9Zaab Thai Street Food — Restaurant in Cambridge

(FYI - In all fairness, this is based on a single visit and two dishes)

I was headed to a dumpling shop down the street when I just happened to park in front of this place. I was in the mood for hot noodley stuff from any part of Asia anyway, so this fit the bill with a much easier walk on a chilly day.

"Thai Street Food" suggested they probably had more going on than Pad Thai and Golden Bags. Knowing "Zaab" means something along the lines of "Wicked Tasty" I figured it was a safe bet.

I quickly spotted the Yum Nam Tok: a semi-salad thing of grilled sliced pork tossed with onions, chiles and a lime-soy dressing. Sprinkled with toasted rice powder for crunch and aroma, it's a personal favorite. 9Zaab does a really great job with this dish. Generously sized as well, allowing me to push it aside for later, then keep picking at it until the next course without finishing it off.

The big bowl of Ba Lee Moo Dang (and Fish Ball!) was next. Perfect choice on a half-sunny/half-cold day. The menu billed it as "The most famous Thai egg noodles"* and it had a couple of chile pepper symbols next to it. Most Famous at a place called Zaab! I was waiting to have my socks blown off.

Didn't quite happen. The famous egg noodles were a big helping of instant ramen in a big bowl of mildly- oh so very mildly - seasoned broth. The BBQ pork slices were pretty much pink ringed slices of the Chinese Char-Siu take out variety. There were some decent dumplings as well as some very delicious fish balls. They did, however, leave off the cilantro & fried garlic as listed.

Over all it was kinda non-zaab... It wasn't bad. There just wasn't much to talk about flavor-wise. I poured some of the Yum Nam Tok dressing into it and added some chiles. It all worked out.

Staff is nice, the joint is immaculately clean and I'd definitely give it another visit.

*Turns out, all the noodle soups on the menu begin with "the most...

I visited this restaurant three times in one week. I order several dishes including the som Tum thai, som tum pu plaa, fish larb, vegie dumplings, oyster egg fried, sticky rice, tom yum soup and shrimp fried rice. The ingredients used for some of the dishes and the final product were 100 percent as you would get it in Thailand. Although I recommend them to use Asian long beans and not french beans for papaya salad. Can the flavor and recipe be improved, I believe so in some cases. But eating in this restaurant I would say you get very close to what you get on Thailand. The menu is very interesting with a strong focus on Thai street style food. There have some classic Thai street side items in their menu. This good spot to get a good exposure to authentic street style food from Thailand. You can also get a good array of sea food options which is expected in a Boston restaurant. The fish larb was very good. The Tom yum soup was average. There is a good options for noodles dishes both soup and fried. A place I would definitely return to next visit to Cambridge. The owner khun the extremely nice and friendly. I speak Thai fluently we had nice chat about food and took a lot of interest in my feedback for the food. Definitely a good place for a night out with friends and family. I would rate the food 3.5 and the service 4, venue is a 4 too. Overall rating...

We grabbed takeout from 9Zaab today and everything was flat-out amazing.

The menu leaves you wanting to go back to try the 10 other dishes you weren't able to try. I'm talking major indecision, but it's worth it, I promise.

The folks at the restaurant were super friendly. I was greeted the moment I stepped in, and was given my food right away.

The packaging was top-notch - I'm talking plasticware, napkins, and straws in a little baggie, little cups of sauces in a separate and tied baggie - just so much attention to detail to make sure your food gets home safely.

The food is delicious - quality ingredients, well-seasoned, cooked to perfection. The star of the show for me was the crispy chicken skins. My partner loved the golden bags. The Thai iced tea was great - absolutely no shortage on flavor there.

I can't recommend 9Zaab enough. We'll...