entrée to split. It was more than enough food. We tried the Paradise Beef, Homemade Shrimp Curry Cakes, Tasty Pork BBQ, Handmade Golden Crowns and a n order of Pad Thai.
The star of the show was surprisingly the Tasty Pork BBQ. This is less what you typically think of as BBQ pork in asian cooking. It was served cool with cucumbers and onions in a really good dressing. It was like a refreshing salad. We also really liked the Paradise Beef. Another reviewer said it best when they compared it to beef jerky. But it’s really freaking good beef jerky. We were less impressed with the Shrimp Curry Cakes (the texture was pretty rubbery) and the Handmade Golden Crowns (really dry with very little chicken). The pad thai was good.
Everything we tried was pretty packed with flavor even if the textures were a little off. And I definitely tried dishes I’d never even heard of before. The size of the tapas are pretty substantial. This isn’t like your gourmet tapas joint that gives you two pieces per order. The atmosphere was nothing special, but the service was delightful. I think the owners were waiting on every table.
A very pleasant experience overall.

What a disappointment! My wife thought it was like good home cooking; I am less enthusiastic.
The atmosphere has no charm, no warmth.
The service is just fine, but nothing special.
The servings were not generous, the food mostly not noteworthy. We had four tapas — papaya salad, coconut soup, golden crowns and steamed mussels.– and one entry — spicy eggplant. (Thank you Groupon)
The soup was quite good, the crowns and salad were fine, but not terribly interesting; the mussels were barely flavored and a bit fishy-​tasting. The eggplant (with chicken) was ok, but uninteresting. And after all that, we were so hungry we ordered another entrée — Pad Thai, which was fine and there was a lot of it.
If you’re in the neighborhood and want Thai, go ahead and eat here. But don’t go out of your way. I won’t be back (my wife might).

Thai Tapas Tuesdays are held on the second Tuesday of each month.
Order a drink and your tapas is free! (drink price must equal or exceed tapas price)

After taking two separate trips to Ronnarong over the last few months, I can state the following: I’m confused as hell as to what they are trying to be. Their concept is like nothing I’ve seen and I don’t find it particularly well executed — A Thai tapas place? Spanish, small-​plates meets Thailand? Say what?
Confused, I’ve struggled to figure things out as I ate the food that I’ve ordered. It’s not like I hate the place, their food is decent, and their décor is lovely — modern and sleek, with dark wood accents and a fabulous-​looking, embossed menu. But seating is extremely limited with what seems like five tables, maybe seven at best, with a few more seats at the bar counter. That’s not much considering the location but because I’ve often gone for very late lunches (2 or 3PM), I haven’t had problems finding a seat.
I’ve sat both at a table and also at the bar counter though and each was a disappointingly similar experience. While a lot of the appetizers were tasty, especially their tofu satay, their entres were average but far from great. Add to that a fairly slow kitchen and spotty service and you’ll find your experience there to be inconsistent.
The tapas concept there just isn’t executed well if you ask me — The concept is novel, experimental there even and they seem to use the word ‘tapas’ to name their appetizers. There aren’t a too many available, unlike a wide selection you’d get at real tapas places — none the less some of the dishes they offer are noteworthy, such as their Paradise Beef, which is dried, seasoned and fried. It’s like a Thai beef jerky (it was decent). Most of them are under $ 7 which is pretty neat.
The attention to detail on the plating though is pretty amazing and each plate is like a work of art as it arrives in front of you and most of the dishes are affordable. On the plus side, this place is centrally located, right in the midst of Somerville and is easily accessible and you can get a decent meal for a pretty affordable price, that is, if you can find a seat.

Combine two of my favorite foods: Thai + Tapas. What do you get? Foodgasm! Yes, that will make Webster’s Dictionary one day. You just watch, fellow foodies.
It’s a haul and a half to get to Union Sq. if you don’t live in the area, but for Ronnarong, I would consider crossing oceans, deserts, and a giant Wal-​Mart parking lot.
We sampled the tapas, which were all good, but the homemade shrimp curry cakes and handmade golden crowns take the cake. I’ll admit, I was tempted to order 5 more plates of shrimp curry cakes alone, but at the risk of looking like a COMPLETE fatty, I resisted.
All tapas are reasonably sized, and delicious to boot. Fairly priced at $ 5 – 9 each, you can try a dozen dishes amongst friends without breaking the bank.
Major win in my book. Mmm, I should probably go brush my teeth, but I want to savor the taste of shrimp curry cakes for just a minute longer…*insert a combined eww/​yumm here.

Eh… Unless you live near Union Sq, this place is just not worth the long-​ass haul. The food is decent but not as unique or interesting as I would have hoped. Plus, the lack of reservations and wait time are ridiculous.
Spicy Thai Soup — A little too sweet, not spicy enough. And there’s maybe one piece of shrimp in the whole bowl.
Coconut Soup — Not bad but I personally think coconut tastes better as a soup when it’s mixed with something.
Paradise Beef — Quite interesting. Looks like jerky but texture-​wise is way more tender. Probably the most unique dish I tried.
Grilled Shrimp w/​Stir Fried Asian Broccoli — Everything tastes good with oyster sauce, but this is just essentially stir-​fry.
White Mushroom Salad — I haven’t had the mushrooms in question (they’re not like fungal mushrooms) since my grandma used to make one of my favorite Taiwanese dishes with them, but the actual taste of this dish is kind of subpar. Think sour-​y ceviche without the seafood.
Tasty Pork BBQ — Seasoned/​flavored the EXACT same way as the White Mushroom Salad, making this nothing more than a carbon copy with pork instead of veggies. Tasty, this was not.
Thai-​mosa — Bleh. Too much sparkling wine, not enough guava juice.
Like everyone, I had the Groupon. Glad we gave it a try, not going to go out of my way to come back. There’s better Thai out there.

I’ve been here twice and have enjoyed the experience both times. It’s more like 3.5 stars but I’m rounding up.
The service was friendly and attentive. It’s nicely decorated, small, and inviting which makes it a nice date spot.
The Paradise Beef & Shrimp Curry Cakes were both delicious.
Coconut Soup– Good flavor but the chucks of ckn & onion were too big for the soup… and my mouth.
Green Curry Duck– The flavor was lovely and the duck was well coked.
Pad Kee Mao– Wide Noodle+ Assortment of Seafood+ Yummy sauce= Happy me and leftovers.
My only complaint it that they don’t do a fried bananas & coconut ice cream dessert… you have to order the two separately which makes it a $ 10 dessert… not cool since my favorite Thai dessert and every Thai place I’ve ever been to offers it. Regardless to the cost, it was a yummy.
The prices are reasonable and the portions are filling. I will be back for more.

If only your green duck curry and that squid was better! This would have been a 4 star review…
This small thai tapas spot in Union Square is pretty nice inside, with a bar and everything. It isn’t that big, only about 10 tables max, but they do take reservations so I would go that route or call ahead if I were you.
But they do win the award for the best bathroom in a restaurant I have seen in quite some time!
But their bathroom aside, those house made shrimp curry cakes with that cucumber sauce were amazing. I could have eaten so many of those things! And then we followed that tapa up with their spicy thai soup, which despite the fact that there were mushrooms in it that soup which wasn’t listed on the menu and I hate mushrooms, that broth in that spicy thai soup was incredible. I definitely would like the recipe for that soup so I can make it at home, just without those silly mushrooms and maybe some extra shrimp!
But then we got their steamed spicy squid tapa and that’s where it went a little downhill… It was very fresh and had this chili sauce with it, but in all honestly, it wasn’t that spicy, kind of a misnamed dish and really it didn’t have much flavor at all. So we decided to end our tapas adventure there and get their green duck curry dish, and the duck was cooked really well, but why were you so skimpy on the curry sauce we got on our plate? There were tons of bamboo shoots in there, but hardly any sauce to coat all of the duck you gave us…
Maybe tapas are just the way to go here, hence that word being in their title, but I’ll have to go back and give them a second chance just because those shrimp cakes and that soup were so so good!

The Plan: Lunch at Ronnarong Thai Tapas Bar
The Menu:
* Paradise Beef — ancient recipe, marinated then dried, deep fried upon order $ 6.50
* Handmade Golden Crowns — crispy cups filled w/​shrimp, chicken & peanuts $ 6
* Basil Chicken $ 8 Lunch Combo which comes with the daily soup and Thai Rolls
* Pad Thai with vegetable and tofu $ 7 Lunch Plate
* Pad See U with chicken $ 7 Lunch Plate
* Thai Iced Tea $ 3
Food Comments:
* Everything that is normally sweet at a Thai restaurant in America is really sweet here (e.g. Thai Iced Tea, Pad Thai, Pad See U) so if you don’t have a sweet tooth like I do, consider yourself forewarned.
* Thai Iced Tea had too high an ice ratio for the $ 3 price tag.
* Paradise Beef can be considered a really good version of Beef Jerky.
* Golden Crowns — what protein? Didn’t really notice any… just seemed to be a little pile of peas and corn kernels topped with crushed peanuts, but tasty nontheless. Recommendation: eat it asap, while the crown shells are still crispy.
* The soup was hot (temperature-​wise) and interesting, but the thai rolls were kind of eh… maybe the chicken version would have been better.
* Basil Chicken may be marked 1 star, but I figure it was more like a 2 star to me.
* I asked if there was a difference between the Lunch Combos and the Lunch Plates other than the addition of the soup (today’s was coconut chicken) and Thai Rolls (veggie version, 2 rolls served in halves), and was told that the entrée portion of the combo is slightly smaller and the Pad Thai option were just chicken or just tofu, while for the Lunch Plate, the options were chicken and shrimp, or vegetable and fried tofu. We went with the vegetable pad thai plate and were pleasantly presented with veggies that still retained some bite to them.
Discoveries:
* Ronnarong Thai Tapas Bar is one of several businesses which share a small metered parking lot that acts like an extension of Washington Street where it turns (literally) into Prospect.
* Seats for 9 (I think) at the bar; 4 tables of 4 and 3 tables of 2 in the dining room that can be easily organized for larger parties; a nice semi shaded (with umbrellas) patio is located to the side of the establishment.
* Single large unisex bathroom at the end of the short hall is plastered with interesting magazine pictures.
Service Comments:
Service was pleasant and considerate. Our waiter came back to ask if we had intended to order the vegetable pad thai as a vegetarian pad thai, as some are unaware that there is normally egg in this dish.
More like 3.5 stars.
***10/​2010 visit***
Enjoyed the Chicken Rama Garden and Pineapple Fried Rice. Tilapia had a touch of spice, but was okay. The fried banana dessert was tasty but a touch too hard crisp, and my friend wasn’t crazy about the honey, but I was fine with it.
Samples of a beer were offered Not my cup of tea, but others might appreciate this.

This is Great Thai Chef revamped. Better name, better interior décor, more staff, more entrees and appetizers added to the menu and drinks selection, an addition of the outdoor patio servicing and dining area… Wow, Wow, Wow. Still inexpensive and still if not more tasty food. Unfortunately, a slight longer wait now that the word has gotten out.
I am bringing some of my old comments from Great Thai Chef over to the new Ronnarong because the menu still have some of the same items but slightly different names. I know this is kind of wrong, but I am rather lazy. Kekeke. I don’t even use the new menu names, when I tell them what I want, they still know what I mean.
The chicken and coconut soup is one of my favorite! It is creamy and all of the ingredients work so well together. White mushroom, onion, lemongrass, chicken, ginger, lime leave, fish sauce, thai chili, coconut milk… of course there is more to the ingredients but this is what I think is in it so far.
The Thai Beef Salad is super spicy and really good. I usually have it with a small bowl of rice. Thinly sliced marinated beef over a bed of salad greens, red onions, mint leaves, scallions, tomatoes, and green bell peppers.
Pad Thai is sweat and savory and is of a very decent portion. And the basil fried rice is also very tasty, has a spicy kick to it. If you can handle the basil fried rice, I highly recommend the drunken beef noodles. This is pan fried flat rice noodles, vegetables and beef. And would I ever forget the slices of halepenos. Have a glass of cold water readily available because this is a super spicy dish.
Everything with a nice sweet glass of Thai Ice Tea. I usually dilute it a bit with my ice water because sometimes it is a bit too sweet and fragrant.
See my pictures.

I came here on a groupon, with high expectations. The place sounded funky and interesting. I liked the atmosphere, but sadly, the food was just passable. The golden crown appetizer was really good; the BBQ pork was not. For my entrée I had not so great Thai Basil, which to me is a Thai staple — if a restaurant can’t do this well, then they can’t call themselves a Thai restaurant. I also had the Thai Sangria — again, not highly impressive.
The place markets itself as Thai tapas — great idea, but not executed well. The «Tapas» menu was just a regular appetizer menu — I didn’t really see how to make it into a whole meal.

It’s rare that I heave a relaxed sigh and feel all my stresses dissipate into the ether upon entering a restaurant, but that’s exactly what happened when I walked through the doors of Ronnarong.
The color scheme, the lighting fixtures, chairs, placemats, layout, and soft (but not cheesy) relaxing music came together to create a truly harmonious dining area. Add a friendly, soft, attentive staff and I debating moving in.
I was immediately greeted warmly and offered a table, something I didn’t expect given the small amount of tables, abundance of bar stools, and the fact that I was dining alone. I politely declined and sat myself down not wanting to take up what could potentially make them more money and tips. Good thing I did, since it started to fill up later on.
I was promptly given a menu and settled on the drunken chicken and pu-​erh. The tea came out at lighting speed with a soft recommendation to let it steep for 2 – 3 minutes. 2 – 3 minutes later I was sipping on quite the cup. It’s not the best I’ve had, but I’d put it in the top 80%. grassy nose, slightly earthy tones and yet still subtle. The chicken soon followed and was devoured. I wish I could recount a story, but it was simply delicious: quality ingredients made to order. I couldn’t ask for more.
No, wait. I could. Dessert.
Fried bananas. I frankly had no idea what I was ordering, but I knew it would be good. It’s good to be right. Eight individually wrapped and fried pieces of banana with sesame seeds and honey that were two bites per piece. I shouldn’t have finished it myself, but had no intention of leaving one morsel undigested. I finished my tea, slowly ate my last bit of banana, and came to the sad realization that the cold, wet, harsh world lay right outside their door, and unless I did something to prolong my stay, I was headed right back out. So I did what any sane person would.
I played with the honey bits left on my plate.. . for 10 minutes. .. until I realized that the staff was so sweet that they were giving me my space to continue playing with my food and that by sitting there longer I was simply taking advantage of their hospitality. I paid, tipped well, said my adieu, and went off into the night only to come home and plan my return.

This place is amazingly good. The ingredients are super fresh and the flavors pop. Be aware: this is authentic Thai food; if you’re not into spicy food, please plan accordingly.
All of your Thai favorites are on the menu, just better tasting and likely less expensive versions of what you’re used to eating elsewhere.
Many items on the menu are marked as being easily made vegetarian or vegan; so vegetarians, vegans and omnivores can eat together at Ronnarong in harmony.
The prices are very reasonable and the portion sizes are healthy. The space is warm, nicely decorated and quite welcoming. Highly recommended for Thai food lovers.