Ratana's Green Papaya Salad - Hilo, Hawaii

Taylor Yoder

This restaurant was so good that I decided to start writing Google Reviews - the world needs to know how great this place is. We stayed in Hilo for 5 days and ate here twice. Every single thing we ate was excellent. Our most well-traveled group member decreed this as the best Thai food he’s ever had in America. The curry was spectacular - especially the green curry, the masaman curry, and the red pineapple curry. We also enjoyed the pad Thai, coconut soup, green papaya salad, spring rolls, Thai tea, and mango sticky rice. You really can’t go wrong!
Ohi and Lotus were so kind; they even gave us recommendations for local activities as we were waiting for our food. It sounds like they grow most of their vegetables or buy them at local farmer’s markets. Everything tasted so fresh! If you like Thai food, you will love this place.

katya karankevich

Fantastic spot. Staff and owners made us feel like family. We ordered Thai iced tea, mango sticky rice, pad thai, red curry with pumpkin and even asked them to cook us the same spicy pork soup they were eating, which was not on the menu. They oblidged my obnoxious request. It was incredible and if I lived close, I would go there once a week and request the secret off-the-menu item.

There are a couple of tables for seating, but it looks like most of their business is structured for quick pick up. Prices were very reasonable and food was piping hot.

Owner even brought out some dessert for us to try that was straight from Thailand. She told us about how important sourcing local ingredients is for her cooking and that they have a booth at the Waimea Saturday farmers market. Nice to see family restaurants on island thriving!

Adithya Ramakrishnan

Amazing food ! They’re so nice and they have tofu as a protein substitute for vegetarians!
Don’t miss out on the pumpkin red curry !

Brad Freeman

FANTASTIC little hole in the wall for takeout. Papaya salad and pad thai were out of this world. I thought we had some pretty good Thai restaurants at home (seattle area) but Ratana's is right up there, and a great value. Must visit.

Olivia Arellano

The Thai here is one of a kind amazing! Came here and they were so friendly and all of the food is homemade! Best Thai I’ve had in a long time!

Rus Mo

I love, love, love how Ratana's is a super small hole in the wall place that cranks out super fresh, super hot foods.

We had a party of 7 asks we took up half of the restaurant. Needless to say the inside is small, but the dishes are BIG! Let me preface by saying that pretty much all dishes are accompanied by rice (mixed white and some other type I'm not familiar with).

We ended up ordering shrimp Panang curry ($11). While it was a creamy, flavorful dish, I think it could've used a bit more coconut and peanut butter in the curry itself. Either that or the Panang Curry was diluted by the rice bowl it was mixed in with. Or maybe it was style of Thai cooking I'm not used to. We also decided on chicken Pad Se Ew ($10). However instead of wide rice noodles, Pad Thai style noodles and was more like pad Thai. Our last entree was a spicy shrimp (are huge) papaya salad ($10). This dish was by far the best item here for me. It has all the properties of what a papaya should have. The spicy, salty, slightly sweet, limey acid added to the home grown fresh, crunchy papaya was excellent. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS MENU ITEM.

What I was really excited to try was sticky mango rice dessert, but by the time we finished the food we were beyond stuffed.

I really like this place. The value is incredible, and I absolutely recommend Ratana's. I just wish some of the entree flavors were a bit bolder.

Queen Oooo

Another quick review!

Gluten free and vegetarian options!

Very good food! Best Thai noodles I've ever tasted!

The texture is perfect! I think the flavors mix very well and the cooks know what they're doing.

Everything was spectacular! But.... One- actually 2 things I ought to mention;

The avocado summer roll thing- actually good, but I feel as if the sauce was really sweet. The outside wrap was interesting, and my favorite part actually.

Service- (this part is quite long, but to sum it up, no bueno)

too bad I couldn't pick up the flavors very well because this older lady at the front counter was very disrespectful, I usually don't leave reviews like this but it made me very uncomfortable.

As a tourist I was very dissatisfied with the treatment the counter person had with a particular customer. A young mother with her young child came in, she was kicked out due to her child being "disruptive." Me and my family were the only other four people in the room, and confirmed that in fact, the cute little guy, was not disruptive...

Boom!
Kicked out anyways!

Disgusting! revolting! He's just a child!

This behavior is unacceptable and childish. Me and my family do not recommend this restaurant to anyone.

The whole time I was just at "aloh- huh?"

This really brought the rating down, I hope that they treat upcoming customers with the utmost kindness.

Thank you, and have a lovely evening!

Kristin Hargrove

We ate at this delicious restaurant everyday while visiting Hilo. The Massaman curry and pad thai are excellent. We ordered the same thing both days because we enjoyed it that much. The portions are fairly large so two people can split one thing.