The 411 on Chai Thai Noodles #
Address: 20955 Mission Blvd.
Hayward, CA
Website: https://chaithainoodles.com/
The Vibe: Chai Thai Noodles has become our go-to place for Thai food in Hayward. We first became familiar with it during pandemic dinner deliveries. Once we could eat in person at restaurants again, we’ve opted for that option at Chai Thai Noodles every time we’ve craved it. Why? Because their dining room space has an alluring feel from a mix of dark wood paneling, brick applique, and a lovely selection of Thai-inspired decorative pieces. It feels modern and cozy at the same time.
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The menu incorporates Laotian and Thai flavors, and the noodles in the name are a big draw. Several types and options are available, both as soups and stir-fry entrees. Often, you can pick your preference between rice sticks, wide rice noodles, and thin egg noodles. They also offer coconut curries, fried rice variations, and stir fries that do not contain noodles.
The owners also have a restaurant in Berkeley.
My Take on Chai Thai Noodles #
The Drinks: Chai Thai Noodles offers great happy hour pricing on beer and wine, and happy hour lasts every day until 7pm. In addition to standard Thai teas and coffees, they offer milk teas and fruit green teas.
The Food: I have been happy with most dishes I’ve had at Chai Thai Noodles, and I’ve had many! When wanting noodles, I usually opt for the wide rice noodles, as they are my favorite. But I’ve tried them all. The pad kee mao is a great entrée featuring them.
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The Chai Thai noodles with ground chicken and various veggies also has a tasty sauce, as does the pad thai. The rad na is served with a gravy that tastes complex and comforting. Gravy is a common term for a thickened sauce throughout the globe, not just the type us Americans serve at the Thanksgiving table.
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I’ve also enjoyed the khaknom jin nam mgiao soup, which features pork prepared a couple different ways and pickled mustard greens in a pork-tomato broth. Very savory! Appetizers are usually satisfying as well.
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That’s the appetizer platter, and I’d especially recommend the spicy lao sausage and curry puffs that you can see on it—they are available separately as well. Lao sausage is always a tingly and juicy start to a meal, and the curry puffs are like chicken hand pies—yum!
A special draw for Chai Thai Noodles is their crab fried rice, which we first had during those pandemic days. This fried rice is lighter than most, with a fresh greenness from the scallions and only a little soy sauce stirred into the eggs and rice. That’s because the cooks at Chai Thai Noodles know not to overshine that crab with too much seasoning or oil.
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The dish comes topped with A LOT of dungeness crab, far more than I’d expect for a $22 dish, half a cup’s worth at least. Each time it’s delivered to my table, my eyes pop out.
Lest you think I love everything Chai Thai Noodles, I did not enjoy the gai him ma parn we had recently, a spicier dish with chicken, cashews, dried whole chili, carrots, bell pepper, and onion.
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The sauce tasted too rich to me; having rice to go with it is essential as the flavor needs to be spread out in combination with something else. Of course, rice is standard for most people when eating Asian food, but honestly, I avoid ordering it when I can, if the dish has less liquid. Do not avoid ordering it with this one.
I also wouldn’t recommend the fresh spring rolls, which are mostly lettuce and poached shrimp in a thin rice-paper wrapping. But that’s a me thing, not a them thing, as I’ve realized that most spring rolls don’t have enough flavorful ingredients to keep my interest. With TMJD that means a lot of chewing for not a lot of reward.
Would I Go Back? I do so regularly! By which I mean every couple of months. I love the variety of their menu, as it covers almost any hankering I might have of the Laotian-Thai persuasion. Nearly without fail, each dish has the right amount of freshness and flavor to make eating it a delight. I haven’t tried a fish dish yet. Maybe next time.
Visited most recently in December 2025.
