Esan Thai

01/28/09

GOOD for lunch

by Bnugent at Citysearch

this place is pretty good for lunch. Very efficient and the food is good. DON'T mistake this place with Esan in NORTH portland. That place is terrible.

• Pros: good lunch food
• Cons: crowded

08/27/07

Service needs improvement

by pcha72 at Citysearch

This review is for the location on 2nd Ave. First, service is lacking, as others have related. No greeting or thanks, and S-L-O-W service. Granted, it was lunch hour, but people who came in after us got their food first (same # of people in their party too). Although the pad thai was good, the service ruined it for us. I've also done take out and once asked for an extra lime wedge with the pad thai. I was charged an extra .50 cents and after I already got back at work, only noticed that there was no extra lime!! Maybe that's a small gripe, but come on, .50 cents for an extra lime wedge?? I haven't been back since, there are other places in Portland that do better.

• Pros: Good pad thai
• Cons: Service, parking

01/29/07

Awesome food, perfect peanut sauce, and the worst service I've ever had...

by sunnybunnie at Citysearch

The food is so good here that from time to time, I forget how bad the service is. I mean...its really bad. I've been in the service industry myself now for over four years and have loads of patience...but the unfriendliness of e san gets me every time. The peanut sauce is to die for, the pad thai is the best I've had, and they have a fun pineapple dish that comes in the actual pineapple. I would highly recommend getting food here...to go. Each time I go in and sit down, I leave angry after having no eye contact, being ignored, waiting forever for things I've asked for...I would understand if it were always busy when I received this kind of service, but there's no variance in the service whether there's one person or if the place is full. After going in again today and loading up on the heavenly peanut sauce only to be irritated again by the time I waited fifteen minutes for someone to come run my credit card, I've decided I will only order out from this establishment from now on.

• Pros: Food, peanut sauce
• Cons: Service

08/02/04

Bad, bad, bad

by lingx2 at Citysearch

They need to hire more servers! Such a busy place but not enough help. I went there for lunch and even when my lunch hour was over, I still didn't get my food. I was furious!! I went back to work with no lunch. They didn't even apologize or offer a free appetizer for the next time. The food is great but not enough help will bring this restaurant down.

• Pros: Good food, Good food, Good food
• Cons: , Food didn't come, Wrong orders

03/14/04

MEDIOCRE

by terry36 at Citysearch

I tried three different dishes, and they all lacked the complex flavoring that good Thai cuisine is known for. I was very disappointed.

02/24/03

won't go back

by kracky at Citysearch

over-the-top positive reviews drew me in, and left me wondering if i ate in the same restaurant. the gelatinous peanut sauce had all the spark of an alfredo, bathing chewy pork and mushy broccoli with blandness. took them a solid ten minutes to bring chili sauce, which came with my check, while listening to f.m. classic rock shouting from what sounded like a boombox. i suspect this place is winning its game as a cafeteria for the pasty downtown office set. head east, friends.

• Pros: frosty soft drinks
• Cons: bland thai ?!, inattentive service