Sunee Thai & Lao Kitchen

Holy goodness! This stir fry with tofu is so good! I’m in heaven! Thanks guys – really…delicious!

I’ve passed by here many times and decided to try it today for lunch. I ordered the Tom Yum soup with shrimp and the Cashew Nut Chicken. The server seemed annoyed to be there, and ultimately the food and flavors were pretty average. Not only did I receive the soup after the entrée, I was informed when I went to pay that they were only offering dinner pricing due to the MLK holiday. When I placed my order, I was holding the lunch side of the menu upwards, so the server could have pointed this out at that time. I felt cheated that this wasn’t disclosed in advance. You can throw a rock and hit a Thai restaurant in Portland. I would try another place before going back here.

Sam and his wife run a wonderful restaurant! Their food is always delicious. Ingredients taste fresh and the sauces have real flavor. Definitely stands out from other restaurants in the area. Give it a try!
Lunch menu is a great deal :)

Sunee has been my favorite thai food so far in Portland. We’ve ordered takeout a few times, so I can’t speak to the dining-​in experience, but the food has been two or three steps above any other thai food we’ve had in town. Our standbys are pad thai and a pad see ew like dish (not quite pad see ew). These have been spot on, with plenty, plenty of tofu. The fresh rolls are a tasty appetizer. Sure, there are a trillion good Thai places in town, but Sunnee is better than the rest.

So, I order from this place all the time. Today I ordered the chicken pad Thai with extra chicken and the spicy wings. Everything tasted great… But. My wings, well… Two of the «wings» were actually a chicken butt/​tail end and the neck. Ew. Not what my taste buds were craving. I guess, I should just be glad that that weren’t fingers. Or were they?
I always order delivery from them, I’ve only sat and ate there once. And the service was horrible. The guy ignored me, it was dead. It was just me and some couple that already had their food. My room mate loves their eggplant dish, I like the pad Thai but sometimes the flavors are a hit or miss. This time, I’m just grossed out by the deep fried mystery meat. Bleck!

The food is ok but I ordered my meal takeout and it took over two hours to get it. The driver kept calling and saying he was on his way. Obviously not that case considering the restaurant was only a mile and a half from my house and it took him 45 minutes to get there. Do not recommend.

This place absolutely sucked !!! I had chicken and shrimp pad thai and the chicken was bad meaning it was stale. The shrimp tasteless and the husband or owner shouldn’t be in the restaurant industry. He was a jerk. Avoid this place if you can. Also the fried tofu was tasteless

Super great and friendly service and great food.
We wanted to order takeout for delivery and this restaurant popped up on eat24, however when we tried to checkout it didn’t work… so we had to go pick it up. We hadn’t anticipated it being in the industrial district but we were set on Thai food.
I came in to pick up and I met the owner and he was incredibly friendly and couldn’t believe that the delivery option wasn’t available. We talked for awhile and he gave me a card with 15% off.
We ordered the yellow curry with chicken, the king noodle and the chicken wings. The yellow curry was really good and we literally ate it for two meals. I loved the potatoes, carrots and onions. The curry had great spice. My girlfriend liked king noodle but wished she had ordered the curry instead. The chicken wings were dynamite! I never order chicken wings but I ate those wings like it was nothing, the sauce was SO good. Better than a lot of other wings I’ve had (that includes poke poke).
Great food, alright prices, super friendly service.

Love the wings. Spicy and sweet. The other Thai food I’ve had has been pretty mediocre, but I love their wings.

Very busy lunch spot, Yum food. Wait times are ridiculous and unrealistic. 25+min for a togo order that was placed on the phone before I showed up. Their food is good, Their service is slow. The owner doesn;t care. I guess my advice would be show up with plenty of time in order to eat. And if your placing a togo order, place it before you get hungry.

This is a wonderful little family-​run Thai restaurant with a great «neighborhood» feel. I eat here about twice a week, as I work in the office across the street. The Red Curry and Pad See Ew, particularly, are excellent. The couple who runs it are personable, fun, and take a lot of pride in their restaurant. I’ve noticed some reviewers below who were upset about long waits at Sunnee – and I’d agree that for a while this was true. They lost two waitresses at once and for a few weeks the owner seemed like he was running around trying to do everything himself. I watched the wheels come off a few times for sure. But they’ve totally stepped up their «fast service» game lately, so I’d encourage the folks who encountered long waits before to give this neighborhood gem another try.

I previously rated this restaurant as 5-​stars on Google+, because I enjoyed the establishment and wanted them to be successful, but after last night, there is a zero percent chance I’ll ever be going back.
It was the absolute worst «dining» experience of my life and I left in tears.
After waiting outside over an hour for my take-​out order, I went in to check in on the status of my meal. I was distressed due to the wait, but I’ve worked in the industry, so I understand bad things happen. Had I been treated with kindness and given a timeframe for when the order would be ready, it honestly would not have been such a big deal.
Unfortunately for everyone involved, that’s not what happened. He greeted me with a snarky «Don’t be mad» which, admittedly, set me off a bit. The interaction quickly turned and the proprietor was horrible to me. He actively tried to make me feel guilty about being upset, which made me waaay more upset. At one point I was yelling that he needed to respect me as a customer.
He did not acknowledge that it had been an inconvenience and he only half-​heartedly offered to make up for it, saying he would’ve given me something for free. Totally besides the point. If he had told me the wait would be that long, I would have walked home and returned at a later time, no harm, no foul.
Instead, it became a throw down that ended with me asking for a refund and leaving empty-​handed.
A note to the proprietor, that is no way to treat a person; especially a regular, paying customer.
The first review I ever wrote was for Sunee’s. I had given them 5-​start and said:
«Sunee’s is a great neighborhood Thai restaurant. Their fast service and fairly inexpensive menu makes it the perfect take out option. It also has a nice ambiance for dining in, and the proprietors are very friendly people!»
I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I am curry eater, so to me, that is the measure of Thai food. The massaman curry was delicious, and just warm enough with 2 stars. The lunch portion was totally adequate for 1 person.
Service was very good. I can tell there are «regulars» and the gentleman providing table service did not miss a beat as the room filled up and take out orders happened. He was polite to the hipster douche sitting next to me, who shouted his order across the restaurant, including 2 mentions of gluten free.
I plan to make Sunee a regular spot for Thai.

This place was AWESOME. The food was great, the service was ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL, and for going in with a group of about 15 people — the speed of service was impressive. When we got there, the owner (Sam?) told us that they only had one cook that night and that things would come out as fast as they could, but to be patient. We were fine with that, since we were all just in town for a wedding and trying to catch up.
Service and speed were impeccable. We found out later that the one chef there had hurt one of her hands earlier that week and was literally just working with one hand. We received our food faster than some places I’ve gone with one or two other people that have been fully staffed!
The food was great! Let me preface this review by saying that I haven’t really been a fan of Thai food. And I enjoyed everything I had. We ordered a bunch of apps, from which I tried the cream cheese wontons, egg rolls, chicken satay, fried tofu, and fresh salad roll. Everything was DELICIOUS. My main dish (veggie and tofu pad kee mao) was entirely too spicy for my taste, but the flavor was wonderful! I ended up eating some of my other friends’ food and having rice mixed with my dish when I could tolerate the spice — mainly because the taste was just so good. Sam came around and felt horrible that I couldn’t eat my dish that he kept insisting they make me another one. With all of the food we had on the table, I really didn’t need another dish made, but just the gesture was very sweet and very appreciated.
Overall, we had a great experience. We were there past closing and Sam didn’t care — he just wanted us to enjoy the food and experience. What a great guy! And shoutout to the chef for doing such a fabulous job when she was by herself and had injured one of her hands!

Placed an order for pickup and they only made half of it upon pick up. Had to wait for the other items and made the mistake of not looking in the second bag when they gave it to me. Got home to find they didn’t even include everything else! Need to improve service ASAP.

Before I get to the food, I want to acknowledge the service.
I believe the man who helped me is named Sam and what I experienced tonight with customer service was the polar opposite of Friday’s delivery debacle.
Alliteration aside, this guy was excellent — took my order and delivered just what I requested, called when he thought he might be a little late (he wasn’t) and was friendly and helpful while taking my order explaining their particular heat scale. 3 was perfect but I could go up to 4 I think.
All this sounds dull but, isn’t it a fine thing when everything works out, as we’ve all got other garbage to deal with be it FWP or not?
A really damn good Pad Thai with just the right amount of spice can lift the spirits of even a bridge dwelling troll. (ok, so I don’t actually know this)…
Plenty of Thai food in Portland (understatement of the decade) and I have my more adventurous choices but I like to get the feel of a Thai restaurant with Pad Thai first.
Passed with flying colors — sour, sweet, salty and the almighty umami was just enough so all that was needed was a squeeze of lime of which there was plenty, in my carton.
A big bowl of pad Thai is a decadent indulgence and one I love to occasionally partake in. We also tried their satay, the peanut sauce was pretty good– and their veggie fried rice which had perfectly cooked carrots and broccoli that weren’t the least bit limp or soggy from the trip to NE from SE.
A positive delivery experience from beginning to end– next time I will try other dishes and I’m excited to do so. Absolutely reasonable prices and tasty fresh food delivered with grace and smiles.
Thank you, guys– you’re just what this girl was craving. Apologies for no photos I was too anxious to get my face in those noodles.

We ordered takeout, the spring rolls came without shrimp which we ordered, the Tom Yum soup that was supposed to be a 5 spice level was a 2 – 3 and the Pad Thai which was supposed to be a 3 was a 5 spice level. Red curry and dishes above were bland. Portland is so lacking in good restaurants that deliver!

My partner and I have a weekly Thai night and order from this place each week. When we first moved to the neighborhood, we checked out every other Thai place within a mile. This place was the clear winner.
1) Great service! Sam (+the others) are the nicest that I’ve met at any restaurant.
2) Great food! We especially love the pad thai, thai ice tea, ribs and salad rolls.
3) Nicely redone décor! (And AC!)
4) And they deliver!

Their pad Thai was by far the highlight of my meal here. I had their pot stickers they weren’t that great, but their pad Thai is by far their bread and butter.
Calling all pad Thai lovers!

Quick and dirty:
The food is fine. My pad see ew w/​pork was tasty and for lunch a decent portion. She asked if I wanted spice between 1 – 5; I went with 2 and it had just a touch of heat, which I’d say is appropriate. I’d probably order takeout from this place, no problem.
As a restaurant though? This place is just odd. At noon we were the first table, and with no music playing it felt eerily silent. The waitress was friendly-​ish, but for us being the only table did a pretty poor job. Our meals came out at completely different times, we didn’t have silverware, and she managed to forget about some additional condiments that I had requested. Water refills were a rarity, too. On only one visit I don’t want to accuse the employee of having a nasty case of Idontgiveafuckitis, but that’s how it came across. Hopefully I’m wrong.
I like Thai food, and this is nearby my house to conveniently order takeout, so I’ll definitely be back. But the dining in experience thus far leaves a lot to be desired.