Phuket Thai Restaurant
248 Divisadero Street
(between Castro St & Haight St)
San Francisco, CA 94117 (415) 864-8584
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Delivers: Yes
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: No
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Dinner
- Alcohol: Beer & Wine Only
324 reviews
Neighborhood: Outer Sunset
"My FAVORITE Thai restaurant in the city! The food is probably equally as good as the other location, but I feel like this one might be a…" read more »
57 Reviews for Phuket Thai Restaurant
I feel bad giving a bad review, 'cause I've got a thing with karma (always finds me), but this may be the worst Thai food I've ever had. It may be my fault for ordering the steak, but I have seriously low standards. I'm giving the two stars for location and fun christmas lights. Oh, and for the many puns the name Phuket warrants.
While it's occasionally fun to intentionally mispronounce the name when in certain company, and it's a pretty cool little place on the inside, the food just isn't all that great. It isn't bad as in super greasy or going to make you sick, but it just isn't very exciting either. With the number of good Thai restaurants in the city, you can do better.
Looks are deceiving. We walked in because of the name, LOL, it smelled amazing and I loved the decor.
We expected a pretty expensive menu, but were pleasantly surprised, even though the menu was small, there was enough to choose from, the pork satay w/curry coconut sauce drizzled on it was delicious. The Tom Yong Guy (sp?) was enough to split with 2 other people and had large shrimp.
My friend wanted Pad Thai but couldn't find it on the menu, so he opted for the grilled chicken w/peanut sauce (yum!)
The place is small but I considered it cozy, e-z access to public transport and they do take credit (yay!)
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Fuck it...
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If I had a Thai grandmother, her house would look like the interior of Phuket: antique knick-knacks galore, covered in plastic slip covers to protect from dust. Beyond the decor, Phuket is a typical Thai restaurant with the usual fare. If nothing else, it serves your immediate Thai carving.
The standout performance at Phuket was our waitress. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of the menu that impressed our table of 6. If only the food was as impressive.
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This place was great! After giggling at the name, I gave my wife 2 chances NOT to go there. I would have truly regretted that. The food was fantasic! The service was great and very friendly. Total bill for 2 with soup for lunch? $21.05 Extremely reasonable prices and free delivery at dinner. Very nice lunch for our urban trek to Lower Haight. Check out Country Cheese Shop down the street!
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Well, Phuket.
I live down the street from this joint, have always wanted to try it because I love Thai and because the name is great, so a few weeks back I ordered some take-out.
Easy stuff...two orders of Pad Thai and some veggies.
Yuck and yuck. And I eat food that's been on the floor for 5 minutes, so when I say yuck, I mean it.
Oh well, at least there's 10 other Thai places in the area. Let the search for a good one continue...
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I love a good thai restaurant, I love a good thai meal. The best I can say is that I like Phuket and I like their food. There is a huge difference. Yes, again it was another night at work with all of my filipino coworkers clucking and thumbing through the menu book for a place to eat. The decided on Phuket. The first thing I had to do was tell them how to pronounce it, because it got on my damn nerves rather quickly that they were either saying what sounded like "f@#$ it" or what sounded like "pookie." Once we got all that settled then we could order.
Their thai spring rolls were pretty good. Their Pad Thai noodles were nice, filling, but did not taste all that authentic. I would compare it to frozen pad thai dishes that I have picked up in the market. Their thai curry chicken, now that was good. It was sweet, ever so slightly spiced. Drop that tasty little bock bock on some rice and I was in taste bud heaven.
Overall I give them three stars, two because the food was overall, just okay and I "liked" it. And an extra star for that tasty curry chicken. Although I am not in that area very often anymore I wouldn't rule out going to Phuket again in the future. But I wouldn't dine-in because I have actually found there servers to be quite rude and inattentive.
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There are two Thai places within walking distance of my flat. Thai Place II, and Phuket Thai. I prefer Phuket for some reason, although both of them are really good. Sadly, I've been to Thai Place II many more times just because it's a block-and-a-half closer. I know, I'm lazy.
The food is pretty good, and when you see the prices, you'll think the food is excellent. There are better Thai places in the city, but if you're in the Lower Haight (or even the Upper Haight) and don't feel like going far, just trudge up Haight (or coast down Haight) until you hit Divisadero.
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I'd been wanting to try Phuket ever since, well, seeing it's name and having the immature male in me laugh. Tonight was finally the night, and I was totally impressed.
For $9, I had an outstanding dish of charbroiled chicken and steamed spinach. That price alone is worth four stars. But what makes this place one I return (hence the fifth star) was the service. I called and placed an order for the sauteed chicken with spinach, and asked it to be made as healthy as possible (i.e. no peanut sauce). That the waitress recommended this as an alternative is worth bonus points, not to mention that the amount of chicken was substantial.
Two subtle moves that make this place stand out among all the rest - not to mention the uber cool name.
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Yeah the food is mediocre but goddamn do I love casually namedropping this place during polite conversation!!
"oh which Thai place? Phuket? No, not that one? which one then..."
It never gets old!! For me at least.
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I'm gonna be a little generours and give Phuket 4 stars. Been ordering take out for 10(?) years now. Still really like certain dishes on Phuket's menu but agree with a few other long time local loyalists that they have slipped over the last few years.
However, very friendly owner and staff keeps me ordering. Plus, like my favorite bartender, they know my order, 1/2 star for that.
Take out or delivery is the way I go. Credit card accepted.
I live almost three blocks away so naturally I order delivery. Yeah, I'm real lazy come 9:-9:30pm. I eat at the restaurant with friends a few times a year. The decor could use a makeover but the friendly staff and the dishes we like make up for ambiance shortcomings.
Usually order the Tom Kha Kai (chicken in coconut milk soup) which I still love, Nuer Yarng (charbroiled flank steak specially marinated with honey garlic served with garlic chili sauce), and rice. The Nuer Yarng seems to have changed over last few years, seems rather chewy now. Please, fix the Nuer Yarng!
Guess after all this time I'll have to try something different, maybe the Panang curry or the Kai Yarng (charbroiled chicken with chef's special marinade served with sweet and sour garlic sauce).
I hope Phuket reads these reviews and make the improvements to return it to one of Lower Haight's Best Thai restaurants. With all the Thai palces in the neighborhood I hope they can be one of the best. They did (once or twice?) receive the Zagat award for Best Thai so I believe they can compete at that level once again.
I like Phuket.
It wont rock your world, but its pretty good and cheap without feeling like you might contract hep.
Plus they are really nice and doting.
Did I say cheap? Really they should be charging more. I really feel good after a meal there, not heavy or greasy.
Take a chance on Phuket to get through the weekly hump.
When they had pumpkin curry as a featured dinner special in October, I was more devoted to this place.
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Mmmm the best pad thai in the city. Too bad I don't get to eat there too often. Only when my dad gets a chance to pick up to go. Our usual is the pad thai, veggie delight and a tom yum.
Whatchoo gonna do when Thai Place 2 is closed?
You might be inclined to say to yourself "Phucket, let's walk the extra block down to Phucket Thai." That's where I come in. The little angel on your shoulder.
Really bad calimari, straight up mediocre garlic shrimp, & just passable spinach peanut chicken.
When restaurants make your food just so they can pay the bills, it's called "Losing The Love". I don't know when, where or how, but Phucket lost the love.
I'm sorry to report that I'm not likely to return.
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If I say my green curry tofu looked the same going out as it did going in, am I saying too much? Phucket!
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I have nothing nice to say about this place.
Normally I wouldn't harbor such ill feelings about a restaurant but it abused me at a time in my life when I as at my most vulnerable and needy.
Drama Alert: Back when I was poor and starving, my bf and I decided to treat ourselves to dinner at this place. Just to remember what eating out was like. We spent our last $20 on some veggie food here and it was just horrible. We both love Thai food. This wasn't like Thai food at all. It was bland and watered down and just wrong. We had to eat it because we were hungry but it was not a pleasure. I remember sitting there, thinking about all the other food we could've gotten with our money and I actually felt like crying. Nay, I did cry.
Anyways, it is in my neighborhood so I have to see it all the time. So much pain.
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Phuket seems to be more of a delivery type of place than a dine-in restaurant. There was about 1 other table with diners when my boyfriend and I went on a Monday night. But people kept on coming in and out for take-outs.
Everything was alright. Service was a bit on the slow side; perhaps because the chefs were in a hurry to get all the take-outs outta the way first. We shared the tom kha kai soup (oh boy, it was only yesterday and I can't remember the spelling), and pad thai. Or Pud Thai as they call it. I always find these subtle name differences very amusing. It's like the restaurant's own way of sticking it to the Man. "Pad thai? oh yeah? well, we call it Pud Thai! It's supposed to be pronounced Pud Thai!"
Both dishes were delicious. Like most Thai restaurants in SF, food here is good and reliable. I guess I could've given it 4 stars, but the stale decor and lack of dine-in customers just make your dinner experience that much more boring and lackluster. So I will stick with 3 stars.
Dinner was average. The ambiance was somewhat nice. The fried bananas after dinner really hit the spot. I wouldn't go out of my way for this place.. but if I lived in the neighborhood, I would probably grab take out there.
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Not a place i'd eat-in (bland), but for take-out (plus free delivery), it's great (pad thai, coconut milk shrimp/veggie soup, thai iced tea). Reasonable and low prices, big dishes so you should share. Yummy.
Phuket brings out the immature elementary schooler.....well actually more like middle schooler in all of us. Phonetically - the name is a blast.
But...as a restaurant - Phuket's just decent.
They fooled me with the vegetarian headline right by their name. Once inside, I found that their vegetarian menu was pretty limited, but that being said, I'm sure they could have whipped anything up on the menu with tofu and it would have worked - so not a huge deal.
The server was friendly and quick. I asked what he recommended on the vegetarian menu. He pointed out a tofu peanut dish. I ordered it.
When he brought it out, I found the dish to be pretty mediocre. It was filling and tasty, but nothing I would rave over, especially for the OK price.
Phuket Thai is pretty close, and the service great, so I could see myself picking up an order in the future, but I think I'd have to sample some different things on the menu before giving a higher rating.
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OK, well the name was always a draw, I must say, but after eating here, it's not worth telling your friends where you just had dinner.
Everything that we ordered was super greasy and oily. Not a ton of flavor that you would expect from a Thai place.
I mistakenly ordered a shrimp dish, and had one bite of the shrimp, and it was NOT GOOD, not fresh, not edible really.
The only thing that was redeeming was the frie tofu appetizer, and that was only ok.
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I really don't have much to say about this place other than the fact that it was extremely mediocre. Nothing exciting about it at all and I probably won't go here again.
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I found 6 shrimp in my vegetarian tofu and veggie dish...1 shrimp = a mishap, 2 shrimps = tighten up guys...6 shrimp = LOSER!
and I'm a pretty strict vegetarian too...Still ate it minus the shrimp.The food was bland and tasteless. Even the peanut sauce...how do you make that bland! Order from Thai Place 2 next door. delivery time might be an extra 15 minutes but its worth it.
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GROSS. This place smells nasty and is the bad kind of cheap food - it tastes like frozen Thai food someone's busy mom defrosted and microwaved for the kids after school. Skip it.
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Man, I'm good at clearing restaurants. An SF virgin, I chose this quiet neighbourhood eatery in a hurry after getting a little too weirded out by my first stroll down Haight Street after dark. I had just taken my first look at the menu when the first of four dining couples hurriedly left. By the time my pork dish arrived, I coulda stripped naked, and there would have been no-one there to complain. This includes the waitress and kitchen staff, who also magically disappeared right up until I was wondering whether it would be OK to just leave having stared at my empty plate for the last 20 minutes.
As if telepathically sensing my nefarious plans, the waitress leapt back into the dining room, brandishing my check. And what a nice check it was too! Decent(ish) meat dish, rice and a beer for a shade over ten dollars. Bargain in anyone's book.
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San Francisco has so many Thai places. Other cities have Big Macs and Whoppers; we have Chicken satay and Pad Thai. Phuket is not the best Thai place in San Francisco, but it beats out all the others in the area. There are three very close to this place that are in the same price range. Of the four, Phuket has the best quality of meat and the freshest veggies.
I recommend the Prawns with Panang Curry. Yummy.
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This is a take out location. The food is 3 stars because it is cheap and fairly tasty.. the dining experience is alright if you just want a quick bite to eat. But with Haight St. being so close by, I would much rather go to Blue Front Cafe on Haight.
It used to be good. I dont know what happen...
I used to like their food but recently it's been terrible. Pass on all the curries. they taste like a big piece of styrofoam... Thai Place 2 is better with the curries.
The service is good, decor is traditional Thai.
Another mediocre Thai food with pretentious service. I do not understand how they have stayed in business for such a long time.
Love these guys for their speedy delivery, and prefer their food of the other Thai delivery options in my area (in the Lower Haight/ Alamo Square locale, this means Chili Cha Cha -- Thep Phanom does not deliver, unfortunately).
Consistently fresh & crisp veggie dishes and I generally love their duck curry (though there was one time it tasted a bit off).
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I know the capital of Thailand is not supposed to be a joke. And the Thai kid from school whose last name was Pornpromlikit -- I don't think that's a joke either.
But I was secretly hoping that maybe the people who had opened this restaurant were in on the joke, because it's so much fun to pretend Phuket is an English word and pronounce Phuket Thai accordingly. I'm sure you can figure out what I'm getting at.
I made a field trip here to investigate (and also because my friends demanded a cheap place to eat lunch), and I'm saddened to report that I don't think it's supposed to be funny.
So now I feel a little culturally insensitive for softening the 'ph' and shortening the 'u' in Phuket. But not enough to stop.
As for the food itself, I've had much better Thai. The pad thai was too tomato-ey for me and the curry wasn't too exciting. But all the vegetables were tasty and fresh, and 4 of us shared 3 dishes for around $25, so I would definitely recommend Phuket Thai for a cheap lunch in the neighborhood.
I would, however, pronounce it wrong...
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i tried this place because i sometimes get this hankering for greasy noodles when i'm hungover, and i happened to pass by in just such a situation. and for that, to be fair, it came through for me: the pad thai was sufficiently greasy, and the tom kha gai wasn't bad. so, two stars. but i probably wouldn't go back, hung or non.
I eat at Phuket quite often when I'm in the mood for Thai because it's the closest to me, but deep down inside I don't LOVE it. I think it's slightly over-priced, and the dishes are average at best. There is nothing special on their menu that warrants a special visit from across town, so if I lived somewhere else, I'd probably never go there.
I can't say that their food is bad though, I've never had a horrible dish. They make good Sticky Rice and Mango and excellent Tapioca Pudding (the kind with corn kernels in it.) The Fried Banana and Coconut Ice Cream is the same as in any Thai restaurant.
The restaurant is nice and clean. The walls are an unusual green color. There are a couple of aquariums but the one by the entrance appears to be empty. Once, this cook, who I suspect was stoned out of his mind, came out to stare at the aquarium while I was eating lunch. I couldn't see what he was looking for, yet he kept glaring at it. Maybe there was some sort of elusive creature hiding in there which he wanted to eat, or maybe he dropped something in there.
Vegetarians beware. I observed a huge argument outside the restaurant where I heard a guest yell that they ordered their meal vegetarian, and the cook tried to argue that it was vegetarian. Sketchy.
I like Thai Place II better but it has a much longer wait.
SInce I live across the street, I used to go here a lot when I was lazy and desperate for any nourishment. It really isn't anything special but it is cheap and has free delivery. When they are really busy I meet the lady in the island for my thai rock candy- really!
Good Tom Ka. I'm a soupie.
Local.
I go there partially for the name and that it's a mere 4 blocks from my house.
I used to have food delivered all the time, but I found a big, black, and dead fly on my silver noodle salad :(
The best deal in the neighborhood for lunch hand down. Four of us ate here with five entrees to share and it was still under 40 dollars a person. Not to mention the grub was fantastic.
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Phuket gets 5 stars for the Beef satay and the friendly delivery man. I have to minus 2, because the lady on the phone is sooooooo grumpy. I understand we have trouble understanding one another, but when she repeats my order to me and is missing things, she claims I never ordered them. I don't get it. We're still on the phone, It's not like the food was delivered and missing items, let's just ttry and have a peaceful phone conversations. pLease!
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