Nathan’s Noodles

HORRIBLE HORRIBLE. I don’t write reviews often but I feel the need. I ordered spicy basil noodles. I couldn’t even tell what the food was. «Noodles» we’re super greasy and lumped together. Peppers were oily and gross. Im not the pickiest of eaters but this was INEDIBLE. Avoid Nathan’s at all costs. There are other much better options in Elmhurst!

Nathan’s is a decent place for dinner but better deals at lunch. The servers are nice and the food comes out very quickly. Free soup with your order if you dine in. Prices are average I’d say. The food is also average.

Love this place, best pad sew ew ever, and the staff are always polite and friendly. Pricing is fair. Never had any problems here. :)

I’ve ordered from here for take out a couple times and it was just okay. It would be a 1 star but they do have good rice soup (Thai Soup), and that’s my go to on a cold day.
As for their service, I’ve only ever order carried out so I’m not sure how dine-​in is. But carry you have to order at least 30 mins before because that’s how long it takes them to make it. They only have 1 chef and 1 prep so order in advance and they get really busy during lunch time, as you can guess. The person that answer the phone is always not sure what’s going on, but she’s young (looks like college students) so I guess I don’t mind that as much. They always forget when I ask for something on the side. lol~
For their food, it’s not bad. I’ve had better. That Rice soup thou, I love it. My coworkers have gotten other dishes there, and I’ve tried it. Not bad but not super impressed.
It just looks like they need either the manager or the owner to watch other. They are busy during lunch and as 3 people waiting for carry out in a small entrance and you can see into the dinning room and everyone looks like they are just waiting for food.
I go here because there is nothing else around.

Ok, I am not a Thai food expert. I know Italian like the back of my hand, but Thai is another story, yet I’ve had my fair share of eating it…
Nathan’s has been around for some time and I was just now hearing about it? It’s not really visible off of York Road in a small strip, with small signage, yet its down the street from my nail salon, so how did I miss this place? moving on…
My friend mentioned Nathan’s after a visit to our nearby salon, so I thought, why not ask the Asian girls working here if they’ve ever tried? So I asked, and her response was «I’ve been twice, it was ok… it is not authentic.» Figured she knows a helluva lot more about Asian cuisine than I do.
Well, I still wanted to try it anyway, so we did. I’m ok with Americanized Thai. Around 7:30 on a weekday, this place was busy… not slammed busy, but a good amount of diners… we placed an order to go (she had a sick child at home and I had things to do) and had to wait about 25 minutes to pick-up…I was surprised by the long wait considering our order. no biggie.
I really wanted soup at first, but then decided on a Pad Thai dish instead. I went with the Lard Nar w/​chicken ($ 9) and egg rolls and dumplings.
The inside of Nathan’s is cozy. It felt warm. Casual but tastefully decorated. I did overhear a customer ask for a glass of wine, and heard they don’t serve wine here. Not sure if they have a liquor license or not, or maybe they offer beer, but just not wine… good question.
My lard nar was just O.K. Upon opening container I noticed a lot of brown sauce, almost too much for my liking. Broccoli, carrots, baby corn & mushrooms covered my wide rice noodles.
Good amount of perfectly cooked veggies and tender chicken…
The sauce didn’t lack in flavor, yet it lacked depth and nothing stood out flavor wise…
I’d describe it as a ‘one note’ dish and probably wouldn’t order again, not that it was bad.
that said, I enjoyed the al dente veggies the most.
The egg rolls consisted of a light chicken, cabbage & noodle filling. What I loved most about these — the crispy exterior. Reminded me of Jade Dragon’s (I love their eggrolls), but lighter.
You get 3 nice sized rolls for $ 5 (good deal). I’d pass on the fried dumplings next time. they were OK… smallerish and $ 6 for 6 pieces.
My entrée portion lasted two days… as did the egg rolls. The prices here are pretty fair for what you get (aside from the dumplings). I feel like I’d have to give this place another try in order to judge it properly… not that that’s a problem for me, since I’ve already eyeballed the fish cake, Curry dishes (spicy please), shrimp balls, Shu Mai, Chef’s recommended Sizzling Seafood & a different noodle dish …
Can’t comment on whether this is authentic Thai or not. time will tell.
To be continued…
Ps. they deliver
Pss. get a free entrée w/​purchase of 10, make sure to have your take out menu stamped.

I have been going to Nathan’s for many years. Very clean. The team of people are very nice — they always remember me. Good portions and I love the taste. It is one of my favorite Thai places to eat alone or bring friends and family.

We got into our hotel two week ago, about 15 minutes from this restaurant. We ordered take out food because it was 10 pm and were too tired to go out. The hotel recommended this restaurant. Unfortunately, the food was very bad and my husband got sick as a result of eating it. The shrimp tasted like it was four days old and the fried rice had probably been re fried endless times. Definately very bad food and we end up throwing away most of it. It was better to be hungry that eat old, burned and cheap food.
Not good!
I don’t recommended!!.

I lived in Chicago for 4+ years, where delicious Thai food was easily accessible. This past summer I was in Thailand for 2 months, and after returning I moved back to Elmhurst. My Thai food withdrawals were unreal. Nathan’s has been my go to spot for the last couple of weeks.
So far my favorite is the cashew dish, as well as their garlic sauce. Their Tom Kha soup is just like the soup I would eat in Thailand nearly everyday. In my opinion the Panang Curry is nothing like I was used to, real peanut-​y. Still tasty but not the Panang I’m looking for. Looking forward to my next trip to try out their red and green curries with some extra spice. Overall a great choice for my Thai cravings in Elmhurst.

Their food is always delicious and so fresh. We’ve been loyal costumers for years! My 8 year old loves their Pad See Elw.

After trying almost all Thai places around Elmhurst, this ended up being my go to spot. This place will probably won’t sweep you off the feet with anything particular, but it also won’t disappoint you.
So, you can expect consistently good food and OK prices. Also, one thing that I particularly like when it comes to Nathan’s Noodles is that their food is not as greasy as in most Asian places.

Very good people and food. I enjoy it very much. My recommendation is to order anything on the menu. To be honest, I like the owner so i a writing a 5-​Star review. Unilocal has a minimum for posting, so I am kind of padding a brief recommendation to make the Unilocal requirement in length.
It is really good food at a great price.

First things first. The food at this place is average, granted this is my first visit to this place, but I ordered a Thai signature dish such As the Pannag curry and it was average. Admittedly the prices and portions are very reasonable. So for now I will give the food quality 3 stars, until I visit again and try more dishes.
The restaurant itself seems to be somewhat clean with some Thai decorations. However the bathroom is a disaster. I have seen cleaner bathroom in rural towns of third world countries. There are bugs and spider webs everywhere. That puts the rating for the atmosphere/​cleanliness at 1.5 Stars.
The service was also very blah. I was greeted once my order was taken, food was brought and then I received the check halfway through my main dish without even being asked how my food is/​was or if I need anything else. I give the service 2.5 Stars since the service isn’t rude it’s just below average.
I give this place an overall 3 stars for quality vs price.

If you like Pad Thai this is the place to come. It’s located in a small strip mall. They have a good variety of items to choose from and all I have tried are delicious. The interior is clean and welcoming. I highly recommend this nice little restaurant.

Before you dismiss me as a Troll, please hear what I have to say because it is valid.
First the good:
Nathan’s Noodles food tastes extremely good. This is applicable more so for the standard, mild, dishes but overall the tastes are excellent and the Curries are flavorful too.
Now the Truth:
Nathan’s noodles will fill the dish up with vegetables and almost no meat. I have taken my meal back twice with this exact complaint. I ordered Panang Beef and there were two microscopic pieces of meat and a plethora of bell peppers. When I say microscopic, I mean this literally. One was about the size of a quarter (flat) and the other was about a size and a half over that. As a result, when I do order from there, which is extremely rare, I order double meat so I don’t have to argue with them. Seriously, it’s insulting.
Also, having had real Thai food, I don’t remember Panang Beef beef being 75% bell peppers.
Nathan’s Noodles is very expensive. Now, if they were cheap, I’d give more allowance for having to order extra meat to receive a normal portion.
Also and this applies to many Americanized Thai restaurants. When I say I want my dish made Thai Style and Pet Pet (meaning spicy spicy) and I get a dish full of Jalapeño peppers, this kind of sucks. I want Thai Chillies which are readily available and I want it as ethnically accurate as possible (this is what «Thai Style» would mean). It has been my experience that Jalapeño’s are not indigenous to Thailand and not in their dishes (I could be mistaken here but I know it isn’t in the dishes I frequently order). If I wanted Jalapeño’s I’d go down the street to a Mexican restaurant which is sometimes the case in that I like Jalapeño’s just not in my Thai food.
Sorry this couldn’t be more positive but this isn’t a one time thing. I have eaten Nathan Noodles food about 10 — 15 times and my aforementioned experiences occur a 100%. I just keep suffering because as mentioned, the flavors in most of their dishes are good. My work around is that I’ll order Panang Beef with No Bell Peppers and double meat which forces these people to make it right and believe me it doesn’t even fill the plate but at least it tastes good

I’ve always been a fan of Nathan’s Noodle, but this last visit I was a bit disappointed. Ordered the crab rangoon which was always my favorite, but this time there was barely any filling, maybe a teaspoon and it was all wonton. I ordered chicken pad Thai, also a past favorite and it had very little chicken and no crushed peanut on top like they used to do. I also ordered Nathan fried rice which was supposed to be made with shrimp, chicken, onions, corn, tomatoes, broccoli, snow peas and egg. I got fried rice with some shrimp tails, two whole shrimp, one piece of chicken, and two pieces of broccoli. No snow peas, but what looked like green beans. Actually it looked like the bag of assorted frozen veggies you can buy at any grocery store.
What happened Nathan? Don’t let your food suffer for trying to save a buck.

I think someone mentioned that this place is good for takeout, and I would agree.
Based on my experience alone, I would be pretty unhappy if it was dine-​in. I ordered my tried-​and-​true favorite, pad see you. Imagine my face when I opened the box to see that my noodles were burnt and crispy! I don’t know if that is how Nathan does rice noodles, but I’m not a fan.
To give credit, it was within an hour of closing, but still… who burns their rice noodles?

For years I drove by this place and never stopped. From the outside it doesn’t look very appealing, but as the old adage goes, «you can’t judge a book by its cover.» Regrettably, that’s exactly what I was doing. Now, I’m so glad I stopped. This may be the best Thai restaurant in the area. I can’t confirm this yet, but considering there are only two Thai restaurants in Elmhurst, I think this is a pretty safe assumption. Be sure to check this place out. I had the Spicy Basil. I asked for hot (level 5), though I probably could have gone to «Thai Spicy,» it was really good.
As of this writing there are ninety-​six restaurants in Elmhurst. I plan on eating at, and reviewing, every one. Follow me on Unilocal

Went in for lunch and first time disappointed… looks like the cook was having a bad day. The complimentary chicken soup was salty, my entrée Chicken red curry was not good, the chicken tasted different. My friend liked her thai basil fried rice and spring rolls. I earned my free entrée for next time because i completed 10 on my punch card, hoping for a better experience next visit.

This place is located in a strip mall-​ish area in the happenin’ town on Elmhurst. Call me sheltered, but never been to Elmhurst before. Anywho, I was slightly (not really) hesitant on going to a Thai place that had a white name, as I’m use to Thai places containing «Siam» or at least… «Thai».
Buuuut, the place was cool. Not too big, and considering it was a weeknight, not busy at all. Had great conversation with my +1 over a few decent appetizers — fried tofu and some good ol’ fashion shui mai; both came with dipping sauces, but I felt like the fried tofu was still somewhat too dry for me. The shui mai was decent.
I ordered the Basil Leaves dish with chicken, low sauce, brown rice. I think the chicken was a little dry, but it wasn’t too bad. The veggies that came with it were decent. The staff there was nice.
BATHROOM REVIEW: Bathrooms for womens and mens are located on opposite sides. The mens is located in the corner and inside, it was decent sized. Had a toilet and a cardboarded-​up window. Fairly clean… but not sit clean. Sit or squat? Squat!

My +1 and I ended up at Nathan’s a few weeks ago when we realized our first dining idea closed earlier than anticipated.
We ordered the fried tofu and shumai for appetizers. I loved the texture of the tofu, but it didn’t seem seasoned with anything so it was pretty bland — even with the peanut sauce (which was supposedly sweet/​sour), and the shumai was EXTREMELY garlicky. Now, I love me some garlic, but this was Date-​Repellant Garlicky. We were also given a soup — I’m not entirely sure what was in it (some tofu, bean sprouts, maybe chicken broth.?).
I believe he ordered the Basil Leaves Dish (which I tried and was OK). I had the Shrimp Pad Thai, which was alright — pretty standard. I REALLY loved the shrimp, though, as those were grilled nicely and had great flavor. Too bad there were only 4 – 5 of them. :(We were offered a free dessert — a crispy rice-​type thing. It was tasty.
It seems like a lot of attention went into the décor, and it was very, erhm, complicated — fake flowers in vases, folded (in a crane?) red paper napkins. The bathrooms were clean! :)
A lot more people seemed to carry out than dine in. They offer a 5% discount when you pay in cash.