Ann Arbor eats a lot of Thai food, and a big student population is why – it is fast, it travels well, and a plate of pad see ew is one of the better cheap dinners in town. The scene splits into two camps. There is No Thai, the local chain that put a counter in nearly every corner of the city, and there is a set of independents doing scratch curries and regional dishes that are worth a real drive. Here are the Thai restaurants in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti worth your money, sorted by where you are and what you want, with hours verified in August 2026 so you don’t pull up to a dark kitchen.
No Thai! – the local chain, four locations
No Thai is the default, and there is no shame in that. It started as a single counter near campus and grew into the name locals say first when someone asks where to get Thai. The formula is consistent: quick, generous portions of pad thai, drunken noodles, and curries at a price a student can carry. It is the everyday pick, the one you order without a plan, and having four locations across the city means one is almost always close.
The four Ann Arbor spots, each with its own address and hours:
No Thai! South U at 1300 South University Avenue is the campus location, closest to Central Campus and the dorms. Open Monday through Saturday 11am to 10pm, and Sunday 3pm to 9pm.
No Thai! Kerrytown at 226 North Fourth Avenue is the downtown-adjacent one, handy if you are already at the farmers market or on Main. Open Monday through Saturday 11am to 10pm, and Sunday noon to 9pm.
No Thai! Plymouth Rd. at 1745 Plymouth Road serves the north side and the Plymouth Road corridor. Open Monday through Saturday 11am to 10pm, and closed Sunday.
No Thai! S. Main at 2276 South Main Street covers the south end near the stadium. Open Monday through Saturday 11am to 10pm, and closed Sunday.
Note the split on Sundays: South U and Kerrytown are open, while Plymouth Road and S. Main are not. If you want No Thai on a Sunday, aim for the two campus-side spots.
Tuptim Thai Cuisine
Tuptim Thai Cuisine at 4896 Washtenaw Avenue is the sit-down independent with the biggest following, and more than 400 Google reviews back that up. It sits on the east side toward Pittsfield, so it is a short drive rather than a walk, and the payoff is a fuller menu than the counters downtown – proper curries, a longer noodle list, and a room built for a real dinner rather than a to-go bag.
This is the pick when you want Thai food but also want to sit down and order a couple of dishes for the table. It is a reliable weeknight destination for the whole east side.
Tuptim is open Monday through Friday 11am to 9:30pm, Saturday noon to 9:30pm, and Sunday noon to 9pm. There is a parking lot, which on Washtenaw is a genuine convenience.
Siam Square
Siam Square is a longtime local favorite that recently moved. Its old home on Washtenaw Avenue closed, and the restaurant reopened in the Colonnade Shopping Center at 883 West Eisenhower Parkway on the south side. If you have an old address saved, update it – the food followed the owners, but the location did not stay put.
The menu is broad and the kitchen has years of regulars for a reason. This is the south-side sit-down option, easy to reach from Briarwood and the I-94 corridor, with a strip-mall parking lot that beats hunting for a downtown spot.
Siam Square is open Monday through Saturday 11am to 10pm, and Sunday noon to 9pm. Carryout and delivery orders wind down about fifteen minutes before the dining room closes.
Thai Spoon
Thai Spoon at 4119 Stone School Road is the neighborhood counter for the south and southeast side, tucked into the Stone School area away from the campus crush. It is the kind of small, no-fuss kitchen that neighbors rely on, and the reviews reward it for exactly that – solid noodles and curries without a wait or a scene.
Come here when you are on the south side and want Thai without driving toward campus. It is a lunch-and-early-dinner spot, so plan for an earlier close than the downtown counters.
Thai Spoon is open Monday through Friday 11am to 8:15pm, Saturday noon to 8:15pm, and closed Sunday. The early close is the one thing to watch – this is not a late-night option.
Basil Babe – the Ypsilanti standout
Basil Babe at 701 West Cross Street in Ypsilanti is the highest-rated Thai kitchen in the area, sitting above a 4.6 on Google across more than 500 reviews. It is a modern, chef-driven take rather than a standard-menu counter, and it draws people across from Ann Arbor for a reason. If you care about Thai food as a destination rather than a quick dinner, this is the one to build an evening around.
Because it runs a tighter, more focused operation, the hours are the thing to plan around. Basil Babe is open Tuesday through Saturday noon to 9pm, and closed Monday and Sunday. Treat it as a Tuesday-through-Saturday plan, not a spur-of-the-moment Sunday call.
Eat Thai – the late-night newcomer downtown
One more worth knowing, even though it is new enough that it is not yet in our business directory. Eat Thai opened at 332 South Main Street downtown in late December 2025, an independent full-service room from chef-owner Teerawat Pho-On – not connected to the No Thai chain despite the similar name and the same street. Its hook is the hours: the kitchen runs late, to about 4am Thursday through Saturday and 2am on Sunday, which makes it the rare downtown spot for a real Thai plate well after midnight. If you are out on Main and it is late, this is the answer.
So where should you actually go?
If you want quick and close, No Thai is never far, and the campus-side South U and Kerrytown locations are your Sunday move. For a proper sit-down dinner, Tuptim on the east side and Siam Square on the south side are the reliable independents. Thai Spoon is the south-side neighborhood counter, just get there before its early close. For the best plate in the area, drive to Basil Babe in Ypsilanti and go Tuesday through Saturday. And when it is late and you are downtown, Eat Thai keeps the kitchen open long after everyone else has locked up.
All hours were verified live in August 2026. Thai kitchens adjust hours around holidays and the school calendar, so a quick call before a long drive is never a bad idea.
