nicky's thai kitchen

a small but famous restaurant in pittsburgh . the food is good . good service . tried sataychickenand basil fried rice . both were good enough . can visit again .

nice staff and atmosphere and lovely food. i found this place the other day while doing pedal pittsburgh and was pleased that there was a thai place that i've never tired. we started without the surprise combo (shrimp toast, crab rangoon,chickensatay and dumplings) then i had the crispy basil duck while my husband had thechickenpineapple curry. it didn't disapppoint. and to round everything off, we had to try the sticky rice with mango. we'll be bak.

this is seriously the greatest place on earth, i'm currently on the patio...everything i've had here (chicken pad thai, beef pad thai, crab ranguns, wonton soup, poor mans beef,chickenpineapple fried rice, spicy peanut combo) is not just good, it's insane! highly recommended!!!

we celebrated our anniversary with a dinner at nicky's thai kitchen yesterday evening. they were not able to find our reservation (i called 2 days earlier) but were still able to seat us outside on time. we brought a reisling to accompany our dinner. my red curry withchickenwas deliciously spicy (i chose a 7 for spiciness). our service was just okay. the flavor of my dinner more than made up for it! this was our second visit and we will return to sit outside on their lovely patio!

some of the best thai i've ever eaten! went for lunch and started off with thechickennoodle soup. light, fresh and perfectly seasoned.chickenblack for my entree and it was amazing! visually perfect and that brown sauce, i could seriously have licked it off my plate. service was fine, considering it was a busy time and no empty tables the entire time we were there. the small interior space is pretty and nicely decorated and my only complaint is the notice level. ouch! you practically have to scream to talk to your lunch companion. as wonderful as the meal was, i think i will wait till the outside seating area is open for my next visit.

nicky's thai salty kitchen. my friend, me, and our two sons dined here tonight with a 5:30 pm reservation. we waited 15-20 minutes to be seated as the dining room is extremely small and most patrons had just ordered or had their food delivered.

once seated we orderedchickensatay $7.50 for my son--he liked it but said it was not consistently cooked through-out as it was tough in some parts. i ordered the thom kha soup $4.50 and well worth the price. its made with coconut milk and i requested chicken. very tasty with a generous bowl you can make it a meal. i also tried thechickenblack $13.95 which came with brown sauce and mushrooms. the brown sauce was extremely salty and mychickenwas cut up in big chunks, small chunks, and shreaded pieces. would appreciate some consistency with bite sizechickenpieces if that is not too much to ask. my friend's son had fried rice withchickenwhich he liked and don't remember the name of thechickendish my friend had but she also said it was salty.

we had jasmine hot tea to drink in a small ceramic tea pot with a tea bag infused in hot water. it was very weak. would appreciate a pot of tea in a larger stainless steal pot with brewed tea. i don't believe asking for brewed tea in a thai restaurant is unreasonable.

overall, i give the food 3 stars out of 5 (just average). would have been four if they would brew their tea and use salt in moderation.

best thai in pittsburgh but...

the good:
lovely embiance outside.
byob = a+++
the best thai food i've had in pittsburgh.
service was good but not above and beyond.
best dish we had: pad see ew
also recommend: spicy green beens, crab rangoon, and green curry

the bad:
food was overly spicy! maybe we just had a chef who decided to add more heat than usual but i didnt read any complaints about the food being too spicy. one reviewer said 9 was preffered which would kill any regular palate. i consider myself to have a high tolerance to spicy food and my green curry which was a number 7 was painful! use caution! for the typical pittsburgh palate i dont recommend ordering anything over number 5. nicky's could try placing spicy condiments on the table like other thai restaurants and avoid this whole number confusion. how is anyone going there for the first time supposed to know how spicy their 1 to 10 scale is?

what we had:
the best dish all around was pad see ew. no complaints at all.
next was the green curry which had good flavor despite the spice but thechickenwas hard and dry with an odd green (read: artificial) color. more eggplant would have been nice.
also good were the spicy green beens, actually the least spicy of all despite the name but the beans were too crunchy. one more minute of cooking would have taken that squeeky crunch out of them.
crab rangoon was good but i didnt taste any crab - is it even supposed to have crab? it didnt matter because they were terrific.

overall i would definitely go back armed with the knowledge of their spiciness. there are so many things on the menu i would like to try.

i encourage you to do the same!

outrageously good. this place was suggested to us by a couple of taiwanese foreign exchange students as an excellent restaurant. they were dead on.

we tried a few different things. the basil was delicious and fresh. the pad thai was wonderfully authentic and flavorful. the mangochickenyellow curry was borderline perfect. but the highlight of the meal was the mixed seafood in a green curry sauce. it was chock full of fresh, large scallops, tail-on large shrimp, four clams, lobster, and squid. it also had eggplant, shiitake mushrooms, green and red peppers, and fresh snap peas as well. it was so good it literally brought tears to my eyes; so good, the sauce could have been served in a pint glass and drank. this dish was literally the highlight of my visit to pittsburgh.

the menu here is extensive, and the restaurant (from what i hear) is virtually always packed. the ambiance is great as well.

my only complaint, which is very minor and mostly my fault, is i ordered my food thai spicy. i am no lightweight for spicy food, and enjoy very hot meals. so when i ordered my food "thai spicy", i knew it was going to be spicy but had no idea it was going to be that spicy. i was warned by my waiter that it was going to be hot, but o lord jesus its a fire. nicky's has a sliding scale of mild, medium, hot, thai spicy, and extremely spicy so i didn't think it would be too hot to eat. but by the end of my meal, i was sweating from my face down to my chest. be weary!

can't wait to go back..... my girlfriend and i spent a night enjoying nicky's tai kitchen and their culinary excellence. we couldn't have been happier by the fact that we were turned away from pusadee's garden for reservations and had to "settle" for nicky's.

the food was excellent. we each started with the tom yum soup which was perfectly spiced and overall flavor provide was complex but simple enough not to overwhelm. the spring roll was also a nice addition for us to "cool" off after the spicy soup.

both entrees were enjoyed thoroughly. my girlfriend had the pad thai which she enjoyed but was too full to really enjoy (i hope they weren't offended by her plate being mostly full when she asked for it to go) and i very much enjoyed my basilchickenentree.

our only complaint was even though the garden in the rear of the establishment had a great environment it was slightly dark and we were barely able to see our food. other than that, the experience was perfect.

2nd visit a downer. our first visit to nicky's in the fall of 2010 was great. food was delicious and waiter was engaging. we went back in the spring of 2011. waitress acted like she didn't want to be there.chickentasted fishy. ground beef dish on rice tasted like an overpriced sloppy joe or taco meat from a fast food joint. spent a lot and dinner was a waste of money. doubt we will go back.

afternoon lunch with the mrs.. my wife and i had a free saturday afternoon to have lunch together (a rarity). she let me pick a place, so rather than go for the gastronomic junk food places i usually frequent i decided to try something new. i was going to go to the green mango to try their pad thai but didn't want to drive all the way over to point breeze so i suggested we try nicky's thai kitchen. i was originally going to go their with my sister when my wife and her husband were out-of-town, but she's kind of a wuss at trying new places she's never been to, heard of, or foods that are different. so i decide to go their and boy was i ever glad we did. the storefront is small and place is tight but the food is excellent. we shared the satay sampler and tom yum soup for the first course and my wife had the mangochickensalad and i had the beef pad thai. i'm no expert in thai cuisine, but the food was delicious. the soup was ordered at a heat level of 5 and my pad thai was a 7. i thought the soup was spicier than the pad thai. i suppose most of the pepper flakes in the soup accumulated at the bottom since i was finishing up what my wife couldn't finish. the pad thai was spicy, but not overly so. i enjoyed every last bite. the satay was good, but not outstanding. thechickenmango salad was excellent as my wife ate everything except for the huge amounts of red onions they use. red onions don't always agree with her (at least that many). overall, an excellent afternoon meal with my wife where we could order things my son would never try and linger in adult conversation. i'll be back.

very tasty, inexpensive, hidden gem. great taste, low price. get the flat noodle dish withchickenand broccoli and you will be a devotee forever. i love this place and get hunger pangs thinking of it. some dishes are remarkable, some are average, but never below. small and intimate inside. sort of tucked away in the allegheny west area of pittsburghs "north shore". i hope this place stays in business for a long time!

love this place.. everyone is so nice. i had two people with me that had never had thai before, and they were pleased. we had the special sampler app, and it was great. their crab rangoon was the best i've ever had. i had the kao soy withchickenand it was excellent. nicky even made us desert for my birthday! it was really good. everyone seemed to like what they got. will be back!

a pleasant surprise!. mandy, my adventurous daughter, and i decided to try nicky's prior to attending a pirates game and were very pleased with our decision. i enjoyed the fresh spring roll appetizer, taking greater pleasure in nicky's sliced serving over the usual presentations offered elsewhere. two entree's were ordered and thoroughly enjoyed. blackchickenand red curry. nicky's blackchickendish was an earthy tasting dish ofchickenwith mushrooms in a brown sauce with bites of varying degrees of flavor. the red curry a wonderful medley of spice intermingled with coconut milk and herbs. so many different tastes and textures working in harmony. "i can taste all the seperate flavors, they aren't just mashed together" is what mandy kept telling me. i second that motion. it all just feels so good together.

there is much better in pittsburgh. the problems:
1. hostess could not remember our names/number of people in our group.
2. dining room was hot (90 degree day), servers left a patio door open.
3. had to order with the manger... server no where to be found x 20 minutes.
4. pad thai is too sweet and too starchy.
5. wildchickencurry bowl was way too spicy (ordered "mild"), with only a few pieces of chicken.

stay away.