E-San Thai Cuisine
| Address: | 133 SW 2nd Ave, Portland, OR 97204, USA |
| Phone: | +1 503-223-4090 |
| Site: | esanthai.com |
| Rating: | 4.3 |
| Working: | 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 11AM–10PM 12–10PM 12–10PM |
Location
Photos 100
Reviews 6
PE
Pechluck Laskey
At E-San, what stood out as I gazed through the menu from the normal expected Thai dishes is "Nam Kao— Crispy rice, peanut, ground meat or tofu, fresh Thai chili, mint leaves, lime juice. Served self-wrapped with green leaf lettuce". This is pronounced so that Nam that rhymes with Ham, and Kao as in "Cow!" Yes, with the exclamation point at the end. I havent had this dish since I left Chicago (done by a friends mom/my moms friend), and its not one you often see in Thai restaurants. This dish stands out because first, the rice formed into a ball and fried until crispy (so sorta similar to arancini) and then broken up and additional seasonings added. You know how in Mac and Cheese the top part and especially the corners are crispy or the bottom of the rice in Bibimbap thanks to the stone rice bowl? You have that in Nam Kao. Unlike the creaminess of mac and cheese or the spicy kick of Bibimbap, Nam Kao has a flavor profile that is a mix of sour thanks to a healthy dose of lime and then a bit of spice whiel the cilantro and lemongrass are kicking around too, and then you spoon and wrap the rice inside a lettuce leaf and as you bite in you get bits of nut sometimes in a bite. Not in E-Sans version, but in other versions of what this (also known as Laotian crispy rice salad or fried rice ball salad) there is also pork sausage and coconut as part of the dish. I was so excited that I actually ate a couple wrapped lettuce leaves before I pulled out my camera to take a picture. This dish is definitely hands on, which I also like because it forces you to compose your dish yourself and take careful bites- all ways to make you savor your dish over time instead of eating too quickly.
A
A Private User
Second time visiting today. The first time my wifes order was wrong. Today, when entering the place, I was promptly greeted and said that my wife would be about 5 minutes late. Looked like it wouldnt be a problem if I seated rigth away. I asked for a specific table since another party was leaving and immediately the wait person seemed put out, rolling her eyes at my request. After cleaning up the table, I was seated and my wife showed up within two minutes. It was a busy lunch crowd for a Friday afternoon so I had no expectations of quick service, which was ok. After ordering ice tea and our respective dishes our drinks were brought promptly, albeit with a quick plop and turn of the back to rush away. My wife and I sat for 45 minutes watching people arrive and receive their orders before us. Not once were we approached in this timeframe to check on things, to see if we needed another drink or if we wanted our water glasses re-filled. After grabbing another waitress and watching through the kitchen doors, it was obvious our order wasnt placed. She said they were working on it and that it would be a couple of minutes. At that point, my wife and I had to leave and so I asked for it to go, again, the waitress seemed put out. So was the order at least correct? Not in the slightest. Not only was it incorrect, but our fried rice contain eggshells. Not a pleasant surprise. Lesson learned, do not ask for a specific table at this downtown establishment.
CH
Chinh Luong
I have always love this place and prefer it above the rest of Thai places in Portland area. Until this pass weekend when I had an out of town guest visiting,we decided E-San for dinner. First encounter when I walked in, they must have all new server staff, but these people are horrible. They asked how many and then just wander off attending other guests at the restaurant without saying leaving us standing there wondering if well be seated at all. After standing around another host was about to seat us, the original one came back and was pickering with the host who wanted to seat us about where we should be seated. When it came time to order, the waitress didnt even bother asking us if we wanted spicy or not. Just took our order and ran off. Food is good as usual... UNTIL I had the leftover pad thai for lunch the next day and discovered a piece of GLASS in it! If you have pad thai before you know its cooked with a darker color, well the piece of glass was one of those brown piece. Imagine me not chewing my food and swallow it. So while dining, the whole time these two girl just running around joking laughing and not really attending to their guests at all. All in all, this is a HUGE disappointment for me. I love the food at this place. Its going to be a very long time for me to come back to this place if at all.
SY
Sylvia Lewis
Got a thai seafood salad here and it was one of the best ones I have had. Probably because I like things spicy. The waiter recommended I just go normal and get a spice rack, but I opted for "extra spicy" and Im glad I did. (If you like spicy - dont let them just give you the spice rack because its only garlic chili paste, chiu chow, and soy with chives... none of them are extremely hot - though yummy and I did end up dumping a fair amount on the salad) I did, however start feeling the heat at the end of the salad (gulping down water and clearing my nose a few times) because I started discovering all the tiny little peppers that had drifted down in my salad. It comes with shrimp (3-4 count) and a good amount of calamari. Overall, really nice salad and pretty large. Ambiance is very quiet and relaxed. Great and friendly service.
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A Private User
Just left and I can easily say I will never go back. bBelow is a discription of the food we had. I gave the restaurant 2 stars though because they were very friendly. We had the tomyum soup with shrimp. The shrimp was the chewy texture it gets when it is well overcooked. The mushrooms were a couple days past fresh and it was extremely salty (maybe to mask the bad taste). We also had pad thai with pork, which was fine if I had got it at a food court in a mall. The noodles tasted like they had been cooked a while ago and just reheated with sauce. Lastly we had eggplant and bamboo stirfry, which was the worst of the three. It should have been called onion stirfry as that was almost the only ingredient I saw. All of the vegetables were past fresh and the flavor tasted completely of canned bamboo with a little chili added.
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A Private User
My girlfriend calls them up, orders the food, gets it on the way home, and low and behold they screwed up our order. She calls them up, they offer to replace it, and guess what, Im enlisted to go pick up the new order. I throw some pants on, head over, and am charged for the replacement. I dont have my wallet on me, so really, I just drove for half an hour for nothing, no replacement order, just a big waste of time. Esan is only so-so to begin with, throw crappy customer service on top of that, and well...that will be the last time I ever eat there. There are lots of alternatives that I can eat at for 12 bucks per meal that are delicious and well staffed. Esan is definitely not one of them
