9Zaab Thai Street Food

(FYI - In all fairness, this is based on a single visit and two dishes) I was headed to a dumpling shop down the street when I just happened to park in front of this place. I was in the mood for hot noodley stuff from any part of Asia anyway, so this fit the bill with a much easier walk on a chilly day. "Thai Street Food" suggested they probably had more going on than Pad Thai and Golden Bags. Knowing "Zaab" means something along the lines of "Wicked Tasty" I figured it was a safe bet. I quickly spotted the Yum Nam Tok: a semi-salad thing of grilled sliced pork tossed with onions, chiles and a lime-soy dressing. Sprinkled with toasted rice powder for crunch and aroma, it's a personal favorite. 9Zaab does a really great job with this dish. Generously sized as well, allowing me to push it aside for later, then keep picking at it until the next course without finishing it off. The big bowl of Ba Lee Moo Dang (and Fish Ball!) was next. Perfect choice on a half-sunny/half-cold day. The menu billed it as "The most famous Thai egg noodles"* and it had a couple of chile pepper symbols next to it. Most Famous at a place called Zaab! I was waiting to have my socks blown off. Didn't quite happen. The famous egg noodles were a big helping of instant ramen in a big bowl of mildly- oh so very mildly - seasoned broth. The BBQ pork slices were pretty much pink ringed slices of the Chinese Char-Siu take out variety. There were some decent dumplings as well as some very delicious fish balls. They did, however, leave off the cilantro & fried garlic as listed. Over all it was kinda non-zaab... It wasn't bad. There just wasn't much to talk about flavor-wise. I poured some of the Yum Nam Tok dressing into it and added some chiles. It all worked out. Staff is nice, the joint is immaculately clean and I'd definitely give it another visit. *Turns out, all the noodle soups on the menu begin with "the most famous Thai..."

Food was ok, the crunchy pad Thai looks great on pictures but not really in person, very dry. The lemon sauce that comes with skewer was tasty. I was confronted by the staff for not giving enough tip and when I asked how much more, they stated I should tip more. I know tipping is important, but to think that I'm confronted because I tipped less than what they expected makes me think this establishment is literally only here to make money and sees customers as money bag. Hope that extra few dollars were worth this review.

(FYI - In all fairness, this is based on a single visit and two dishes) I was headed to a dumpling shop down the street when I just happened to park in front of this place. I was in the mood for hot noodley stuff from any part of Asia anyway, so this fit the bill with a much easier walk on a chilly day. "Thai Street Food" suggested they probably had more going on than Pad Thai and Golden Bags. Knowing "Zaab" means something along the lines of "Wicked Tasty" I figured it was a safe bet. I quickly spotted the Yum Nam Tok: a semi-salad thing of grilled sliced pork tossed with onions, chiles and a lime-soy dressing. Sprinkled with toasted rice powder for crunch and aroma, it's a personal favorite. 9Zaab does a really great job with this dish. Generously sized as well, allowing me to push it aside for later, then keep picking at it until the next course without finishing it off. The big bowl of Ba Lee Moo Dang (and Fish Ball!) was next. Perfect choice on a half-sunny/half-cold day. The menu billed it as "The most famous Thai egg noodles"* and it had a couple of chile pepper symbols next to it. Most Famous at a place called Zaab! I was waiting to have my socks blown off. Didn't quite happen. The famous egg noodles were a big helping of instant ramen in a big bowl of mildly- oh so very mildly - seasoned broth. The BBQ pork slices were pretty much pink ringed slices of the Chinese Char-Siu take out variety. There were some decent dumplings as well as some very delicious fish balls. They did, however, leave off the cilantro & fried garlic as listed. Over all it was kinda non-zaab... It wasn't bad. There just wasn't much to talk about flavor-wise. I poured some of the Yum Nam Tok dressing into it and added some chiles. It all worked out. Staff is nice, the joint is immaculately clean and I'd definitely give it another visit. *Turns out, all the noodle soups on the menu begin with "the most famous Thai..."