Orchid Restaurant and Bar

Went for lunch with a coworker and had a wonderful experience. This is my first time eating Thai food in the state of Maine and given previous experiences with eating «ethnic» in the area I was a little skeptical. However, I was pleasantly surprised!
Atmosphere: Small, clean and comfortable. Small traditional décor, some modern but not too cluttered. They had multiple televisions and they were playing 80’s music videos. Maybe a little non-​traditional but not unpleasant.
Service: The waitress sat us right away and gave excellent service. She kept my water glass full (if you read my reviews then you know how important this is to me!). She checked on us, answered questions and was friendly.
Food: Our meal started with a salad with a peanut dressing of some sort… pretty good but maybe a little sweet for my personal taste (reminds me of the standard salad you get at hibachi). I ordered the Pad Kee Mow (it is called Drunken Noodle in some places). I asked for ³⁄₅ stars in regards to spice and was happy to experience some actual heat (again, an experience I have been missing here in Maine since the big move). The flavor was spot on and very authentic… a little heavy handed with the Thai basil but it didn’t take away from the taste, I just put it to the side. The egg roll was really good and the sauce was fine (a standard sweet chili sauce… not gonna lie, I’m a little spoiled with my in-​laws sweet chili sauce from scratch).
Overall, a great experience and I will be returning.

Came in for sushi but went for the Thai, best I have had outside of southeast Asia. (Sushi was awesome as well)

Stopped by for dinner on a weekend. It was quiet with quick pleasant service and clean place. Ordered a wonderfully smooth and creamy Thai iced tea. They also have lots of beers on tap including one of my favorites zombie killer.
Ordered two specialty rolls and the Hospmaki dinner with three types of rolls. The red dragon roll was spicy and delicious drizzled with the perfect sauce. The crispy roll with salmon tuna and avocado deep fried to soft crispy perfection and topped with a tasty sauce.
They also have entrees and lots of apps including soup. The sushi was delicious and not over priced. Definately left vey full.

Have eaten here before but doing so on Mother’s Day was a disappointment even though they weren’t crowded. Service was slow and their attention was focused on 2 «trashed» couples at the bar with whom they were drinking shots. Seaweed salad and sushi was good but the Thai food was just OK and even though not ordered spicey at all, came very spicey. Will probably not go back.

Orchid is an amazing place when they’re not struggling with time management. One of the best places in Lewiston if you want asian fusion. The food is phenomenal, the drink selection is diverse but sometimes when I order takeout, and arrive at the suggested time, they fail to have my order ready especially when the restaurant is practically empty. When dining in, the tip is automatically included and at times i find that my waiter isn’t as attentive. Besides those two issues, I do suggest Orchid to anyone who loves fresh sushi, delicious pad thai and wonderful beer selections.

Great sushi, by far the best in the L/​A area. Their other dishes are also pretty good but if you go there, it should be for the sushi or sashimi. However you should NEVER bring a large group to eat there. They take a VERY long time to bring the food out and can very inconsiderate to seating large groups even with a reservation. Also have a very strange policy that the check can only be split 2 ways and often add gratuity after tax… Makes group dinning a hassle.

I got takeout and ordered Pad Kee Mow and crab Rangoon. When I ordered, the person taking my order was very friendly, and the same experience was had when picking it up.
Both the main dish and crab Rangoon were very good. Cooked perfectly, with good seasoning. I asked for 5 for the spice and got what I think is a 3. This isn’t a bad thing or something I’d hold against them as I easily can just make it spicier.
All things considered, I’d give them a 5 star rating if prices weren’t so high. The pad kee mow was a standard serving, but I think $ 13 is a bit pricy. Also, while crab Rangoon had real crab meat, I only got four of them for $ 7.

I have visited Orchid a few times in the past, but this most recent time was so good I had to write a review. The staff is courteous and informed, the drink menu was outstanding — with so many Maine beers on tap, and the food was excellent. We were on a slight time constraint at our last visit. Even though the restaurant was full, we were seated (at the bar, which is actually very comfortable!), served, and back on the road in less than 40 minutes. I would definitely recommend to a friend and we will definitely will be back again.

Best Sushi I’ve ever had. Great atmosphere and service… loved the Green Dragon Roll! Locals were very friendly.

Hands down the best sushi in the area. Everything on the menu is amazing. Best of all is their selection of local craft beer. Order a flight and you won’t be disappointed!

Super friendly staff, awesome food, and a great atmosphere compared to the other Asian restaurants in the area. Best of all, they have a great beer selection. One of my favorite spots in Lewiston/​Auburn.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Asian fusion food in Lewiston last night.
I say «surprised» because it’s been awhile since I’ve been out and about on Lisbon Street in Lewiston, but last night’s Art Walk, in the center of downtown was a perfect night to be checking out the sights of L-​A.
Our group was hungry after 8:00 and after walking around, and we were undecided about dinner. Given the great turnout for the Art Walk, all the usual eateries were busy, plus it was Friday night.
One of our group suggested putting our name in at Orchid (they don’t take reservations) and we found out the wait was only 20 minutes. The place across the street had a wait time of 45 minutes.
Very pleased with my crispy pad thai, the deep-​fried version of one of my favorite Thai noodle dishes. Orchid offers the option of adding a meat choice to their noodle dishes, including tofu. I opted for the latter, which was a great option. There are vegan and vegetarian options, too, and you can select your level of spice comfort (0 – 5), too.
Our group of 5 were all very happy with our choices, which included some curry dishes, as well as the appetizers.
Orchid offers a large selection of specicialty rolls, which are either sushi, nigiri, or sashimi. We selected the California, which was a sushi dish, with crabstick, avocado, cucumber, and masago. It was excellent.
Nice selection of beers, some local microbrews on tap, plenty of choices in cans/​bottles, and they have wine and cocktails, too.
Service can be a bit slow on busy nights, like last night. The smell of the kitchen also can get a bit overpowering, too. These were minor, however, as the food and selections more than make up for it.
Nice addition to the restaurant mix in the Twin Cities.

This place was great. I’m pretty picky when it comes to sushi and i really enjoyed everything I ordered. We also tried the pad Thai and that was excellent too. Plus they have a great beer selection. How can you beat that? Definitely worth going out of the way to go here.

After a long day of putt putt on our PGA tour, nothing hit the the spot quite like a spot hitting serving of raw fish. Or cooked fish. Or rice.
For drinks we would not recommend the white sangria. Unless you’re a diabetic and you need a shot of glucose. Try the Happy Man Rum. It is happy. And mannish. And rummy.
You can pretty much order anything on the menu and it would be excellent. However, you might find it difficult to order anything that is not on the menu. Even if they have the ingredients and you’re staring at them and it isn’t busy and they have to make the rolls by hand anyway.
Still. It’s great.
Fin

Marvelous food in downtown Lewiston. Definitely worth the trip When there’s sushi, Thai, and Chinese on the menu, there is usually one that is the cuisine to order. We had all three and they rocked. Noodles were fresh, nothing that came from away. We went Sunday afternoon, food and service were top notch. There’s a bar with TV’s in the back with hoots and hollers when somebody scored a goal. Atmosphere was like most local favorites, but the food takes the center stage.

Excellent service and food. Gentleman was very helpful with drink selection. Will be back!

Five stars for the food… Green Dragon roll one of the best rolls I have ever had… the basil stir fry with chicken was also excellent. On food, I’d give ten stars if available… but…
Having worked as a server and in other capacities in food service there were two glaring shortcomings… bearing in mind I was passing through on drive through Maine…
One…the server could not answer basic questions about menu items… items she admitted were the most popular — the dragon rolls… plus she could not make eye contact and seemed like she had a bad day… until I walked to the rest room and saw her laughing smiling and high giving a co– worker (???) so… maybe she didn’t like her job… there were just not any warm and fuzzy feelings from her… it felt like we were an inconvenience…
Two, the gentleman who I overheard to be either the manager or owner… talking to people at the next table over… and there were only 4 out of 15 tables occupied… asked how business was he said slow… he never asked us how was our meal but asked two other tables… HELLO…what if I was new to the area and could recommend others to come and dine? Poor business model to only talk with customers you recognize… perhaps business is slow because he lacks the acumen to develop new business!
Food — great
Staff — work in progress… perhaps…

I had the opportunity to check out Orchid when they were in their soft opening stage. Despite the lackluster exterior façade that blended in with the rest of the depressing, run-​down store fronts of Lisbon St., I was pleasantly surprised when I entered the restaurant! I felt transported to an entirely different city — gems like this aren’t usually found in L/​A, but in Brunswick, Portland, Kennebunkport. I sat at the bar and was introduced to the owner, Minh, and talked to him about what he was trying to accomplish. Kudos to him for bringing a level of authenticity to Asian Fusion/​Thai/​Vietnamese food the area has never seen before!
After talking to him about my dietary restrictions, he guided me in the direction of the massaman curry with tofu. I appreciated that — during the restaurant’s rush hour — he took the time out to talk to me about things I could eat and flavor profiles I enjoyed the most, because in the end he guided me to the perfect dish. It was creamy, the onions were incredibly delectable (and who says that about onions?!), and had a delicious layer of unexpected spiciness underneath it all. If I could have licked my plate without seeming trashy, trust me, I would have. The only thing it lacked in my opinion was a healthier amount of crunchy, salted peanuts that adorned the top of the dish. To this day, that detail — minor as it is — is what I think about when I recall my dining experience.
The only other thing I was disappointed by here was their severe lack of vegetarian options. Even things that superficially seem «safe» may not be (one of the food items I was interested in apparently had fish sauce in it, and it couldn’t be made without it). I would hope that in the future they would offer more creative, inventive sushi options than just «cucumber, avocado, and carrot».
What I appreciate the most about Orchid besides their seriously impressive selection of beer and informed bar manager (shout out to Tom Ardia!) is that they’ve brought some serious class to the L/​A ethnic food scene. For that matter, I’d say they feel even more upscale than Fuel does (which to me has always felt disingenuous and pretentious anyway, where what Orchid is doing — from their menu to their stuff, and the atmosphere/​ambience they’ve created — does not). If it’s possible to create a casually-​classy place, Orchid’s done it.

I LOVE Orchid.
The food is beyond good. The appetizers are the perfect size, the sushi is fresh, the noodles are not sticky and over sauced. I mainly consume sushi when I go here, but you can not go wrong with trying out a Thai or Vietnamese noodle/​rice dish. Note, if you can’t do spicy go for a 0 or 1 out of 5… the cooks tend to make things on the spicier side. Also, if you have any dietary restrictions, just let your server know! The staff here is more than willing to discuss meal options or possible custom orders with you (I went with a vegan friend and were very accommodating for her).
The food is hands down my favorite part of Orchid, but there are many other reasons to dine here. The staff is amazing (especially that bartender!). It is cozy and just upscale enough décor-​wise to make you feel like you are «out» on the town /​having a special meal. If you can’t find parking on the street, be sure to check the parking garage on Park St — it is free after 6pm and on weekends!
Orchid is a tasty option on those evenings spent in the L/​A area, especially on Art Walk nights (last Friday of every month during summer).

This place is superb! We have been there numerous times as a family and with friends. The sushi is fresh and beautiful, artisitc and inventive. The salads are fresh and have a punch of flavor.
The waitstaff are friendly and are on the mark. It is a newer place but the owners are there to cover your every need. Love this restaurant!