Sabieng

The best Thai takeout in Portland. We used to be weekly regulars and still make an effort to go anytime we make it into the city. I almost always get the pad see ew and it’s one of my favorite meals in the world. I haven’t found anyone who makes it better. Very high on my comfort food list.
I’ve had pad see ew at countless other places and can’t tell you how often I’ve eaten dried out, pasty noodles stuck together in one big tangled mass, tossed with sauce. I’ve never had this experience at Sabieng for as long as I’ve been going there. The noodles are always fresh and tender. This is a pretty big deal for me. This attention to detail is typical of their food. Everything is very flavorful and tastes fresh. You can tell they put great care into their work.
The service is extremely warm and friendly. I’ve seen complaints about it being slow, but have never had a problem in this area. If you don’t have the patience to wait for quality food prepared by a nice local family, then, I don’t know, maybe go to the mall or something.
Also try the dumplings. I love the dumplings.

My new go to — the tom yum was exactly the way I like it — none of that sweet after taste –quick service on a cold day. I also got the garlic pepper chicken with extra veggies and that was delicious as well.

Solid place tucked away on Forest Ave, this place is a hidden gem. It’s your typical Thai place. Solid food, can’t complain.
But the best part of this place is the ridiculously nice staff. We got treated like kings! The lady waiting our table was super nice and attentive. I also loved the atmosphere here.
I’d come back, just for the fine service.

This is my go-​to place for Thai food in Portland. It’s small, tucked away, and always seems to be empty, but the food is great. After about a dozen trips here, I have yet to be disappointed. Love the drunken noodles in particular– they’ll make them nice and spicy if you ask, and the portion size is large and filling. The pad thai is also a solid choice. When I feel like being extra full, I’ll go for the mango sticky rice dessert.
The service has always been fantastic, too. The waitress recognized us on our second visit, several weeks later, which left us super impressed. The third time, she even remembered our previous orders. And aside from the first Friday of the month, which gets crowded due to the art walk, the food always comes out really fast. Came here starving after a day of kayaking, and we had food within about 10 minutes of walking in the door.

Tried after it was recommended by someone. We decided to dine in– we got the yellow curry, Lemongrass wok chicken and green curry dishes. Overall I’d say it was good but not great enough to keep me coming back-​though we all agreed the green curry was the best of the 3. The atmosphere is a bit dingy– smelled like old wet carpet and no music or anything. Service was friendly.

Recently I was in Portland, starving and with a craving for Thai food, this place hit the spot! Every dish we tried was well done, service was quick and courteous. Closest parking is very expensive or this would be five stars.

I picked up some Tom Yum soup and red curry chicken last night and even though the curry was a little sweeter than I am used to for Thai curry, I still have to say the Tom Yum was ON POINT for exactly what I needed to help clear up my sinus infection. I swear, Thai food ALWAYS knocks out any funk I find myself catching in the spring. The restaurant was clean and quaint and I will DEFINITELY be back again!

For Thai food in a pinch, Sabieng is great. It’s actually kind of nice having no-​frills pad thai and crab rangoon. You can’t be a foodie everyday.

4 stars for the food, but 2 stars for the service.
This place is small and I never knew it was there until recently. My drunken noodle was spicy and flavorful. The portion size was decent as well. I really want to go back and get the pork dumplings again but have them fried instead of steamed. They were very tender and tasty. The dumpling dough wasn’t heavy like others I’ve had before.
My real issue with this place is the service or rather the lack of service. The woman was super adorable and attentive in the beginning. After she brought out our food we never saw her again. She never asked if we wanted more drinks and generally ignored us when we tried to flag her down for our check.

I enjoyed my meal and would likely return. I’d give this place a 3.5 stars if that were an option.
The positive:
The atmosphere was comfortable and clean, and our server was very friendly.
We didn’t have to wait to be seated at 6:30pm on a Tuesday evening.
The food was tasty.
The less positive:
While the flavors were good there was nothing unique to set the dishes apart from other local Thai spots.
The portion sizes were on the small size. We didn’t leave hungry, but none of the four of us (all women) took home leftovers.
Our meals came out staggered about 7 or 8 minutes apart, which is a big pet peeve of mine. I’d always rather wait a little longer and be served at the same time as my dining partners.
Perhaps if I go again I’ll try one of their more unusual dishes to see if it offers a bit more flair.

Really adorable authentic thai place! I loved the pad-​thai and the woman who served us was a sweetheart. If I lived here I would definitely return!

Went here with a couple of friends for dinner on a Friday night. It’s tucked back a little off of Congress street and doesn’t get a lot of foot traffic — which explained the fairly empty restaurant.
As for the food, I’m actually surprised by how many great reviews this place has gotten. I thought their Tom Yum Goong was okay, not the greatest I’ve had, but still had that nice balance of savory and sour. Their appetizers — spring rolls, dumplings, and crab rangoons were good. I was actually surprised with how flavorful the crab rangoons were. The seafood panang curry was okay, but again, not the greatest I’ve had.
In relation to all the other Thai restaurants here in Portland — I’d say this place was about average. It’s not a place I would seek out, but I definitely wouldn’t mind coming back.

Tucked away on a lightly traversed portion of Forest Ave is an unpretentious Thai resaurant that I fear will fast become a good excuse to not cook dinner. According to the take-​out menu, Sabieng (pronounced Sa-​biang) is an ancient Thai word meaning «reserved, savory food that is traditionally homemade and eaten when someone is traveling a great distance.» Luckily, I don’t have to travel so far for the pleasure of their cuisine, as they are located a mere half block from my home.
The interior of the restaurant has no frills. Just a small shrine at the front door and a few more pieces behind the desk in the back. Otherwise, the tables are out of date and surrounded by mis-​matched chairs resembling the ones my grandma still has from the 70’s.
The service is friendly and attentive. Though she was the only person on the floor, and the place was filling up with a lunch rush, the food came out relatively quickly and the server made it a point to stop by each table to check up.
To start, we shared an order of fresh spring rolls. Not your typical fried spring roll, but traditional thai-​style rolls wrapped in a thin rice paper. Quite good. We were also given a small salad with a few greens in a slightly salty dressing that was just delicious. I saved my empty plate to sop up the extra dressing with my spring roll.
For entrees, my husband ordered the Panang Curry with beef and I got the Drunken Noodles with Chicken. We ordered both at a «3» spiciness level, afraid that the «4» would be a bit much. The flavor and spiciness of both dishes were perfect. I was pleased that my noodles were not outnumbered by onions as is usually the case at other establishments. The portions were quite large leaving us full and happily walking home with leftovers in hand, though it was hard not to eat through the satiety to discomfort.
With my cold can of coke our lunch came to just over $ 22. Not bad considering we have enough leftover for another small meal.
We both decided that Sabieng is just what we have been looking for in a neighborhood restaurant and without realizing it, we had ordered exactly what we didn’t know we had wanted.

Sabieng is right down the street from my office, so I decided to pop in for lunch yesterday. I walked into the restaurant around noon and it was dead — no one was there except for one waitress and the kitchen staff. I was invited to take a seat at one of the window tables and ordered pad thai with flank steak. In short, it was delicious! The portion was large for lunch time (enough so that I have leftovers for today!) and the service was quick. Within 10 minutes of walking into the restaurant, I was eating lunch. I look forward to going back and trying more items off the menu again as what I had was great.
My only complaint was that the restaurant had a funky smell… it was definitely a spice that I could not put my finger one, but it hit you a little bit when you walked in. I eventually got used to it, but I’d recommend they open their door and let fresh air in during the summer months.
If you’re looking for inexpensive pad thai that’s delicious, Sabieng might be the place for you!