Thai Noodles Kansas City: Find Pad Thai, Khao Soi & More

You can be in the mood for noodles and still have no idea what kind you want. The Thai noodles Kansas City diners can choose from include sweet-tangy stir-fries, wide noodles with a savory sauce, and bowls of broth that make a chilly day easier to handle.

Start with the dish, then pick the neighborhood. Lulu’s has three metro locations, but it’s far from your only choice. Let’s sort out the noodles first so dinner doesn’t become a 20-minute menu debate.

Key Takeaways

Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop is a dependable starting point for pad Thai, drunken noodles, and several house noodle dishes. Its locations are in the Crossroads, Westwood, and Overland Park.
Baramee Thai Bistro and Phikul Thai Bistro give downtown diners two different stops for noodles, one in the Crossroads and one near City Market.
ThaiThai Sushi Restaurant in the Northland lists several noodle soups, including khao soi and boat noodle soup.
Menus, hours, delivery areas, and bar schedules can change. Check the restaurant directly before driving across the metro for one dish.

Thai noodles Kansas City diners can choose by craving

Pad Thai is familiar for a reason, but it’s only one corner of the menu. If you always order it because you’re unsure what else sounds good, a little noodle vocabulary helps.

Pad Thai and curry noodle soup sit beside lime, chili, and fresh herbs.

Want a stir-fried plate?

Pad Thai is the easy entry point when you want rice noodles with sweet and tangy flavor. Lulu’s and KC Thai both list it, so you have choices on either side of the state line.

For a darker, more savory sauce, look for pad see ew. Menus spell it a few ways, including pad sea eaw and pad se eu. The dish generally uses wider rice noodles, which give it a different feel than pad Thai. Baramee’s ordering menu describes its chicken version with broccoli and gai lan.

Drunken noodles, also called pad kee mow, are another stir-fried option. Don’t assume the name means they’re cooked with alcohol. If heat matters to you, ask how that particular kitchen prepares them rather than trusting the name to tell you everything.

Want a bowl instead?

A noodle soup changes the whole pace of dinner. ThaiThai Sushi Restaurant lists khao soi, boat noodle soup, Thai noodle soup, and Thai udon noodle soup. That’s a good menu to open when you’re after broth rather than another stir-fried plate.

Khao soi is generally a curry noodle soup, while boat noodles have their own rich, savory style. Preparations vary by restaurant. If one particular bowl is the reason you’re making the drive, confirm it’s on the current menu before you leave.

Lulu’s brings family recipes to three metro stops

Lulu’s Thai Noodle Shop is the name many locals know first. It has enough noodle choices to keep a group happy even when everyone walks in with a different idea of dinner.

The family story, and where it started

Owner Malisa Monyakula’s recipes trace back to her grandmother, Khun Ya, her yâa in Thai. Lulu’s began in Lawrence, Kansas, in 1997, according to the Kansas City Current’s Lulu’s announcement. That founding date doesn’t mean its first storefront opened in Kansas City; its Kansas City presence came later.

Today, the three restaurant areas are the Crossroads at 2030 Central St., Westwood at 2701 W. 47th Ave., and Overland Park at 7921 Santa Fe Dr. That’s three metro locations, not three Kansas City neighborhoods. The Westwood location is especially handy if your plans already have you near the state line.

What to order beyond pad Thai

The Lulu’s Thai menu names pad Thai and drunken noodles, plus Spicy Beef Jantaboon, Curried Coconut Shrimp & Chicken, and Rainbow Peanut Noodles. I like a menu that gives the usual pad Thai order some real competition.

If you’ve already settled on Lulu’s, compare those house dishes before hitting the order button. The Crossroads online ordering page is one way to check what’s available for that location. Look at the location attached to your order, since nobody wants to discover their dinner is waiting across town.

Downtown noodles: Crossroads and City Market

Downtown is a good place to start when dinner is part of a bigger outing. You can keep the trip close to the Crossroads or head north toward City Market, depending on which dish sounds right.

Baramee Thai Bistro for wide noodles

Baramee Thai Bistro is at 1810 Baltimore Ave. in the Crossroads. Its restaurant menu names Pad Sea Eaw, Kee Mow, pad woon sen, and noodle soup. The Baramee pickup and delivery menu describes its chicken pad see ew as flat noodles with sweet soy sauce, broccoli, and gai lan.

That makes Baramee a useful pick if you know you want hearty stir-fried noodle dishes but haven’t decided between mild and spicy. Check the current menu for protein choices and heat options. An ordering page is more useful for that than a photo of somebody else’s dinner from two years ago.

Phikul Thai Bistro for noodle soup

Phikul Thai Bistro is at 17 E. 5th St., close to City Market. Its online menu lists Thai Noodle Soup, described as rice noodles and vegetables in a savory broth.

That soup makes sense when you’ve spent time wandering the River Market and want to sit down to something warm. It also gives the person in your group who doesn’t want a stir-fry a clear place to begin. Check the current menu before going, especially if you’re planning around lunch or have your heart set on that bowl.

South of the city: Overland Park and Waldo

Kansas City Thai food isn’t confined to downtown. Southbound dinner plans can take you to an Overland Park noodle shop or a Waldo restaurant that’s easy to work into a neighborhood evening.

KC Thai in Overland Park

KC Thai is at 12250 W. 135th St. in Overland Park.