This is a tough one. I would rate the flavor differently than the experience if I could, but I can't. the experience I would give a two, and don't plan on coming back. The flavors were all good actually. I want to say first that we are big fans of Mestizo. It's our fav mex spot in PDX. I had very high expectation. We came on my birthday. The problems: The person working was not friendly, and did not explain how things worked. It seemed like he did not want to be there and was just on his phone. He wasn't a jerk or rude, but was not the experience I enjoy. When I said we haven't been here before how does it work. He said white or brown rice. That's an example of how our lunch went. One of the dishes the food was cold, and that is gross. I was concerned before we came that this might just be a buffet, not something I like. I did ask before selecting it, if it was fresh, and he said it was. The table was sticky, this is also gross and not what I was expecting. The vibe was sad. It wasn't lunch rush hour to be honest. But you can get a feeling when you walk into a place... I wish we would have just walked right out. My wife couldn't even eat her food because it was so spicy, and then later her stomach was seriously jacked. I was concerned how my stomach would do, since I ate a few cold pieces of catfish. Mine did just fine. I will say, all the flavors were really good. It reminded me of american Chinese food. I was not a fan of the very small bowls they used for curry, I couldn't even get my spoon in there, and it was hard to not make a mess. It was odd. We needed more dishes, larger ones if we were going to eat everything. We left a lot. The phaya chicken and catfish was really good. It is not at all in any way in the same category as Mestizo. read more

Good portions and curry was pretty tasty. Everything is pre-prepared so good if you're in a hurry. Reminded me of Chipotle in a good way. Wasn't as crazy about the rice but overall it did the job read more

Phaya Thai Express - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

This restaurant has been on my list for a couple months per a recommendation. Finally had a chance to stop by, I was definitely not disappointed. The staff was so friendly and helpful explaining through how the restaurant works. You can pick a bowl which comes with choice or white rice or brown rice with lentils and quinoa (extra charge), then you can pick one, two or three sides. There's a variety of sides you can pick from and they are constantly made fresh. This reminds me of how Panda Express works. I got the steak panang curry, kabocha and stir fried egg, and Prik Khing tofu with their brown rice + grains. The steak panang curry was recommended to me by someone and I had to get it. It was a good decision, very flavorful, tender beef too. The kabocha and stir fried egg was good, not as strong in flavor but I like it. The Prik Khing tofu was delicious with a little spice. They give a hearty portion of rice with everything and I had leftovers to take home. I also ordered Phaya Punch which was slightly sweet but refreshing. There's no direct on site parking here but there's neighborhood parking. There is street parking too but it's a busy road. The decor here is also really nice, great place to hang out and grab something with friends or family. I'll be back to try their other dishes! read more

Phaya Thai Express - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

I like this set up. We each chose a bowl that starts with white or brown rice and you can add whatever 1,2,3 dishes you want. The person working was so welcoming and helpful and walked us through the whole thing, making suggestions for our group of 3 people. The food was delicious and a little spicy. I enjoyed the catfish dish the best. They've got beer and cocktails. read more

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Great Thai food lunch counter - food is prepped ready to go and fresh . Delicious and convenient. Counter guy was friendly and efficient no complaints . We got an assortment to go - they were good! Would come back again read more

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Great concept, open & airy. Spacious seating, indoor and out. Clean and inviting, bus your own table. The service was absolutely outstanding. The food was delicious, although I think my noodles might've been a little undercooked, still good. Shrimp was perfect. Having done the made to order - not the stuff in the case - all I can say it was good, and super fast!! read more

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Excellent Thai fast food! As they said it themselves, it's a Thai Panda Express. You chose 1/2/3 items on top of rice with certain premium items with $1 extra charge. Exactly like Panda Express except the food is WAY better. We wanted a quick dinner since it was getting late and we were in and out in less than 30 mins (yes, I eat way too fast). All the dishes were very tasty, especially the catfish. Definitely recommend it for quick meal/takeout! read more

I really wanted this to be my new favorite place, based on what I had read. In practice, though, it wasn't quite my thing. The concept is great - you can order a bowl of rice with one, two, or three different 'toppings' (proteins with different sauces). This idea lets a single customer have their own family style meal, without leaving with a week's worth of leftovers. Don't get me wrong, a week's worth of Thai food in my fridge would be a wonderful thing, but by day 5 I may find myself questioning my choices. Anyway, there were two of us, and we ordered a two item bowl as well as a stand alone Pad Thai. My main quibble is with the bowl - the proteins were not quite as flavorful as I would have liked, and were on the dry side. Since they're adding items from a steam table, they understandably haven't been seasoned to order, and probably shouldn't be heavily sauced, to prevent sogginess. Considering the lowest common denominator limitations, I think I'll stick to the traditional Thai restaurant model, but I think Phaya could be just right for some people. read more

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The concept of a buffet a la carte style Thai restaurant is unique. Tried this place for dinner because the IG content and photos. Tried some options like the Phaya chicken and palo braised pork and egg with rice. The hot items at the service station were kinda empty and didn't look very fresh. They were out of calamari for one customer and just not every tray was topped off or full. Maybe the lunch hours was busy? Limitint food waste? Just seemed odd the food options weren't all there. Phaya chicken had sweet garlic basic and tasted like any Chinese food orange chicken like batter. Palo pork was tender and the egg was good. The sauce had a little too much 5 spice for my comfort. Reminded me of Thai boat noodles which are way over seasoned with 5 spice. Probably a recipe I'm not used to. The white rice was horribly mushy like wayyy too much water was used to cook the rice. Like it was a few levels below porridge rice. Ordered pad Thai chaya? And pad see ew to go. I tried both at home, pad Thai did have the coconut milk flavor but was covered in chili flakes. I did ask for mild so the texture of chili seeds kinda try and raw made for a grainy texture on chewy noodles. It was too salty for me. The pad see ew was the same. Very salty but the beef was tender. Maybe the velveting baking soda technique of Chinese food was used to tenderize. There's an absence of tamarind sweet sour and fish sauce. These recipes aren't as sweet and savory compared to other Thai food restaurants. A bit more on the salty side with ingredients like fresh coconut milk on pad Thai does elevate one flavor note but mutes everything else. A partial symphony that just kinda left me like huh? What's missing. Not sure Service was good tho. Lots of outdoor seating and the interior is fresh and modern. Just the food itself wasn't as impressive as the instagram content. read more

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Great place! Like a way way better, local, gluten free version of Panda Express. (Like wayyyy better). The food was really good, though woah when they mean "hot" chicken they really aren't kidding. It was hot like Nicole Kidman in the 80s hot. I'm still on fire. If the weather is nice, they have a LOVELY deck out back that really adds to the atmosphere. Check it out! read more

I visited Phaya Thai Express a few weeks ago for lunch. The service was friendly. I got the 2 item rice bowl and a Thai iced tea. It came with a ton of rice and a smaller amount of the two items. The two items that I got were steak curry and larb pork. I felt that both items were good. There was a ton of rice. I think there should have been a little more of the two items but otherwise, I liked my lunch. The Thai tea was good as well. Overall, I would come back here to get a good and inexpensive Thai meal. read more

Phaya Thai Express - Pork Larb (GF) and Steak Curry (GF) () with rice - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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Similar to Panda Express with the layout but upscale, local, and fresh! I really love how there were a few options for vegan, and I knew I would be impressed considering that the owner also owns Norah. I got the vegan options like the tofu curry and the fried tofu served over rice. It's very affordable and I enjoyed the curry. It had a nice spice followed by a rich coconut cream curry. The fried tofu also had a sweet sauce on it. I think the rice was mushy in my opinion, which is why I ranked it with four stars. A little disappointed by the lack of vegan options but I like how it's accessible to all diets. The cocktails looked good and there's a lot of our door seating. Very spacious inside. read more

Phaya Thai Express - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

This place has been on my radar for awhile too check out and finally was able to stop by for lunch. It's like a cafeteria style place where you pick the items you want to eat. It almost reminds me of a Panda Express, but with Thai food. We each chose a three plate combo and then shared it between us. I'm a sucker for a good pad kra pow and a good curry. Their steak curry had a good flavor and was the best out of the three soup/curry we ordered. The people working here were super nice and friendly. The interior is spacious and there's an outdoor patio section available to sit during the nice days. read more

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First time at this place and the staff was very helpful proactively walking us through the menu options. We got rice bowls, one with a combo of braised pork and salt-pepper shrimp, the other with a combo of the fried chicken and red Thai curry. Both were delicious. The pork was tender, just the way I like it. The 5 spice added beautiful flavor to the broth. Highly recommend opting for brown rice since it came with added whole grains and lentils. The red Thai curry was so flavorful and one of the best red curries I've had. It is a self-serve restaurant, great for a casual meal. They even have a bar for those interested in drinks. They also have the option to do family style as well as freshly prepped stir fried noodle options. We didn't get to try them but we will definitely be back to try more options on their menu. read more

This place is incredibly good and authentic - i lived in Bangkok for 6 months and this brings me back. Share a bunch of plates and you won't be disappointed read more

Phaya Thai Express - Garnish hits so hard! - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

I was so so so excited to try this place because I've seen people on Instagram visit. It was really disappointing. :( I ordered the rice combo with 3 sides (cashew chicken, red curry, and salt and pepper shrimp) and it was like room temperature, not quite cold but getting there. I got there right when they opened at 11:30 AM so maybe the food was heated up? There wasn't too much protein in the red curry. The cashew chicken was pretty good and the salt and pepper shrimp would've been good if it was crispy and hot, but it was almost soggy and just room temperature. My friend got the pad thai with beef and she said the pad thai noodles tasted good, but the beef didn't taste very fresh. The cashier also didn't look happy to work either. Would not recommend or come back again. read more

Phaya Thai Express - Three combo rice with cashew chicken, salt and pepper shrimp, and red curry - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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Simple place for Thai food when you don't know what you want to eat. The kind of day where the internal divide beckons you between noodles or rice. Don't fret for you can have it ALL HERE! Price wise it's not bad and is structured like a Panda Express, the options are pretty reasonable. My issue is that there is a huge lack of vegetables, (i know that I'm aging because I'm typing this). I wish they even did a simple side of stir fried veggies (broccoli and cabbage with carrot) because after eating my food I could feel my blood pressure spike from the immense flavor(s) which were battling for dominance on my tongue. It would be nice to have something even a diy pick your spice papaya salad to balance out things. I will say if you order the pad see ew for to-go the amount of food is super disappointing because it's almost $17 for a small bowl of friggin noodles. This is a huge rip off - they need to add more noodles considering wide rice noodles are less than $1 at wholesale costs. read more

I will never stop raving about Phaya. It is SOOOO GOOOD. The staff is so nice. And they let you have samples. The food is absolutely incredible. You get such a great value for the price. The bowls are big. The FLAVORS are so good. The Thai basil is there. The Thai chili is there (but not too badly). It's a super fast option that is so good! They are also gluten free. The Thai tea was wonderful. The interior is spacious with lots of seating. They have lots of drink options. Outside seating is plentiful. Parking is free around the area. It's a perfect quick meal when you're in southeast. I recommend that Phaya Chicken, NY Steak curry, catfish, and the garlic shrimp. read more

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We ordered takeout a few days ago. Tried several items, many of which were also available in the steam table when we went to pick up the food. For me the highlight was the pad see ew, which was up there with the best I've ever had. It had a darker soy sauce, and great flavor, and tasted very fresh. We chose to order from here because it's 100% gluten free (and we had a family member w/ celiac visiting), but I am definitely interested in returning to try more. Other items I liked were the sticky rice w/ taro (sort of a dessert), the red curry tofu (though the serving was a bit small) and the eggplant. read more

Fantastic service, the gentleman at the front (i think he was a chef) was so excited to share what options we had to pick from. I decided on a bowl with brown rice, lentils and quinoa. I had the Phaya Chicken, which was breaded well with a sticky sweet garlic sauce. My second item was the Prik Khing Tofu which was large fried tofu mixed in a chili garlic sauce (not spicy). I did indulge in the dry chili and the chili sauce on the side which added a nice DIY kick. We had a really hard time picking items since the choices were plentiful and all in front of our faces in this high end version of a cafeteria line. read more

Phaya Thai Express - Phaya Chicken, Prik Khing Tofu and brown rice. - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

It's so nice to have an all gluten-free Thai place. The space is classy-looking and spacious, but the fast-casual atmosphere and loud throwback hits don't make it a great spot if you're hoping for anything too fancy. But both my dinner companion and I enjoyed our food, commenting that there was a lot of flavor. read more

Phaya Thai Express - Fried Rice (Vegan Available) (GF) - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

Food is great but don't trust the Door Dash app time that shows after ordering. Leave extra time before leaving home on Saturday night.

Decided to stop by for a dinner, after hearing great things from reviews online and friends recommendations and loved it. Phaya Thai Express offers cafeteria style thai food, where you are able to build your plates with different entrees (curries, stir frys, etc.). I got the massaman curry and spicy chicken, I had a really hard time deciding what I was going to get as everything smelled and looked great. The spice levels vary depending on dish, but found certain dishes to tickle my mouth with loads of spice. Can't wait to go again to try more dishes. They also offer some creative tasty cocktails and mocktails to enjoy with your meal in their cute inside tables or in the outside seating in the back. I would recommend Phaya Thai Express for someone looking to try some thai staples done right! read more

Phaya Thai Express - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

I really want to love this place due to the wonderful concept of Thai express food where you able to pick out already made food options for you. I love Nudi so I was delighted when I heard the owner opened this wonderful concept. Ordered the 3 protein options and tried few selections that the worker recommend. I was disappointed when I tasted the food that it was either hard, tasted like it's been sitting out for a while, or flavor was just okay. I believe it may be due to the fact that I went during a non rush hour. There was no one else in the restaurant when I arrived and felt the food has been sitting at the warmer for a while. read more

Phaya Thai Express - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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Helpful and friendly staff and fast, fresh and tasty food. Large variety of steam table and made to order items. Much appreciated.

Picture the concept of Panda Express but Thai street food style. I didn't know what to expect as it was my first time, but overall I loved the experience and the food. The restaurant was spacious and had such an open layout. Since it was a beautiful day the doors were open leading you towards the patio. I came in with my friend around lunch time, noon. There were two people in front of us. There were so many options but the staff takes the time to help you decide what items you want but giving you samples. I decided to do a combo with 3 items. Rice with pad kra pow (basil ground beef), vegetable stir fry and massaman curry (chicken thigh, potatoes, peanuts and carrots). Both the pad kra pow and the massaman curry were slightly spicy. I wanted to balance my meal with a some vegetables which were well seasoned and good. My fav would have to be the curry, it was on the sweeter side and had peanuts in it which I liked. My friend got med kanoon which is a Thai jackfruit seed dessert. I highly recommend it, it was my first time trying it and it was sooo good. (didn't take a photo of it) Would for sure come back to try other items. read more

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Great portion size, very fair pricing. Food was flavorful, and well balanced. Outside and indoor dining love the option especially for the summer time! read more

Phaya Thai Express - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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So good! We loved the flavor of each dish. Ambiance is nice with lots of space for large groups. Comfortable booths. This was our first time and we were welcomed and given guidance on how to order. Service was great! read more

It's pretty amazing that the food here which is laid out and already cooked kinda like buffet style beats out a majority of Thai restaurants in portland. If you really want to taste something close to Authentic Thai, you must try the food here. The venue also very nice, spacious, and beautifully decorated with indoor/outdoor seats. The people working here are also very humble, happy, & super friendly. For now, I can't think of a better place for some awesome Thai food that doesn't break the bank and is not altered to cater to Western palates. On average, I think their generous portions will allow most people to have left overs to bring home. read more

Phaya Thai Express - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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This fast casual restaurant makes it hard to choose what to get, everything is delicious! I'm excited to get back there and discover more of what they have to offer. Service is friendly and portions ample. Highly recommend! read more

Phaya Thai Express - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

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Great spot. Like a Thai version of Panda Express. I wish there were more spots like this!

I was so excited to finally try Phaya Thai Express and they did not disappoint! We loved all the food we tried. We really enjoyed the cafeteria style ordering. Our favorites included the Phaya Chicken, catfish, pad Thai chaiya, and pork belly. I would highly recommend! read more

Phaya Thai Express - Phaya Chicken (GF) () Prik King Catfish (GF) ()Pad Thai Chai Ya (V) (GF) Fried Pork Belly (GF) () - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon

Super salty food, clumpy rice & not super conscious about food safety (I'm not a fan of finding a huge chunk of plastic in my food & them doing nothing when I brought it to their attention). For the same price I can get amazing food & service at Ladda Thai only one street over...won't be trying this place again. read more

This place is so good. The spicing is perfect, the flavor is perfect, and it's super quick. I love this place.

This place is the bomb! It is super easy, quick, and super delicious. We had the fish sauce wings, spicy steak curry and palo. Everything was on point with a good spice level. Can't wait to return and continue exploring their dishes. Also, the prices are very reasonable read more

This is a new fast casual restaurant. The ambiance is great and it has a nice patio out back. The staff and everyone were very friendly. I thought the food was solid but just okay. I wish Yelp had half star ratings because I feel like this is exactly a 3.5 star. Its set up is similar to Panda where small portions of each offering are made in advance and sit in warmers. All of my dishes were good but were very salty. The two curries I had were good though, particularly the massaman curry. My friend and I each had a cocktail and they were fine. This is a good place for lunch for sure. read more

This place is amazing! The food is very authentic and extremely delicious. The dining area is nicely decorated, and they have a fantastic outdoor patio for warm days. We have gone here with friends, family, and co-workers, and everyone always raves about the quality and taste of the food. The Pad Kra Pow and Steak Panang Curry are so flavorful. I just made myself hungry writing this review. I must sign off now. I am headed to Phaya Thai Express! read more

Ate there twice in the past few weeks. It's very authentic and tasty Thai food. It's not so much the "Americanized" Thai food. Gf is Thai and she loved it...she doesn't enjoy most American Thai food....too sweet. This place has more delicious savory dishes...but some sweet also! We will certainly go back several times! people are very nice also.... but to be fair I didn't understand most of what they were talking about with my GF because they were speaking Thai! . She like them though. DELICIOUS. read more

LOVED this place! Amazing choices...I counted over 20 varieties. Very authentic and of very good quality. They have son-in- law eggs, which is hard to find. Pla-mok, very common in Thailand, pork belly palo...another dish that is not easy to find , but is a favorite among many Thai people, it is a dish that is cooked in a Thai household for sure. I chose the NY steak Southern Thai Curry... Amazing flavors! Pad phet , the pork belly palo and the garlic pepper shrimp. SUPERB! Friendy and couteous service. I will be going back and bringing friends! read more

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My kids introduced me to this restaurant for takeout. Now i seek it on my own. Phaya chicken is excellent over the brown rice. Perfect midweek stop for delicious and fast. They cook to order a pad see ew that's excellent. Parking has been plentiful. Staff are pleasant, didn't feel awkward sitting awhile to answer some emails. I think I'm a regular now. read more

Phaya Thai Express - Phaya chicken, broccoli beef, brown rice - Thai Near Me - Portland, Oregon