Kesone Thai Lao Bistro

Great food, family owned, very quiet. Beautiful curtains. Kind of over priced; and NEVER busy!!!! When I go I usually have the place to myself. THey do have a bar, never bought drinks there; but they have fresh squeezed limade that is delicious. Other than the prices it is amazing! Pros: Service, quality of food, ambience. Cons: Price more

My friend and i randomly drove by Kesone on our search for Thai food last night. Nothing from the outside would clue you in to how cute, cozy, and inviting this place is on the inside. Red walls, curtains and candles contribute to the great ambience here. The woman working was so nice and the food was great. We had summer rolls, very fresh with big chunks of tofu in them, also come with peanut sauce! The Tom Yum soup was delicious, perfectly spicy, and good veggies. We also had the papaya salad which she brought out last...it helped cool our palates and provided a fresh and light finale to our wonderful dinner. They also have a full bar and good bottled beers. I highly recommend! Pros: parking available, cozy ambience, great service, yummy food more

Love this place! If you are into ""yellow curry"" ... there is none better. The Pad Thai is fantastic, too! Pros: food is perfect - prices are good Cons: I wish they had ""combo plates"" so I could try everything. more

I LOVE this restaurant. The food is delicious, the service is friendly and courteous, and the dining room is beautiful. I highly recommend the curries (they will make them as spicy or as mild as you like), the noodle dishes, the tom kha, the sticky rice, the banana fritters, and the delectable green tea and lychee wines. It's the perfect place for a group dinner, a lunch meeting, or a romantic night out. I want to go to Kesone every week! more

Kesone Thai Laos Bistro is newly relocated in NE (26th and Sandy) from downtown. Fortunately for us, it is now closer than ever to our house! It is our favorite restaraunt. Kesone has made some adjustments to the ambience since her opening. Also with a relatively small clientele(so far), she has limited help sometimes. Hopefully, when the word gets out about her place, Kesone Thai Laos will become a Portland fixture. We enjoy the easy-going atmosphere, the genuine friendly service, and the FOOD OMG! \r \r Recomendations:\r Apps: ""A4"" Miang Kham (fresh spinach from farmer's mkt), ""A9"" Koong Tod (now comes with tempura veggis) \r Soup: ""S2"" Tom Kha (coconut soup Mmm Mmm good) \r Entrees: ""M2"" Namm Kao Vientiene (Laosian dish-excellent), ""Lemon grass chicken"" (grilled chx w/ steamed veggis and Peanut sauce), ""C2"" Queen of Evil"" (spiced to order and we can even swap ingredients(cooked to order,yum!)) ""N1"" Pad Thai (good versian of old fave) ""N4"" Yakisoba (best in town, but addictive) ""S4"" Pad Phed Ta-lay (Stir fried seafood with fruit, veggies and herbs)\r Dessert: Banana Fritters\r Side: Purple Rice\r Bev's: Full Bar, Asian, Domestic, and Local Microbrews and Wines. Henry's Root Beer.\r See you there!\r \r PS: Dear ""Hambunglar"" I am appalled at your attempt to trash this restaraunt, especially after you admit that they were having a bad night. To me bad service is not being somewhere when the staff is overwhelmed, but being someplace when they are apathetic or rude, when they obviously have time to treat me right, but don't. Further, if I feel I have not received my money's worth, I will talk to the owner about it, not just slink off into the night and trash her on the internet. It is unfair to readers who might (will) enjoy this establishment had they not read your heady review. Come back, try it again, and tell me you had the same bad experience again. You won't. Otherwise maybe you should stick to rating McDonald's franchises. Pros: Clean, Laid-back service, Good value, Excellent food Cons: Car dealership next door uses their parking more

We were seated immediately, got our drinks, ordered our food, and waited... We waited a long time. We started to notice that everyone else who had been seated after us was eating, and our waiter hadn't been by once. He finally comes over and apologizes saying that ""the cook lost your order, he's working on it now."" About five minutes later he reappears to tell me that they no longer have the entree I ordered because the people at the table next to us got the last one. Sigh. I just ordered the calamari because I figured that was the quickest thing on the menu. By now, one member of our party has their food, but it will be about 15 minutes before any other entrees arrive. When it does, the calamari is overdone, the curry is bland, and we've been there almost two hours. We at least expected an apology, perhaps an offer of a free desert or something, but we didn't even get acknowledgment that our dining experience was poor.\r In a place like Portland where you can find a Thai restaurant on almost every corner, you need to at least be nice to your customers if you expect them to come back...\r Pros: Nice setting, great neighborhood location Cons: Poor service, mediocre food more

We feel privileged to have such an amazing restaurant so close to us. The atmosphere is nicely lit giving off a romantic glow. More importantly, let's talk about the food! Every dish is unique and as spicy as you like it. My husband and I try to mix it up and not stick with our favorites but everything we try makes us want to have it again. A beautiful situation! \r We love the owner and his family. Our favorite waitress will take the time to explain how a dish is made and what to expect when it arrives. Service is friendly, and helpful.\r We want to have Kesone around for many years to come so please come and see what I am talking about. You will want to spread the word! Pros: Exquisite Thai food, friendly and helpful service, atmosphere Cons: None! more

I went to Kesone today for lunch and it was wonderful. The food was EXCELLENT...I got pinapple fried rice with chicken and it was to die for....I normaly order and meal and save half for later. This was sooo good, I ate the whole order. I highly recommend this restaurant. The cleanliness and atmosphere was also nice. more

Let's face it - going out for Thai food can be a crap-shoot. Sometimes its good, sometimes its frightening! But when you find a gem like Kesone, it is your civic duty to spread the word to whomever will listen!! Knowing nothing about this place, we stumbled in on a rainy portland evening. We ordered the appetizer sampler, where everything arrived fresh and beautiful on a gorgeous platter. Each part of the dish offered a distinctive flavor, the salad rolls were fresh - the peanut sauce divine, the ""golden bags"" were shatteringly crispy without being oily and even the chicken sate burst with lemongrass and spices. I ordered the NAMM KAO VIENTIANE (M2) and was blown away! I'm a chef by profession and can say that this is the dish to try if you want something with layers of textures and flavors. Served with fresh, crisp lettuce leaves, you pile this amazing fried rice, coconut, peanuts, browned pork, lime and herbs into the end of each leaf and crunch down on this explosion. Each chew gives way to a new dimension. I was full half-way through this giant plate, but kept on eating until I could hardly move. Hubby ordered shrimp with mushrooms, onions and a wine sauce that was subtle, but let the delicate flavor of the wine show through. And the shrimp were done to perfection - just barely opaque and buttery and tasting of the sea. (and not fishy in the least!) \r \r Although the ambiance is lush and rich, it was a little chilly in the big, airy space. The service was a little slow, but I was forgiving because not only was the owner the only waitress, but I think part cook too! I will happily wait for food like this again. Next time I'll order a drink from their full bar to make the waiting a little more fun. My hubby ordered a Thai Iced Coffee that was a little on the weak side compared to others we've had around town. \r \r All in all, I highly recommend trying Kesone. It tastes like you had a best friend who was Thai, and her mom cooked you the best dinner ever! Pros: Unique Fresh and Flavorful Food with Delightful Presentation Cons: Could use another waitress if it gets any busier there.. more

We followed Kesone from Downtown to her new location on 26th and NE Sandy, as she\r has the best Thai food in Portland! The Queen of Evil is one of our favorite dishes, try\r it with the purple rice! Kesone we love you! T & R\r \r p.s. Take it from us, we go to eat here at least once a weekend, usually at least twice, she \r has the best Thai food in town, and the only Laosian food you will find. \r \r Sometimes she is busy, her cook doesn't show up for his shift, and she\r has to do the cooking and leave the serving to another family member, or friend. She planned on\r going out to that ""maybe it was a bad night"" table and comping the calalmari and giving them free dessert,\r but they were gone before she could do so. She is a family business, and sometimes\r she gets slammed when she's not staffed for it. I know the restaurant business and there is a difference \r between bad service, and a server being overwhelmed. Next time, before you write a bad review take a look around and see how hard someone is working, it's not necessarily that they are ignoring you, they have other people to take care of too. Clearly if you are the only people there, then it's bad service. The restaurant busness is tough, it's really hard to make it work. \r \r I am very protective of Kesone for my own selfish purposes. I want her to thrive and stay in business a long time, as I can't get enough of her food! We are so glad Kesone is in our neighborhood, and we enjoy her wonderful cooking and service! You won't find a harder working woman anywhere! Kesone Rocks! Pros: Food is outstanding, prices are great! Kesone Rocks! more