Chiang Mai

I’ve heard so many good things about this place, and indeed, the few times I’ve been here the food has been above average.
I know that Portland is searching for a (not hip) alternative to Pok Pok but I don’t know if this place is it.
The things off their Northern Thai Specialities menu have all been pretty tasty. The whole trout is really good, and the khao soi is pretty good, too.
A few of the issues we have here:
Last time we went, us, and the table next to us, had a really hard time flagging down a server to take our order. No problem, generally. But didn’t set a good tone for the rest of the meal.
When we ordered the trout, the server asked us if we wanted white rice, brown rice, or sticky rice. I asked her if that was included with the trout, and she said yes. So I ordered sticky rice. When we get the bill, the price for the trout dish was $ 2 more than it was on the menu. When I asked about it, another server told me that the sticky rice was EXTRA. I specifically asked if the rice options came with the fish and the server failed to tell me that while TWO options were complimentary, the sticky rice option was not. $ 2 is not a big deal, but service issues related to pricing really bug me. I don’t like not having perfect information when I place my order.
Food was great, except for the roti we ordered. We just got back from a trip to Australia where there’s incredibly Malaysian, Singaporean, and Thai food. I’ve been craving roti since I got back and was the main reason I came to Chiang Mai this time. And to my crushing disappointment, the roti here was terrible. It was really greasy, I’m talking noticeable pools of oil on the plate it came in. It must have been deep fried and then sitting in oil for a while before they served it to me. My fiancé said he knew it’d be bad because they didn’t seem to have the equipment to make it, but I was so hopeful and then so disappointed. Of course I still ate it because hello, cravings. But I felt like a large ruminating animal the entire time. So minus some stars for the shame component.
All in all, if you stick with their specialities and don’t mind asking the server 3 follow up questions relating to cost when you place your order, this place is alright. A-​OK.
PS. It was BALLS COLD in here. It felt like I was at my parents’ house again and the heat’s set to 58 because I can «just put on a sweater.» Since it felt like we were eating in Asia (the service, the freezing temperatures, the bad communication and straight out deception about pricing), I asked my fiancé if we could tip like we’re in Asia, too. But he still tipped a normal amount. Sad.

We used to come to this tiny spot when it was The Italian Joint, but while we liked that spot, we’re so happy Chiang Mai is here and going well. Having actually traveled to northern Thailand, I can tell you they really get it right! So many great dishes, but our favorite is often the khao soi with chicken. It’s a rich soft and crunchy noodle curry with pickled veggies that cannot be missed!

I wanted to love this place — and don’t get me wrong, I do like it – but my two visits so far have left me wanting something more.
First visit: Great service while dining in. I had the Gang Hung Lay, one of the northern Thai specialities — you can’t really tell from the menu’s description, but apparently you’re supposed to eat bites by first mounding some sticky rice in your fingers and then using that as a vehicle to get the pork into your mouth. The dish itself was really soupy, making it hard to get much into the rice, and there really wouldn’t have been enough rice to soak up all of that broth — plus the sticky rice seemed really stale.
The spring rolls were good but nothing to write home about. That said, my friend loved the Pad Himmapan, which is basically cashew chicken. He said what sets it apart at Chiang Mai is that the chicken is fried before it’s tossed with the sauce.
Second visit was take-​out: My friend had the Pad Kee Mao Goong — and had to add a lot of hot sauce to make it spicy. We also ordered Tom Kha Gai, which is supposed to be «spicy and sour coconut soup with chicken,» but it was not spicy or sour. Instead, it was really sweet, and there was hardly any chicken in it. I’m talking maybe four small bites. There were, however, a ton of onions that were tasteless aside from soaking up the coconut milk flavor. Even so, I love curry and coconut milk, so overall it was OK.
Lastly, the Khao Tod Naem Kook, a dish you eat by first spooning it into lettuce leaves, had really good flavor — you could taste the shallots and ginger, and the crispy rice added crunchy, chewy texture. But again, there was very, very little meat when it was supposed to be a sour pork sausage dish. With more meat and a little more spiciness, this dish would have been fantastic and more filling.
This place has the potential to be excellent, in my opinion, but both times I’ve been here I’ve felt like they’re skimping to save money and harming the quality of their food as a result. I hope one more visit will prove otherwise.

This place always hits the spot! Thai is my favorite food and most Thai places seem to be, at minimum, decent. But this place really does surprise me each and every time with how much delight it brings my soul. Thank you again and again and again. Try their spicy pork rice lettuce wraps (northern specialty menu item «AS1») and it just might blow your mind. Big love for Chiang Mai.

Come here. Don’t be a fool, you must order off the Northern Thai specialty menu.
Gang Hung Lay, I crave you constantly: tender slow-​cooked pork and pork belly in a northern-​style curry with pineapple, garlic, ginger, and peanuts. Yuuuuuum.
Khao Soi Gai, insanely good as well: Slow-​cooked chicken drumsticks or beef in a northern-​style curry noodle soup topped with crispy egg noodles and served with a
side of pickled mustard greens, shallots and lime.
Favorite appetizer is the Roti Mataba: Roti stuffed with yellow curry, potato, carrot and onion served with cucumber sauce.
Just eat there already.

In a wide expanse of a city with so much thai… how do you know?!! how do you know.
I suppose you could try all of them, orrr you could read reviews. If you are reading reviews for chiang mai, you’ve made the correct decision.
I’ve been here a few times, and every time I’m amazed at what I’ve been missing when I go to other places.
Spencer was very insistant we get tom kha, even though it was «the armpit of hell degrees outside» It arrived in a clay bowl bubbling over a stone fire, The first taste of this soup is kinda like someone hit you in the face, then makes out with you, reaching out to grab sinuses with efforvecent furry. lashing excited toungues of heady milky broth, pungent herbs filling every taste bud.
Every dish is like a surprise party. Always! get the special, and if like us, find yourself here more frequently than they change the special, try a tried and true and a northern specialty.
I’m slowly eating my way through the entire menu. I’ve always been delighted and continue being so.

I am not a huge fan of Thai in general… but this place was something else. Their Miang Kam (appetizer) was something else… it’s a must if your eating here. I had a soup based noodle… good but ull find it in other places. The grilled trout from the speciality section was really good!!! It’s a tiny place with ample street parking. Not sure if they have high chairs though coz we had to seat our little on on our laps.

I am actually moving to Chiang Mai in February of 2016, and this place was decent. A little pricey for my taste, but the server was super sweet and the food came out quick.

Sat down, ordered, waited 50 minutes, left with no food in my stomach. Did ask how long until our food comes out and all we got was a bad attitude. Guess they were having a bad day?

Best Thai food in PDX! The salad rolls are delicious! Everything I’ve had on the menu has been incredible!

super yummy food and very vegetarian friendly. price is decent. service is okay. ambiance is lovely!

I came here today with my friend. I was really excited to try this place because of all of the great reviews and the emphasis on northern Thai cuisine. We ordered the Som Tom salad, the Moo Satay, Chicken Pad Thai, and the Khao Soi.
Som Tom – I have had a hard time finding a thai restaurant that serves this in Portland. Also, I like that they gave me the option of adding dried shrimp or sticky rice. I don’t usually like dried shrimp but I do love the spices and acidity of this salad. This will be my go to starter.
Moo Satay – I had never had Moo Satay only regular meat satay marinated in peanut sauce. This Moo Satay on the other hand was pork skewers marinated in coconut milk and peanut sauce. The flavor was really nice and not as heavy.
Chicken Pad Thai – the noodles they used were not the traditionally thick rice noodles. They used thing glass noodles instead and I think i preferred that. The flavor was blasting and the extra peanuts on the side was a nice touch.
Khao Soi – it was 97 degrees outside and I still enjoyed this hot soup like it was nobody’s business. I remember saying this is what I would order as my last meal before I die.
Thank you Chiang Mai!

Hands down this place has the BEST Khao Soi in Portland!
The varying textures of the noodles cooked two ways, heaping portions of chicken and the nicely spiced curry soup combined with the picked vegetables make this a winning dish.

The food is ever amazing. Please come here to eat. As someone who appreciates a classy mocktail from time to time, I have a problem with the owners charging full price for ordering a virgin cocktail. I asked the regular server (who is fantastic) what’s up and she’s said thats how the owners priced them and that she would be happy to pay part of it but to me that’s just not right, so I paid. I did let her know she should disclose ahead next time because literally nobody else in Portland charges full price for ordering virgin cocktails and it’s silly!
TLDR: if you order any cocktail and don’t want the alcohol, ask for it in a shot glass and have a friend drink it for you. Or just don’t order virgin cocktails.

I’m one of those people who order the same safe dish (pad see ew) at every Thai restaurant. So I went out on a limb to try the Khao Soi Gai (curry noodle soup) that everyone on Unilocal seems to rave about. Absolutely no regrets. It is delicious and because it’s not something that every restaurant has on their menu or does well, I make it a point to order this every time. As for the pad see ew, it’s about average here at Chiang Mai.

One word: ROTI.
Nothing else. The Thai food is pretty good, and well done; freshly prepared, all of that. But come for the roti. It’s basically Thai-​style fry bread to mop up all of your creamy curry sauce with, and you’ll undoubtedly wind up ordering more. Don’t be ashamed. We did too. YUM YUM YUM GET IN MY MOUF.
Larb was good, definitely not the best I’ve had. Seemed to be a lack of dressing or seasoning on this Thai-​style ground chicken salad; normally it’s smacked with lime juice and/​or rice wine vinegar and ours was kind of bland.
Only downside, was that there only seemed to be one person cooking in the back, and possibly with only one or two burners. It was fairly busy, but it took over an hour to get our food. We had our credit cards in hand by the time our main course came, just to expedite the process. Not a deal breaker by any means, but something to be aware of.
ROTI!!!

Really good, it’s hard to find authentic stuff in any town nowadays but this place hits the spot

One word: BOMB! I’ve had a good chunk of thai food too. Our waitress was so nice. Totally forgot her name but she had a chest tattoo and she had red hair. She was so personable and friendly.
We ordered the SP8 and AS1. It totally hit the spot for me. The SP8 is a perfect substitute if you’re sick and the chicken was so tender that it fell off the bone and went perfectly with the soft noodles.
The AS1 was interesting and different in a good way. If I could describe it, it’s like a fully flavorful fried rice. My bf and I couldn’t finish it so I took it home with me and I plan on having the bf cook me a side of egg with it.
Food was fab with justified prices, staff was friendly=overall great experience. I highly suggest this spot. Def coming back and suggesting this spot to my OR friends.

So frickin good!
The northern Thai specialty dishes are the reason to come here, tho they also rock standards like Pad Kee Mao. Not only that, they source responsible protein choices (meat, seafood, and tofu).
In Portland we love our Thai food, and Chiang Mai is one of the best I’ve found.

I tried one of the «speciality» dishes: Nam prik ong – «Roasted green chili dip served with Chiang Mai pork loaf, fried chicken, crispy pork rinds, steamed vegetables and a side of sticky rice.»
It was really good. I had no choice in choosing the spiciness level. The flavors were great, then the heat kicked in. Not unbearably spicy-​spicy, but more of a heat sort of spicy.
The Roti appetizer was yummy-​with curry and potato-​a little sweet.
Service was friendly.
I’d come back to try the Khao soi, pad thai, and probably some other specialty dish.