Thai Orchid Restaurant

Elite '08

532

531

wanugee N.

Pleasant Hill, CA

This is in downtown Vancouver where there aren't a  lot of walking distance choices to eat good or ethnic food. So it was a welcome sight.

However, despite receiving recognition from the local weekly newspaper as one of the best 7 years ago, and other awards they proudly display (none in the past 5 years), this place was pretty empty.

Well, it was a Wednesday night when I went. But the venue is much too large, with 3 booths and about a dozen tables. I suppose when there is a convention at the nearby Hilton Convention Center, perhaps it picks up, but downtown Vancouver, WA is not exactly a bustling night life district.

Although they have a large menu, they didn't hand it out. They just gave me a sheet of daily specials, about 8 in total, as if they are trying to cut down there food costs as business has probably slowed recently.

I tried the coconut batter shrimps, which you get 5 for $7.50 and they were tasty, crispy and sweet with coconut.

The Red Curry was ok but nothing to write home about (so I won't!).

A Singha Thai beer helped my thirst.

There normal menu has about 100 dishes on it, from curries, to stir fries, and noodle favorites. They have wine and beer, both smaller brewed  (Weinhard, Full Sail, McTarnahan's, Widmer, Haake) and foreign (Singha, Sapporo, Tsingtao).

A nice choice if you are downtown, but there aren't many choices.

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25

133

cindy w.

New York, NY

I'm rating this on a lower scale. Normally I would give this 2-3 star for its simple curries and fried fish served by an authentic Thai staff. The extra star shows how greatful I am to see them in business. This is such a dead town,  any eateries is greatly appreciated.

I wasn't blown away because Ive had better but for its location, its pretty good.  I get this feeling they're holding back on the spices to compromise with their customers who cannot handle real heat. Really this tastes like americanized thai to me.

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Elite '08

25

92

Andrea V.

Portland, OR

Dad and I had lunch in the 'Couve, and I was craving Thai. Even though I regard Thai Orchid as a chain, and therefore suspect, it does deliver some tasty Thai food.

Salad rolls were not as good as Thai Noon, but the peanut sauce will cure what ails ya. I had the Tom Kha soup with tofu, and Dad had...well, we're not really sure what Dad had. Dad ordered (or thought he ordered) the appetizer combo, #6. What came was the #6 lunch special. We had some fun trying to identify the veggies in the yummy coconut curry sauce and managed to confirm eggplant but not the green pepper like item. Dad liked it ok (I assume so, since he ate it!).

Bill was about $20 for soup, appetizer and one entree. Not too bad. Service was very friendly.  

I think Thai Orchid belongs on the list of fail-safe lunch joints. I'm not sure its an all-time fave, like Thai Noon, but it'll certainly do when the peanut sauce craving comes knocking.

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1

18

James P.

Vancouver, WA

I have to chime in on Thai Orchid and agree with other posters that both the food and service are spectacular. I worked with a group of vegans, and this place ranked very high on their lists.

The peanut sauce is phenomenal, I wish they would bottle it.

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4

20

Kristine B.

Vancouver, WA

We are quite fans of this restaurant.  

The food is really great, high quality.  My favorite is the lemongrass chicken with the peanut sauce - their peanut sauce is what I compare every other restaurant with!  They also make tasty Thai Ice Tea.  

My husband is a vegetarian, so like the previous reviewer pointed out, they do a good job of having vegetarian options.  There are tons of curries and a variety of things that are spicy or mild.

The parking sometimes is full in front of the restaurant, and it takes parking on the street behind Koplans, but it's worth the walk.  It's nice to go out for dinner here and then drive over to the library, it makes for a good evening!

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Elite '08

22

198

Maggie A.

Portland, OR

Everytime I've been here it's been consistently delicious with good service. The roughly $8 or so I typically spent on lunch was more than I'd typically spend, but it was one of those places where it seemed worth it, especially since I usually managed to have left overs (only by forcing myself to stop so that I didn't pop).

I've done dinner a few times here, and it was just as good and even worth the extra cost.

Vegetarians should be fairly happy here, too, because strict vegetarian/vegan preparation is promised on their website if you just let them know.

You can also check out the menu on their website if you want a head start on deciding among the very many options they have. All I've tried has been great, so you probably can't go wrong with whatever you try.

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0

26

Olive -.

Portland, OR

One of my favorite Thai restaurants. Great vegetarian pad thai.

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