Thai Papaya

This is our go to place for Thai! So good! I LOVE their Thai fried rice… it’s incredibly flavorful! The gyoza is very delicious as well. My fiancé loves the phở, and raves about it every time he has it.

This is my favorite for Phở in all of Tennessee. It is decent size and that broth is so addictive! The only extra condiment I add in is their chili oil. If you don’t like it spicy, just eat the phở as is. (I can already smell the aroma of the broth as I’m writing this review!)
My other favorite items from their menu is the red curry and their eggrolls. Sadly, their eggrolls are quite tiny but they are very delicious… (My order is always the eggrolls, V16– the beef phở with everything in it, and a honeydew bubble tea.)
The sushi is pretty good, too… But please be aware they do not have sushi on Sunday’s. My favorite roll is the Black Angel. It is a must!
There are some bad things about this place service-​wise… But please do not let that stop you from eating the awesome foods I have listed above. It is too good and you’ll be missing out. Give them a chance as service can sometimes be good or bad depending on how busy they are. I feel like it can happen anywhere.
1. Sometimes you walk in and there is no one to greet you or seat you. (I’ve been here so many times that I just seat myself or our group just sits wherever we want… A lot of the regulars just come right in and seat themselves… I can always tell when there are newbies trying the restaurant because they just stand at the door waiting to be seated/​greeted… Sometimes I’m very tempted to tell them to have a seat anywhere even though I don’t work there) yes, I go so often I pick up on things… Almost like I live there… Maybe that’s why I don’t mind the sometimes bad or slow service. Even if they greet you, they’ll tell you to choose your seat anyway. :)
2. I used to work within walking distance of this place and during lunch they are super busy. Sometimes the food will come out very late or they will not attend to you as much. (My coworkers and I have phoned in our orders before and it would be ready by the time we got there. It’s helpful that way if you want to dine in during lunch. Sometimes our group was as big as 15 people.)
3. You might not get your ticket fast enough if you’re in a rush. If that’s the case, just walk up and pay.
Other than those three things, the food is amazing. The owners are actually very delightful and friendly. However, they are mostly in the back cooking so you might not see them very often. Again, the phở is the best in all of Tennessee (to me anyway!)

The Phở has been amazing! Very nice ladies and great service.

Thai Papaya was an on-​the-​whim stop for me one day at lunch. I was happily surprised to walk in and see a full house– literally every booth was full with people on the left side of the restaurant. There are two communal tables in the middle where I sat. The staff is nice, attentive, and helpful, without being intrusive– great job for that!
For the food: they do a great job of providing a large variety from different Asian cultures. I’ve only had Thai food from there, but I saw many people enjoying sushi, Bahn Mi, and more. I’m picky when it comes to Thai food, and push for the straight authentic and traditional more than the «westernized» versions. While the Pad Thai that I had was more westernized, It still hit the spot for the taste I was looking for.
Thai Papaya is a great place to stop in for a quick lunch if you’re tired of the regular american food. Stop and check it out!

Yummy Phở!

Friendly staff but the food needs work. Peanut sauce in Chicken Panang the point that the sauce was like eating melted peanut butter. Pad Thai was pretty bland.

My husband and I went for a late dinner when we sat down the waitress informed us the kitchen would be closing in 5 minutes as they closed 7 minutes after we got there. (we didn’t realize this before going in) but she would hurry and put our order in. My first thought was we should get it to go. when i mentioned this She assured us that we were fine there were lots of people still there she just wanted to get our order in for us. we never felt rushed!
The food was GREAT!
we are moving into the area soon and will definitely be back!

I came here another time to try something different. I ordered egg rolls, Tom Ka, and bahn mi. I enjoyed everything, but the bahn mi. The grilled pork was low quality and my sandwich didn’t have any jalapeños! I wouldn’t recommend ordering the sandwich.

I wish I was more familiar with the diverse selection of Thai /​Vietnamese /​Laotian menu items but I am not. But what I do know are my Thai curries. I can say that Thai Papaya is possibly the best I have ever had. The veggies were perfectly fresh and not overcooked, the pork was good quality, very tender and not overcooked, the curry sauce was perfect. Not too sweet. I ordered the red curry extra spicy and for once a Thai place actually made it extra spicy on the first attempt. I usually have to end up saying extra, extra, extra, etccc to get it nice and hot. We picked up for lunch and the portion size was plenty for only $ 7.95, better than anywhere else around that part of Nashville. One of my coworkers got a noodle dish and also loved it. I would definitely recommend this place and I can’t wait to go back for dinner.

Was really impressed on food quality. Not a huge joint located in a strip mall. Offers not only Thai but Vietnamese, Japanese including sushi and some currys. I started with the Vietnamese spring rolls that were super fresh and had large shrimp and big slices of sliced pork plus veggies with that awesome peanut sauce to dip them in. Some of the best spring rolls I ever had. Also had a small bowl of the mixed meat phở which had a super good rich broth that needed nothing extra. Finished with a Vietnamese sandwich that was a french roll with warm sliced pork in a slightly spicy sauce along with cucumbers, carrots and cilantro. Super tasty. The prices here were very reasonable, service very good and the food came out quickly. I’d go here again anytime.

The food here is great! Clean and nice staff. Although sometime there is an communication barrel. Sushi here is to die for however they don’t serve sushi on Sunday which is bummer.

One stop shop for anything Asian.
I can’t remember exactly what I get… it’s the pork spring roll noodle bowl thing on the bottom part of the menu on the left side. It’s YUM YUM!
Also, the price point is awesome (like under $ 10 for dinner)!
I’ve had friends get lots of other things on the menu and they really liked everything, I just can’t get away from the dish I got the first time because it’s so tasty.

Thai/​Vietnamese/​Japanese should be a disaster. My friends and I ignored the menu and shared from their largely Laotian specials and loved it. Our server was proudly Laotian and clearly passionate about her cuisine.
Don’t know about the rest of the menu, but their authentic Laotian specials were probably the most exciting foods I’ve had since I moved to Tennessee.

Oh my god! Really good pad Thai, sushi, and phở all under one roof. I wish I was a cow so I would have 5 stomachs. I’ve had the phở at kien giang on Charlotte pike, and this phở is better. The broth is about the same but Thai papaya’s meatballs are more flavorful. Plus I don’t have to drive across town for this phở. They also have bubble tea and Vietnamese iced coffee. All very reasonably priced.

Met up with a friend to have lunch here on my way into town, this is definitely an interesting place since the name would not lead you to believe there is also Vietnamese.
I didn’t think service was very slow but I was also too busy talking and had just driven about 2 hours but I think maybe we were there 45 minutes in total?
I decided to get something Thai and went for stir fry basil with chicken. It was decent, it was such a long day I am struggling to remember what it came with veggie wise: bell pepper, onion, carrot, I believe were the only things. It wasn’t too spicy but I wasn’t looking for having something spicy anyway. It was a decent size portion for lunch, didn’t really leave much left which is always a positive at lunch time.
My friend had phở ga and was pretty disappointed because there definitely wasn’t much chicken in there at all.
Service was fine like I said but it is pretty much what do you want, here’s your food, and then you go to the counter to pay, so it’s like being in an Asian restaurant basically.
Since I don’t live nearby I don’t exactly see myself coming again but if for some reason I was, I would probably stop back if I had a Thai craving.

This is based on one visit. I’ll give it 3 for now bc of the service. Like many reviews state, the service is indeed slow. If you’re in a hurry for lunch, you might be late getting back to work. Luckily I was sat and served fairly quickly but I finished my entire meal and sat for a few minutes after before the sever ever came back. I saw other people sitting for a very long time before even having their drink order taken.
The food is probably 4 stars though. Ordered the spring rolls and beef phở. Smaller portions which I like. Priced right, good flavor. I’m a bit of a Phở junkie too.
If you’re not in a hurry, and want some good phở, worth a visit. I’ll try some Thai next time.
The variety on the menu is impressive too.

I gave them 3 stars because we walked in and no one was there, no one came out of the kitchen. We sat ourselves and waited for someone to serve us. No one came out until a second group of people walked in a few minutes later. Then the server comes to us, ready to take our order; we didn’t have a menu to browse yet.
The food itself isn’t the best Thai food I’ve had in Nashville. This place had really good Laad Nah and Phở when it first opened a few years ago.

I was a little surprised at how empty this place was for 5pm. The locals are missing out. The service was ok, and the food was ready at a good pace. The seaweed salad was very good (not dry or stringy), the miso soup was delicious, and the sushi was very good. I had the spicy tuna and the volcano roll. Their spicy tuna is chunky (not minced) and had a great flavor. The volcano roll was unique. I have this roll at many different places and it’s always prepared differently. The volcano roll here appeared to be a california roll smothered in a large pile of stringy crab mixed with an eel type sauce with crunchy pieces. It was very good. I would recommend this place to anyone. Next time I will try their thai.

Stacie L and I went to Thai Papaya after a day unpacking my new place. We got there about 8:20pm Tuesday night and it was pretty dead. The waitress was quick to get our drinks and food order. The food came out pretty promptly but the quality of the food is sub-​par and very disappointing. This explains why I never made an effort to come back after over a year. I ordered the com dac biet tao hu ky and it was terrible. The charbroiled/​bbq pork was too fatty and had a sweetness that I didn’t like about it. The shrimp tao hu ky (shrimp wrapped in tofu skin) was dry and the fried egg was not soggy and not crispy like you should expect. No, I would never come back to this joint.

We wanted to go to King Market, but they were closed early for Easter so we decided to try Thai Papaya.
One thing I will say, is that service is warm and friendly, but a little slow and sometimes awkward. Our server was younger and not great at English, but was very apologetic (even though he didn’t need to be). He double checked everything we ordered and came back to the table to double check again. He told us it would take 10 to 20 minutes for our food to be ready and apologized again. Not sure why he was so apologetic, ha!
My boyfriend was excited that they had Chang beer – which wasn’t on the menu, but he noticed it in the fridge.
The food didn’t take long at all. I got the Curry Puffs as an appetizer; they were tasty but not anything amazing. They also have gyoza and summer rolls (nemh nuong), which I would love to try next time.
Boyfriend got a side of Tom Kha soup; it was quite good. We both got curry (Panang and Green). What I noticed most about this place is that we both got a medium spiciness, and it was pretty spicy. I would say surprisingly spicy. Which is okay with me, but beware if you are looking for something mild.
The hostess/​owner (I’m assuming) came up and talked with us for a bit. She was extremely nice and made us laugh with some jokes, made us feel very welcome.
It got a little confusing when we had sat there for a while talking, and our server didn’t come back with the check or boxes. I figured we were supposed to pay at the register, but got some confused looks and the hostess seemed to scold our server (whoops!).
All in all, the food was good. They had some interesting variety in the menu, so I’d like to come back and try more. Having a menu with multiple things that appetite me is always a plus in my book! They had a surprising variety of wine, sake, and beer as well.
I would definitely go back again, for an all-​around good meal.