Lin's Thai Cafe in Portsmouth

Went there with friends. Different way of ordering food, but it worked okay. Portions were generous. Take your own alcohol if you want. You are charged £1 corkage

Ordered takeaway from here tonight and the food was incredible. Thank you very much.

Excellent Thai cafe, very authentic. I think a couple of other customers had hearing impairments as they were constantly shouting. Bit uncomfortable with the fact that this place only accepts cash.

Absolutely fantastic food. A staple of Elm Grove and so glad that its still open after all these years. Truly the best Thai food only only in Portsmouth but tentatively, best Thai food in all of Hampshire.

INCREDIBLE Thai 🇹🇭!! Couldn’t recommend more 🥰 Gorgeous fresh dishes & we have spent 2 months in Thailand and felt totally transported back! The service was amazing & the staff were so friendly. You have to give it a try. We will 10000% be back!

Good value for money. No alcohol sales but you can bring your own bottles. Good welcome and good service.

We always have a nice meal in the restaurant. But take away this time. Spicy stir fry duck 😋 Best Thai you will get. Thanks, we will be back soon

First time takeaway and was so excited to try as such good reviews but very disappointed. Massaman curry had nice flavour but the meat was as dry as eating an old shoe insole. The pad Thai was so bland and tasted like a Chinese sweet and sour sauce and the same colour. Was really hoping for an authentic Thai but this was nothing like that 🥲

First visit on a recommendation from a friend, first appearances a bit underwhelming, but good service, nice selection of food, which was very tasty, they forgot one of our rice orders but it was very busy. You can take your own drinks, thought charging corkage to take the caps of 2 bottles of beer was a bit greedy but apart from that a good first experience of Thai food for me.

Disappointing portion size lacking taste and not hot enough Won't use again

Heard good reviews so called in. Prompt, friendly service, hot tasty food. Ordered ribs, green Thai curry and egg fried rice. Left happy

Food all cooked with fresh ingredients & all tastes amazing. Dr. Who phonebox for toilet is mad......love it lol

Excellent Thai! As good as in Thailand!

Great restaurant, one of the best Thai in Southsea.

It was our first time here, heard great things and honestly was even better than we had heard. Had the massaman curry and by far the best I have ever had in the UK. Lovely service, bring your own alcohol for only £1 a head. Thank you for such a lovely evening and for fitting us in last minutes on a Saturday night!

Authentic Thai food at "value for money" prices 😋

Really busy. Slightly chaotic but good food and lovely staff. 👍

Unbelievable food and service. Will be going back very soon. All dishes cooked to perfection. Friendly service and a nice ambience.

Lovely Thai food in a really friendly cafe environment. Staff are lovely and a nice buzzy vibe. Book if going at weekend as it's rightly very popular. Recommended

Found all the food a bit watery to be honest. Not very spicy either.

OMG !!! How absolutely amazingly !! Full of flavour great textures, simply wonderful.. genuinely reminds me of the food in Thailand !! Thank you . Will be visiting again soon !! We had, satay chicken, dim sum, gaeng pet, pad kee mao and Tom kha .. all take away. Amazing !!!

Tried the vegetable Thai green curry though I am not vegetarian or vegan, very nice , beautiful Thai crackers to go with it. Doctor who toilet, very interesting! My first time here.

Managed to get a table on a Friday night as we hadn't booked. The service and food was exceptional. Cash only, and BYOB. Awesome TARDIS too!

Food was delicious, staff were friendly & it was a great 'find". We will be back again. No licence so 'bring your own" greatly reduces the cost

Best and most authentic Thai restaurant in Portsmouth. BYOB for £1, cheap and beautiful food, go here all the time! Also the chef came out as well last time we visited and she was a wonderful lady.

Great Thai food and nice atmosphere. Would def recommend booking as really popular. Bring your own drink and cash only and all the better for it. Def would go again.

Amazing food, great service and incredible value for money!!

A great little restaurant that serves authentic Thai food. The vibe is very much reminiscent of little Thai Cafes in Thailand and they offer Bring your own bottle with a £1 per item corkage fee. The food is amazing and the ordering system is great too.

Amazing food at a very reasonable price!

Amazing Thai restaurant with an authentic and cosy vibe 🫶🏻 the pad Thai and the massaman curry were delicious and the portion sizes are huge so really good value. Would definitely recommend👍🏻👍🏻

Fresh, delish, tasty, friendly, really good value. Soup Yum. Spicy Beef Salad Yum. Thanks

After seeing the reviews on here I decided I give it a try The food is amazing, so authentic and the staff were lovely, really helpful Will definitely be returning again

Excellently prepared Thai food, using very fresh ingredients. We had the special beef salad and the coconut curry chicken. Both were outstanding. Although the special beef salad was advertised as “very spicy” it really was only moderately so but very good. Maybe the spices were toned down for a British audience used to rather bland food. The chef came out to introduce her lovely daughter, who was learning the cooking trade. Overall, a great experience, with some of the best Thai food we have ever encountered on our worldwide trips.

Good authentic no nonsense Thai cuisine, take cash as cards not accepted and if you want alcohol there is a store nearby but they will charge a small charge for consuming alcohol. Certainly popular and worth a visit.

Worst Thai take away I have ever had. We had a taste of the starters and they were burnt, dry and oily. What a let down. I called to let the restaurant know. But we didn’t get a response . Sure they are busy. But no. This is not good enough after 40 mins plus wait. Say no if you can’t deliver quality!

This is the second time we have been served poor food. The first time we were served burnt gyouzas, this week the chicken wings and spare ribs were completely dried out and smothered in sauce. For somewhere that was not busy being served food that was not freshly cooked was was insulting really. Will not be returning.

We walked in on a weekday but they managed to seat us in. The order has to be made through a slip on your table. This was straight forward. The variety of food was good. Food was quick and was presented well. Crucially the it all tasted fresh and delicious. The portion sizes were good too. Few things to note- they take only cash. You have to bring your own alcohol(there are few stores around). Fabulous little place.

Loved the Tom kha and stir fried veggies in ginger and soy sauce. Pad Thai was on sweet side but still delicious. Sweet corn fritters were crispy. I had a great meal here at an affordable price!

I used to eat here often and decided to place an order as my local Thai place was closed. Unfortunately I won’t be ordering again. Thai Green was mainly vegetables and sauce despite paying extra for chicken, there was very few pieces in there and was bland with just an after taste of spice and one piece of chicken had a sour taste like it was off… the pad Thai was just awful. I don’t know at what point the food went down hill, it’s a shame. I’ll be sticking with my local Aroy-Dee in future.

Incredible food. Lovely chilled out atmosphere, great vibes. Probably the best Thai food I've ever had, highly recommend!

Reliably tasty. Our favourite in Portsmouth, either take out or dine in. Easy to indulge or go light. Great veggie options too.

Food is very authentic and great service.

Lovely food,be extra careful if you have any allergies,language barrier made it hard for them to understand allergy and it wasn't adhered to...check your bill.would advise seperate order/billing.

Very good food and service very good

Great little restaurant, BYO, and lovely food. £54 for the 4 of us, lots to eat.

Great place to eat good Thai food. Great service by friendly staff

Such great food, very reasonably priced. Staff friendly. Sadly it was very cold.

Worst Thai food I’ve had in Portsmouth unfortunately

Excellent Thai food, super authentic. Would love to see a papaya salad on the menu!

Small place you might have to book and parking isn't great in the area, but great food with a pretty authentic street food vibe about it. Value very good, staff friendly and the food is very much the stand out feature.

Loved this place. Great food with excellent service. BYOB too which is a bonus! I had the Pad Thai.

This is always a must visit place for my when I am in Portsmouth. Delicious authentic thai food at decent prices!!! The soups are the best I've ever had anywhere. Also allows you to bring all your own drinks for a minimal corkage charge... Overall very happy with Lin's Thai Cafe!

Gorgeous food and has real authentic vybz

Avoid at all cost 75 minutes late, number blocked on 3 different phones SHOCKING

Authentic Thai food, really beautifully prepared and tastes great! Decor in the restaurant doesn't match the quality of the food but makes no difference to me. This place is always quite busy and definitely worth booking a table!

Felt like in Thailand! Amazing place and food ☺️ thank you

4 prawns in my curry bowl fool of vegetables. I complained but was told that's how it's served for £9. Won't recommend this cafe.

had a lovely meal for four last evening for a birthday, food was delicious, staff friendly and helpful, cake was brought over, all the staff appeared to come with it, everyone, including other diners, all sang happy birthday, it was really lovely would really recommend this little gem. It's BYO too so the bill at the end of the evening was a lovely surprise!!

Firstly got a very warm welcome ,ordering is easy you have a numbered menu and you write down how many portions of the dish you want next to the number on the slip of paper you are given for my starter I had pork spare ribs with vegetables in a home made sauce to die for , the meat fell of the bone and meal felt light , for main I had mild beef curry with vegetables and again a sauce to die for and .coconut rice , I eat the curry first then spooned rice into remaining sauce delicious .and you can take your own drink and if you want it chilled they will put it in their fridge for you. very clean and tidy . and not forgetting the Dr Who Tardis lavatory .

Real surprise, food was lovely service speedy and friendly. We had no idea of the area just stopping on our way to the port and France but the reviews seemed good so thought we'd give it a try. I would certainly recommend this restaurant to any one travelling through and unfamiliar with the area as I guess the locals already know about it

This place makes the absolute most mind-blowing Tom Khai and Tom Yum soups on the planet! Their red & green thai currys are to die for and I would go as far as to say that this is the best Thai place in ENGLAND. The staff are also amazing and the chef is an absolute sweetheart. I came down today from London because I was craving their soups!!

Went to Lins for my boyfriend's birthday party. We had a large party of 17. They were very accompanying to such a large table. The food was bought out in good time, surprisingly for such a large order. Everyone enjoyed their delicious food. The staff were friendly and happy to accommodate our needs. Highly recommend!

Amazing food. Could not recommend this place more. The prices were super affordable. The vibe was so nice, all the staff were lovely and helpful. If you in the area it is a must go here

I believe it's a family-run business, needs to be tolerant of waiting for food & bills but it's worth waiting. Food is amazing, authentic, and tasty. Highly recommend.

Really good food, lovely people.

Excellent meal, best Thai food we've had in years. Very reasonable prices and you can take your own drink! I would thoroughly recommend the chicken satay starter and duck spring rolls.

Really nice food totally recommended

Amazing food. Amazing atmosphere. Amazing Tardis! The constantly changing art keeps Lin's feeling fresh whilst also keeping that familiar, intimate feel. Tableside manner is always exceptional and the staff are incredibly friendly. I've seen many complaints about waiting times here, I think it's relevant to add that there is only ONE CHEF, ONE Side cook, two waitresses and they're preparing food for 4 take out services as well as seating up to 30 people!! That's equivelant to cooking 18 meals simultaneously! If your main has been delayed PLEASE SAY SOMETHING! Don't wait until you've had no main course for 45 minutes and then have a go at staff! No one appreciates it Karen! Also don't be one of those people who eats their entire meal and then complains when the bill comes an hour later that you didn't like it. Say something imediately, staff will happily cook your meal again or substitute it for something else. Everything on the menu is delicious and Jai is a true artist with her traditional thai dishes and she is endlessly accommodating! They book for parties and large tables with prebooking too which is great. Have had many family parties here, we all have celebrated a birthday at some point. Honestly love this cafe and can not fault them. Heads up though: There's no liquor licence which isn't really an issue because you can bring all your own favorites with you so no worries about them not having what you like and the corkage fee is measly!

I have never written a google review before but I felt compelled to on this occasion, which is quite a shame as the food itself was not bad overall. We ordered food for 4 people, our first time with this restaurant, and when it arrived some items were missing leaving one member of our party without food. We thought a simple phone call to the restaurant would sort it out, but upon ringing the staff just about stopped short of accusing us of lying, and kept repeating that this “was most unusual” and they are “very good at what they do” instead of admitting a simple mistake, which we would have been inclined to forgive as they do happen. Eventually they agreed to send out the food, however when the driver arrived at the house, he GLARED at my housemate at the front door. Sadly, the bad attitude we experienced throughout means this will be the last and only time we will be ordering.

Without a doubt the best Thai in Portsmouth. In fact I've not eaten Thai food this good anywhere else in the UK. Super friendly service and fantastic value, cannot recommend highly enough.

Waited 45 mins for 2 noodle dishes, and restaurant is very cold. Overheard another customer complain about the temperature and boss just said 'its warm in the summer' ... And to top it off, have to pay £3 per person if you want to take your leftovers home. Good if you want to be out the house for a long time

Excellent food, cook from fresh,

This is the second time I have been to Lins and can’t recommend it enough! The food is fantastic, authentic and tasty - all for a good price! The waitresses are great and really friendly. BYOB is a really nice touch as it means it is enjoyable for everyone. 10/10 would definitely recommend.

Delicious, authentic Thai cafe. Real honest food, calming Thai decor and no frills/ no fuss eatery. The staff are polite and helpful, food is delicious - fresh, fragrant and lots of options! BYOB makes this a very cheap meal out too.

Great food. Great service. Recommended

Amazing little gem of a place. My wife and I found this small, simple, perfect little restaurant almost by accident and wow! The food is amazing. No alcohol for sale but 'corkage' is permitted. Soft drinks available. Very, very competitivly priced!

I think it's really important that you actually GO to this restaurant, rather than order. Last night I ordered 22 quids worth of Thai from Lins and it was not great. I wasn't even sure they sent me the right things (?). Wouldn't recommend to order I'm afraid :( maybe it is better if you sit in, but I won't be doing that any time soon.

Amazing tasty food with in a small but great restaurant. Friendly staff who are well organised for larger parties.

Lots of good and tasty choices, but the very heavy and greasy batter on a few items let the meal down.

10 out of 10, they always provide the best service and the food is amazing, my favourite dinner place for a nice chill date. Staff friendly and helpful. 👌☺️

The food was amazing and the waitress was friendly and added a sparkle to our evening. Great value for money. I highly recommend

£30+ for quite possibly the worst takeaway I’ve EVER eaten, 0/10 for value for money, 0/10 for quality of food, very disappointing is a huge understatement, will not be ordering from here again. When I order ribs, you’d of thought there would be meat on them ? Nope…. When I order a Duck dish, you would of thought there would be Duck in it… Nope, it goes beyond poor !!

Try the fried chicken wing and pork noodle soup. The Tom Yum soup is okay only as lack spicy.

Over the years have eaten here many many times. Seems to be under new management? Very disappointing meal, won’t be returning!

Can't recommend this place enough. Delicious food and friendly service, what more could you want.

We have eaten at Lins many times before and the food was always so tasty and well priced. Today we had a take away and i have to say we won't bother having food from there again. We had 2 starters and 2 mains and all was just tasteless and disappointing. Such a shame.

Terrible service, burnt food and an hour and a half late...

We ordered for a scheduled delivery between 18:45-19:15. Once it got to 19:22 we phoned to see where the order was. We were told they tried to deliver, but didn't have the house number, so they left us a message. We had no record of this, but we reiterated the house number to them, and were assured the deliver driver would be over as quickly as possible. Another 20minutes go past and still no sign. We phone up again and they said they'd phone the driver, then phone us right back to give us an update. Another 20minutes pass. No phone call from them, so we phone up again. The same lady we've been speaking to says it'll arrive soon, the delivery driver's going as quick as they can (laughing while she says it?) We press her for a more concrete answer and we're passed onto her manager. She listens and says the same thing. We repeat our concerns and it turns out the order has been sat in the restaurant (not out for delivery, despite multiple reassurances that it was). We're passed onto another manager who tries to put the blame on us. After a long conversation and another lengthy wait, eventually, the food gets delivered; an hour and a half late, most of it burnt where it had been sat in the oven for so long. We were offered no apology, let alone compensation. Safe to say, we feel deeply let down by the whole experience

Open to sit in and eat, very good food! Soup was amazing and the pork was tasty ♥️

I used to eat at Lins regularly and always enjoyed my meal. I have had two deliveries of late, the first was as I remember it. Good Thai food if a little expensive. The problem was delivery. The taxi driver had no change and I was expected to just hand over and lose another £3 on top of my bill. I phoned the cafe to remonstrated with their use of driver and was told 'can I not sort that out? Err no, you can have the food back if you want. This was alleviated by the finding of change. That was unhelpful of the cafe considering their above average prices. The food was good though. Last night (30-04-21) my Mrs and I had a chicken massaman curry, a red Thai prawn curry, dim sum and coconut rice. The delivery charge for cash was an extra £3 over ordering it on uber which was £27. I actually asked her what was different with last night's meal, because it did taste unusual. We have both spent half the night.on the toilet feeling really unwell! I wont be using lins again. Its a shame but one bad experience leads to another and we are not going through that again.

This is the worst Thai food restaurant I have ever tried. The staff extremely unhelpful in resolving the issues with the food drowning in water. DONT ORDER FROM THIS RESTAURANT IF YOU WANT GOOD FOOD!

Love the food here and very polite

I never ever write reviews but I am actually disgusted by their customer service and attitude. Ordered takeaway via Uber eats. Stated delivery time between 8.20 and 8.40. Firstly contacted them at 8.50 to ask for an update to be told it would be another 10 mins. At 9.15 contacted them again for a further update to be told it would be a further 10 mins. When I said it had already been out for delivery for 30 mins and it would be freezing cold and to cancel our order and refund they said I would have to do it via Uber eats. At 21.50 it arrived (an hour and 10 mins later than expected) the manager stated that I should have not accepted the delivery. When I phoned back very angry he accused me of being drunk, which I had not had any alcohol at all. The delivery driver would not take the food back even after I stated I had cancelled the order with the manager. I would never ever order takeaway from here again. The food as expected was freezing cold.

Sadly expectations didn’t live up to reality tonight. Our order was an hour late, had to chase twice, food was not hot, special dish was crazy spicy whilst the rest (staples on the menu) lacked any flavour at all. All rather disappointing. 😞

Only reason it’s not 1 star is because the price is cheap, but you get what you pay for

Great food, not overpriced and lovely staff! Thank you!

I wasn't going to write this review because I work in hospitality too and I know bad days can happen, but today I was left down again. A week ago or so I book through uber eats 1 entree, 2 mains and 1 side (for one person. Average spent around 20quids). I booked around 4 pm with delivery scheduled for 8 pm. At 8.10 pm I got a message saying the food has left the restaurant. I wait, I wait, I wait... At 8.40 pm the food has not arrived yet (mind that the restaurant is only 10mins far from my home). I called them and they said that my dinner was on its way and that it would have been 10mins. I wait 10mins, nothing. 30mins later (9.15 pm by now) I call again and I ask them where is my food. During this call, I might have sounded harsh, but my delivery had one hour delay! They informed me how it would have been 15 more minutes because somehow the printer was not working. It was a very stupid excuse. You guys should talk to each other. If it really was broken, why not let me know the first time? I would have understood and waited with patience. Instead, they kept giving me false times. I hung up the phone and waited, waited... And WAITED! Finally, after 2hours waiting, I receive my food. Not a single apology, not even a complimentary small item or a note. I couldn't even enjoy the food and therefore I cannot say if it was good or not. Today is my birthday. I can't celebrate with my family since they're in a different country and due to COVID I cannot join them, so I decided to have some nice Thai food. I book another meal with this AMAZING (Not at all) restaurant, thinking that the previous attempt was just an unlucky day. Again, at 4 pm I place my order. This time I schedule the delivery at 7 pm so that I will be able to eat at least 9 pm (accordingly to what happened the time before). Everything seems fine, but then at 7 pm right when my delivery was due to, I got a message saying that my order was cancelled with no other explanations. Well, let me say guys, I think you all need to check whether you are actually able to run a restaurant or not. I feel sorry for all the future customers that you will have to deal with. I felt let down, disappointed, especially because I entrusted you for a second time! Thankfully I found a much better restaurant, able to treat their customers right. Well, happy birthday to me I guess.

Literally the best Thai food outside of Thailand. Pad Thai to die for, super friendly staff, exceptional both at the restaurant and delivered.

It was recommended by a friend as the most authentic Thai food and we were not disappointed. A local family business with great prices and welcoming staff!

no flavour to all 5 dishes we had, they all tasted the same, the worst food we have ever had never again