Pinto Express

Currently starving to death because these jerks don’t know a damn thing about delivering food. They confirmed the order via GrubHub, and then never called. I called GrubHub’s customer service, and they called the owner and the restaurant, but no one answered. I may have $ 10 off from GH now, but I’m STARVING because everyone else has closed for the evening.
They used to be my favorite due to their Pumpkin Curry, but they’ve been going totally downhill, lately.
You’re dead to me, Pinto Express.

Went in hungry, felt like having a decent Thai meal. Though I really enjoy Jai Dee, I am often aggravated by their whimsical desire to only sometimes deliver an amazing tasting dish.
I found nothing on Pinto’s menu to really strike my fancy, so I opted for a dish I seldom have– Pad Thai.
The worst food ever! Tofu bits were huge n dry, the noodles were ehh. I had better tasting bodega ramen!
Never again, and too pricey for what is essentially microwaved food.

Not as good as the West Village location but still good for a Thai food fix.
The mushroom crunch appetizer is delicious. I was really excited about the crispy pad Thai since I had it at the other location, but soon learned that it was as good in take out form.
Super yummy and would still go back for takeout.

Great food with fast delivery. I’ve never ordered a bad meal from this place. Recently, they went out of their way to get my food to me on time for my lunch — a huge rarity with delivery in this area.

Very tasty and affordable Thai, you get a lot of food for your money. A free appetizer accompanies your dish if you go during lunch, awesome sauce! Very friendly and helpful gal working the register as well, overall a great experience!

This place used to be decent, but it has really gone downhill of late. My go-​to dish, the spicy basil lo mein, consisted of a clump of vastly overcooked noodles not integrated into the rest of the dish – dry protein and vegetables varying from undercooked to overcooked – all of which was drowning in puddles of sauce. There are a host of other Thai restaurants in this neighborhood, most of which are worthy of at least three stars.

Sad news for Pinto– I really like the people who run this place, and the one dish I can have safely sans Gluten (SK Special is REALLY delicious and healthy) which I’ve ordered several times. I’ve debated omitting my recent experience and just quietly never going there again, but I gotta say it: I recently found a relatively large piece of plastic in my order. I still don’t know what it was exactly– but it was almost like the tooth of a fork– but not, about half an inch long, and definitely ruined my appetite not to mention my teeth. I’m not someone who freaks out at the sight of an accidental hair, but a large piece of hard who-​knows-​what garbage in the food? OY. Sorry Pinto– your SK special can only get you so far.

Since moving up the block from here, we’ve tried almost everything on the menu.
Favorite appetizers include calamari, creamy tom yum goong soup, chicken mint salad, popcorn shrimp, and lettuce wrap and mushroom crunch. Crispy roll, fresh roll, Thai salad, stuffed tofu, and steam dumplings are kind of bland and flavorless. Never a fan of satay anywhere so I’m biased. Pinto clear seaweed tofu soup has a heavy seaweed taste, wouldn’t recommend.
With so many other Thai places around, skip the pad Thai here (mediocre at best) but definitely try the spicy basil lo mein noodle (full of Thai sweet chili flavor) with your choice of meat or tofu or seitan. Tom yam fried rice was a bit overdone, wouldn’t order again.
Lychee soda (lychee purée with Sprite) is a must every time.
Will update once tried curry etc

I love their lunch special combo!
I’ve been ordering here a lot recently on seamless and what a surprise find! their crunchy mushroom is out of this world, it’s juicy and fresh, I love it! and the price is right!

This might be the best Thai food in the Slope area south of Flatbush Ave…
That isn’t saying much.
I ordered the chicken pad thai and calamari. Calamari was alright. The cut was small like thin onion ring tiny. The breading was odd as well. It wasn’t as crispy as I would have liked. The pad thai was good — nothing amazing but nothing bad as well.
Cash only unless you order via card on Seamless like I did.
Staff was very nice when I went to pick up my order.

Pinto is a perfect example of a restaurant trying way too hard to be different, unfortunately at the cost of food quality.
I was a casual fan of the Manhattan version so I was excited to have this place open up literally around the corner from my house, giving me more of a chance to explore the entire menu. And well, unfortunately I haven’t found a single entrée that I like besides the PCU Noodles. Honestly I’ve tried and tried to like this place! Their coconut pudding is great, their appetizers are pretty good … but the fried rice is bland, the panang has the same consistency as peanut butter, the S.K. sauteed vegetable dish tasted like spoiled garbage, the basil dish is acceptable but just feels empty with the lackluster ingredients, the basil noodles tasted like a spicy pickled playdoh… I can’t help but think they’d be a much better restaurant if they weren’t trying so desperately to reinvent the wheel. Instead of these crappy new textures and mishmash flavors they should just go with fresh ingredients and a more accessible menu.
In the spirit of the joke at the beginning of Annie Hall, the selling point here is the deal you get with their lunch special– a full sized dish and an appetizer for $ 8 can’t be beat, don’t matter how ‘meh’ the food is.
So, eh, I mean, give it a try. The food takes around 20 minutes to prepare, the employees are always super friendly and doing their best… and get the PCU Noodles because they’re literally the only thing keeping me from abandoning this place outright.

Updated and upgrading the rating after numerous repeat visits. The food quality has increased, I’m happy to report, although there are still problems.
The pumpkin curry has become my go-​to dish here. Super yummy with big chunks of kabocha squash. Delicious.
I’m still disappointed in the lack of consistency here though. Some dishes will be great one day and then just blah the next time you order. Even basic dishes like pad thai will change significantly from one visit to another. It leaves me a little hesitant to keep going back bc you always run the risk of getting them on an off night.
Hopefully time will stabilize the situation here and things will get a more predictable. Til then, I’m still shopping around for my go-​to Thai.

Oddly horrible. Is Thai food that difficult?
The plain brown rice was the only thing that was okay.
The previous reviewers must be friends & family.

If this place had my go-​to Thai dish (Pad See Ew) I would so far as to say that it’s the best Thai takeout in the slope. But because it doesn’t, that moniker is still with Song.
That said, Pinto is great. I’ve ordered from them several times, all with excellent results. The Pad Thai with scallions is deliciously smokey, as reported, and good with both tofu and chicken. It’s also not overly peanut heavy, which a lesser Pad Thai sometimes is.
The chicken and herb dumplings are non-​traditional, shaped like little packages cinched together into little bunches. They’re good, but I prefer the traditional dumpling shape (mostly because it’s bigger!). The chicken-​mint salad is amazing… it comes with lettuce leaves to wrap the salad in, and the combination of chicken, mint, and spices is simultaneously filling and refreshing.
I loved the S. K’s Sauteed Vegetables, which were cooked in a slightly spicy red miso sauce. The vegetables were still crunchy — not overcooked at all.
Pinto is cash only.

Move over Beet and Rice. Look out Joya, A new contender is in town, taking South Slope by storm. The food rivals Joya’s tastiness and authenticity. But the «express» factor brings about a new schtick to the Slope
We came here for lunch, where the special is an entrée + app. The seating in front was open and nice to catch the Slope saunter by until our food came out. The «Basil» was great, I had mine with beef, and it reminded me of Sripraphai/​Sweet Basil, for those of you familiar to the Woodside Thai spots. Our other entrée was spicy chicken basil lo mien, which was better than we were expecting. My only gripe was our lunch was served in take out containers… since they’re newly opened maybe they weren’t prepared for dine ins? Or maybe this has changed since last week?
Overall, I’d walk the extra blocks to get a proper Thai meal.
Cheers

I might rate this better on future visits as it seems to have potential. Have you ever had a lover who was very demure/​submissive, but could turn on a dime if you asked them to? I sense this with Pinto Express.
For those skimming reviews, this is a tiny shop serving Thai. There’s a little 5 seat counter you can dine on, and a sing 2-​top table. Plus a bench with no table out front. In other words, it’s designed for take out, not dining in.
Otherwise, it’s got a simple, sleek, modern vibe.
I must admit being annoyed with the menu… it’s written in chalk but is tiny and fancy typed (plus up high), so hard to read. The printed menu was equally small. And I’m not 85 years old with bifocals.
The other annoyance for me was that they have lunch specials and I didn’t know about them. These aren’t on the walk/​chalkboard menu and also weren’t offered in discussion with the counter guy. I learned of them after sitting down and seeing an expanded menu and hearing everyone else ordering my same dish, but for $ 3 cheaper and also with an appetizer thrown in.
Lesson learned.
I’m still not sure how the entrée portion compares with the lunch special, but upon delivery, the dinner portion wasn’t exactly huge. Not that I need huge. But for $ 10, it kinda hovered in that zone where you can eat it all or save half for another meal.
It was also a tad dry, a tad smoky and nobody in the place was offered any condiments. In Thailand you are often presented with a variety of ways to make your dish more saucy/​spicy/​fishy/​oily/​soyish, etc. I would have liked to have kicked things up a bit.
That said, the base fare was bolder than average. Everyone on the team seems to be proud natives of Thailand, so I get the feeling they might be taming things down in general but are capable of being more dynamic.
Maybe you just have to ask, though I’m not advocating a smack on the ass.

So very good! And everyone there is so nice! I’ve never been the type to really crave thai food, but this is so delicious and interesting that I want it every other day… luckily I control the urge, but seriously it’s that good.
P. S. Try S. K’s Sauteed Vegetables — it will blow your mind! But if you’re a pad thai lover, I’ve never tasted it better. Actually everything from here is worth a try at least once! Enjoy :)

Solid food, good prices.
I loved the new interpretation of Pad Thai – it was very smoky and saucy, with a little crunch on top. The tofu in the stuffed tofu was a little overpowering (needs more frying?), but the fresh spring rolls were delicious.
The guys working here were very sweet. They seem to care a lot about having happy customers. This will be my new standard Thai take-​out place.

I am absolutely in love the place!!! I love their Spicy Lo Mein Noodle and PCU Noodle!!! It just opened and it is my Go to place in Brooklyn!!! The staff is so friendly and the price is better than greasy Chinese take out! The food is amazing and I highly recommend to anyone who is craving Thai food!!!

I have now been to Pinto Express an embarrassingly large number of times in the last week and I have to give them 5 stars. They are super nice in there and the food is spectacular. Don’t let the tiny space fool you… this place blows Watana and Beet and every other mediocre Thai place in the hood away.
Plus, their Pad Thai is stellar. That smoked tofu is a game-​changer.