RESTAURANT REVIEW:

The success of Thai Del Mar might be puzzling to anyone who has seen the modest restaurant, but certainly not to anyone who has eaten there.

It is simple, yes, but it is also authentic and inexpensive and quality is definitely not sacrificed.

It has been open for a little more than 10 years, and the tiny dining room gets lost among the trendy shops and larger restaurants along Coast Highway.

The inside of the restaurant is small and nondescript. The walls have a few framed pictures of a former king of Thailand and a couple of other decorations, but they are not adorned with the trinkets and posters and paintings that seem to cover every possible inch of space in most Thai places.

There are a handful of tables and chairs in the cozy room, and on Friday and Saturday nights they fill up quickly. For those who live within two miles, the restaurant does deliver, which alleviates the effort of trying to get one of the coveted tables.

It is problematic that they are open only until 9 p.m. My guest and I arrived on a Friday at 8:45 p.m. and were surprised the staff was already winding down. The waiter was eating a dish of food, and someone from the kitchen was cleaning behind the counter.

But the restaurant could have stayed open at least another hour. There were at least five groups of people that came after 9 p.m. and were stunned and disappointed they couldn’t get a meal.

If they had never eaten there, they should come back. It is well worth the return trip.

I’m sure it was a bit cruel to be as visibly happy as we were when eating the shrimp rolls as they were turned away, but it was hard to contain the joy of this simple, but tasty appetizer.

The shrimp was lightly deep fried with a hint of chili, which gave it the right amount of kick. The plum sauce sweetened up the dish if the spice overwhelms those who are chili-sensitive.

Seeing that I have no such deficiency, we moved on to the curry. My guest wasn’t thrilled about her mouth being on fire, so we went with the most mellow of the four curry dishes offered.

The pineapple shrimp is a red curry with pineapple, tomatoes, red and green bell peppers and Thai basil. Both the pineapple and basil take away the sting of the curry, which was pretty mild.

A choice of chicken, beef, pork, tofu, vegetables, shrimp or a seafood mix can be added to not only the curries, but the rice and noodle dishes as well.

We went with the shrimp and it worked well with the dish. I would like to try the seafood combination on a return trip. Adding mussels, squid and scallops to my shrimp would be a nice treat.

The second dish we had was the garlic and pepper. Again a choice of meats, seafood or vegetables was available, and we opted for the chicken. The chicken was small bite-size pieces of white meat and was mixed with carrots, cilantro and onions.

The sauce was a mix of oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar garlic and pepper. It was a very enjoyable mix of ingredients and blended nicely with the dish. I wish there had been bits of garlic in the entrée.

We wanted a noodle dish as well, but wanted to stay away from the pad Thai, which is one of the blander Thai noodle dishes.

The restaurant had six others, including a chow mein, which might seem a bit odd, but blending Chinese food is common at most Thai restaurants.

If you like soups it will be difficult to choose between the lemon grass soups and the coconut milk soups. There are several to select from, but I am partial to the Tom Yum Koong, which is a hot-and-sour soup that comes with shrimp and mushrooms.

The variety of the food and the quality proves why this little hole in the wall has been able to survive in Corona del Mar. It is a place that locals should take advantage of more often.

Address: 2754 E. Coast Hwy., Corona del Mar

Phone: (949) 721-9220

Cuisine: Thai

Specialty dish: Any of the four curry dishes

Alcohol served: none

Entrée price range: $7.95 to $12.95

Family friendly: Yes

Credit cards accepted: American Express, Visa, MasterCard

Rating: ***

JOHN REGER reviews restaurants for the Independent.