Savatdee Authentic Thai & Lao Cuisine

I order Tom Kha soup almost every time I order Thai. I ordered that here and it was strangely sweet. It was still decent but nothing I would go back for and it wasn’t sweet in a positive way. It almost tasted like it was made with sweetened condensed milk in place of coconut milk. The service was fine and food was ready quick but this place isn’t going in the Thai rotation.

Great food. We tried a Thai vegetable stir fry dish and Laotian Nhem Mou and both were flavorful and didn’t disappoint.
The mango sticky rice was delicious!

Love, Love, Love! My wife and I frequent here often as it is local. We have had excellent dishes every time. May I recommend the «23. Pad Opp Woonsen — $ 10» or the «38. Gaeng Paneang.» We have yet to «dine-​in,» but I have seen their service on observation and it seems top notch. Cheers.

The Nhem Mou is incredible– I have a hard time ordering anything else now that i’ve tried it. I’ve also had the green curry, yellow curry, neua num tok salad, and pad thai. All were delicious. The owner is extremely friendly and helpful. I stop by every time i’m in the neighborhood.

The Lao cuisine was a flavorful and fresh experience and I’ll come back for it.
However the Thai food was plain and disappointing.

Savatdee is a great restaurant located in a pretty odd area. Stuck smack dab between a mechanic’s shop and an enterprise rent a car, they’re serving up some pretty awesome dishes at an affordable price. Savatdee doesn’t look like the most beautiful of buildings but it is well maintained and the space is pretty big with generous outdoor seating.
The service here is good and the food is even better. Clearly this is a neighborhood joint and if you don’t live in the area, it is still worth a drive out. I had the Nhem Mou and the Pla Kung. The Nhem Mou is a fairy odd dish in that I don’t really understand why it comes with a lettuce wrap but it makes for messy eating. However combined with cilantro, mint, and the texture of the rice it is a flavorful dish with a bit of crunch. I’ve never had Laotian food before but apparently I have been seriously missing out. I asked for a level 4 spicy and I should have gone for 5 since it really wasn’t that bad, I’ve had much hotter Indian food. The Pla Kung was similarly a great dish, vibrant in flavors and especially enjoyed how the lime made the dish really pop. Simply stated, the food here is well executed and if you’re looking for food that isn’t boring, this is it.

The Laos menu here though!
I got an order of the fresh rolls to start with and then chicken and gizzards larp with the nhem mau (crispy fried rice). The entrees were very well seasoned and so flavorful. They came with a plate of greens for lettuce wrapping, and that made the meats taste even better. I’m a little bummed that the plates came out cold, but at least they still tasted good.
Service here was also great! Maybe there were only 3 other parties there, but my water was refilled frequently and the server was really sweet. Overall a good experience, just the way I remember Savatdee when I came here 5 years ago.

Savatdee is one of our staples. We live just around the corner and probably eat here at least once a week — especially after a long day at work when we don’t feel like cooking. One of the owners is super friendly and she always remembers us. Since we live so close, rarely do we eat in the restaurant. They often have our order ready for pick-​up in 10 minutes or less. I was surprised to read the other reviews about delayed delivery service, as we’ve never been disappointed by pick up.
Typically, I order the chicken pad thai, medium spicy, since noodles are my comfort food. And it’s good at Savatdee. The chicken larb is extremely flavorful and their eggplant with beef dish is another one of my favorites (with a side of rice).
But last night I FINALLY ordered off the Lao menu and decided that’s where it’s at! I got the Nhem Mou, which, as many on Unilocal have commented, is one of the best dishes at Savatdee. It’s a mixture of rice, coconut meat, and eggs formed into a balls and deep fried. It’s then crumbled and tossed with roasted peanuts and pork salami and served with fresh herbs and green leaf lettuce. The resulting dish is an incredible combination of flavors and textures. I’m still thinking about it and definitely recommend.

The food we ordered was three stars overall, but delivery killed it. It arrived 2 hours and 29 minutes after order was *confirmed*. I’d recommend Amazing Thai Cuisine instead.
Ordered at 8 pm with a 60 minute delivery time. Called at 9:15 and was told their server was down, they found the order, and that they’d rush it by 9:45.
We called again at 10:00. Was told it was out for delivery «10 or 15 minutes ago».
Food arrived at 10:30, lukewarm, and also spilling out of crushed containers into the plastic bag ;_​_​; We live 7 minutes away by car. Not sure how it took 45 minutes to deliver.
The food we salvaged was okay after microwaving it, but it’s not what we expected after paying $ 45 (total, including tip). That said, after 2.5 hrs we were all starving, so anything would taste good :\
Pad Khi Mao w/​beef — 4 stars
Bhoo Tak Soup — 2 stars (over salted)
Param Pak — 3 stars (sad vegetables, not fully grilled, and mostly sauce)
If anything, we would’ve just appreciated realistic delivery times. At least then we would’ve made the decision to run to the grocery store and not drive ourselves crazy with hunger :(
Some sort of refund or discount would’ve been nice too. Just something besides «sorry» :\

This place always satisfies my needs dining in nor ordering delivery has always made my tummy as happy as I am :) gotta try that nhem mou!

Terrific food and good prices. Love that tea and rice are included as well. The Laotian food is terrific and the Thai food is some of the best in the city.

Normally the food here is really good. I made the mistake of ordering online. Delivery time was estimated from 40 – 60 minutes. I live less than 10 minutes from the restaurant and it took half an hour from the time that I called the restaurant to see where the food was (the woman said he had left 10 minutes ago) for the driver to actually arrive.
By the time I actually got the food it was cold. Spending nearly $ 40 on food, I don’t think I should have to reheat it.

Definitely some of the most delicious Thai food I have ever had and I’ve been to Thailand many times. The food is freshly prepared perfectly seasoned and made with extremely fresh ingredients.
We got creative and ordered the chicken and vegetables with red Curry sauce, however we subbed the green curry sauce with some of the best I’ve ever had!

Let’s get this straight. My best friend is thai and I helped there mom at there family restaurant when we grew up. We went to ThaIland a few times. And today he owns a chain of Thai restaurants.
Not sure where there cook learned there recipes. This the Worst Thai food experiences I have ever had.
Ordered from them over dinner. Everything was dry and tasteless. Their Pad Thai could have been much better if it had come from one of those do it yourself boxes with the flavor packets.
It was beyond awful and totally not worth a penny. Strange to me that a restaurant is still open that serves practically inedible food.
You will genuinely want your money back and ended up staying mostly hungry that night as most of the food ended up in the garbage.
Owners son does not know anything about customer service. No social skills what so ever. He needs to find a new career because he definitely does not want to be there.
Save yourself the misery. Just drive pass this place totally not worth the trouble.

This review is strictly for the Thai cuisine.
There are many Thai places around University District and I was curious to what Savatdee had to offer. The place is located on Roosevelt and 58^th street. It’s a little bit past Taste of India. The place is not brightly lit when it’s dark but you should be able to see it’s sign although it does not light up.
The interior is quite nice. It’s not the biggest place but it does seem like it can accommodate for big parties. They also have a wine menu so some alcohol is served here. There is outdoor seating for when it is nice outside. We were seated promptly and given our menus.
We decided to just order Thai food. We started with the fresh rolls. My partner got pad thai chicken five stars and I got pad khee mao tofu three stars. If you eat at the place there is no extra charge for rice. However, if you to-​go then you’ll have to pay for rice on the side. All the food came out within ten minutes which was good timing.
Fresh rolls — You get 4 spring rolls cut in 2 pieces so there are 8 pieces on the dish. It comes with the fish sauce in the middle. Each roll has rice noodles, fresh mint, cilantro, cucumber and egg. This was the first time seeing egg in a fresh roll but it added a unique taste to it. The fish sauce was on the fishier side but in a good way. I think the sauce and rolls complimented each other well. However, these were standard and I have had better elsewhere.
Pad kee mao tofu — This dish definitely needs a lot of fixing. I already could tell something was off because the color of the dish was way too dark. I’ve never seen kee mao drowning in a sauce that mimics the color of dark chocolate. Usually kee mao is a light tan/​brown color. The first bite was way too saucy and salty. There was too much soy sauce that I almost thought it was pad see yew. Furthermore, the tofu was overcooked/​fried. It was dry on the outside and not soft on the inside. I did enjoy the assortment of veggies and the use of green beans in this dish.
Pad thai chicken — The pad thai at five stars didn’t pack that big of a punch. There was a different element to this pad thai. It didn’t have that heavy ketchup flavor to it. It almost reminded me of the flavor of shin ramen (the spicy Asian ramen). The portion size was average. Sadly, the chicken was not good. It was really dry and not pleasant to chew on. The serving of complimentary rice on the side was good though.
Service was definitely top notch here. They were very welcoming and friendly when we came in. Throughout dinner they were attentive with our water refills and making sure things were going smoothly.
For the three dishes it was 27.50 without tip. The price for the noodle dishes were about $ 9 each which seemed about average. Hopefully one day their Thai dishes will shine as bright as their service. We still have yet to try the Laos cuisine though!

Was looking for a new place to order Thai take-​out from and stumbled upon some good stuff from Savatdee! My usual order wasn’t shaken up too much from the original but I loved their take on my favorites:
Fresh spring rolls — fresh, nicely rolled and served with a spicy and snappy vinegar sauce. A real treat to even discover a Thai restaurant that offers fresh spring rolls! Far too many times have I been wronged by Thai restaurants serving me deep fried spring rolls as their interpretation. It’s a hard world out there, guys.
Panang curry — rich and creamy curry sauce, but not too thick. Nice array of fresh vegetables and good quality chicken. Great job on the spice level!
Chicken pad see ew — nice lucious wide egg noodles with a rich sauce and fresh veggies. Always my go-​to and this ranks up there with one of the better pad see ew’s I’ve had!

What does a person do when one gets a craving for Lao food? Of course, check Unilocal to see if a place exists and if said place is near, how good are its reviews. I checked out Savatdee with my wife and friends on a cold Sunday evening. Like the restaurant, the parking lot is small but there is street parking near by.
We were immediately seated in the quaint dining area that had maybe, 15 tables at most. The restaurant serves Thai and Lao food; sadly, among the many pages of menu items, the Lao menu was a single page of 11 dishes. Each dish varied in price from $ 11 – 15; kinda expensive compared to food from the ID and other Asian restaurants. But, perhaps Savatdee had a reason for the $$ priced dishes…
We ordered spring rolls, #1 Lab Ped Yang, #4 Nhem Mou, #5 Goi Goong, and #10 Lab Mou Sai Keungnai. The restaurant seemed understaffed that evening as there was only 1 waiter. The spring rolls were tasty, wrapped tightly, and used very fresh ingredients. #4 came out first with a side of romaine lettuce hearts sweet basil and cilantro. Placing the #4 rice on romaine lettuce hearts proved to be difficult for us; lettuce leaves would have been much easier to wrap the rice around. The flavors of #4 were really good and spicy — I think this was the star of our dinner except for those dang lettuce hearts.
#1, #5, and #10 came out about 15 minutes after #4. #1, containing the duck, got mixed reviews from our table — my wife thought the duck was too tough. A couple things in common with the dishes — a LOT of raw to semi-​cooked red onions! Also, except for #5, each dish seemed like a different type of salad — lots of lettuce, RED ONIONS, and sauce with a consistency of a vinaigrette. The food was accompanied by a bowl of free jasmine rice but the bowl of rice was really small for 4 people; fortunately, it came with free refills.
While the food was good, the meal left us unsatisfied and hungry. We felt that we basically ate 4 salads and spring rolls for $ 62. Needless to say, we went to another restaurant afterwards to fill our hungry appetites.

I had the number 9. I forget the name. I remember the dish though — it was Chicken (with gizzards and heart), minced and sautéed. The spices were excellent and it was served on a leaf which had great flavor. The dish had mint and lemon and was just superb. I will go here again for this dish.
My wife had the shrimp dish of the Lao menu. It was decent. We were four and the other folks with us had the Pad Thai (again okay) and something else which I don’t remember.
The ambiance is decent. The service could have been better but we were here close to closing time on a Thursday.
Overall, I will definitely go here again, if not for anything but that dish. One of the best dishes I’ve had in a while.

I gave this place a try and feel really disappointed. The food was okay. I ordered Nhem Moo, Larb Ped (Duck), Gai Yang (Grilled chicken), Papaya salad, and Pad Kee Mao. Nhem moo, Pad Kee Mao were okay, but I had better. However, the other dishes weren’t so good. The duck meat in Lab Ped was stinky. Gai yang was kindda bland — I like Gai Yang at Somtam Thai more.
Besides the food, the service was really slow and the waitstaff was not attentive. I had to walk to the front counter to ask him for to-​go boxes and my check, then had to walk back to the front again to give him my credit card so I could pay because he was busy on his cellphone staying behind the counter instead of coming and checking the customers in the dining area. The place would be better converting to a self-​service instead of a dine-​in restaurant.

Great Thai restaurant! Very clean, not loud, great service and good food. The vegetables are cooked the way I like and fresh ingredients. I can tell many locals come to this restaurant and everybody seems to leave very pleased.