Maiphai Thai

Love these guys! The food is delicious but not heavy, and the wait staff is incredibly nice. It’s quick, not pricey, and a family favorite at our house. Nomnomnom

This is our go-​to restaurant for Thai take-​out at work. I always call in with a big order and have never had any problems. They are timely and always label things well. The food is good, the staff are nice and helpful. We’ll keep coming back!

This place was good with quick service but nothing over the top special about it. I ordered the yellow curry and it could of used a little bit more sauce but was a good portion and very tasty. It seemed like a great take out place as well!

Good go to place for Thai food for lunch, I’m not sure there is anything super special about this place where I’d go out of my way to come here when I’m not in the neighborhood. It’s pretty cheap and they split the bill up for you if you want so I suppose that’s a plus. Food is good, just nothing special.

Great food, uniquely named menu items, fast and friendly service. It’s a nice quiet place to sit and relax and enjoy some of Portland’s best Thai food… Need I say more?

This was a disappointment. My first issue was a minor quibble; no sticky rice? Every Thai place I’ve gone has had sticky rice. As it turns out, I wasn’t that bothered, because that would have been good money after bad.
Second, and the big one: my duck curry was more skin and bones than meat. Not only was the actual duck nearly nonexistent, but I quit eating after about a third of the dish because I had to pick duck bones of various sizes from my mouth on every bite. I avoided them the best I could, but they couldn’t have dumped more bones in there if they were trying to spite me. The flavor was fine, I suppose — not great or even particularly good, but would have been fine. But it wasn’t good enough to be worth choking on a duck bone.
The end of the meal brought one more little annoyance. As a restaurant, when you split a check for $ 32.75 down the middle, you have some options. You can charge one person $ 16.38 and the other $ 16.37. If the math is challenging, you can do $ 16.35 and $ 16.40, or even $ 16.25 and $ 16.50. You can even round down a couple cents to $ 16.35 each; it’s certainly no requirement, but it’s a tiny touch that will impress someone like me.
What you absolutely cannot do, never ever, is round UP. $ 16.40 plus $ 16.40 is not $ 32.75. I’m well aware that five cents is an amount that I wouldn’t reach under my car seat to retrieve, but it says something about your attitude towards customers to round up, and it doesn’t say anything good.
The food was brought out impressively quickly. It would have been more impressive to make the food better though.

New owner or something. When it was E-​San, I frequented this place at least every other month. I almost always ordered the same dish as well as salad rolls and spring rolls.
However, things are not necessarily the same. My eggplant is often under cooked.

The food is good, staff friendly and the price is reasonable. It’s a great lunch time spot that infrequent a lot!

Everything seemed fine until we took the food out of the bag. I was really quite surprised that the container of curry wasn’t even filled half way. The curry sauce itself was as this as water. Portland has some decent thai spots but this apparently isn’t one of them. Unfortunately this wasn’t my only attempt at a decent meal from Maiphai but it was definitely my last.

Went back again because it’s in the neighborhood. My veggie pad thai turned out amazing! Thank you for the excellent service and delicious food.

While Thai food isn’t my usual go-​to, I was nevertheless pleased with my recent first visit to Maiphai Thai. For once my man was craving tom kha instead of phở, so off we went around the corner.
Maiphai’s a step up from standard takeout Thai, and a common feature of all our dishes was the unexpected level of elegance with sauces. The peanut sauce, the tom kha broth, the brown sauce over the stir-​fry: all light and lovely, none of the too-​heavy, too-​sweet, too-​one-​note character that seems to plague Americanized Thai food. Portions were just right for sharing an appetizer, soup, and stir-​fry between two people. The spice level definitely skews Westernized; we ordered hot, but next time we’ll kick it up to extra-​hot (this from someone who would usually order medium spice somewhere with a more street-​food/​authentic menu). Tom kha’s usually the standard by which I judge, and this was pretty good: nice spice level and good flavor complexity.
Service was so fast and so friendly, and many people cycled through for take-​out during our dinner there; I’m sure we’ll be one of them in the future. Pretty much everything comes with a tofu option (unless it’s a curry specifically made with fish or duck) so it’s a good spot for a group of varied eaters.
This isn’t necessarily my Thai, but that’s no complaint against Maiphai’s menu and culinary execution. If you want quick, tasty, and well-​priced Thai (for takeout or dining in), and especially if you’re in the neighborhood, head over. I know I will!

Really great neighborhood Thai!
Very impressed with the level of spiciness and authenticity of the dishes.
While I’ve only gotten take-​out, there’s plenty of seating, and in this tucked-​away corner of town, you would rarely fight for a table.

I have been here several times over the years and it is always been good Thai food, not great but good. If you like it spicy then this is your place. Their Pad Ke Mao is very good.

I come here often (once a week or so) but only out of convenience because it is so close to my work. When the Thai-​food craving hits, there are only so many options within walking distance to the office. E-​San is one of those options.
Not to be confused with E-​San Thai Cuisine on SW 2^nd and Pine, or North Denver, this «E-​San» seems to have a different owner/​operator.
The food is inconsistent. For instance, on one Thursday I ordered Pad Kee Mao (Drunken Noodle) and was delighted. It was similar to every other Pad Kee Mao I had ordered in the past at other restaurants, but when I ordered it again on Monday (and convinced my boss to order the same) it came out as a vegetable dish with about 5 noodles, and the portion was about half the size as before. This has happened multiple times at this restaurant.
The things I like about this place are:
The location — Super convenient and parking is pretty easy to find.
The speed — They are very quick, so when you are looking for a fast lunch, you can be sure to get in and out as soon as possible here.
The taste — The food is pretty decent. Not great, but not bad at all either.
Things I don’t like:
The size — It’s tiny! Maybe 8 or so tables for 2 or 4 makes it sometimes difficult to get a table around lunch time, with no foyer to wait in (meaning you get to stand outside in the cold until a table is available).
The inconsistency — You really never know what you are going to get.
For a quick bite, this is the place to go in the area, but if you are looking for the best Thai food in Portland, go elsewhere.

I really enjoy this place.
I’m a sucker for restaurants that I can get in, get my food, eat, and pay my bill with no fuss. This place offers all that and friendly service.
I’m not sure about the complaints about price, seating, flavor and portion, but I urge all of them to look in the mirror… maybe it’s you.
I love a good Pad Thai dish. The simpler the better and they make it extremely spicy like I like. I could eat here every day and not have one complaint. Well I do have one complaint… turn the heat up in the place.
It’s a go to for me. Try it for yourself.

Went there for lunch & is not what it used to be… smaller portions, everything too salty & as soon they brought the food… they brought the check… it sounds like they wanted the customers out there quickly…

Sooooo pleased. ! Great food! Loved it!
I got the # 10 lunch special. Vegi stir fry with tofu. Came with rice. Delicious!
I got this sweet sugar rice, with mango on top for desert. Jeeeeze! I’m going back just to get that.

This is the second E-​San I’ve tried. We ordered the Crispy Trout here on Thurman, hoping it would be similar to the Crispy Trout dish on 2^nd and Pine, but it was not. No matter, it was delicious, as was the chicken green curry and the pad kee mao (I think it was labeled slightly differently in their menu) that we got to round out our meal. Round was definitely what we were after we ate every single bite of food. Everything on the table was flavorful and excellently cooked. The only drawback, and this is huge for me, and caused me to remove a star from a stellar meal with excellent service: NO STICKY RICE.
If this is not a big deal for you, and Thai food doesn’t mean sticky rice with some type of curry HAS TO BE on the menu, this restaurant has amazingly flavorful food, and a cozy, chill dining area.

I really love eating Asian food on the West coast because it is so freaking good! E-​San is no different.
Food is really fresh and tasty, if I had a chance (Portland Gods??) to eat here more often I would probably like just about everything on the menu.
They have a couple of outdoor tables that are really adorable if you have a nice day and want to be outside.
Know that if you ask for your food spicy they won’t kid around. They also give generous portions at great prices so you can eat fresh, tasty, affordable Thai food more than once making it easy on the wallet. Yes!

Their prices = REASONABLE. Their Pad Thai and red curry = DELICIOUS. Our server today = REALLY NICE AND FRIENDLY.
I will probably become a regular.