Nine Thai Cuisine

Daniel’s View–
There are so many choices in Lincoln Park it can be overwhelming. I lost a coin toss to my wife and this is were we ended up. I enjoy Thai food and it usually hits the spot for me but this time it missed that mark. The overall ambiance of the restaurant is what you would expect, Asian theme, casual, and service is friendly. We were greeted as soon as we came in and seated. It was about 5pm on a Sunday and we pretty much the only ones there. I ordered the BBQ Pork Broccoli. What I got was a plate of broccoli drowning in sauce with literally a couple of shavings of BBQ meat. Where they running out of pork? Is there a ration going on? I thought it was joke when I saw the plate. Portions– lousy. I ordered a beer and it never came. I had to remind the waitress who brought it eventually. I wasn’t expecting Downton Abbey but I was hoping for a beer a reasonable amount of time after I ordered it and a BBQ Pork Broccoli entrée that actually included BBQ. They did give me chop sticks without asking, which is nice just from a personal perspective. Also they white rice is perfect, sticky and hot, just like what I would want in Asian cuisine. All in all I was disappointed. Lousy portions, taste is nothing special. It’d give it another shot if there weren’t countless other intriguing options up and down Lincoln Park for us to choose from. This visit will be my last. Meh.
Julie’s View–
Ok, Lets just start by saying: I can be very hard when i critic a restaurant so to make it easier i decided to create a rating for 1 – 10 (one being the bare minimum and 10 being exceptional)
This place gets:
Presentation: 2
Price: 1
Food Quality: 2 (The coconut soup was the only item in their menu that really is worth trying)
Hygiene: 1
Service: 2

I’m not sure if the other reviews here are for the same restaurant. I ordered through GrubHub and got a Pad Thai unlike anything that I’ve ever seen or tasted. A glob of gummy red noodles and some chicken, with virtually no other ingredients. Worse, it tasted off, so it hit the garbage after two bites. Pot stickers/​dumplings were basically flavorless… except for the sauces. The soup was OK. So, I paid $ 32 for a couple bites of an appetizer and a soup that was largely broth. Oh, by the way, I’m still hungry.

Cute and quiet spot. Was in around 10 PM on a Friday night, was a bit hesitant as nobody else was in there but was very pleasantly surprised. The service was great, food was awesome and the prices were reasonable. We had the yellow curry, chicken salad, and veggie potstickers. All 3 were amazing! Highly recommend. Will definitely come back!

This place was super quiet and/​but perfect. The food was excellent. And cost effective. Loved it. Get a date, order the yellow curry chicken and a bottle of wine. You’re welcome.

I had their pad-​sew and it was amazing. Also their dessert was SO good we had a coffee and mango flavored flan type dessert. Definitely will be back their lunch special is a great deal also, you get an appetizer, soup and entrée!
Great beer selection also and full bar, great selection and food!

Good food. I went for lunch and had the wide noodles with beef. It was a little too hot but tasted good. My waitress was outstanding! So traditional. I would go again.

Love this place. This is delicious food and I’ve tried a lot of Thai. Love their massaman curry chicken and pad Thai. It is very nicely decorated-​nice date place.

My group of 6 had a (comically) bad experience here. Notably we were one of only three or four occupied tables at about 8pm on a Saturday. The place was not at all busy. Our server got all of our orders wrong. Even more annoying, half (4) of our orders came out first, and the other 3 came out at least 25 minutes later. I mean, since we had to send one back, at least it came out with the second round! Ay yi yi. Bad group dining experience. The service was awful– and they didn’t listen. Thai tea is super powdery, too. Gross. Also, when I had to ask for more rice for a split entrée, the server said no. Then I said if it’s an extra charge no problem, and she finally brought extra rice 10 minutes later after group 2 had finished eating (with the member of group 1 who had to send the entrée back). Lastly, and disgustingly, they watered down their chili paste– it’s totally liquid. The portions were small, and the restaurant is just stingy with simple things like chili paste and rice. The green chicken curry was a tiny portion with maybe 5 tiny chicken bits in it. This place has tried to squeeze every penny– and it shows. I recommend the liquor store next door if you are going to visit– you’ll want an alcoholic beverage to stay calm in when experiencing the rude service, penny pinching, and bland food. All around, F. Hope they don’t stay open– great spot for a good restaurant.

Honestly it is at best average but mostly it’s bland and greasy. I ordered the Pad See Ew and the broccoli was horribly over cooked and the beef was incredibly chewy. Even the spring rolls really didn’t have any spring to them. Mostly soggy and was really missing the crisp. The location is super great, it’s really unfortunate that the food isn’t as good.

Stopped here for lunch while in town for a show. The lunch special was a perfect price, and the portion was just enough to fill up without wanting to fall asleep (or die) afterwards. Both my girlfriend and I debated ordering a second lunch special each, but were glad we didn’t after letting our stomachs settle. The food was simple, and it didn’t suck. I can’t say whether or not it was authentic Thai, but we enjoyed it and were able to eat for under $ 20 total. That’s more than we can say for the Indian place in the same neighborhood! The atmosphere was pleasant, the service friendly, and while we didn’t take advantage of it, the restaurant has a full bar.
My verdict: need an inexpensive but filling and enjoyable lunch? Knock yourself out at Nine Thai Cuisine! You wont break the bank, or your digestive system.

I love the lunch special chicken fried rice! It comes with a soup made with veggies. It’s just delicious and only $ 8.00! This is a steal for lunch!

I’m not a big fan of thai… so whether this is «authentic» or not, I have no idea. I ate lunch here on a weekday and had the $ 7.95 special. I ordered pad thai and my boyfriend had fried rice. Both were good. Pad thai wasn’t the most flavorful I’ve ever had, but I still liked it okay. I did enjoy the spring roll appetizers though. I would maybe go back if there weren’t so many other restaurants in the area. Service was great and overall it was a good, reasonably priced lunch (and I even had leftovers for another meal).

My friends and I are on a work-​related retreat in Chicago, and decided on this place for a quick bite to eat. It is conveniently located within walking distance of our retreat center.
It is a quaint little place. Our server was very nice and patient with us as we butchered the names of the dishes. Lol
I ordered Pan-​See-​Eu, which is flat noodle dish with broccoli; I opted for chicken, although beef and tofu were choices. My plate was decorated with a cute little carrot cut into a flower. Very adorable!
My dish was very tasty! The only put off was that my drink was served from a can, so that meant no free refills. Other than that, I was satisfied. It was a good choice for what it was.
If you want a nice, relaxed atmosphere, I’d recommend it.

Came here early on a Tuesday for dinner. Place was empty but the food was good. They give you fresh towelettes before your appetizer which was a nice touch. The papaya salad was delicious and spring roll was alright (not traditional rice paper, wouldn’t order that again). Entrees can’t remember what we got but the chef did a great job and the soup was clean and fresh. The service was attentive and the bathrooms were really clean.

Came here during the Cravings on Clark food crawl event that Nine willingly participated in, and were served our sample foods. Only the 8 adults in our party, and when we asked ‘can we get some silverware, please?’ We were told verbatim «it’s over there,» she didn’t even look at us. I have never seen such blatantly rude advice. I will never patronize this establishment.

Melissa S. why do you write such awful things about this restaurant. In the past year that I have dined there I have had nothing less than a wonderful experience. As a matter of fact, four friends and I meet there every Friday. We even have our own table. The food is delicious, the curry is one of our many favorites. One of the many things we like is that the kitchen is open so one can see if it is clean. This is very important to me. I also like the fact that I can see the cooks at work.
And as far as the restroom goes, it is always clean. Be careful about talking about Ebola. Don’t use the word loosely, it is nothing to joke about.

$ 6 for a wonton soup that had just 1 shrimp and 2 wontons pieces… I know it’s Lincoln park, but my god. Pretty much paid for a broth.

This was the first restaurant we stopped at on our Chicago adventure.
The food was beautifully arranged, the dishes were flavorful, and the décor was tasteful. The healthy green plants by the window indicate attention to atmosphere and cleanliness. I’d happily enjoy a repeat date.

I had the cashew chicken lunch special on their three table patio. Service was great, she just opened the window and put things out in to my table, works for me. The dish was full of a lot of fresh veggies but I didn’t love it, it also made me feel kinda crappy, not sure why because it was all veggies. The soup that came with the special was super bland, and the appetizer, tiny egg rolls, were really greasy with a weird taste at first.
Even working in the area, I’m not sure I’ll be back.

Happy to have a Thai restaurant in this area, sad it’s not better.
I love where I live in Lincoln Park. I have walking distance access to the best of all types of food. But there has been an empty Thai food hole in my Lincoln Park foodie heart for some time now. Until today! Quite a few people in my building basically ran me down to tell me that a new Thai place opened around the corner (they all know I’m Thai). Of course, I had to go check it out.
I know that opening day isn’t always smooth for establishments. So I am reviewing the food only. I will be definitely be back, and update my review if it improves. I ordered takeout because I didn’t have time to sit down. However, there were quite a few diners in the well decorated restaurant. The servers and the woman who took my order did not look Thai, which is sometimes a concern. But I did look at the kitchen and the cooks look Thai from afar, which is always important to me. It’s usually an indicator that the food will be at the very least decent.
Well that’s what it was. Decent. I ordered Bamee noodles and the meatball appetizer. I feel that the prices do not justify the portions. I don’t know if it’s just because I ordered to go, but Rick T. mentioned the same in his review. I only got 2 skewers (6 total meatballs) for $ 6. The noodles were $ 8 or $ 9. So with tax for basically $ 16 I got 6 meatballs and a small dish of noodles. As for the taste– honestly it was just decent. The meatballs were fried as described, even though I prefer this dish grilled, it was good. I didn’t care for the sauce they included. It tasted like Chinese sweet and sour sauce, I feel like they should have included Thai sweet chili sauce. As for the Bamee Noodles, it was bland. There should be more garlic and the «chef special sauce,» whatever that is. The barbecue pork was good. But I just felt like the dish was lackluster.
I will be back because it’s so convenient for when I have a Thai food craving. It’s serviceable for that. Better than some Thai places I have been to, and the menu is quite expansive (not always a good thing); so I’ll try some different things next time. But for this first time, it was A-​Ok folks.