This is Chada Thai
Thai food, the way Thailand eats
Sour, sweet, salty and hot on one table. Curries, noodles and the dishes Denver has ordered by name for sixty years.
- Food
- Noodles
- Bar
- Thai-owned since 1962
Our story
Credited as America's first Thai restaurant
Lily Chittivej opened Chada Thai in Denver in the early 1960s, before Los Angeles had a Thai restaurant. It has been Thai-owned ever since, through new decades, new neighbors, and now a new chef and a new menu.
Through all of it, the kitchen has kept doing what it does: sharing Thailand's food and traditions generously, and widening what Denver thinks Thai food can taste like.
Welcome to our Thai table
Good food is meant to be shared. A curry, a salad, something from the wok and rice for everyone, passed around until it's gone.
Questions, answered
Is it really the first Thai restaurant in America?
It's credited as America's first Thai restaurant. Lily Chittivej opened it in Denver in the early 1960s, and a Rocky Mountain News review from February 1962 is the earliest dated record. Her story is kept in the Denver Public Library's Special Collections.
How spicy is it?
You choose: mild, medium, hot or Thai hot. Medium means medium. Not sure? Ask, and we'll steer you right.
Can I order pickup or delivery?
Both, straight from us. Ordering here keeps the whole ticket with the kitchen. We're on the apps too.
Mai pen rai
Come as you are, and leave with a smile, a few new favorites, and a palate that’s a little more Thai.
Stay for the Noodles
Small bowls of dark broth and rice noodles, the way they are served on the canals of Bangkok. Order a round, then order another. Dark broth, rice noodles, a few bites of beef, gone in five spoonfuls. Mild to Thai hot, cooked the way you ask.
Sit down, have another
Slow down here. The light is warm, the room is easy, and the bar is the kind you pull up a stool at and stay. Walk in and it feels like a place that has been loved for a long time, full of birthdays, first dates and regulars who never needed a menu. Order a Thai tea and settle in. Nobody’s watching the clock.
Relax and Smile More
In Thailand, a smile is part of the welcome. Here too.
