Maenam

Maenam came recommended by many to me, so when Dine Out 2016 came into effect, it was naturally our first choice (and only choice) out of the participating restaurants this year.
We loved the fact that we had a LOT to choose from. Each dish came extremely flavourful and I loved every single dish that we had. My only gripe with the Dine Out menu for Maenam was that it seemed a bit overpriced. For $ 30, you share 3 dishes (appy, stir-​fry, curry, and salad) and each get your own dessert. However, each of these dishes were quite small and was barely enough for the two of us. The meal did come with rice, though, so it served as a good filler but we still left feeling as though we needed to go to Wendy’s after.
The ambiance & service at Maenam was great. Our servers were informative and attentive, even through Dine Out, which isn’t always the easiest thing. The ambiance was romantic, albeit a bit loud because of the busy restaurant, but I would definitely come back again, minus the Dine Out menu!

One of the best dining experiences I’ve had in Vancouver. Even though it’s busy dine-​out season and two of our dishes were not what we ordered, I can recommend Maenam without hesitation. The cocktails were delicious. I enjoyed every last sip of the Thai and Ginger. The service was impeccable. They handled my order mix-​up with class. Though it’s tough to pick just one, I think the stir fried aubergine was my favourite dish. And to the meat enthusiasts who roll their eyes, my beef-​loving partner heartily agrees. Go! And enjoy!

My favourite dine out 2016 so far! Everything was delicious but my absolute must gets are:
Appy: Vegetarian mushroom soup
Curry: Beef chuck
Extra: Pad Thai
These were my faves but to be honest everything was incredible! The menu is meant to be family share style so make sure you do dine out with at least a group of 4 to maximize the assortment of food! Will definitely be back!

Came here for Dine Out and it was amazing! By far the best Thai food in the city and worth venturing out of downtown for. The pork belly salad was so good, I probably could have had 3 servings of it. The Pad Thai was also awesome and didn’t have that overly ketchupy flavour a lot of Thai restaurants here have. The only thing I didn’t like was the beef chuck curry, but I probably shouldn’t have ordered that as my issues were primarily due to the toughness of the chuck which should have been expected. The service was also great, and they get bonus points for having a great craft beer list too.

Amazing it was completely full as it was dine out and our server was great! The food, made me realize I had no idea what Thai food was. Cant wait to go back!

Delicious Thai food! I recommend the crab cupcakes and steamed mussels to start then pad Thai and cleansing your pallet with the freshest coconut sorbet served in a coconut. The service was incredible and the atmosphere was cozy.

Incredible, incredibly fresh food. WOW. The chicken with cashews was divine. Pad Thai some of the best I’ve ever had. Will come again and again.

We went here for a special NYE dinner. It was a little hit or miss for me. Some things were really tasty while others completely missed the mark. I’m a huge thai food fan, and having enjoyed thai food in cities across Thailand as well as some great spots in NYC, LA, and Portland, the signature thai flavors of sweet, spicy, sour, and savory felt a little off balance in some dishes here. Leaning quite a bit more towards sweet with little or no spice and lacking some of the lime/​acidity I love about Thai food. The duck leg curry and wagyu salad we had were delicious, while the Thai iced tea dessert was pretty to look at, but not really that satisfying or interesting. Would’ve preferred a simple mango and sticky rice, but that’s just me.
The cocktails however were inventive, complex, and delicious. My favorite part of the meal.

This is one of my favorite Thai places of all time… The service and food are amazing, although be prepared to pay a lot more than your average Thai place down the street (it’s worth it though, I promise)!
Items you CANNOT miss:
1.) Roti (homemade and the perfect amount of butter)
2.) Tom Kha (coconut curry, just amount of spice and really flavorful)
3.) Pad Thai (if you try their pad thai you will question other places… it is flavorful and you can taste the love and expertise from the kitchen)
4.) Any of the desserts.
If you like spicy thai food this is the place for you since they don’t skimp on the spice if you instruct them accordingly. This isn’t a «Westernized» Thai place, they have their flavors and spices on point.
This is also a great place to bring friends or business since they have awesome drinks and very knowledgable bar staff. The people who work here are personable and will strike up a good conversation with you, which is what I like to see in restaurant service. Ambiance is really nice, although suitable for kids.

I would say I’m a high advocate Thai food eater and I have ate a lot of Thai food. My personal taste for Thai food might be different from yours but I enjoyed this place. Saw this while walking down 4^th avenue on our last day of Vancouver and decided why not! It had lots of reviews and trip advisor recommend so we decided to check it out.
Ambience: dark cozy and seems very high end. Wine list with limited menu of Thai food. Casual is allowed but don’t be too casual. There is a bar and also tables along the side and middle of the room with upstairs section.
Food: We got your standard Pad Thai and Halibut soup and I must say both are fantastic but there was something missing from them. Although it was delicious it didn’t feel authentic. It could be because I’ve eaten from a lot of personal owned Thai restaurants but this place was high end and flashy so I expected something super epic. Nonetheless it was pretty decent and I did enjoy the food. Pad Thai was standard with seasoning peanuts and spices (2) shrimps mix with chicken and beansprouts.
Halibut soup had mixture of mushroom and a red pepper to give it that bam. also of course it was sour and that’s what made it delicious and enjoyable.
Service was great with lots of smiles and help from the server. I had a bad pack and they took it in the back for me because it would’ve been uncomfortable to eat with and also it looked like I was underdressed to be eating here. Overall I loved the place but maybe it’s not for me.

Delicious, spicy, enticing.
We took the waitress’ suggestion for the drink of the day which was gingery, strong, and delicious.
All our four meals were incredible, delicious, spicy. Will definitely be going back.

I came here 30 before closing and right before the kitchen closed. They were ver accommodating and we ordered ASAP.
We ordered the pad Thai, coconut mushroom soup with free range chicken (Tom Kaa gai), an order of roti and peanut sauce. We also ordered a Thai ice tea.
Pad Thai — a bit heavier and spicier than I am use to. Better the day after
Coconut soup — delicious!!! A variety of mushrooms in a flavor packed broth.
Roti– fluffy and authentic (Malaysian?)
Peanut sauce– a bit pricey at $ 2 but very good with roti.
Thai ice tea — strong and sweet.
They were very accommodating with our 19 month old daughter. We ordered a glass of milk for her and they gave us several cups on the house. We even got one for the road.

Go here hungry! Get the chef’s tasting menu! If you like spicy, ask for it spicy! They did such a good job with the spice and complexity of flavors. There were extremely accommodating and even made sure the one dish my brother wanted was on our tasting menu.
It ends up being lots of food in the end, so like I said, go hungry!
Their pad thai is the best my brother has had outside Thailand.
This was just yummy! Food was fresh and masterfully created.

A little on the greasy side. Certainly overpriced for the quality and selection. With so many options in Vancouver, this wouldn’t be in my top 10.
Did several appetisers and the pairing menu that was suggested. Pairings were unimaginative and not well explained. All wines were local… Service was average.

This is a hard one to review because I really really want to give a higher rating because I was following their Instagram for so long and I’m Thai and love new Thai food places and finally flew in from Toronto to try it. The service is excellent, nice restaurant, and great food presentation. But the food was just so so! Actually the pad Thai was quite good just a bit spicy. The other strange thing compared to other Thai restaurants is that you can’t choose your level of spiciness. We got the masaman curry, so so. Got the beef salad, beef was soft but flavouring was so so. Got the salmon salad, so so but some bites were good. Ribs texture was nice but flavour was also so so. So only 3 stars for me.

I appreciate their way of flavouring their food, not dumbing it down, packing so much flavour. It’s our go to place for excellent Thai food.
I tried their new restaurant Fat Mao last night too. I’m looking forward to them tweaking their food to be as excellent as Maenam. We loved it except for the dan dan noodle (was it lemongrass that was incredibly overpowering?) and average green onion pancake. Please use reusable chopsticks :)

We tried their Crispy Rice Salad w/​Thai Sausage, the Tom Yum soup, Pad Thai and their Green Curry. As noted by other reviewers the dishes were on the salty side. There was no ‘wow’ factor with the food; the service was good — the girls were attentive and friendly.
Overall, 5 stars for service but food was okay, portions are small and overpriced.

We’re not Thai food experts but we are eat-​out-​a-​lot experts and quite enjoyed Maenam.
Drinks were original and interesting. Wine list adequate and very reasonably priced.
We had the $ 40 tasting menu which delivers quite a lot of value. (7 items including dessert.)
We loathe over salting but found no issue with this as some reviewers did.
Service was excellent.

What happens when u apply Michelin training to Thai cuisine? You get maenam. It’s worth the small premium over the typical take out joints. It’s also a classy and approachable eating environment that is fine for the ‘I don’t want to cook’ after work meal, or even a nice date.
Just get the red duck curry. Your breath in between each bite will remember how significant this moment was in your life.

Maenam is one of the gastronomic temples of Vancouver. I had dinner here last night and my experience left me utterly dumbfounded. Allow me to explain.
I came here with a dining mate at around 7:30PM without a reservation. The restaurant was reaching its capacity. The only seatings available were at the bar. We took them in a heart beat.
The customer service we received throughout the night was immaculate. The service was efficient, speedy, and attentive. The service was a solid 5 star rating.
Shortly after being seated and offered water, we placed our order of Thai sausage salad, Pad Thai (without prawns), and Roti with peanut sauce. Our food arrived all at once about 10 minutes later. I habitually squeezed the lime cheek on the Pad Thai and promptly gave it an even stir. I swirled a bite-​size lump of rice noodles with my fork and proceeded to savoring. The Pad Thai was criminally over salted. The rice noodles were gummy and starchy. The only way to describe it was — glue-​y! I rinsed my mouth with water praying the salad would not be over salted too but my prayer went unanswered. At that point I was cringing. I was hungry and had to race home afterwards so I couldn’t ask for a re-​make even though I desperately wanted to. I mentally wished I could have a plate of Kin Kao’s Pad Thai to calm my bitterness. Instead, I recited my repertoire of curses in my head.
The Thai sausage salad had excellent combination of flavor despite the fact it was drown in salt. It had a good amount of acidity to brighten freshness. The fried shallots, thinly sliced lemon grass, thinly sliced red onions, chopped cilantro, all contributed to adding depth and complexity of the Thai food we came to love. Having said that I tasted bitterness which I presumed was from the burnt shallot bits. The crispy rice and diced fermented sausage added texture. At the end of the day, I still much prefer eating my Thai sausage with plain sticky rice, tamarind sauce, blanched long beans, a side of pork rind, and fresh Thai basil and greens (I miss you Pok Pok).
The hand-​made roti reminds me of its Malaysian cousin which is on the dense and doughy side. Maenam’s roti was dense and the peanut sauce, though with a good amount of peanuts, was mediocre in flavor.
I think the food we ordered could have easily been a solid 4 stars had they not over salted the dishes. I feel the key elements were present but the balance was off. Like Marc D. said in his review «The key to Thai food in my mind is that balance between sweet, salty, sour, and spicy». I agree with him 200%.
When I surveyed the restaurant, I notice beautifully plated food such as green curry with white rice and rack of pork ribs. I would give this restaurant another try but I’ll make a mental note to tell them to ease the salt.
I remedied my disappointment next door at Rain or Shine. I felt better afterwards.