During lunch and on the weekends there is sometimes an extensive waiting list to get seated in the only Thai restaurant in Grapevine, Thai Riverside.

Sanya Khamhaeng, the manager of the restaurant, said his customers do not mind waiting as they know once they occupy one of the restaurant's 53 seats they will partake in a one-of-a-kind Thai food experience.

"What makes us different from every other Thai restaurant in the area is that we serve authentic Thai food," Sanya said. "If you were to eat here and then go to Thailand, the food would taste exactly the same, maybe even better."

When the restaurant opened in 2012, Sanya said he never imagined the restaurant would be as busy as it is today.

"We opened when they were doing construction on the road nearby, and it was really hard to get people out here," he said. "When it finished, it got a lot better. We doubled the amount of customers, and we no longer need to advertise at all."

Prior to managing Thai Riverside, Sanya and his wife, Inthira, lived in Manhattan for years before the company he worked for relocated to Grapevine.

A couple of years later after moving to Grapevine, the couple opened the restaurant after Inthira said she decided she wanted to follow in her family's footsteps.

"My wife's mother, who lives in Thailand, owns this restaurant," Sanya said. "They have three restaurants in Thailand, and this makes the fourth restaurant. While we both manage the restaurant, [Inthira] cooks the food as well."

Sanya said Inthira and the rest of the cooks allow their customers to customize their entrees from choosing what type of meat they would like to add to the spiciness of the dish.

"Here we have a range of 0 to 5 of how spicy we can make the food," he said. "We can make just about anything the customer wants. If they want to make it into a pasta bowl we can do that. The only thing we can't do is deliver the food."

The restaurant serves a variety of fried rices, stir-frys, salads, soups, curry dishes and fried noodle entrees. One thing one will not see on the menu is alcoholic beverages. However, the restaurant does allow its customers to bring in their own drinks, which Sanya said is convenient with Grapevine Beer and Wine being located next door.

"We serve a duck salad ($14), which is made of crispy duck, cucumbers, carrots, red onions, cashew nuts and a sweet chili sauce and it goes well with wine," he said. "A lot of our dishes pair well with wine."

For those who do not have a taste for duck and would like to eat a dish that includes something other than poultry, the restaurant offers seafood dishes that can include shrimp, fish, scallops, mussels and squid.

Sanya said one of his favorite seafood dishes is the Plah Kung ($14.95), which includes grilled shrimp, lime juice, lemon grass, cilantro, onions and chili.

For those who like to eat healthy, Sanya said Thai Riverside has dishes made with glass or cellophane noodles.