Soi9 Thai Eatery

Some of the best thai food I’ve had in Portlad. 2^nd only to Pok Pok but without the long wait. There’s a parking garage onsite and they validate, so don’t sweat the location. I’ll be going back.

I have consistently been happy with the food & service provided here for the past two years. So yes, of course I’ve become a fan of Soi9.
Any time I eat Thai food I tend to order Pad Kee Mao. It’s a dish that delivers mouth-​watering flavors of perfectly cooked wide cut rice noodles, lightly fried tofu (my preference in «meat») & fresh, brightly colored vegetables. It’s filling & never disappoints.
Are curries more your preference? If you like curry & seafood then my bf would recommend their Southern Style Seafood Curry to you. It’s a little pricier but there’s a handful of veggies mixed with a good amount of mussels, scallops, shrimp & calamari bathing in a pool of curry. It’s pretty damn good but only if you like curry.
Whether you try Soi9 at lunch (M-​F 11:30am — 2:30pm), happy hour (daily 4:30pm — 6:30pm) or dinner you’ll like it. There’s also many options for those that are vegan &/​or are gluten intolerant. Parking is either the street or the parking garage at PMC (SW Morrison). It’s harder to find street parking when a Timbers game is scheduled the same day but we seem to manage just fine in locating a spot nearby.
Soi9 offers Sunday brunch which I have yet to try. I’m sure if it’s anything like the food served the other six days it’ll be FANtastic.

Im going to be honest and say I had eaten here previously and agree with the general consensus of the food to be good, but not great.
HOWEVER, I literally live in the high-​rise that Soi 9 is located at. My lovely boyfriend had purchased one of those coupon books from a coworker as a fundraiser for her daughter… we realized that there was one for Soi 9. A buy one get one entrée coupon. When i went to go order, i was told it was DINE IN ONLY. completely made up! nowhere on the coupon did it say that.
Me and my boyfriend were furious that they would add that stipulation and inconvenience us after we were loyal and frequent patrons that tipped VERY well.
We ended up ordering downstairs just to. prove a point and.asked.for a box as soon as the food arrived.
WE ARE SERIOUS WHEN WE SAY… WE WILL NEVER-​EVER RETURN AGAIN.

Really disappointed in the food here.
Ordered to-​go and the service was overall speedy.
Ordered Chicken Pad Thai and Pad See Ew both medium spicy along with spring rolls.
The Pad Thai had spice but the Pad See Ew did not what-​so-​ever. Both dishes were very bland. Spring rolls tasted like they were previously frozen.
My friend noted that this place typically messes up their order each time. Hmm. Don’t think I would try this place again as there are other options in the area.

The atmosphere here is modern but comfortable. The food was good but not exceptional. I had the Pad Pak Chicken, which I ordered mild with the spice on the side. The veggies that accompanied it, including red pepper, onions, and asparagus were quite good.
My friend had the Koa Pad Thai Fried Rice with extra veggies and basil. She received a good portion. I could have done without the white pepper sprinkled on top, which gave the dish a strange taste.
My chief complaint about this establishment is the service. I ordered spice on the side and received it mixed in. OK. Accidents happened and normally I can live with that. BUT, when we proceeded to tell the wait staff about this, one of them argued with us that that’s how we ordered it. Excuse me, but I know what we ordered. And whatever happened to the old mantra that the customer is always right? Maybe I’m old school but when I go out to eat, I want to be treated with courtesy and respect.

This review is for their brunch… A NO-​WAIT brunch!
It seems that every brunch in Portland revolves around getting up at the crack of the crack of dawn, lining up, standing in the cold/​rain for an hour, brunch menus with a «new take» on chicken and waffles, eggs Benedict, hash etc., then proclaiming it was worth the wait.
Soi9 has bucked most of the Portlandia brunch trend and is offering a Thai style brunch. Their main brunch menu centers around a Thai egg skillet dish called Kai gata and a rice porridge called Joke (as referenced in the Hangover 2). I went with the Joke Tom Yung Goong with shrimp and a medium done egg. My bowl of Joke ($ 7) was a silky smooth rice porridge (think congee) with a depth of flavor thanks to the use of Tom Yung soup broth. It was very bright and satisfying. My one gripe is that the shrimp was a tad overcooked. The other half of the menu does have Thai inspired fusion brunch options like Thai-​style eggs Benedict, fried rice, and chicken and waffles. On this half of the menu we had the Super Sunday Pad Thai. The brunch twist is that the bed of noodles was topped with a Thai omelet. Their pad Thai was very good. The pad thai was sweet and definitively tasted like it was palm sugar based like a pad thai sauce should be. The «Thai omelet «was just a huge wok-​scrambled egg that didn’t add anything new to the party but still drove home the point this is brunch fare. The $ 14 price tag seemed a bit hefty for pad thai noodles. Thanks to a Unilocal check-​in offer we got 2 free breakfast rolls. These were crunchy little egg rolls of ham and cheese served with a side of spicy ketchup. Think ham and cheese muffin/​omelet taste but in egg roll form. The ketchup was an odd pairing because eggs and ham don’t normally go with ketchup. This sauce seemed like they felt obligated to give you a dipping option for egg rolls. I think a better dipping option would have been a hollandiase type of sauce.
(Portlandia PSA: Soi9’s menu had a lot of gluten free and vegan options)
Service was friendly. Our waitress asked us our spice level preferences for each dish, but did not ask me if I wanted the egg option on my Joke. I had to flag her back down for that once I realized I could put an egg in it. If there are add-​ons, push them on me so I know.
My wife and I went for brunch at 11:30AM. There wasn’t a line and it was pretty empty. There were only 3 parties dining here at this time. It’s a shame that this isn’t on Portland’s brunch radar. Since it was not crowded, our brunch date was a more intimate affair. We weren’t sitting elbow to elbow with the next table. We weren’t shouting at each other to talk above a crowded dining room. We didn’t feel rushed so they could turn over a table.
In addition to the traditional Thai breakfast and fusion dishes, they also offer everything on their expansive regular lunch/​dinner menu. Plenty of options for your SE Asian palette. Soi9 is a great, off-​the-​beaten-​path place for Sunday brunch. Brunch at Soi9 is definitely worth the NO-​WAIT!

We had a coupon, and I have to say had we not, I wouldn’t have gone for the locale alone in the NW off Burnside — traffic and no parking of my 20’s. That being said, the spice, basil factor and huge portions sold me. I had the most excellent drunken noodles which were spicy, but oh so good at medium. Lychee drink accompanied friend’s meal. Recommended.

I’ve eaten lunch twice at Soi9. I’ve always been seated immediately by a friendly and polite server. Once ordered, the food is delivered quickly and is always tasty. I usually order my dishes medium hot, which is perfect. The serving portions are just right, not monstrous, and quite delicious. The restaurant is decorated in a modern and attractive way, making the space low key and relaxing, and probably very sexy in the evening. The bar area is particularly appealing, and there is a fresh flower at every table. I think this is a place I will return for lunch, and most definitely need to make the time to return for drinks at the bar and dinner as well.

I think my husband has met his ‘hot and spicy’ match at Soi9. Here’s my $ 100 tip for future diners: When you order a dish spicy «HOT,» you WILL get it that way.
Hubs, who lived in Mexico for a spell, prides himself on being some sort of hotness afficionado — meaning, there’s no amount of hot that he can’t handle. It’s sort of a macho thing with him and a little on the unbelievable side. I’ve always expected that one day, I would live to see the fall of the braggodocio, which happened last night at Soi9.
«Give it to me as hot as you can make it,» he asks boastingly to servers at nearly all Thai and Mexican restaurants. «I can handle it. I used to live in Mexico. Blah blah blah.»
Usually, unbeknownst to him, there’s some degree of translation between the server who takes the order, and the kitchen; a translation that is hidden from him:
Server: «Hey, there’s this goofy guy out there who wants his Grilled Chicken with Papaya Salad as hot as you can make it,» (wink, wink)
So, the chef thinks to himself, «Well, I don’t want to make it so hot that the poor guy can’t handle it and complains, so I’ll make it medium-​hot.»
Well, that quiet exchange didn’t occur at Soi9. Apparently, the chef heard, «As spicy as you can make it,» and delivered exactly that.
I played it safe and ordered the Panang Curry Beef, mild. It was love at first bite.
I was also completely entertained by Mr. Macho Guy-​I-​Can-​Handle-​Anything *Cough-​Cough-​Tears-​Involuntary-​Sweating-​and-​Twitching* as he attempted to soldier his way through the papaya salad. It was so hot, he said, that he could not taste the poultry at all. I was sweet, and refrained from openly mocking him through most of the dinner.
Eventually, he asked me for some of my Panang sauce; reasoning that if he poured some of that over the salad, «The curry will tone down the spiciness of my dish.» And at this point, I couldn’t resist the urge to laugh any longer, and handed him a spoon.
We really enjoyed Soi9. Really. I just wonder what happened to his insides as that food meandered below his esophagus.

I reaallly like this place.
Gluten Free options on the menu. Rock Star.
Nice atmosphere and overall ambiance.
I love the salad rolls. Yeah, I know that these are really easy to make well, but the presentation is everything.
They have options that really focus on true Thai fair, and I think that is super fantastic.
Again, I realize I may be super lamo, but I love the mixed vegetables with brown rice and shrimp. The prices are decent, and I get 2 meals out of it. It totally fulfills my cheap-​ass requirements.
Service was nice, they have a to go menu and delivery, and happy hour options Try it.

We’ve finally eaten at the restaurant rather than getting take out, and I’m bumping these guys to five stars as a result. The food is crazy good, probably the best Thai on this side of the river by far (we’ve been making a circuit of late). Go here. Go NOW.
Service was prompt, our glasses never emptied, and the staff was able and willing to answer our questions.
Salad roll appetizer was generously sized and tasted both fresh and flavorful. I had the boat noodles, highly recommended for its warm goodness and unexpected cinnamon broth. Wife had the panang curry with beef and I almost stole it from her. The beef releases an incredible array of aromatics in your mouth that drive you back for more. Our neighbors who tagged along also enjoyed the pad thai that was heaped with seafood, and the golden cashew curry.
Dam we’re lucky to have them so close.

I snagged a Groupon deal for this restaurant (wow, it’s like most of my reviews are for Groupon-​ed places… I guess I’m just cheap) and popped in for a quick dinner before I had to catch a train. We ordered a noodle dish with tofu and a red curry with shrimp, both medium spicy. The curry came out spicier than the noodles, but I thought the spice level suited each dish well. The noodles were made with a sweet soy sauce, and the curry was perfectly flavored.
The service was great as well. It was prompt, the food came out quickly, our water glasses were never empty and when we had to motor so I could make my train, our leftovers were boxed up quickly and courteously. The space is nice and modern, with high ceilings and exposed pipes, lots of windows and natural light. Overall, this was a good experience and definitely another solid Thai option. They also validate parking for an hour and a half in the garage underneath the shopping complex (entrance is around the back).

The lack of patrons on Thursday night at 7:30 should be have been my first clue.
It started with a no smile from the hostess and proceeded to get worse. The server did her best to inform us of the items that are popular and we picked the Beef Panang Curry and the Chicken Gang Garee. The food came out very fast so we were surprised to find the beef luke warm at best, We sent it back.
After that we realized we didn’t have silverware to eat with and had to ask for it,
It came out the second time, warmed up in the same plate it left in. The Gang Garee had good flavor but had half done potatoes.
I ordered the Thai ice tea which was on the sweet side.
I love Thai food and wanted it be better with my from out of town girlfriend.
I doubt I will try them again with all the choices we have in Portland,

This place was the bomb! I had the Pad See Eew with shrimp, fellow foodie had the same with chicken, was delectable! Before hand ordered the salad rolls and some of the lemongrass soup. was to die for! Love the ambiance of the place, you can just «let go» loving it! Got there early on a weekday and had to ourselves. if only for a minute.

Khawp khun kha, Soi 9! Thank you for creating food that explodes with flavor, is beautifully presented and served in an elegant yet understated atmosphere by friendly wait staff!
I don’t understand the negative reviews but the short review with one star is suspect as that is the only review from that particular person. Possibly left by another Thai restaurant owner or employee?
We went there for dinner last night and alerted the staff we would be using our groupon. As another poster mentioned, the staff happily acknowledged this unlike some restaurant in other places who immediately cop an attitude when a groupon is mentioned. We started with the chicken wontons. They were crisp and the chicken inside was perfectly seasoned with lemon grass and perhaps galangal.
I rarely order duck unless it is served confit (crispy) but the description of this special made my mouth water so I asked Mon, the owner/​chef about it when she happened to stop by our table. She described the dish. I mentioned I generally don’t order duck unless it is crispy and didn’t like sweet food too much and she offered to crisp up the duck a bit and use fewer lychees so it wouldn’t be too sweet. I love a chef who is willing to push ego aside to alter one of their creations in order to please a customer.
When this dish came out the aroma of the red curry with basil over the duck wafted toward me and I knew I was in for a treat! The duck was cooked to perfection and the sauce with lychees and pineapple knocked my socks off! This was an excellent dish (see photo)! I think I just drooled on my laptop thinking about the sauce.
My boyfriend ordered Phad Kee Mao and before he was half way done with it he was talking about returning for lunch this week. The portions for both dishes were generous, which is a plus. I was hoping for Thai leftovers for breakfast but my boyfriend is like a Hoover vacuum cleaner and ate every last bite of food, his AND mine!
There is a nearby parking lot and as long as you spend $ 20 they will validate for up to 1 ½ hours. They are located in a residential condo tower and also will deliver to residents in this building. The owner and staff go out of their way to accommodate their patrons and make sure they walk out happy customers.
I highly recommend this place! Thai food is my absolute favorite food in the world and this has now become my favorite Thai restaurant outside of Thailand!

After going to the Unilocal event. I knew I couldn’t wait to get back here and order up some of their grub. Today, we finally made it in.
We were the first ones in after they opened at noon today (eager much) and we parked in the parking garage right near by. That was handy as they will validate for free parking for an hour and a half with a twenty dollar purchase. Well, we easily exceeded that one.
The service was great and we got the salad rolls which were, oh so tasty and a great appetizer. I order a stir fry treat E2, I believe it was which was great and I brought most of it home as I had so many of the salad rolls.
However, I did manage to make room for dessert which was a great scoop of coconut ice cream, served in a mug and with some tasty crunchy dessert chips on the side. (see pic).
All in all a good time and I look forward to coming back and trying more items again.

Definitely a regular here (as we all can see). Why? Well, um its excellent!
I love Thai food. Perhaps it is because I am Thai? That could be. Actually, I love ethnic food (saw my badge)? However, no matter the cuisine, I will always fall back to the taste of my very existence and that is my home country… Nothing better than good, real Thai food. It is very hard to find that in Portland.
Service is spot on. Family oriented and very warm. Not pretentious like some places that claims to be «casual». The location is a bit quirky but I don’t know why people complain about it when you can Max it. My office is on Broadway and if I time the max right, I can get there and be done in an hour during lunch. I mean, if we all claim to be Green because we are Portlanders why not just walk or max it??? C’mon!
Fave? Pla Lui Suan. No one in Portland has this dish and I wonder why? It is a complex but simple dish that involves fried trout over a salad of herbs and spices. OMG, this is real Thai food here folks. You have cilantro, kafir leaves (well shredded), lemon grass, chilils, limes all mixed up in a balanced flavors of sweet, spicy, salt, and sour. The 4S’s is the key to good Thai food people.
Next, try their specials. The chef here is innovative I will give them that. Definitely what they say is a twist to the traditional Thai dishes. I was there over the weekend and had the Phuket style kanom jeen. I was in Thailand three years ago and that is what I ate. This is the real sheez. It is a curry based noodle dish that has fish meat and fish balls stirred up in a spicy red (or yellow?) curry over thin rich noodles. What’s great is that it comes with a side of medley veggies. How perfectly balanced.
As for their cocktail, Tom Kah is by far the most inventive thing here. It tastes like the coconut soup but with vodka… why didn’t anyone think of this??? I can eat my food and drink it too! I also enjoy their house infused vodka in their rendition of Tom Yum. can’t wait for summer because this will be very refreshing. Don’t forget the Guava margarita and the tamarind whiskey sour. Ok, do I sound like an alcoholic yet?
With all the food I get, no room for desert but that will have to be in my next update.
Come one come all! Give Soi 9 a try. You will not be disappointed in their unique twist to moder Thai cuisine and the friendliness of the staff.
NOTE: They tend to make their food spicier than most Thai restaurants in Portland so if you are unsure, ask the staff. But don’t forget, this is Thai food so if it is spicy… then duh!

I don’t know what the hell happened the night we were there. The staff was warm in greeting us and the food was great. BUT… four of us went to Soi9 and it was a mind blowing experience. And by mind blowing I mean I wanted to shoot my brains out by the end to save myself from the self-​induced aneurysm building up.
First of all three drinks were brought out and the fourth was left on the bar. After five minutes of giving them the benefit of the doubt I got up to have someone get the drink, but I was ignored a couple times. I literally had to block the waitpersons way to ask about the drink.
Next up on the bad service scene we have «Bring out one dish every 30 minutes» Again, I am not speaking figuratively. It took us two hours to get our food.
The food is good but I just cannot imagine going through the agony of being ignored.

We were really on our way to Typhoon up on 23^rd Avenue because I wanted Ahi spring rolls. But it was so cold outside and Soi9 is closer. I noted that my fellow Unilocalers have given it solid reviews so that is where we ended up.
The space itself is really nice. High ceilings, with a nice fusion of industrial/​modern and touches of Asian inspired décor, the place feels warm and inviting. Still, we wanted our order to go.
My salad rolls were super fresh. I was disappointed with how much of the filler rice noodles they used. I see the rice noodles as cheap filler to be used in moderation. I like to see more use of actual salad and especially more tofu or shrimp in the salad roll. The peanut sauce was just ok and the very small sized container of it was only enough for half of the order. Luckily I can make this peanut sauce myself and I can make it much better. But what drag to have to have to interrupt your meal do that.
My friend had an order of some kind of salad with beef in it. He was pretty happy with the flavors and portions. But again, when it came to the sauce, there was not enough. The small sized container of sauce was not even full. Come on Soi9, pay attention to these details.
I’ll probably be back because it is so close and the weather is so crappy. But I will see if they can make the salad rolls light on the noodles. And maybe I will eat there instead of taking the order to go to make sure the lack of sauce doesn’t become an issue again.

I love Thai food.
Really, I’m a huge fan of curries in general, but Thai curries are my favorite. I am definitely a fan of soursop, Yum, and all sorts of amazing bitter, sour and spicy flavors that dominate SE Asian Cuisine. But I have a deep love for pungent, heady, dirty, earthy flavors that resonate from really carefully-​crafted curries. When I test out a new Thai place, I generally start with the curries and make my way out from there. If a curry tastes like it came straight from the sweaty hot jungles of the Isthmus of Kra, I’m a happy man.
Soi9’s beef panang curry has made me a happy man. A good panang beef curry is really hard to find in Portland. Most of the curries here are good but they are safe… sweet and smooth, like gravy. To me, a quality panang curry is not just red curry mixed with peanut sauce. It needs to have a gritty, dirt-​like base to it, upon which layers of cumin and heat are intertwined, topped with the sour, ripe, floral kaffir lime essence. When simmered with beef for an extended period, it takes on a richness that can’t really be replicated any other way.
The slow-​cooked beef panang at Soi9 has all of these qualities. It’s heady and legitimate. It’s not cheap. At $ 12, it’s more than you expect to pay for a curry dish, but when you dive in to this specialty you’ll see why. It has some quality tender beef that’s been stewing in this thick, cumin-​heavy sauce for quite some time. Lots of kaffir lime and heat (not quite as much heat as I’d like in my current state, but on a regular day it’s good), with a nice little dollop of coconut cream on top.
I’ve sampled a couple of other dishes from Soi9, but what has been truly stand-​out for me so far is the special beef panang, which alone is worth 5-​stars. The Soi9 noodles are unique and tasty — a sort-​of-​phad-​thai dish with some crispy mixed meats on top, and there are a ton of other quite interesting items on the dinner menu. I look forward to making my way through it.