Opart Thai House Restaurant

Hi All,
I went to Opart Thai House for a graduation celebration for my friend. And Honestly I didn’t think that it would be that good because I am not a fan of Thai food. But I was pleasantly surprised when I ordered their veggie pad thai with extra tofu. The tofu was the perfect consistency and the thai noodles with peanuts were perfect. The sauce wasn’t overwhelming and it added a mildly sweet flavor to the entire meal. The atmosphere of the restaurant was very welcoming and inviting. The decorum and the lighting added to the ambiance of what a traditional Thai restaurant might look like. It just goes to show that there are hidden treasures on every corner. Everyone should give this place a try. The meal options would suit any person, herbivore, carnivore, or omnivore. I hope you’ll give it a chance.

This place was okay, nothing grand. Went here on Friday night, was seated right away. Employees don’t look happy, they’re there for the paycheck, which is fine. Had a curry dish with shrimp. It was tasty, will go back for that. My friend had pad thai and said it was okay. Also had the banana egg rolls. Did not like it, hot on the outside but cold in the inside. The décor was standard and nice.

The food is tasty, but… Watch out. The staff felt like going home, so they closed an. hour early. They argued that they really close at 10, even though the sign and Unilocal says 11. And they wouldn’t even do take out. «The kitchen won’t want to.» So, though I’ve come here a dozen times, I might be done. Good luck.

There’s never a wait to be seated. Staff is always nice and friendly. Food is always good, Im a fan of the «Peanut sauce lover» «Pad see eiw» and the soup is amazing «Tom Yum» with shrimp and chicken. I can seriously eat here 4 days a week.

Opart is our go-​to Thai restaurant in the neighborhood because my wife likes it more than the others (Rainbow, Roseded, Spoon, Sticky Rice), but I’m always a little disappointed by what I get. The spiciness level is often inconsistent (spicy is either way too tolerable, or totally inedible), so its hard to gauge how to order. Some dishes are really good, specifically the Kao Soy, but many are sort of lack luster and i find the menu a bit limited compared to Roseded, Spoon, and Sticky Rice.

Two stars because the service was okay and the décor is nice. I’ve had a lot of Thai food and this was bland and didn’t seem as fresh as other places like Medee Café and Indie Café.

Opart Thai on Western near Lawrence is one of the mainstay Thai restaurants of Lincoln Square that I have visited a few times over the years. The food here is good if not great, but with an extensive menu you should find something to dine on. The interior is pleasantly decorated, though if you sit in the first dining area you may feel an occasional gust of wind from the outside.
There are so many selections on the menu and the names are so Thai that you might just need those numbers preceding each item to order your meal. On a recent visit I asked our server which she would choose between two dishes. She immediately said I should go with the khao nar ped, and it turned out to be a good choice. The pieces of roast duck were flavorful, and the Chinese broccoli and rice made for a simple yet fine meal. My friend ordered the tom yum koong with a medium level of spiciness. This is a large vat of Thai hot and sour soup with shrimp, mushrooms, lemon grass and lime juice. I took one trial sip and although it was flavorful, it was too spicy for me. My friend gleefully enjoyed the soup, though in the end she could not finish it all because of the generous overall serving size. The tab was very reasonable, perhaps mainly because we did not order anything else. The BYOB policy also helps to keep the costs down when you dine at Opart Thai.

Hmm, not sure how this place has such high reviews. It is cute inside, and conveniently located. When I went, there were six of us and probably ten minutes passed between the first entrée coming out and the last. So that was a little awkward.
As for the food: Nothing was all that great. Crab rangoon was way too sweet, as was the peanut sauce. Shrimp appetizer was okay. I had the Khee Mao, medium spicy. Spice level was high, but tolerable. The chicken tasted weird but the veggies were fresh. My husband had the same dish with pork; I found the pork piece I sampled to be very chewy and also somewhat off.

Opart is my absolute favorite Thai in the city. And lucky me, I just so happen to live 5 minutes away from it. I am absolutely never disappointed with the food. Some of my favorite entrees are Khao Soy, Gaeng Keow Waan (green curry), Gaeng Gari (yellow curry– ok basically you can’t go wrong with the curry), Woon Sen Pad Thai, Tom Yum Koong (Shrimp-​huge pieces of shrimp and straw mushrooms). My favorite apps are the TIGER CRY (an absolute must!), tender juicy marinated beef pieces in their homemade vinegar-​based sauce, excellent pot stickers, and chicken satay.
I generally do take-​out which is where you can get a little frustrated with this place. They are so damn good that they are often overloaded with take-​out orders. They absolutely do their best to process orders quickly but this place is amazing and many people know it so on Sunday or Thursday night be prepared to wait at least an hour for take out. Sometimes the line can be busy and it can take a few tries to get through on a busy night but don’t give up you will get through! I still think it’s worth it.
I’ve also eaten in the restaurant which is a lovely experience– if you have time I recommend! It is large inside with much seating and a nice peaceful, Thai vibe. Last I was there they were BYOB and probably still are.

I think tonight I’ve given up bothering with Opart Thai. It’s not really much of a loss for me, since it’s not my favorite cuisine, but it was alright occasionally.
I tried calling a few times tonight. I got a busy signal a couple of times, which was no problem; it’s a Sunday, the Cubs are in the NLCS so everyone’s watching the game, I get it. I just called back. However, when I finally had someone answer the phone, I was put on hold immediately for approximately 10 minutes. I was then taken off hold, as I heard activity in the background and people speaking to one another, and I called out «Hello!» on the phone for about 2 minutes hoping someone would hear me. I know that these times are correct since the phone says how long the calls are and it was 12 minutes total. Clearly no one was hearing me, so I hung up.
When I called back, I got a busy signal again so I waited a few minutes to call back. I finally got through after my third call or so. The woman who answered simply said «hold please» and put me immediately on hold. Not only is this one of my biggest pet peeves (being put on hold without being able to say a word), but given that I had just spent 12 minutes on hold I wasn’t about to wait again. Their food certainly is not that good.
This happens far too often when I call Opart Thai – there’s been some variant of this experience the last two or three times I’ve tried to order, which is why I have vetoed it when my partner has suggested it. So I’m simply not going to bother any longer. They have plenty of devout customers so losing one isn’t going to matter to them and others who are willing to be put on hold/​forgotten about/​etc. will have one fewer customer to compete with.

In addition to dining in, you can now order delivery with the Unilocal app. When your food arrives, you just answer the door & get your food; no credit card slips to sign (you can include a tip using the app too, which is great). Opart has been out go to Thai restaurant for YEARS; the high quality of the food has remained consistent throughout.

This place is solid. Very solid. And very good. Went here last night on a whim, we were in the area doing some errands, and we decided to stop in here on the way to the brown line. We first stopped at the basically-​adjacent liquor store, ten walked in to Opart and were promptly seated. The server was very pleasant. We ordered the Woon Sen Pad Thai with chicken and Pork Fried Rice. Both were tasty, and the portions were more than satisfying, especially the fried rice. I am going to try the other Thai places in this area, but Opart has put itself solidly on the «go back» list.

I hadn’t been here in years when we stopped back in on Saturday night for dinner.
It was exactly as I remembered it, but I have made some personal changes since then, even if the restaurant ostensibly has not.
I now follow a vegan diet as much as possible, and I am also a more adventurous eater in terms of flavor profiles, levels of spiciness and ordering things blindly. I used to come here and get the chicken pad thai and crab rangoon, every. single. time. — they were wonderful! But now, in my ‘old age’, I prefer to always try to order something new when I go out.
I asked our server for a recommendation given the above two requirements (veg and new to me), and she said no problem, she could do any dish vegetarian (reassuring, since I was guessing that a lot of sauces might be fish-​based). She suggested Pad Ped Paak, which was kind of non-​descriptly listed as «Sauteed mixed vegetables and hot peppers with choice of [protein].»
Delicious! The sauce was more of like a salty broth, but it was so savory that I could have eaten down an entire bowl of the stuff. The veggies were so colorful and perfectly cooked, not soggy: broccoli, cauliflower, peapods, cabbage, bell peppers, chili peppers, tomatoes (???), baby corn and onion (I think). Perfect recommendation for me.
My dining partner got the Hot & Spicy Seafood Combo and also loved his food. He ordered it very spicy and got through most of it, but he said it made his scalp start to sweat!
I would totally come back here and play Russian roulette again when ordering with whichever served we got, asking for another suggestion.

I absolutely love this place! My favorite things on the menu are shrimp toast, tiger cry, and drunken noodle.
I am editing my review as i went again and did not like the Green Curry that much and as i was getting ready to leave there was a small cockroach walking around. Makes me wonder what’s happening in the kitchen.

I was very impressed with this place! We had the Pad Thai and the Kuay Tiew Kee Mao and both were amazing. The noodles in the pad thai were very thin, almost like angel hair pasta noodels. I asked the waitress and she said their noodles are made fresh here daily, they don’t soak dry noodles which was pretty cool to know. The beef in my opinion was better than the chicken, this place can also get really spicy, I eat very spicy food and when I told her spicy my food had a really nice kick, had me sweating a bit. The workers here are very helpful and they give very good recommendations. I read on here that the portions are big, they’re very average size portions. This place will definitely be my new Thai spot I can’t wait to try more things here.

It’s a good place to have Thai food. I am not a Thai expert, but I have had a lot of Thai food in my life. Some Thai food restaurants cook their foods to oily and salty.
Here, the food is well cooked. Also the one thing that will make me come visiting again is the price.

Second time going and we had to try the Tiger Cry. It was as good as everyone says. You can taste it being right off the grill. Crab Rangoon is of course a favorite of mine, and really done well here.
The soups are amazing with the lemon grass and great presentation in the bowl they serve in. We order appetizers and soup and that is filling enough for me before we even get to our main meal.
I haven’t found a main dish that I liked yet, I tried a pineapple curry dish that I did not care for and a Pan King that was a bit too spicy for me even though it was mild.
All in all a great place that we will be going back too, especially for the soup!

This review is for the pad thai… I picked up carry-​out after reading the amazing Unilocal reviews and was impressed by the packed restaurant — not so many thai places can jam them in like this.
So you can imagine my surprise when I got home and found it to be relatively flavorless. It wasn’t terrible, just ok. I know pad thai is about as unexciting as a thai dish as you can get, but I can’t help it — I love it. The crab rangoon and cucumber salad were great.
I’ll try again since it’s convenient to my commute home and try a different dish. If you live in the neighborhood, I’d suggest giving it a whirl — just don’t go for pad thai. Not sure this place would be worth a long drive from another neighborhood.

We really loved our time at Opart Thai. They have the expertise, the experience, and the means to deliver a well-​rounded meal. The food is in the top five for Thai in the Chicagoland area; however, because of the ambiance, service, and price, I’d say that they’re the best!
They have the space and décor to accommodate many diners at once. It feels ethnic — perhaps a hodgepodge of authentic artwork and statues mixed with kitsch and a little well-​loved functionality. For example, the tables and chairs are functional but are neither out-​dated nor trendy. The restaurant is divided into at least three intimate rooms, each seating about 15 guests.
Opart Thai has a staff that are good at their jobs. They know the menu, Thai food, and they can deliver a pleasant meal. What I mean is that you can expect to be greeted promptly upon entering the restaurant, have questions thoroughly answered, get solid recommendations, and have a well-​timed delivery of food that is quickly cleared when finished. This isn’t fine dining, but it’s solid.
The food is delicious. We got several dishes where two were clear stand-​outs: the Tiger Cry and a recommendation by the server: Basil Noodles with Shrimp. We’re likely to go that route again since we had such luck with the server suggesting an authentic Thai dish of which the chef was particularly talented in creating.
The final glory of Opart Thai is that it is BYOB. We went with our wine guy Allen who is particularly adept at bringing wonderful libations. Since Opart Thai is well equipped to handle guests, we felt comfortable lingering over our meal, drinks, and conversation. Anyway — you know what they say about BYOB? It makes the bill much more affordable!

I didn’t know it could get any better — BUT IT CAN! This time around we ordered the Tom Yum Pla and Panang Curry with white rice — both medium spice — and man were they delish! I seriously haven’t had a better dish at a Thai place yet! If you’re into spicy food, then I strongly suggest ordering, at minimum, the hot level of spice. The medium is pretty mild.
Final Verdict:
YUM!