Veli Thai

Very good thai food. Not the fastest option, but a great value, especially given the large portion sizes. The green curry is great, albeit a bit spicier than I expected. I’ll be going here again.

Walked up, ordered my tofu pad Thai, and it was done in a minute. Got my food before anyone else on the block. Piping hot, delicious, the broccoli kind of threw me but hey, it all tasted good together. Tofu was good. Ingredients were fresh.

Flavorful, plenty of fresh veggies, really nice staff, great hours. Of all the thai carts in this area, Veli is the tastiest for sure. And even if you expand the radius further they’re one of the best options for thai in town period, particularly at this pricepoint.
Only word of warning is that when you say ‘medium spicy’ they don’t mess around. So whatever your normal spiciness levels are ratchet them down a bit for this cart.

Favorite thai food cart in portland! The prices are low, portions are big without sacrificing quality!

I was kind of burned out on Thai food as it seems there are so many different places to eat Thai at anymore in PDX. With that said, I took a good break from it for a while but decided I needed to make a foray back to the spicy yumminess that can only be found in Thai cuisine.
I ordered basil fried rice w/​chicken (hot). My food was ready in a couple of minutes and I marched back to my office… and found I had the wrong food. Went back and told the woman working what happened and she was extremely nice about it, apparently she misheard me and I got a different basil dish (I should have checked before leaving the first time as well). Anyway, she exchanged it for the right meal and I was back on my way within 5 minutes (great service!).
The food was actually really good and the hot was definitely hot/​spicy. I managed to eat it all and have no complaints. Certainly would eat here again and try some of the other dishes. Portion size was good for the price as well.

This Thai place is good. There food has a lot of flavor and there customer service is great. Pretty impressive for the price and how small the cart is. Thai Tom in Seattle is still the best thai I have had tho.

First food truck I tried out in Portland. What was the USP? Man, they had appies on offer at super reasonable prices!
Egg rolls used to be my favorite thing back home, so when I saw it being offered for 3 bucks, I could not resist! Luckily the service was fast and efficient, as my friends were waiting for me. When I laid my hands on the egg rolls, I found out they were more spring rolls (Deep fried rolls with stuffed vegetable) than egg rolls. No eggs were harmed in producing something called ‘egg rolls’. In their defense, they actually had described spring rolls in small print below ‘egg roll’, and the spring rolls were pretty standard, and were coming at a decent price. Slightly faulty nomenclature which is easily forgiven by a spring roll lover. :)

I have had pad Thai from just about every restaurant and food cart there is. trust me when I say this is the best pad Thai you’re going to find anywhere in the city. Well done veil Thai!

I am absolutely addicted to their pad kee mao. This is my favorite of the food carts on that pod. I probably eat here once a week. Our office has also had delivery from brick and mortar Thai restaurants that I usually like, and I wind up wishes we could have just had take-​out from Veli.
I concur with the other reviewers about medium being a good level of space.

They know how to make things spicy! It is so hard to find truly spicy Thai food and this place hits the spot. Love this cart!

Wow this place has seriously stepped up their food. I was displeased a few months ago for a short while but now have been experiencing amazing dishes consistently.

Good Thai food. I’m not at liberty to give it five stars because the noodles in the Pad See Ew were quite mushy. That said, the flavors were spot-​on and incredibly lively. Some reviewers have mentioned the food as «bland». I would say that that is *quite* a stretch and bordering on impossible (barring some freak accident).
I also had the Pad Kee Mao and the noodles there weren’t mushy at all. Maybe there is something to be said for consistency but not when it comes to the flavors.
To all the homedogs visiting from Seattle: this is better than any place on the Ave maybe except Thai Tom. For the $ 6 price tag though I would challenge anyone to find better.

Delicious staples: pad thai, pad Kee Mao, pad see ew. Tofu or chicken — can’t be beat. TONS of good for $ 6. Definitely my go-​to thai cart.

Pad See Ew was a major disappointment… Super bland and the veggies were mushy. I don’t think I would go back.

The quality went down from last year. The red curry is completely different than what I’m used to getting. It’s much greasier and not as good.
To top it off, the container cracks on the bottom and leaks food everywhere if the food is too hot, so be careful when carrying it!

The way you like your Thai food seems to be a personal thing, and there are plenty of places around town for you to find the one that does things your way. In my experience, most Thai places are good at one of the core dishes (stir-​fry, noodles, curry) but not so great at the rest. This place crushes it at the dishes I like and should be on your list to try for the dishes you like.
In the pursuit of finding the best Thai food cart in Portland, I’ve gone around sampling the Spicy Basil w/​Chicken (Phad gra pau) at a number of places. This one was my favorite — they kept it simple and true to the way it is done in Thailand. You won’t find it stuffed full of bamboo shoot filler like at other places (ugh). This is chicken, onions, peppers, chili, basil, and sauce at its best.
Another dish I’ve sampled is the yellow curry. Again, they killed it with large chunks of potato, carrots, and onions in a great sauce that is perfectly seasoned. Not too salty (or fish sauce-​y) and the spiciness was pretty good.
As others have mentioned, they serve their dishes with brown rice on request. Outstanding!

PDX HAS NO SHORTAGE OF THAI FOOD CARTS
Some like their pad kee mao prepared sweet, spicy, oily smooth, more noodles, more meat, more shrimp, more bean sprouts, more onions, more bell peppers, even more Mountain Sauce, more soy sauce, more chili or more Thai peppers.
I think Veli Thai puts out a mildly spiced, not oily, not sweeten, evenly portioned in noodles and veggies along wilh not overly cooked meats (precooked) PAD KEE MAO.
Got a colleague who practically lives outside this Thai food cart. He’s not crazy, but just a man who knows value and quality.

This is the reason I wish I worked in Portland. I popped by this cart the other day and ordered the Chicken Pad Thai from the most adorable little woman ever. I want to put her in my pocket and carry her around all day. She’d hop out and chat at me while she made me delicious pad thai and curries. I would get really fat eating all of the fantastic food but I would be happy because it was so delicious.
The pad thai was wonderful, plentiful and only $ 6. I will for sure be a return customer.

There are tons of Thai carts in town. Tons of Thai restaurants for that matter. Why choose Veli Thai? If you stop asking so many questions, I’ll tell you.
One of my co-​workers recommended this place and I usually agree with him. Plus he let me try some of his food a few times before and it tasted pretty good to me. Having never been to Thailand, I don’t really know what is and what isn’t authentic Thai food here. We are eating Thai food in America so in all actuality none of the Thai food we eat here is authentic.
Do you like duck? If so, you must have the Pineapple Duck Curry ($ 6) here. It is one of their specials, but I was told they never take it off as it is such a big hit. Filled with pineapple, grapes, grape tomatoes, broccoli, carrots and chunks of Daffy, Donald or for those of you that remember Howard. Plus they actually have brown rice here and that is always a nice find.
Specify the heat you want out of your dish. I got mine spicy and it had a nice heat to it. Not overpowering the food at all, but a heat that you know is there. An extra star to the super cute girl at the window who had a great smile.

A cold rainy day makes me crazy for Thai food. Surprisingly, there are only two options on the SW 5^th and Oak blocks and Veli Thai caught my eye, especially since I love places that offer all their dishes at a flat $ 5.
Can’t go wrong with Pad Kee Mao, except somehow I did. There wasn’t a lot of flavor and I pretty much was just eating noodles with gigantic cuts of red peppers. Not a satisfying meal at all. Plus, why was there a lone grape tomato in my dish? And what happened to my medium level of spice? I got none.
I probably won’t be back — there are tons and tons of better options around town.