Restaurants

Ruan Thai

11407 Amherst Ave., Wheaton, MD 20902 | 301-942-0075

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Neighborhood:

Wheaton

Cuisines:

Thai

Tags:

2009 fall dining guide

hours:

Mon-Sat 11:30 am-10 pm; Sun 4-10 pm

Price:

$ ($14 and under)

Sound check:

63 decibels (Conversation is easy)

Quick Take

A homey authentic restaurant that focuses on food rather than frills.

Read Our Review

Our Review

Critic rating:

2009 Fall Dining Guide

By Tom Sietsema
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, Oct. 18, 2009

Some of the best Thai food in the area is staged in a narrow, mint-green room in Wheaton, with little beyond a wall hanging or two to dress up the place. Not a problem. The layered flavors and contrasting textures in chef Krisana Suchotinunt's cooking provide stimulation aplenty (and also remind us that in her native Thailand, the top chefs tend to be female). If you get only one dish, make it fried watercress scattered with crisp shrimp, squid and cashews. It's an example of great frying and the Thai way with accents. (Love that screaming lime sauce!) But wherever you land on this long list of dishes, you're apt to find something to excite you: tangy chicken lemon grass soup, smoky grilled eggplant with ground shrimp and pork, possibly rich pork belly stir-fried with tender Chinese broccoli and splashed with oyster sauce. Your server might try to talk you out of dishes she thinks non-Thais might not like. Persistence gets you a jumble of catfish, green beans and cauliflower in an intriguing sour curry. There might be a wait for one of the 12 tables; the consolation is food that tends to come out fast, and fab.

Average Reader Rating

Write Your Review

expanded out of its greatness

Posted by workingstiff1 | Jul 15, 2011 | Mark as Inappropriate

First, you are asked if you are going to order alcohol or not as you enter. Maybe, we say. You must sit here. The restaurant is expanding into the place next door, but it doesn't have a liquor license to cover it yet. The food comes, but it's like no one who knows Thai food is in the kitchen. The sauce for the spring rolls is basically simple syrup with one lonesome piece of carrot in it - no spice at all. The grilled chicken is so dry, it's impossible to eat. The shrimp with basil is similarly uninspired. It could be worse, though. The couple next to us never did get waited on at all. My, how it has changed.

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