Savory Orient

Had reservations here on ²⁄₁₃ through Unilocal.Arrived to them closed and some note from the city about their closure. Would of been nice to have known they were closed.

Yes, they frequently get our order wrong, and it can be a bit on the slow side. But service is good, and veggies are fresher than most local Thai places. The place is usually quiet, which we like. Definitely worth checking out — get the fresh roll appetizer.

I tried this restaurant out based on the good Unilocal reviews. I was not impressed.
On the positive side, the atmosphere was very nice and the staff was friendly. That was the only thing positive going.
My dish was terrible. I ordered red curry with chicken. The red curry was extremely bland and watery. It didn’t have the spice, exotic flavors, or thickness that I like in a good thai curry. It tasted more like curry flavored water rather than an actual curry. To make matters worse, the quality of the chicken meat was terrible. Many of the pieces were extremely fatty and /​or grisly. It was like they took the lowest quality leftovers of a chicken carcus and threw it in the curry to save on costs.
It is unfortunate that a place with a nice atmosphere and friendly staff like this cannot get a thai red curry dish right. There are so many better thai restaurants in Marin that I don’t see a need to give this place a second chance.

We had an outstanding meal here! Tamarind duck, lamb shank and spring rolls were superb. Very reasonably priced, as well.

This place is one of THE BEST Thai restaurants I’ve ever been to! The staff is very kind, and officiant. We came here on thanksgiving night, craving Thai food. We walked in and the restaurant was empty but we stayed and ordered some Pad Thai, and some lemongrass soup. It was all delicious! Then we ordered dessert from their special thanksgiving menu. There was a pumpkin pie and an apple cranberry crisp. They were both exquisite! We will definitively come back soon!!!

Great food but super slow service. Servers need more training.

What a fantastic find! The food is delicious, and the service was top-​notch. My friend and I enjoyed two appetizers, the goat cheese and the crispy spring rolls, and both were really good. We also had the green papaya salad and spicy drunken noodles, both of which were also excellent. They have a great selection for vegetarians, and offer some really interesting flavor combinations. In addition to the very tasty dishes, the service was flawless. Our server was attentive without being intrusive (a difficult balance to achieve), and, well, I can’t say enough good things about her. She really was wonderful. Even were the food not as good, I’d go back because of what a great job she did. As it stands, the food was, as I already mentioned, excellent. I’ll definitely be back!!!

This is the best Asian food in Marin. I finally decided to try it because the menu stated that they used organic produce. There was no one there on a Wed night so my husband and I were hesitant, but decided to go ahead. We found the food and service to be excellent! The dishes were healthy, inventive and delicious. We particularly liked the mushroom appetizer and the poached pear dessert. The Thai dishes that we had were light, fresh, and very tasty. The restaurant is very clean with a nice atmosphere. Highly recommended.

This place has it all. Delicious food, reasonable prices and friendly service. It is a great off the beaten path find. I just had the Lamb shank a la Bombay. Excellent!

Excellent Thai food; expertly prepared and seasoned. I can’t wait to go back. It’s nice to have what feels like a neighborhood restaurant so well executed. We had the chicken satay, the Thai beef salad with lots of lime and cilantro, and red curry salmon, and of course the pad thai. I highly recommend this spot.

Update: New chef, revised format, and now promoting themselves as «Savory Orient Bistro.» We went in the other night, found that some of our favorite dishes were no longer on the menu, and were prepared to be disappointed. Luckily, we were wrong. The food was still wonderful, but with more creative, western-​style presentation. Salmon curry dish was beautifully presented — more as a single plate than family-​style as it used to be — but with perfectly cooked and beautifully displayed veggies and a new rice blend. Noodle dish and spring rolls were yummy too. Sadly, it was a very quiet night for them. I really hope that business picks up and they can stick around!

I luv duck with tamarind sauce here ^_​^ it was superb!
Thai food is great too and also the service. Everyone here is so friendly especially the owner and chef. They took care of us very well. All of my friends love this place. We absolutely go back there again

The food was great and the servers were adorable. We went here for a combination of my birthday and so my parents could meet my boyfriend’s parents. The ambiance was very nice with unique handmade metal flowers on the wall, a large Japanese print, and two hand woven pictures from Thailand, just to name a few. This was a perfect place to sit, talk, and relax without any feeling of being rushed.
I was impressed with the flavor of the food, variety with Thai and French cuisine, and for a group of 7 the price was right on the money. I would definitely go back.

Excellent service, décor and quality. I’ve been here for lunch and it includes salad and soup.
Really pretty restaurant, delicious tastes, and organic veggies too.
They have delivery some time.
Very tasty! Looking forward to coming again!
A local gem!

Incredibly great food, friendly servers. A little bit slow service, but I actually kind of liked it because it was a relaxing and quiet environment. So if you have time to kill and would like to enjoy a meal in a little San Rafael oasis, this is the place.
They also serve wild rice instead of white rice with their curries. At first I was kind of «meh» about it because I’m a sucker fo dat white rice, but it was crazy good and I ended up eating every single bit!
Also, when you go here, be sure to check in on Unilocal.Chances are they’ll have a great deal going on!

I like this place from the moment that I walked in. It wasn’t over decorated like you see in most try restaurants. So it looks like to news coming home and relaxing a bit. There weren’t too many customers that day and it took me about 45 minutes to get from the front door to my car door which isn’t bad but I didn’t have a cocktail or drink and I did not have dessert. The server was very very nice and friendly she’s from Bangkok and she was trying to be very helpful with me. I ordered the combo for lunch which is I think 11 95 or something like that. And I chose off the menu so I had the drunken noodles with chicken. so its a special sauce that they put with the chicken and the noodles and I’ll come back to that in a minute. Since I got the meal it started out with a soup. I was offered the coconut lemongrass for the artichoke soup. I ordered the lemon grass because I was familiar with it and wasn’t sure how the artichoke soup would actually be finished. When my soup arrived the server actually brought me a sample of the other soup and after having tasted it I wish I would have ordered it because this was part of the fusion experience the artichoke soup was awesome. Then came the salad and I said okay this is going to be a standard salad and they put the dressing on the side so you can use as little or as much as you like the dressing was a nice surprise because he is red wine vinegar as a acid in the salad dressing which I thought was pretty nice. Most restaurants will give you the usual sesame seed oil dressing or some kind of crazy she’s your thing. So it was nice go back to the old stuff but the cell its price be a little bit because it had a couple things that I have you had before. It had Julian slices of red bell pepper in jicama which gave it a nice texture it also had a aromatic leaves. Then the entrée came. And it wasn’t what I thought it was. The menu said that it was fettucini with chicken because I ordered the chicken is a meat or protein and I thought there would be Thai sauce with it but as it turns out it wasn’t fettuccine they actually used Chinese chow fun. These noodles are sort of wider than fettucini and thicker and they’re not made from wheat they’re actually made from rice. And lucky for them I absolutely love those noodles in for gluten-​free jump in there and have some chow fun noodles they are amazing. So as I was heating throughout the nice surprise for me was running into more aromatic leaves and flavors is a true it so everybody changed up a little bit it wasn’t just one sort of standard sauce and everything tasted like that sauce. Contrary everything had layers of flavor is it that I savored an eighth slowly through each bite and each bite was a different flavor for me and that was the fusion part that’s what I enjoyed. So I recommend that you go in there and have your lunch and you will not find salt and pepper and the usual hot sauces and vinegars that are left out on thi tables you will come with a complete product your table and if you need seasoning I mention I have it I didn’t need it. And also if you’re worried about the levels of salt it that you find the most Asian foods its not present here at least it wasn’t in my meal. I highly recommend this place for lunch I have not had dinner there and I will go back and try another meal.

Closed for remodeling… We all know what that means…
Rush to judgment! Re-​opened with new menu!!!

The food was good but a little bit disappointed that they didn’t put some fresh slices of pineapple instead of some pineapples from a can.
The place is very well decorated. I really enjoyed the ambiance.

This was such a great surprise! Our neighbors invited us because this is their favorite Thai place, and let me tell you, it’ll probably be ours too. The service was super-​friendly and efficient and the food was simply fantastic. They have mostly Thai dishes but also some Chinese and Japanese dishes. Try their coconut rice.

I realize I have a lot of 5-​star reviews out there… although I’ll only rate 5 stars if everything is in sync, and I’ve adjusted reviews down (or up) if things change — and inevitably they do. No idea why I’m saying this other than this place REALLY gets 5 stars in my book. Best Thai, hands down, in Marin by our standards. Superb, graceful service — and the place has a heart that’s discernible when you first stroll through the door.
The execution and flavors of the food are what separate it from other very good local and similar restaurants. Seasonings are bold but the spiciness isn’t enough to redden your ears. Some dishes, such as Pad Se-​Ew and Singapore Noodles, simply don’t have equivalents in Marin. Other standouts include the Kabocha Tempura (think fusion fast food) appetizer, sweet and crunchy and instigating sighs of pleasure around the table. Fork-​tender Korean Beef. Downright delicious curries, from a Red Curry Seafood medley to the tried-​and-​true (but again, elevated) yellow and green varieties.
Prices are excellent for what you get — and in many cases $ 2 or $ 3 lower than other local venues with similar atmospheres. There’s a peace and tranquility here, even when it’s full (which hasn’t happened much since we’ve dined there… this still seems to be «off the maps» of local diners during the evening). Service is well-​paced, with Jeff’s (primarily) unobtrusive, genial demeanor consistent with the gentle warmth of the locale.
The downside of consistently great Unilocal reviews for one particular restaurant is that «the cat is out of the bag,» if the threat of big crowds is worrisome; however, despite a preponderance of 4– and 5-​star reviews, SVO seems still outside the radar of most Marin diners. This is somewhat disconcerting as we’ve been one of only a handful of tables served on some evenings, and I’m always nervous that our most recent great meal could be our last. They are open for lunch so maybe that’s working out great for them. I certainly hope so — it doesn’t get much better locally than this.