Ning’s Thai Cuisine

I’ve tried the fried rice, drunken noodles, and green curry here and all were delicious! The restaurant is clean, staff is friendly, and the food tastes like some of the best Thai I’ve had. Ordered medium and it was just enough heat.

I’ve eaten here multiple times and always enjoyed it. However I took my kids in here for dinner and ordered the same thing I always order. 2 star pad Thai and 2 star pork fried rice. When we took our first bite it was so hot that I sweat underneath my eyes immediately. When i tried to tell staff they acted like it was my fault and not their problem. They made this food for toddlers. Toddlers who are able to eat jalapeños whole. No wimps to spice and this made my four year old cry. Do they offer to remake it? Nope. Offer a discount because we can’t eat it? Nope. They get offended that I wasn’t happy. I don’t expect top notch from Pahoa town but what this place tried to feed my kids was unethical. I’m not saying the food isn’t good, I used to really love it as did my kids. But with that kind of service. Ill definitely take my business elsewhere.

We are sooooo lucky to have Nings here in Pahoa. Some of the best Thai food I have ever eaten. Always fresh, filled with fresh vegetables and meat, every dish has its own distinct flavor. The wait staff are friendly and attentive though can get spread thin when they are crowded. The inside /​outside dining room at front is delightful. A regular for us and we always take our visitors here for dinner. The curries are all good and the coconut ice cream is dreamy. You can bring in your own beer and wine and they will setup glasses for no additional charge. Good people running a very good, very local restaurant.

Yummy Tom Kha, summer rolls, and pad thai. The main downer is that they use styrofoam to-​go containers. I have stopped eating their for this reason.

Not the best Thai food I’ve ever had, but it also isn’t the worst. Pad Thai was not too bad but didn’t like the beef fried rice.

This is the best Thai place in Hawaii, and one of the best anywhere. It is owned by a Thai family and is truly authentic.
They give you good sized portions too.
My fiancé and I always order the fried veggie spring rolls, cucumber salad, pad thai, brown rice (they have the best) and extra mild green curry. If you don’t say mild, it will be spicy.
Anything you get at this place is going to be good.

My pad see yu was delicious with a big serving. My friends pineapple curry was good but not amazing. Also friendly staff.

Perhaps I’m cursed, but I’ve yet to have a good meal at Ning’s. We’ve lived here for many years, so it’s not as tho I visited on a bad day.
(While I am only writing my personal experience I have several friends who are in agreement with me.)

I’ve tried the Pad Thai 3 times, each time a disappointment. Nothing memorable about anything else I’ve tried. In fact we never take the ‘left overs’, and I hate wasting food!
As to authenticity — I’ve never been to Thailand, but we’ve had a guest who was born there. The food she prepared for us was far superior to anything (including the Spring rolls, Papaya salad and Curry) we’ve had at Nings.
I concede that prior to Iselle’s visit and the brief closure things were somewhat better. We’ve noticed a decline in both service and quality. One waiter even had the audacity to verbally berate a friend of mine for leaving too small of a tip on food that was ordered to go! Unacceptably rude.
I hope your experience is better than ours, We won’t be going back.

We had really high hopes after seeing all the 5 star reviews, so we were a little disappointed by the results. The food wasn’t bad, but sure wasn’t anything to rave about. We had a pleasant meal after a long travel day.

SO Disappointed. :(. This used to be one of my favorite restaurants, last year and the year before when I lived here. What happened?
The meal I was served was just barely average. The Tom Yum soup was made with «Hunts tomato paste», and was awful. Green curry was passable. Cheap ingredients, but the recipes seem to have changed too.
My best guess is that the original cook left, since the lava flow of June 2014; and since business has gone steadily downhill in Pahoa since then, I guess Ning’s management has decided to go cheap and cheaper. Better just close doors.
Also, the severe hard-​core drug element of Pahoa has apparently stepped up its very visible, very loud residency since so much activity in the town halted with the lava flow. The «awa bar» across the street from Ning’s seems to have a heroin section now. It’s really creepy there.
Very sad.
The Thai food in Hilo is SO superlative still– best in America! That I wouldn’t want anyone to waste a meal here.

First time here and ordered the Thai spicy hot basil veggie/​tofu entrée. As I am a spicy food lover, typically when I order food as hot as they offer, I can eat it no problem. However, soon after I take a few bites into the dish, I shortly realize that they weren’t joking about their spiciness and my mouth was on fire! Great job on them for keeping their word, but I would order maybe the level below in terms of spiciness.
Their bathroom is also very clean which helps as it is quite hard to find some. Also, they were private which definitely helps giving you space.

We have now eaten at Ning’s Thai three times in the last few days, our new favorite Thai in Pahoa/​Hilo area. They are authentic and the taste of their food is heavenly. Pahoa is a unique town and Ning’s is one of the highlights to visiting this area.

Had friends get back from Thailand and say that this place is spot on. My favorite Thai food ever hands down. Great portions for your buck and you can bring your own bottle of wine or beer or liquor for that matter. Massaman curry is ridiculous, basically there’s not one thing on the menu that I’ve ever had a problem with. 5 star banger for sure!

Jungle curry with pork — yumm! Just the way curry was meant to be.
Fried calamari — pretty good, not overcooked (although not super flavorful either)

If you’re staying in a place with a fridge and microwave in Puna and do not want to cook, this is a must-​stop if you love Thai food. Curry just gets tastier the next day or so, let those spices soak in the meat and rice! Very impressive, five-​star rating pumpkin curry. Four stars for the fresh spring rolls and pineapple curry. Service is slow, but good food takes time! Just chill like the hippies across the street while waiting for your order. Note: the portions are large, good enough for 1.5 to 2 meals!

The other Thai restaurant, Sukothai, that had higher Unilocal ratings was closed (permanently — it appears — judging by the empty storefront), so I tried this place instead.
Ordered the fresh spring rolls (shrimp), shrimp pad thai, and green curry (chicken). Took about 25 min for takeout at 6p. $ 40 total.
This place is busy for takeout. You order from a little window and then walk around Pahoa town while you wait. The seating within the restaurant is charming and super casual.
The food was very flavorful. It was fun to watch them cook… ladling spices and seasonings into each dish as they prepared them. The fresh spring rolls and pad thai were 4-​star, but the green curry was a little thick and inconsistent in texture but again very flavorful. I liked the sweet potato, eggplant, green beans… it was obvious that this was all local produce. The kaffir and herbs in the dishes were very fresh and bright!
Bottom line… it’s rustic and charming, and you are getting the real deal in terms of Thai food. Do not expect a fancy dining room, but that is sort of the point of staying near Kapoho and Pahoa.

Well…
I was holding out hope that I would be able to experience good Thai on Hawaii — but I was let down.
We dined on a rainy Thursday and were looking forward to a little Thai warmth.
The four of us ordered appetizers, curry, noodle, and rice dishes of all sorts — and while the prices were okay, the taste was somewhat bland.
They have all these signs around saying that you cannot send back food if you order it too spicy… I never knew you could send back food in the first place ?
Anyhow — What cost them the other star is they had forgotten to make one of our entrees — and they weren’t even busy enough to warrant this — and NO APOLOGY!
I get it — this is the only Thai place for miles — but admit when you mess up and accept some responsibility.

This place was hopping when we arrived. It was hot and humid and although there was no AC, the ceiling fans were cranking. We sat at a table beside the windowless window. As close to dining outdoors as you can get without actually being outdoors. I had a vegan version of the Pad Thai. It was flavorful and I gobbled it down, along with a Thai iced tea with coconut milk. Nice meal!

Cute little place in small town Pahoa that serves tasty Thai food. Everything was fresh. It’s not the most delicate Thai place I’ve ever been, but I love their genuine food and the consistency they serve good food. They are also very friendly.
Papaya salad — very big portions. standard papaya salad. Caution on the spice level you ask for.
Tom yum soup — also big portion.
Red curry — very delicious. Love this one.
I enjoyed sitting at the open window and watch the people walking by. Warm afternoon, welcoming wait staff, small town, hawaii ocean breeze. What a great experience.

The Skinny: best thing was their green papaya salad which wasn’t that great to begin with, decided lack of fish sauce/​tamarind flavor (2) Service: it’s alright (2) Value: expensive for what it is, the flavors were decidedly underwhelming (2).
We came here for the highly rated Thai food but were sorely disappointed.
We started off with a green papaya salad which was okay. I was decidedly disappointed with the mealy tomatoes they used in the salad and the lack of dried shrimp.
We also ordered the stir fried eggplant and the pad thai with tofu.
Both were decidedly poor. The stirfried eggplant was slightly too firm and did not have wok hai — the slightly charred bits that defines a stirfry dish. It was surprisingly bland despite the basil added to the dish.
The pad thai tasted one note — basically a slurry of sriracha and sugar. Again no wok hai. There was no fish sauce in this dish, no roasted peanut. Plus the addition of celery to this dish really didn’t work. It just was plain weird. It also looked like they ran out of their thin noodle because we had like ¹⁄₃^rd thin rice noodle and 2/​3rds thicker noodle.
Really, if you are hankering for thai food, do not come to this place. I would venture to say that the you will be disappointed by the inauthentic flavors used in the dishes here. Given the lackluster food, this place deserves a 2 starred review.