Thai 9

Thai 9 gets most of its business at lunch, thanks to its close proximity to Cabela's. It's located in the shopping center area that also includes a kitchen store, a Haven's Candies store and Famous Dave's Bar-B-Que.

The atmosphere is sleek and inviting. There's some of the usual Asian good luck decor scattered about the dining area, but also fresh flowers on the bar and other nice little touches you wouldn't find in other Thai restaurants. The service is fast and friendly.

Most of the food is out of the Eat & Run price range, but the lunch specials – served every day but Sunday – offer a lot of variety for not much money.

The 10 lunchtime offerings include noodle dishes such as pad thai, drunken noodles, pad saeaw, laad nar and lo mein. There are three fried rice dishes, four curries and lots of vegetable combinations. For $7.95, the choice of meats includes chicken, beef steak or pork loin, or you can order tofu. Shrimp, calamari or sea scallops are $1 extra.

Each meal is served with a crispy spring roll.

The dinners are large enough for two, and so within our budget if it's a shared meal. Dinner entrees are served with your choice of jasmine white or brown rice. We were in the mood for something different, so we tried the mango chicken, which was sliced chicken, big chunks of mango and red pepper slices swimming in a yummy yellow curry sauce. We were pleased to find that neither the peppers nor the mango had been overcooked.

It was delicious, but we did have one problem: We asked to keep the spice level at one star, and it felt more like two or three. Yes, we were "cowards," according to their spice chart. The five-star spice level ("Show Off") must be hot enough to blow the top off a volcano.

One could also fashion a budget-conscious meal from the restaurant's selection of soups, salads and appetizers. We tried the pan-fried ground pork dumplings and the crab rangoon, which the menu notes is made with Maine crabmeat. That got the cooks some brownie points, and we couldn't wait to try them. But when we bit into these crispy golden packets of cream-cheesy goodness, we had a hard time discerning any crab flavor.

They were indeed freshly made crab rangoon, and were some of the better ones we've had in the Portland area. But here's a generic mini-rant: Why do all Thai and Chinese restaurants call it crab rangoon when all you can ever taste is the cream cheese? What's the point of putting the crab in there if you're going to use so little that no one can taste it?

Thai 9 also has a kids' menu for children under 12. The options include satay chicken, chicken teriyaki and tempura chicken, as well as mixed vegetables prepared tempura style.

The Features staff of the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram anonymously samples meals for about $7.

Thai 9