Noi is my all time favorite thai place in the Seattle area! Everything is always fresh hot consistent and delicious.
Noi's Green Papaya Salad (Som Tum) is perfect, and they're one of the only places that have it year-round. I have no earthly idea how they get such fresh ingredients even when papaya is completely out of season. Good papaya salad has become almost a litmus test for me now that I live in the Seattle area. Not all Thai restaurants necessarily serve it and out of the ones that do, in my experience if the som tum is good, the whole menu is probably 4 stars or better, and that absolutely holds true for this place. Literally at this point I'm sure I've tried least half of Noi's menu if not more, and they have never, EVER let me down.
Also, and this can be super personal so it might not help everyone, but their spice rating system is perfect in my opinion. Their 1* is exactly what I would rate as a 1/5, the 3* is exactly what I would consider a 3/5, etc. I also appreciate the button for "I'm thai, make it thai spicy" which is a big green flag all by itself. Most importantly: if I order a 3 today and a 3 for the same dish on a random day three weeks from now, it will be exactly the same spice level every time. For me, especially as a user with a white-sounding name, this is a 10/10 experience. Idk what system y'all have in place but every other restaurant needs to incorporate it, because you have got this down to a science. I'm honestly tempted to say you deserve 5/5 stars just for having such a good system and trusting patrons to know their own spice tolerance.
So here go my recommendations:
My personal all-time favorite menu items here are the Green Papaya Salad (Som Tum), tom kha, crying tiger, and the coconut panang curry. In general, I also strongly recommend giving the house specialties a try as well as anything recommended by staff on any given day. You can also trust all the dishes the doordash app says are popular/highly rated. But like I said, they've never let me down and if you're just looking for something familiar and approachable, look no further! I especially recommend the massaman and fried chicken if you are looking for delicious options that are not spicy. Another plug for the crying tiger under the low spice category, actually, because it's basically flank steak with dipping sauce, very easy to adjust spice level.
After a long week, when I miss my thai family and friends and the homemade dishes they used to make for me, I come here because I know I can trust the flavors will be exactly right every time. Hope you'll love this place as much as I do!
