In the past two decades, phononic crystals (PCs) which consist of periodically arranged media have attracted considerable interest because of the existence of complete frequency band gaps and maneuverable band structures. Recently, Lamb waves in thin plates with PC structures have started to receive increasing attention for their potential applications in filters, resonators, and waveguides. This paper presents a review of recent works related to phononic plate waves which have recently been published by the authors and coworkers. Theoretical and experimental studies of Lamb waves in 2-D PC plate structures are covered. On the theoretical side, analyses of Lamb waves in 2-D PC plates using the plane wave expansion (PWE) method, finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method, and finite-element (FE) method are addressed. These methods were applied to study the complete band gaps of Lamb waves, characteristics of the propagating and localized wave modes, and behavior of anomalous refraction, called negative refraction, in the PC plates. The theoretical analyses demonstrated the effects of PC-based negative refraction, lens, waveguides, and resonant cavities. We also discuss the influences of geometrical parameters on the guiding and resonance efficiency and on the frequencies of waveguide and cavity modes. On the experimental side, the design and fabrication of a silicon-based Lamb wave resonator which utilizes PC plates as reflective gratings to form the resonant cavity are discussed. The measured results showed significant improvement of the insertion losses and quality factors of the resonators when the PCs were applied.