CLOSURE: Top restaurant for Thai food just shut down in Toronto
Published January 5, 2026 at 11:16 am
A restaurant that’s known as one of the top spots for Thai food in Toronto just shut the doors of one of their locations, but not to worry, as there are big things on the way from the popular local indie chain.
Isaan Der is named for a region of Thailand, and serves up all kinds of creative dishes based on traditional signature favourites within Thai cuisine. They’re especially known for their classic items like mango salad, khao soi, pad thai, cashew chicken and pineapple fried rice, as well as red, panang and green curries. They’re very well known for their iconic beef short rib massaman curry and lamb shank massaman curry.
“In 2011, Ko immigrated to Toronto with her Canadian husband, Donald,” reads the official Isaan Der website. “Since then, she’s brought her authentic Thai cuisine and peaceful, warm spirit to some of the best restaurants in the city. Now, Ko brings authentic Thai cuisine that’s characterized by its distinct fiery spiciness to Isaan Der.”
The restaurant took to social media to explain the changes happening with their locations, letting everyone know that they were closing down at one of their addresses.
“Same heart. Bigger space. New neighbourhood. After 5 amazing years in Riverside, we’re moving into a larger home to better serve our loyal community. Same bold Isaan Der flavours — just more room to enjoy them,” reads the caption to a post from Isaan Der.
“Come visit us before we go! Big things coming in January. Stay tuned!”
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The post has gotten nearly 50 likes on Instagram and has just a few comments, but they show that the location of Isaan Der in that neighbourhood will definitely be sorely missed in the area.
“We used to go to your Leslieville/Riverside location all the time and it was great and packed full as well. Kinda hard to understand why you wouldn’t have stuck around in the neighbourhood,” one frustrated commenter wrote. “It’s even harder to understand why you’d call that ‘better serving our loyal community’ when it’s literally abandoning us.”
Either way, all is not lost for fans of Thai food restaurant Isaan Der as they will, as they promised, soon be opening in a new neighbourhood. The restaurant has plans to open a new location soon at 327 Spadina Ave.
Isaan Der is still currently operating locations at 2961 Dundas St. W. and at 9021 Leslie St. in Richmond Hill.
The last day for the Queen East location was Dec. 31, 2025.