Nalinh Market

We found this place on Unilocal.They have many good review so I decided to go to try their popular dishes. It is a little disappointed. The food is cheap so yup the portion is small. So it won’t fill you up. The restaurant itself is a convenient store. So it is good if you are hungry and just wanna fill your stomach up. Not a place to hang out. It was so sad That I might order the wrong type of papaya salad cuz it definitely tasted weird. None of us want to eat that. You may have to tell them Thai style if you are not familiar with Lao food. Food is okay overall, nothing so special. It was a good experience but It wasn’t satisfied us at all.

Very simple and authentic food. Taste is very consistent and we are never disappointed! Their garlic water spinach is one of my favorites along with their fried rice.

I’m writing them an updated review because I’ve been coming here for years. After having a new competitor just opened in Dallas. It makes me realized how much I appreciate this place for not sucking. Please don’t change anything about yourself. I love everything the way it is. How homey it feels even if the place isn’t new. I love that it feels like I’m eating at a friend’s parents house. I love the mix matched tables and chairs. It gives me life. I ALWAYS get the same thing every time I go. I’m sure all are great but I just love chicken wings, beef larb, and papaya salad. I would order super spicy because I love spicy food. Stay true to yourself, Nalinh! you are too legit to quit!

You know it’s authentic when you walk in and there are only 6 small tables within a store setting. The steamed rice or sticky rice is self serve. The jumbo rice cookers are out next to the tables. Great concept cause us Asians love our rice. I ordered papaya salad, chicken larb, pad thai, and chicken curry. The food was Amazing and fresh! The service was great! Super helpful and friendly.

Most legit place in Dallas. Hidden gem. Been going for years. Just order one of everything. Especially the curry with eggplant. Lab gai. Papaya salad. Tapioca pudding. Drinks are in the cooler. Rice is in the slow cooker under the counter. Get up on it.
Helpful tips… Do not show up just before they close and just ignore the loud soap operas lol. And yes the pot holes are huge and yes lock your car. And yes it takes a while to get your food. Totally worth it. You will lick your styrofoam plate clean.

This is not your typical Thai restaurant/​market. If you’re looking for fancy, this place isn’t for you. However, if you’re looking for authentic Thai food, try this place. I felt like I was in their personal kitchen waiting for them to make me something, not so much in a restaurant. The market is really small though and there isn’t a large selection. Upon talking to the owners, I found out the restaurant & market is family owned by a Thai/​Lao family. The owner’s daughter is very nice. From my experience, they will do special/​custom orders as long as it’s something they have in stock and are able to alter. We tried the pad see ew, seafood salad (yum talay), laab with chicken, fried mackerel fish, beef noodle soup, and the green papaya salad with crab. Everything was really good. Prices for each item were around $ 5-​$ 7. My only complaint is that I wish they had more selection in the market side as well as more ready-​made food to purchase on the go since the food was great.

Loooved!
It is a hole in the wall for sure, inside a market but the food is very good. We had the papaya salad Laotian style, cucumner salad, a beef lard and fish. Oooh and dessert!
We were in 3, I think the portion were kind of small. I mean I would eat more!
So let’s see. papaya salad was very good, with crabb. I mean it! It had a crab in it, tiny but it was there lol. I thought it would be like crabb meat, but no. Real tiny black one.
The cucumber salad just good, very spicy for me though. But lave lime juice on it, I am game!
The beef lard or whatever it’s called was good but I wouldn’t order again. And it had something like intestines in it. One thing I never like to do in Asian restaurants is to ask «what is this? ?? «better not to know. Now the fish we chose sour and sweet and it was excellent. Very tiny full of flavor and vegetables. I would eat one by myself for sure.
Now the dessert was fantastic! If you go there you need to order. It is a tiny beautiful bright green kind of noodles made with padang leaves cooked with sugar and coconut milk. You got ti have it, it is almost a cold soup. Very interesting and amazing.
I love the ladies, they are super nice. They explain everything, ask if you like it… love them! Now you got your own plates an rice, drinks etc and I found it bey nice. It’s like a family gathering. Will go back!

I was super excited about this place but after 2 visits I can safely say I won’t be coming back much.
The first time I played it safe and ordered the chicken pad thai and chicken wings. In general Asian chicken wings tend to not be that flavorful and these are no exception. The quality was ok but the taste was mediocre. The Pad Thai tasted good but I made a mistake and mixed all the chili powder in with it. I enjoy spicy but once you get to habanero level I do think the spiciness can actually take away from the tastiness of the dish. That being said, this dish still tasted good but the next day my stomach was paying for it.
The 2^nd time I decided to phone in my order and get the Beef Larb which seems to be their signature dish. I made sure to order it medium spicy. I had great difficulty communicating with the woman on the phone who had broken English. She seemed to indicate that I should order something with the Beef Larb but it wasn’t very clear. Also she hung up and I didn’t realize the conversation was done. It doesn’t make any logical sense why a person would take an order and not take a name.
So I arrive at the restaurant about 12 minutes later and I go to the counter where I see a ToGo bag, perhaps my order but no employee. THere are a bunch of people sitting around and a non-​descript Asian man shouts over to me to see if I want to order something to go. This apparently is an employee but there is no way to tell him from a patron. I tell him I ordered the beef larb and he asked if I ordered it with rice and I responded that I ordered it with whatever comes with it. So he gives me beef larb with rice, the rice is $ 1 extra. (note the to go order on the counter remains there, don’t know if that was mine or not).
It’s not until I’m on my way home that I realize that this was probably not my order and as such will probably be spicy. It was and once again I paid for it the next day. The dish itself was a bit on the cold side. Not sure how long it was sitting but it was bearable. The flavor of the beef larb was wonderful but again the spiciness killed it for me. At the end of my meal I apparently had a chili piece stuck to the back of my throat and was experiencing great pain. I tried to wash it down with protein shakes and water and almond milk. Finally after a few glasses of almond milk plus trying to wipe that part of my throat the heat/​pain went away.
Everyone at Nalinh seemed friendly enough, but there operations seem real poor overall. Not taking people’s names on togo orders, having a non-​english speaker man the phone, employees sitting around rather than manning the front desk, no uniforms or dress code to identify employees from patrons etc. Also, the store location is a mess even for a hole in the wall. It is very cluttered and unorganized. The desk is in a weird spot such that you have to turn 180 degrees to get to it when you come in (it should be on the left where it would be accessible by customers both coming and going. Also, the place overall looks very cheap and not that well taken care of (even for a hole in the wall). Anyone that gives this place a thumbs up for atmosphere is out of their mind.

The papaya salad is delicious. There two kinds so be aware of that. One is Thai style with tomato and peanuts, the other has seafood in it. I prefer the flavor of the Thai style salad.
I ordered the Thai papaya salad to go, and after waiting more than 20 minutes for it after I had called it in, I open up the container after I left, and it was the wrong salad. It had some type of fermented or marinated raw crab in it. I would have said «no big deal», but I threw it in the trash because the crab looked questionable. What gets me is that I and another person were standing at the counter waiting for a long time and no one came by to ring us up or even say «I’ll be with you in a minute». I could see that they were busy, but I was ready to just call it and go elsewhere when the lady next to me (obviously irritated) flagged someone down in the kitchen. The time before that, the server here was not very welcoming to say the least. Disappointing.

We’ve been a couple of times now and have tried the chicken pad thai, chicken wings, fried pork ribs, and the papaya salad. The pad thai comes with a small serving of ground red chili pepper so you can adjust the heat level to your liking. As most people have said, the fried wings and ribs are not things you want to miss out on. The wings are crispy and freshly made as are the ribs but the ribs are sweet and garlicky as well. The papaya salad was nicely seasoned with plenty of salty, sour, and spicy notes.
They have plenty of Asian staples in the the market area of the store including frozen goods, soups, junk food, and pantry items.

Part market, part restaurant — this is definitely a place to check out.
Super quick service, very decent food. I’ve only been once so I can only vouch for the pad see-​ew which is excellent. I’d love to come back to try the papaya salad and chicken wings everyone on Unilocal seems to rave about.
They’ve certainly piqued my interest, though! I will be back.

This is a hole in the wall type of place. It’s located in a market and totally conspicuous from the outside, besides a few pictures of food on their windows. If I wasn’t recommended this place by a local, I would have never known.
The food here is beyond delicious!
Fried chicken wings — basic, but delicious. It came out super hot with some fried garlic on top. Seasoned and fried to perfection.
Fried pork ribs — same as above. Must order IMHO.
Beef larb — the spice level was perfect for me, but I did think it was a bit too sour.

This has easily turned into one of my favorite restaurants to go to in DFW. I finally made an effort to drive out here which is kind of in the middle of Irving and out of the way but it was well worth it. Located within a small strip of stores right off the highway, the market isn’t too hard to find. When you walk in, there are only a few tables and the rest is the market (small). During dinner, we were lucky to snag a table since everyone after us took food home to-​go.
Onto the food, I absolutely love Southeastern Asian food. I am not Thai nor Lao but their cuisines suit my taste palate perfectly. We ordered Lao-​style papaya salad just to check it out and there was so much flavour! I think the Lao-​style is stronger in their seasoning vs Thai papaya salad but then again, I have yet to try the Thai version here. OMG, you must try the larbs. I had both beef and fish and they were both oh so good! I could eat this everyday but my stomach probably would not appreciate the spiciness. By the way, their spiciness level is legit. I can tolerate spicy food pretty well and their medium was hot.
Another dish I also like very much is the crispy fried chicken wings. They are definitely crispy and delicious. You should also order sticky rice to eat with everything which is unlimited and you go up to the rice cooker and serve yourself. The pricing here is cheap with the amount of food (a lot) you get. Like I said, I love this place and you should check it out yourself.

I CAN’T GET OVER HOW AMAZING THIS PLACE IS! Nalinh market may not be a fancy date night restaurant for a first date, but definitely a place where you take someone you love because the food is cheap and amazing and authentic and delicious and fresh and all the best adjectives in the word. I ordered the Thai style Papaya salad, because there’s also a Laos style, which I’ll definitely order next time I come. I also had the chicken curry, and the seafood ceviche. They were to die for.
The seafood ceviche was a big dish with lots of seafood. I asked for spicy because I love spicy food and can take it, but be warned that spicy is very spicy. Im talking about 3 different types of fresh peppers spicy. The burn your tongue spicy if you can’t eat spicy.
If you love authentic Thai food, you NEED to come here.

I’m obsessed with this place! Just thinking about the food from here makes my mouth watering and I can feel the tingling on my tongue from all the delicious peppers!
It’s your truly hole in the wall, and it’s my + my best friend’s favorite hole in the wall! The food is so good, so authentic, and so cheap! We can’t help but turn into the biggest piggies whenever we come here (see pics lol).
The service is always quick and both of the owners (or so i think they are) who usually also work as the cashiers are very friendly.
Don’t forget to bring cash to leave tip! Their credit/​debit card machine doesn’t print out the receipt with a tip section.

I went here with a few business associates of mine for a quick lunch. This eatery is what you would classify as a mom and pop or «hole in the wall» dine-​in option.
The interior of the location was rather small, it could probably host 10 – 15 people.
The cuisine was fresh and fast. We were quickly tended to, placed our orders, and then sat back and relaxed. We were presented with Thai teas which we ordered at $ 3 a piece. The drink was absolutely delicious, cold, and refreshing. I’ve had Thai tea before and it always has me grinning from ear to ear each time. The pad Thai I ordered with shrimp was scrumptious and piping hot. It was apparent that the meal was made to order. I ordered my plate spicy. In my plate was a portion of toasted dried chili flakes that was very potent and enhanced the flavor of the dish.
The general consensus amongst our table when we had our first bites was that the food was absolutely delicious.
The host was humble and accommodating. He took the time to explain the meal and drink choices. There is even a self-​serving station of ala-​carte items such as rice.
I would definitely return to this place and recommend it. Actually I think I might take my soon –to –be in holy matrimony soulmate here this weekend!

So good! I don’t go out to eat Lao food ever because it’s hard to top mama’s and auntie’s cooking, ya know? But the craving hit and no mamas or aunties around here for me so I took the drive out to come here. You would miss it easily. Whenever your GPS says to turn, just know it’s in the plaza in front of you. I was very confused going in because I thought it was a restaurant; not a restaurant store. And I didn’t know sticky rice and steam rice was self serve. But, alas, we figured it out and got some spicy papaya salad, chicken wings, pad Thai, thum green mango, and pork larb. We thought it was too much and it was but we still ate it all. We got all the Lao party food essentials.
This is not Thai food, FYI.

Nalinh Market is a Laotian & Thai restaurant in Irving that is the true definition of the word hole in the wall. It’s a market, a convenience store, and a restaurant. Nalinh is a hidden gem that serves authentic dishes made by authentic people. It’s not too expensive either, so you can stretch your wallet here.
My Overall Rating — 5 Stars (Atmosphere, Service, Food, Return)
Atmosphere — You’ll find Nalinh in a nondescript shopping center. The right side is an Asian market, and the left is the restaurant area. I call it an «area» because it’s only a few tables (some the folding kind) and some cheap seats. The kitchen is open & you can see & smell everything being made. Food is served on disposable plates, you get your water from a cooler, and it is by definition a hole in the wall dive. I love it. 1 Star.
Service — I’ve only been here for dinner, so I don’t know what lunch service is like, but when we got there they helped us grab a table, we settled in, the we placed our order directly from the kitchen. You can also call in your order to go or for dine in if they have a spot. You order directly so food comes out fast too. When done you pay at the same register you would pay at if shopping in the market. 1 Star.
Food — Ok, we’ve stablished the fact that they don’t invest much in things like fancy tables & chairs (or plates for that matter) because their focus and expertise is in the food. It’s Laotian & Thai and it’s delicious. The jasmine rice is served in little piping hot bamboo containers. The papaya salad is nice, refreshing, & spicy. Their level of spice is high so be warned if you’re sensitive. The beef & chicken larb is also excellent choices. But my favorite dish is… chicken wings. Yes, I would come here if I wanted to just eat their wings. They’re well-​seasoned & friend, and tossed with fried garlic bits which makes them so delicious. If I could order 50 of these bad boys for the game on Sunday I would. Honestly, just about every dish they have is incredibly good and cheap, and you’re sure to find plenty of great options. 2 Stars.
Will I Return? — Yes. I order to go from Nalinh more that dine in, but partly because they’re great when packaging items to go. Nalinh is a true hidden gem that is what Diners Driver-​Ins & Dives used to profile. Selfishly, I hope they never do because I want to keep the secret to myself. 1 Star.
My Unilocal Rating Scale (Sum of all parts):
1 Star — Atmosphere — Is it a cool dive? Perhaps an upscale place? No matter the type, atmosphere plays a big part and I’ll give a star if I like it or thinks it has great charm.
1 Star — Service — You can have a great meal with bad service. But that’s also what can make a five star joint drop to four. It’s important to the dining experience that service is great and on point.
2 Stars — Food — I’ll award up to two stars for the food, since this is the main reason we dine out. Sometimes the extra star is given for value, but it’s really all about the food.
1 Star — Will I come back? — If I know for a fact I’ll return, I’ll give this a star. A place has to make an impression for me to return.
Each Category can be given up to 1 star except food (2 stars) because I consider all these categories important to the overall dining experience. I will sum them up to provide my final Unilocal score.

It’s a small little hole-​in-​the-​wall type place, and you can tell a lot of work and care goes into the food. Seating is limited if you’re eating in. I had yellow curry chicken and steamed rice with egg rolls. It was very good.
Rice is priced separately from the meal, but they’re very fair about it. Medium spicy is a little bit hotter than many other places, but not too much so. Food was served quickly, and was tasty.
Overall: nice little thai place.

Authenticity!!! I love genuine food and service. Don’t expect to pay for silver spoon service; rather, genuine Thai/​Laos food made to heavens order! Flavors are rich in aroma and taste! You can definitely smell the fish sauce on the beef larb and the Thom Kha Soup is not overpowered with coconut milk. Help yourself to seating, rice (as much as you want) or to go orders!
Family friendly owned and service!