Top Restaurant is a small, family-style eatery in a strip mall at 1842 E Colorado Blvd in east Pasadena. It serves home-style Thai and Indonesian cooking, and its 4.6 rating comes from regulars who return for honest, homestyle flavors in a plain, unfussy room.
The setting is simple, with counter-style service and a modest dining room. The draw is the menu, which mixes Thai standards with Indonesian dishes that are hard to find in the San Gabriel Valley. Expect rice plates, noodle dishes, curries and spicy sambal-driven flavors. Diners who know Southeast Asian food come for the Indonesian side of the menu. Newcomers can start with familiar Thai plates and branch out from there. Some listings also tag the restaurant as Hawaiian, so ask staff about any island-style specials before you order.
Visitor Highlights & Practical Info
Small, family-run kitchens often change hours without notice, so call ahead or check the restaurant’s current online listing before you go. Weekday lunch and early dinner are usually the calmest times. Weekend evenings fill up faster. Takeout is a practical choice if seating is tight. The strip mall has its own parking lot, which helps on a busy stretch of Colorado Boulevard. Pasadena City College is a few blocks west, and the Metro A Line’s Allen station is roughly a 10-minute walk north. On New Year’s Day, the Rose Parade causes heavy road closures along Colorado Boulevard, so plan around it.
