Siam Thai Asian Cuisine - Arden Hills, MN

Siam Thai is probably the restaurant I’ve patronized the most over the past two years.  Oh, it’s no destination like On’s Thai or Bangkok Thai that you’d drive across the cities for, or take an out of town foodie visitor. And you won’t find anything remotely funky on it.  Sawatdee is more than a few notches above it.  But as far as “local neighborhood” Thai joints go, it’s a great one.  Serves your Thai standards, and as is generally the case in Twin Cities Asian places, they hedge their bets with a handful of typical Chinese takeout options and Pho.  We’re very fortunate to have them nearby

WORD OF WARNING:

They’re a Thai place and DO NOT have Chicken Satay on the menu

I say this because I've never been to a Thai place before that DIDN'T have Chicken Satay, and you can generally count on them for the kiddos, or that pain in the ass adult who will only eat chicken satay and fried rice

Siam Chicken Strips at the restaurant

Siam Chicken Strips for take-out

Fear not, because the best deal around might be their Siam Chicken Strips.  “Deep fried crispy chicken strips served with house peanut sauce”.  I almost ordered two when the online said it was one strip, but in reality it was a wonderfully breaded chicken cutlet cut into strips.  At $6 it’s an absolute steal

Tom Yum w/ Tofu

Tom Yum w/ Shrimp and extra Veg

I’ve ordered their Tom Yum Soup a bit more than a half dozen times now, every time but one with tofu.  Somehow with shrimp it was extra tomato-y.  A splash of lime juice and chili oil perks it up even more.  With the ladies away, I was able to order it a 4 of 5 spice once, but it wasn’t all that spicy.  Paying +$2 for extra veg netted some broccoli, celery, and carrot slices thrown in

Pot Stickers

Cream Cheese Wontons

Garlic Green Beans

Egg Rolls

Pot Stickers and Cream Cheese Wontons are standard issue, but they don’t shy away from the garlic in their Garlic Green Beans app which I love. I don’t know that I’ve yet to find a Chinese or Thai egg roll that I care for, but prompted by the kiddo who wanted to try their egg rolls, we gave them a shot, and . . . they veered closer to a Vietnamese egg roll which I love to death.  Very nice, and I won’t avoid them in the future

  

Green Curry with Tofu + Extra Veg

Green Curry with Tofu + Extra Veg for $2, had good flavor, but was overly soupy and sweet.  I’d be up for it again, but would see if they can do it less sweet

Ginger Stir Fry with Pork + Extra Veg.  Could use double the thin julienne of ginger, but would certainly order again

Drunken Noodles with Tofu that the lady ordered are meh as they typically are

Pepper Steak

I made sure to try the Pepper Steak sizzling at the restaurant, but it was a one trick pony.  As for the taste . . . overly sweet.  The onions, green and red peppers wore cooked perfectly, the steak was fine, but I think it might really have needed to be a Level 5+ Thai Hot to balance out the sweetness. A dish best ordered to share with a group of people

Thai Basil w/ Beef Lunch Special

Sesame Chicken Lunch Special

We've had a variety of the lunch specials that come with either egg roll/cream cheese wonton/three potstickers.  As things are going, they're starting to get up there in price (currently at $16), but the containers are perfect for re-using

Red Curry Wings

Their wings? I was going to say, "The one dead zone on the menu? Their wings just don’t do it for me", but I'd only ordered them to-go. When I actually ordered them a couple times at the restaurant, they were more than acceptable. They jumped up to stellar when I asked for a side of hot chili oil and mixed that in with the sauce

Pro Tip: They have two kinds of hot chili oil, and a hotter chili oil that they'll provide if you ask for it

Their Pho both times was pleasant and perfectly acceptable.  Menu says an “Enriched oxtail broth”.  I ordered it with what ended up being cooked beef slices and meatballs ($12).  Destination pho by no means, but I especially appreciated that it came with two if not three times the slices of jalapeno that normally comes with pho.  The lady had the vegetable version and loved it

Every once in a while I jonze on some Americanized House Chinese Lo Mein.  So, I gave Siam’s a try, and it was fine.  Usually the House/Combination means Beef, Pork, Chicken, and Shrimp.  Siam’s was minus the shrimp.  And while there was plenty of onion, there was decidedly less green onion.  I asked it to be as hot as they could make it, and it wasn’t hot at all.  Not even a sign of chili flake or oil, so I added my own.  On the whole, it was pretty par for the course.  Nothing to get excited by, but nothing to get butthurt by

Thai Seafood Salad.  “Shrimp, squid, glass noodles, shredded carrots, onion, fresh mint and cilantro tossed in a house fish sauce, lime dressing”.  The lime vin with fish sauce was lip smacking good, limey, not too funky.  Ordered it Very Hot, which the receipt says is 4x, and it brought the first real heat from them.  I’d put it at a 2 or 3 at On’s Thai scale.  Next time will ask for 5x, ask for it less sweet, and double the mint and cilantro.  Shrimp were well deveined, but maybe a tidge underdone.  The squid definitely was underdone, but a half hour later marinating in the lime vin and fish sauce, it was fairly on point.  Maybe they’re taking that into consideration on takeout orders

After about a dozen take-out orders, we finally went to dine in.  It’s a fair sized space, a couple dozen tables, and is a pleasant place.  Dark interior mostly, with a handful of brighter tables by the front window.  Decent low key Thai music I assume.  During previous take-out orders, I don’t think I’ve seen more than a half dozen tables occupied at any time, but they do seem to do a fair amount of take-out

The server was there when you needed him, and took great care of our child.  Bringing her water in a cup with a lid and straw unprompted (well, self preservation there probably), and giving her an extra large to-go container of the cloying red sauce for the cream cheese wontons.  Sure, I promise it’s the same by-the-gallon crap every local Chinese place has, but the 4yr old loudly declares to him, “YOU HAVE THE BEST RED SAUCE!!!”

The lady liked the place enough, and it's become a nice peaceful spot to chill out with a book, a nosh, and a pot of hot tea.  We most certainly will be back and be ordering take-out from Siam Thai again and again

-

https://siamthaimn.com/

Siam Thai - 3547 Lexington Ave N Arden Hills 55126 

(651) 481-8100

Bathrooms: No automatic paper towels, faucet, or soap. Soap in fact was just a store pump bottle. Not the cleanest bathroom, maybe 2 out of 5. There was a diaper changing station, but only in the women's