Thai Orchid Restaurant

Had the bbq chicken with sweet and sour sauce and rice. Chicken was crispy and tender on the inside. My finance had roasted duck curry. Both were really good dishes. Definitely would come back again.

One of the worst Thai Restaurants ever. The Tom Yum soup comprised mostly of tomato and mushrooms and seriously lacked the spices and the authentic taste that you would get at other places. My seafood pad thai had mussels that tasted undercooked or had been sitting around for god knows how long. An hour later, I got really bad food poisoning. Will not come back.

Walked in expecting a lot from the reviews but the food fell short. Servers were nice and the restaurant was a nice ambiance, with a cool view but the food was ehh and on the pricey-​er side.
The chicken pad thai had good flavor but some of the chicken felt rubbery and tasted off. I had to spit it out it was so bad. Beansprouts n noodles were good though. It was around $ 12 for a good sized portion for two to share.
The shrimp tom yum is a terrible fail. Who was cooking in the back? There was no lemongrass what so ever in the soup. I think the cook had mistaken green onion for lemon grass? It tasted like salty chicken broth. No sweet n sour what so ever. No spice at all. I didnt want to make a commotion, so i just asked for limes n chili sauce. There were old looking mushrooms and fresh– not even cooked tomatoes. Would never order the tom yum again. Luckily i had a half cup that was only around $ 5

I have frequented Thai Orchid for many years but, after my last experience, I will not be back. I phoned in our order and was told my meals would be ready in fifteen minutes. We arrived at the restaurant approximately fifteen minutes later. As parking was difficult to find, I sent my boyfriend in to pick up our dinner while I circled the block. After fifteen minutes of circling I found a parking place and texted my boyfriend. He told me that he was greeted and told that hostess would check on his order and her hadn’t seen anyone since. Ten minutes later, he got our food. At that time he was informed that a large order had come in around the same time as ours and it was filled before our order. When my boyfriend expressed his displeasure he was told that it was a $ 250(!) order and very important. He was offered no apology or discount for the wait.
I called the restaurant to express my displeasure and had it explained again that they got a very important order and got very little remorse until I said I would be actively discouraging people from eating there and writing reviews about our service that night. At that point, I was told to calm down and be reasonable. By this time, I was beyond frustrated and extremely hungry so I hung up.
Over the course of the evening, I received five phone calls and a text message from the manager, who wanted to «discuss my experience» that evening. So, they were completely capable of finding my number for damage control but not to call me and say, «Your order is going to take longer than we anticipated»? I don’t think so.
I will NEVER patronize this business again.

Had lunch here and found it surprisingly good! Have eaten in the past and been less impressed but felt that quality has improved. Tried the tofu pad thai, which was quite delicious. And it was a mere $ 8.50 for lunch. I’ll be back!

I’ve been here a few times. The atmosphere is nice and family friendly. Good service and friendly staff.
Their Pad Thai is good, lots of food.
Just had the Evil Jungle Prince with chicken for the first time. Delicious! I would definitely get it again.

The Pad Thai here is amazing! I get it with tofu. The prices could be expensive to some but it’s so worth it! They portions are big and this is the best quality pad thai you will find in Salem. Trust me, I’ve tried them all.

Fast and friendly service. Plus we got to sit at the front of the restaurant overlooking Salem center. Portions were normal
Ordered
Beef paenang — tasty, good portion, but the beef was a bit tough.
Pad Thai with chicken and shrimp — good, had this interesting taste I couldn’t pin point but was still good.
Tom yum — ok, was a bit bland.

I ordered the Pad See Ewe with beef. The beef tasted like it’s been sitting around a while. Not rancid, but not fresh. It was okay. I’ve had better. I’ve had better at this location. I think it’s become «Americanized» Thai food.
Service was quick.
Frustrating that this place doesn’t open until 11:30 or noon. I like to grab lunch early.

The food never disappoints at Thai Orchid! The upper seating in the restaurant is great with windows that wrap around the building! I like to get my food extra spicy and it is still manageable to eat! Highly recommend! The service is good, water is filled on a regular basis and the prices are good and the food is served ridiculously fast, at least any time I am there the food is out within 10 – 15 minutes

Over priced for portion size ~ $ 8.50 for a lunch special is $ 2 to $ 4 above local competition that is as tasty and a more reasonable portion size.
This is my 3^rd time with different menu items each time to gauge the value and the last lunch meal I will have there.
Lunch portions for dinner prices.

So I haven’t been there in a little while, but… the experience was so singular the last night we went in that we haven’t been back, and we still tell stories about it.
So it wasn’t our first choice the night we went, but our planned venue had had an unfortunate kitchen fire that night. So Thai Orchid was close & I’d been once before.
There was almost no one in the restaurant when we went in — it was a Tuesday, not right after work, so we thought, okay, this will let us talk & enjoy our dinner in a leisurely fashion. The other lone diner got up & left while we were still waiting for menus.
And waited. And waited. In fact, that was the theme of the whole night. We got plenty of talking done. We were just too exhausted & had had a tough time getting together for this meeting to get up & leave, and after a certain point, it got hilarious.
It seemed that the lone waitress spoke only English, and the lone cook spoke only Thai, or some other Asian language. They could not communicate, and one or both would vanish for long periods of time. We came up with all kinds of wild theories as to what they were doing when they weren’t visible. I mean, it was a case of «could’ve taken cash drawer & walked out in a leisurely manner» if we were that kind of people.
It took like 45 minutes to get simple drinks — Thai iced teas & coffees — and then 15 minutes after that before our lone appetizer appeared — guess they had to chase down & kill the chickens for the satay. Then 25 more minutes till dinner came.
The saving grace: the food was pretty good, and despite my misgivings, mostly correct. One person didn’t get the fried rice they asked for specially instead of the steamed, but it was now after 9 PM and we just didn’t want to take a chance that someone would be sent to Laos to harvest rice. My husband’s pad thai was good, my curry was decent if not spectacular, and not watery.
Hence, no return and not a great review.

I am going to try to be as polite as possible here, because the people that run this place seem perfectly nice.
Food was mediocre. Service was abysmal.
We went today, Mother’s Day, with a party of 9, with a reservation. Our server was sweet but when it came time for food to arrive, it was an absolute train wreck. We received 2 plates every 10 minutes until our server stopped delivering. Then three of us sat there with nothing. With a gentle reminder, 2 more were served. My brother never got anything. The server didn’t even notice he was sitting there with no plate.
I get that mistakes are made and the kitchen is sometimes slow, but the worst part of the experience is that no real apologies were made and no manager ever came to follow up or offer to make things right. My brother was charged for his app even after they completely forgot his entrée. As an afterthought, the server gave him a free app to go. Cause that’s what you want for lunch. How about the entrée that you forgot?!
We had to ask to speak to management. I think they are husband and wife; I KNOW they are both deer in headlights. They tried to blame the server by saying that they can’t keep track of the entire restaurant. Uh, isn’t that your job? They said the server wanted to take one plate at a time so she wouldn’t get confused. ?? When I asked why other servers don’t help carry out food to large parties, the manager actually said «I am going to write that down. That’s a good idea.» Seriously? Pitiful. Oh and they offered to give me 50% off my entrée, not my entire bill, mind you. Oh but wait, you had a hair in your salad so we will happily take that off too. Gee, thanks. These people need help.

The service is always great here and the restaurant is always clean. The food is fantastic! My favorite is the pad thai and you can customize the spiciness level which is so cool! They also have several varieties of curry, soups and those that are vegetarian they have something for you as well. All around my favorite thai restaurant in Salem.

This place is normally pretty good but tonight was just bad. I ordered papaya salad and added shrimp for $ 3. There were 4 shrimp on the salad. They were cooked well but really, 4 little shrimp? My daughter had the kids fried rice and they up charged $ 2 for chopped veggies! Frozen I think, broccoli stems baby corn and diced carrots. My husband’s was good. The music was fairly loud and they played IM IN LOVE WITH A STRIPPER
My 4 year old ws there and I said the music was bad in front of the waitress, she didn’t acknowledge. Wow.

Great food, relaxed atmosphere with a decent view of (lame) downtown Salem. Wait staff very friendly and knowledgeable about food if you are confused as to what you may like to eat. I’ll recommend, and come again!

Got pad Thai take out the other night. First time I had ate Thai orchid in years. Was really pleased with the food and how fast my order was ready for pick up. Will definitely be going back again soon

People are always friendly and food is always good. Only complaint is it’s not as spicy as I like (even at «Thai hot») — but you can always ask for additional peppers.
My favorite dish is the Penang curry.

The only reason it gets 1 star is for our waitress and our hostess, both went out of their way to be friendly and accommodating. Our waitress was overwhelmed and slammed with multiple tables at the same time. The owner (or manager) was a rude man. And our food was awful and made wrong. As a former Thai restaurant employee, I understand what can go wrong but the food here was truly horrific.
I was eventually offered a new dish to go, but with the new cooks they had just hired, I declined, knowing it would still be sub-​par.
I would strongly recommend waiting a few months for the new cooks to get down the complexities of Thai cuisine before coming back. As for the rude owner/​manager, your top priority is for customer service, we are the ones who pay your rent, electricity, and labor. We shouldn’t be told as we are about to be seated to wait, just because you feel the need to make the hostess feel crappy about working for you.
My Beef Pad See Ew was dry, bland, and made with fried tofu, and my boyfriends Pad Thai was way over cooked. Neither of us were able to finish our meals, but I still paid full price for both dishes to avoid another embarrassing scene with the owner/​manager. I suggest crossing the bridge and going to Thai Beer. They are friendly and consistent.
Totally disappointed but had our waitress and hostess not been so sweet, my review would have been a lot more negative.

Really good lunch portion — was mildly bummed it didn’t come with soup and some other sides — In Vegas all the Thai places gave soup and at least a mini egg roll with the lunch specials ;)
I got the basil chicken (had a weird name though — can’ remember) and the best way to get this is level 4 (out of 5) and with ground meat :) My lips and mouth were burning for a while — just perfect!
I will be here again for sure :)