nicky's thai kitchen

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

it's by far one of the most enjoyable places to eat in pittsburgh. thepadsee ew is the best i've ever had. i always order the thai toasts as well. the peanut, cucumber sauce pairing is refreshing.

no! i was so excited to try nicky's, and i love thai food, but this is terrible. i just got takeout and my food was inedible! i gotpadthai, it had zero spice and was without any kind of sauce. just a bunch of clear noodles? it smelled really fishy (i got chicken) and like vinegar. what!? after a few bites, it tasted like something was bad. like, spoiled, rotten. i felt bad but i had to throw it all away. disgusting. i'm very upset because it was not cheap and i was looking forward to it.

leave me high and dry. i once order for dinner and had lunch there. dinner time was good, really good. thepadse ew, very nice. i no like lunch menu. i think very expensive, and things were not good because im vegetarian, and they give me chicken. they say sorry, but i was in a hurry so i eat anyway. i dont feel very good later.

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:padsee 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 waspadsee ew. no complaints at all.
next was the green curry which had good flavor despite the spice but the chicken was 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!

nicky's was amazing but watch the spice level! i gotpadthai level 7 and it was one of the spiciest dishes i have ever eaten in my life. i would definitely recommend the restaurant though, really tranquil atmosphere and authentic and delicious food!

beyond amazing. this is by far my new favorite place to eat! a good friend of mine kept telling me to try nicky's for ages but i never got around to it until his birthday a few months ago.

i'm so disappointed i hadn't gone before!

there is too much to love about this tiny restaurant.

firstly, i love the location - it is easily found and not as difficult to find parking as say - the southside.

secondly, i love the building itself. it's situated in one of those old, victorian-esque buildings with high ceilings and narrow hallways - i love it all.

and of course - and most importantly - the food is fantastic. i love asian cuisine. i love not just your run of the mill chinese takeout but also sushi, japanese, vietnamese - all of it. thai is something i had tried ages ago and meant to try again at the right time and i couldn't be happier that it was at nicky's.

i had thepadthai and i realize i chose this because it is what i would consider "basic" as far a main course. it was unlike anything i've ever had. the noodles were sticky-perfect and the sauce had depth and character in both sweetness, saltiness and spices. each bite was unique and it was so good i was sad that i finished it so quickly! my sister had the pineapple/chicken fried rice and the portion was huge for the price - quite the bonus. my friend had coconut curry and wasabi duck salad - both interesting and both things i hadn't tried before.

i have to mention that nicky's is good to try if you like curry - they have a whole page of different kinds! it truly is amazing how many choices are available, including a wide variety of vegeterian dishes.

everything was fresh and prepared to the right heat level - a very important thing to me as it shows that the chef wants the customer to be happy.

this is one no one should miss if you like asian cuisine! give it a try!

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. thepadthai was wonderfully authentic and flavorful. the mango chicken yellow 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!

i tried to venture from my pumpkin curry/pad see ew comfort zone, and instead ordered cashew tofu. the dish was decent, but a little too salty. it was a satisfying lunch, but also encouraged me to stick with my tried and true favorites. how delicious wouldpadsee ew have been on such a dark rainy day? very delicious, i tell you. i guess i will just have to go back and order it.

awesome!!!. i have been to nicki's thai kitchen half a dozen times now and it never disappoints! you could pick anything on the menu and it will be amazing! thepadthai is the best i have ever had. the beef and broccoli is excellent and has the most amazing flavor. super inexpensive and large portions plenty for lunch the next day. the ambiance is lovely and the food is comparable to the best thai restaurants in new york city.

a disappointing experience. in fairness, i will tell you that i have been to nicky's thai kitchen more than 10 times and have had very good experiences until my last visit on friday 8/3. much to my surprise they were burning incense on the outdoor patio; it is possible they were hoping to cover the spoiled garbage odor that was looming in the hot humid air. we orderedpadthai and found it had no flavor, no seasoning, no vegetables. we told the server who responded "ok". we also mentioned this to the host who responded "i am sorry". there were no efforts put toward service recovery. this was most disappointing.

wonderful.. nicky's thai kitchen did nothing wrong and plenty right. this small scale thai joint leaves a customer well fed and impressed. simply, nicky's is a must have. having been to thailand myself, the green curry had distinct authentic flavor and nice spice. thepadthai is hands down the best in the city. the only thing that was a little questionable was the amount of oil used. a little more than i would have liked, but nicky's still takes the cake!

i'm a fan!. went there on saturday for the first time. the outdoor seating is incredible and so is the food! thepadthai was outstanding as was the peanut jalapeno dish. the service was outstanding. ask for some of their homemade chili pastes - yum. good eats. can't wait to return.

truly authentic thai food. we've been going to nicky's for years. it's one of - if not the - best thai you'll find in the area. we've been to tamari (not true thai at all), sweet basil, thyphoon and the new thai place out at robinson. i think the difference is in the fresh ingredients, really accurate heat level and the fact that nicky's is not sloppy/generous with sauces. i recommend the param chicken, poor man's beef,padthai, and the tom yum soup. if you visit in the summer, you must sit outside. you'll feel like you're on vacation. it's byob too, with no corkage fee. nicky, himself, is a class act, and you can tell he puts a lot of time and attention into the food preparation.

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 thepadthai 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 basil chicken entree.

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.