Pon Thai Bistro

The smell in the restaurant, which punched me right in the nose upon entering, almost made me miss out on the delicious pad se-​ew (pork)! Unpleasant, offensive stench… but friendly staff (could be a touch more attentive), and a great plate of food. Would I return? Eh. *shrugs*

Fresh quick and friendly restaurant.
We came 20 min before closing because they was the only open place. They welcome us really nice and let us enjoy from their greasy and amazing food.
The pad Thai is must for anyone that come their!
You will see us again!

What a little treasure in Brookline Village! This restaurant was recommended to me by someone who drives all the way from Watertown just to eat here, and I thank him for the recommendation. And how lucky am I – this restaurant is a three-​minute drive from my house! Yes, it’s a little pricier than your average Thai restaurant, but worth every penny. Lovely atmosphere, the waitresses are adorable and sweet. And the food? Perfection. Everything I’ve had there has been soooo good. I’ve eaten there three times, and haven’t been disappointed at all. Everything is fresh and beautifully presented. Do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a meal at Pon — it won’t be your last — if you like Thai food. You won’t be disappointed.

We have eaten here three times. The food is excellent and the owner — Pon — is warm and friendly.
It’s worth the pond and dangerous trip to Brookline village especially if you live in Brookline village.

Loved my entire experience! I’ve been looking for a great Thai restaurant and have been underwhelmed by the choices. My friend suggested Pon. The atmosphere is wonderful, beautiful and cozy but the best part was the food. I had the Pad Thai with flat noodles and my friend had the green veggie curry. We were both eating off of each other’s plates it was so good! The service was great and after telling them we had a class to get to the meal arrived quickly!
Pon is a the owner and chef and she came out to greet us which was so sweet.
I highly recommend Pon Thai Bistro! I will be back soon.

I think Pon Thai gets a 2.5 from me. I’ll round up to 3.
Though I have lived nearby for almost a year now, I just tried Pon Thai Bistro a week or so ago. This is because for what it is, it is astronomically expensive. To be clear: Pon gets great reviews from other people, probably people with other expectations of Thai food, and other budgets.
At Pon, I had the Tom Kha soup, one of my favorites, a coconut milk broth mushroom soup. I think that if you come here and don’t want to spend much this is what you should get. For $ 8, I was really happy. It was a little less flavorful than some of the other Tom Kha soups I have had, but it was creamy and solid.
My mother had a papaya salad, which she ate without remark. I would consider this a ⁵⁄₁₀ review, on par with 3 stars. The atmosphere was nice, but didn’t really feel like much of a value add.
So our food was not bad by any means — but it also wasn’t great. There is other Thai food in Brookline, very close by, which is much cheaper.
This whole affair deeply saddens me, because I live so breathtakingly close to Pon Thai Bistro, and I want it to be a homerun. But it isn’t. I’ll move on. Hopefully, you will too, just on principle.

Their vegetarian spring rolls were different in a good way; interesting and fresh flavors. My husband’s chicken curry was excellent; cooked to perfection and generous portion. I was not hungry so my simple Grilled Shrimp Salad with pomegranate seeds was amazing.

Happy to have a new thai restaurant in our neighborhood. Nice ambiance inside– a perfect date-​night spot. Food was good, but menu is slightly limited and didn’t include some of our thai favorites.

There used to be a nice little Thai restaurant in Somerville, in Union square, where I used to live. I love Thai food and this place had charm, fresh food, and excellent service. When I moved to Brookline, I was disappointed to find only fast-​food type Thai, the kind of cheap fare more suited for college students than foodies. Then I went to Pon! What a lovely restaurant. Good food and wonderful cocktails and a warm, friendly Chef (Pon), who came out to say hello to us and welcome us to her restaurant. I’ve been there twice now and will definitely go back. Wonderful place.

Love the drunken noodles and their drink menu! Great for lunch and dinner dates. My roommates and I lived above Pon and never got sick of it! The waitstaff is friendly and efficient. Quick takeout too!
Right next to the Brookline Village (green-​D) T stop, meter parking out front and 2 garages close by as well.

Pon the place, and Pon the person (founder, owner, head chef) are both so lovely. From start to finish it’s clear that the cocktails, appetizers, soups and entrees are as fresh as can be and made with great care. Arriving after a nice 10 minute walk (I’m a lucky Brookliner), this was my second time there and I checking to see if my happy first impressions were right or if I’d just dreamed the place.
For folks who love Thai food but not the fast food kind, this is the place for you. And the spare but thoughtful atmosphere, kind and patient wait staff, and Pon herself if you’re fortunate enough to meet her, make it well worth a trip of a much greater distance than I travelled. I’ll be back soon for sure.

The Papaya salad is as good as I had in Thailand, the smoky eggplant is delicious as well as Phad Graprao with seafood. Even their cocktails were interesting as good and I like their prices. You should try this small restaurant, you won’t be disappointed.

The reviews had made me curious to try this place, but it seems to be just ordinary — if overpriced, Thai food. A friend and I went for lunch, and decided to share a Pad Thai and another dish.
I ordered Tom Kha, but it wasn’t very interesting, certainly compared to the far superior version at Dok Bua — but then theirs has tender chunks of Gai in it. It did have some finely sliced mushrooms, but the cocoanut milk was watered down and the soup had very little overall flavor.
We ordered Phad Graprao with chicken, but when it arrived we were surprised to discover that it was ground, as neither the menu nor the waitress had mentioned that. I don’t care for the gritty texture of ground meat. We replaced it with a green curry, which had a good selection of fresh vegetables, and less than tender chicken slices. I don’t know why every Asian restaurant insists on serving over-​cooked chicken, although I can easily see how it happens. The thin slices are apparently pre-​cooked, and then cooked again when added to whatever dish is being made. I wistfully remembered the excellent and moist chunks in the chicken tikka masala I had at Curry House two weeks earlier.
The Pad Thai was OK, but with nothing to distinguish it from that served elsewhere.
The room is contemporary, but as another reviewer notes, the hard surfaces mean that it easily gets noisy. It became uncomfortably loud with only a half-​dozen tables occupied, so can’t imagine what it must be like on a weekend night. The service is quick and pleasant — if only they had more interesting food to carry.

The service is just A+++
Quick, friendly and very attentive.
If you want a thai place with high quality service it does not get better than this.
Entrees:
Phad graprao– 5 stars (seafood) it is excellent made with very fresh seafood.
Pad thai– 4 stars it was very good but not anything out of the ordinary.
Apps:
Spicy Chicken Wing– 4 stars– fresh protein smothered in an interesting spicy, tangy, sweet sauce.
Confit duck rolls– 3 stars– plain jane nothing that made them stand out and to much dough made them very heavy.
Fresh spring rolls– 2 stars.
There was one small shrimp for a $ 9 fresh roll.
It was a very weak dish.

Fine Thai dining with high price tag around very other decent options.
I really enjoyed my dining experience at Pon Thai Bistro. It’s likely a nice quiet French Bistro, tucked off from the busyness of Coolidge Corner in the Village – though it seemed very lonely on what was a busy evening for other surrounding restaurants.
Very professional service, great food presentation, with a couple of select dishes not found at Dok Bua or Rod Dee. Unfortunately the price tag that comes with the dishes was far too high when I feel you can get the same good food at ¹⁄₅ or ¼ the total price at Rod Dee or Dok Bua.
Particularly, the Laab/​Larb was great. You don’t find it many places or have to ask for it off the menu as many don’t like the funk/​putrid element to their dishes.
The other mainstays we ordered included papaya salad (decent — very spicy and savory but not blowing your top off like at Rod Dee), a very generous portion and much more nuanced version of Tom Yom Soup than surrounding Thai restaurants (the highlight besides the laab), and a disappointing Grilled Chicken Green Curry (the charred chicken distracted heavily from the subtle, delicate green curry sweetness).
Dropping the prices a bit might get their business up. They do a few things differently and very well compared to other near-​by Thai restaurants and while I like the ambience and style — cutting down on the costs might get business up and make it somewhere I’d frequent.

Cozy place that’s a little fancy on the inside.
Food is delicious and authentic.
Very clean.
Spring rolls are more than fresh and delicious. Tom Yum soup is a bit salty for me.
Pad Thai and green curry are great as well.
$ 50 for two at lunch, a bit pricy.
Personable and friendly wait-​staff.
Perfect for a quick lunch alone or as a couple, but stuff adds up fast.

We started with the Duck confeite appitizer for lunch. It kinda felt like a spring roll wrapped in naan to me?
The door wouldn’t shut all the way and a waiter was constantly closing it because the other patrons wouldn’t shut it all the way.
I got the flank steak, and not thinking ordered it medium rare. Always get flank steak medium or higher done. The included tamarind sauce I thought was really nice, but my date did not like it as it was highly vinegary. I’ll have to return to give it another shot and order the right way next time.

YUM. this place is awesome, healthy, and has a fast service. Came here post yoga on a Tuesday evening and they seated and serve us promptly. Their thai spring rolls were great and their décor is really cute!
Will for sure be back!

My 2 stars represent my dissatisfaction with my pricey lunch that I bought today
First, I got the grilled Cornish hen w/​sticky rice which was OK $ 13 not worth the price for lunch
Second, I went out on a limb to try an appetizer «Thai spring roll» which was not traditionally made and is literally spring mix lettuce wrapped in rice paper with 1 shrimp not exactly how I’ve known them to be made just did not like it wasting my $ 7 (2)
Lastly, I will give another try of a rice dish in the future, but no time too soon!

I ordered take-​out with three of my coworkers a couple weeks after Pon opened — we were all super pumped to have a new restaurant near work, because rotating between the same 4 – 5 spots each day gets dull! Plus, there isn’t a Thai place nearby. Win and win, right? Meh. not really.
Two of us ordered the Pad Thai and both agreed that while it wasn’t «bad,» there was nothing special, either. I wound up giving my leftovers to someone else because I wasn’t very interested in having another round.
One coworker ordered a mango salad on the side and they forgot to give it to her (but did charge for it). Whoops! Granted they were fairly busy with the lunch crowd when we picked up ours, but not cool, Pon.
Another friend ordered the $ 15 Gulf Shrimp Salad, and upon opening her bag up back at work found out that what «salad» means (apparently), is putting 5 shrimp on one very large lettuce leaf that looked more like a garnish than part of a «salad.» She said the shrimp weren’t too flavorful, but were good and at least large. Still, $ 15 for 5 shrimp? No thanks.
Needless to say, none of us have been back to Pon. Maybe we’d give it another try once they get more in the groove of being open, but with Oriental Pearl (Vietnamese/​Chinese) right across the street at half the price and twice the portion sizes… maybe we won’t.
Overall: disappointed.