I'm from the US and I'm living in Bangkok right now and I'd say... It depends how much you spend. If you compare "average" Thai food in California and "average"

I'm from the US and I'm living in Bangkok right now and I'd say... It depends how much you spend. If you compare "average" Thai food in California and "average" Thai food in Thailand you would be paying 10x more in California. I can go get a Pad Thai at the shopping mall food court next to me for $1 and it tastes alright but the $12 Pad Thai in the US is likely going to taste better (but not guaranteed). If I go to a fancy restaurant here and spend $12 on a Pad Thai it's going to be much better than what you get in the US (at that price here you'd likely get a few large prawns and a very generous portion of fresh noodles) I regularly eat street food here for under $2 that I vastly prefer to any Thai food I had in America (and I had a lot) There is also just a lot of food that is easy to get here that is hard to find in lots of places in the US. Like soft shell crab - I eat it regularly here and get a generous serving of crab but in the US it's hard to find and it expensive and in very small portions