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Bedford Ave (L)
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the $5.95 lunch special is amazing. so much food for nothing. and it's really fresh, tasty thai food at that. the service is wonderful and the location is great for williamsburgers.
word.
Found this place by pure chance, one day Sea was just too crowded. It is very small, quiet, and romantic. The food is just fantastic and the service is exceptional. Chai is hands down my favorite Thai place. I do not even know whether this food is authentic Thai or not, but it surely tastes amazing.
Here is what I always order and find exceptional:
- Appetizer: crab cakes or satay;
- Soup: tom yum gun;
- Main: duck with pineapple curry or fried fish with sweet and sour chilly sauce;
- Desert: definitely fried ice cream with orange sauce and passion fruit green tea.
I am very constant with my choices. But my friends always order something new, and not even once they were disappointed.
The price is very reasonable. For two people we always spend no more than $70 for a full course meal.
Steamed mussel start was totally amazing! Definitely want it again. I got the Pad Thai with shrimp and it was pretty good but not amazing. Definitely worth going back and trying some curries.
The place is a little cramped but the wait staff was really sweet, maybe better to hit during the week.
it's a good spot. It's what you expect from a Thai place - your classic Thai dishes & drinks.
The waitress we had was super friendly and suggested what kind of sake we should order. Attentive but not overly so that I felt like the waiter was a 3rd person at our table.
The restaurant is small. I liked the fact that they opened the doors so that the air could flow through, but I was not a fan of the bartender letting his friend smoke right in front of the open door so he could continue drinking and smoking while talking to the bartender. The wind dragged in the cigarette smoke and ruined my appetite.
I have no problem with people smoking, just not while I'm eating.
Other than that, solid place.
This is a solid Thai spot that I will probably come back to. I ended up at Chai for a date on a Saturday.
Pros - decent Thai food. In general, New York Thai restaurants have yet to impress me; New Haven, CT Thai restaurants are far superior! However, one of the better places I've been. The Pad Thai was moist and the Duck Tamarind was excellent! Really good ambience and attentive service. And of course with Thai restaurants, still reasonably priced.
Cons - This is a tiny restaurant, but it was not overly crowded. The tables are a little tight so there was not much privacy. VERY limited wine list!
Overall, A-ok with me. Will keep this place in mind in the future.
I met some W-burg friends here. I'm a novice at dining in W-burg but I must say I was pleasantly surprised by this restaurant. Since I wasn't sure what to order, I asked a friend for his recommendation. He hit the button right on when he suggested the Shrimp Goong Woonsen. OMG I so love the dish. Shrimp! Glass Vermicelli! All cooked in a claypot! SUPER! I didn't even know this dish existed. It was SO ME.
LOVE LOVE! After this, I definitely remembered this dish and tried to find a similar offering in NYC. The closest I found was Room Service but it's a tad salty there and pales in comparison to Chai :)
2 thumbs up on...
- chu chee curry
- that little fountain
- sweet service
- not being Sea
2 thumbs down on...
- no hot water from the tap in the bathroom
1 up, one down on...
- the music. uh, what?
Okay, so here's a place with really decent Thai food, and really decent prices in Williamsburg. There aren't many like this in this neck of the woods, however, there are a bunch of crappy ones. I get suckered into each and everyone thinking that they may have what I need: Good portions, good food, and good service. This place has all those, and a nice atmosphere that is cozy as well.
Why only 3 stars then? Well, to get 4 you'd really have to wow me. You really have to make it worthwhile, and maybe I'd go back soon and change my mind, but I've had take-out 1 time, and eaten there another time. After 2 times of eating at a place, I usually know if I never want to eat there again, or if it's amazing. I don't know either of those things yet, so it's 3.
What I've liked was the vegan duck red curry, and the tofu pad thai. It's time to try it again.
The ambiance and the décor is perfect for this little Thai restaurant.
The food wasn't bad but it wasn't good neither it was right in the middle.. it didn't have any taste it was like.
So far I have been in a couple of Thai restaurants in Williamsburg. And it is sad to admit that Thai food in Portland Oregon is much better than all the ones I have tasted in Williamsburg so far.
Chai great place for the décor.. Again the food wasn't special.
What happened? When Chai opened, it carved out a niche for itself as a boutique Thai place, not Thai for the masses like SEA and Planet Thailand. It had that lovely little fountain pond thing and that glowing white counter that reminds me of my MacBook, and a calm, Zen vibe. The food used to be creative, delicate and tasty. I even forgave them when they poured me cold red wine.
I went back and it was loud and uncomfortable and it was like the owner was on vacation and the dishwasher made dinner.
Went to Chai after gettting fed up with the wait at Sea.
First impression? Very cute!
The waitress/hostess was super sweet. We sat next to the little pond. My friend and I ordered all the appetizers and they were pretty tasty - though none stood out. They need a bit more of a kick. A little more spice here. A bit more fresh herbs there. Still, more interesting than some of the things I've had at Sea.
I'd probably go back for another round of appetizers if I lived in Williamsburg.
I've walked by this place a dozen times, but never actually went in. Tonight, we didn't go in either, since my friends and I were being lazy, and ordered in instead. Not bad, but nothing special.
The Japanese fried chicken was pretty good considering it wasn't authentic. It wasn't overly crispy or dry, and the meat was very juicy and tender. We also got the calamari, which was not as good. It was dry and rubbery. The Tom Yum soup was quite delicious, and while it wasn't too spicy, had a lot of flavour. The Pad Thai, which I never get normally but was recommended, was quite tasty as well, especially since I asked for the extra spices.
I'd probably not seek this place out, but if you're in the mood for Thai, it's a better option than most in the neighbourhood since the prices are very reasonable with good fare.
I really liked the look and taste of this cute thai restaurant. Bedford was super busy last sunday night as we stepped out on the town but Chai was very peaceful and zen. We were sat at a table that faced the window but it was dark enough to forget the people outside. Candle light dinners are nice.
I ordered a Thai ice tea which was super sweet like it should be. I love it when they make it without stirring it up and then you get the do that and make it change color. Did i mention i wish they still offered me crayons at dinners? Yeah, so...
The service was super fast and very attentive. I never had to ask for water which was nice.
I ordered the Duck Pineapple dish which was almost twice the price of everything else on the menu but it was good. Duck was a little over cooked and i wish there had been more vegetables but i was full, in a good way, two thirds of the way through the plate which meant i got to share. My bite of the pad thai was good but i wouldn't call is special.
All in all, it is a cute place with really great prices and service.
We walked into Chai at about 11:30 on a Thursday and asked if they were still serving food. They said yes, so we sat down and were immediately thrown menus, told we had to order NOW and informed that there was no fried food available. Oooookay. When our food came, the shrimp in the Pad Thai had not been de-veined. Ewww!!!! That is really disgusting. As soon as we started eating our waitress brought a check over and (I think) told us we had to pay right away (I couldn't really understand much of what she was saying, but that hardly bothered me).
We only went because we were starving, all the sushi joints were closed and don't like loud, scene-y restaurants like Sea. BIG MISTAKE on our part.
I had a bad feeling going into this place, because I have very high standards for Thai food, but wasn't terribly disappointed. I would go as far as to say I was pleasantly surprised.
The food isn't as authentic as Khao Sarn's, and not as spicy, but it's delectable, and tastes generally healthy and fresh. The curry puffs are light as clouds, with just the right level of crispiness -- they were, by far, the best part of my meal.
Service was only mediocre -- it took way too long for my table to get our food even though there was only one other party in the whole place. Also, isn't is standard to bring out all the appetizers together? They brought out the curry puffs first, then the dumplings a clear 5-10 minutes later, even though we had ordered them separately. Strange.
It does, as someone else noted, have great, clean, soothing decor. It's a nice place to stop in for lunch if you've been shopping down N. 6th, but if you have time, I'd walk a little further to Khao Sarn on S. 2nd.
My friend and I came here around 9:30 PM last Friday night, and it was packed. We had hoped that there would be a shorter wait than at SEA, which was overflowing. Fortunately for us--two very hungry people--a table opened up almost as soon as we arrived.
The music was thumping, but not so loud that we couldn't hear each other speak. It switched to something more mellow towards the end of our meal. The arrangement of our table was a little strange though: we sat at the small table around the corner from the entrance, right next to the glass plate window of the restaurant. I faced the window, but the space was so tight, I felt as if I was a kid in school, being punished for coming late by being made to sit in a dark corner. Not crazy about the seating, but the food was pretty good.
We had an appetizer of sweet corn fritters ($5), which had the right ratio of corn and starch. (It's unlike some restaurants' fried goodies, where you taste more dough than anything else.) The jasmine green tea ($3.50) wasn't quite ready when the server brought it out, but by the end of the meal, it was too strong. Maybe I should have drunk it more quickly.
My friend had the vegetarian duck red curry ($8), which he liked a lot. I had a bite, and it turned out to be seitan, which didn't taste very much like duck, despite its meatiness. I got the duck tamarind ($12), not realizing it was half a duck! I could only finish about half of it. Best to share with at least one other person. The sauce was too sweet for my taste, but was perfect the next day, as I brought the leftovers home and mixed it with the bowl of rice that I also took to go.
The service was inconsistent: my friend kept getting his water refilled, but I didn't get much attention at all. Then again, the place was packed, and my back was to the room, so maybe they didn't see if I needed anything.
All in all, not a bad spot to go to. Reasonably priced, hip, relaxed atmosphere. I'm sure we'll come here again.
This place is very cute - love the interior, feels like you can just sit
and relax - the little zen flower pool is a nice touch.
The food was pretty good, nothing really blew me away -
krapow chicken, pad thai, veggie green curry, corn fritters....
all good - just nothing that really stood out
Fair prices and I loved the fact that the staff didn't rush us, even
though we were taking our time and it was getting busy.
Happened into this place one night when all we were looking for was a decent bite to eat before we went to a show in the hood. We were pleasantly surprised to find reasonable Thai food at a good price housed in a calm and relaxing environment.
Walked inside to find a pool with flowers in it -- which gave the place a great vibe. The restaurant itself is small, but they had one upon table for two in close quarters. (If we'd been three or more we'd have had to wait a while). We weren't given a beer or wine list, but it turned out that Singha was only $4.50, so that's forgiven.
My friend got the Fried Rice with the Lychee nut, which I preferred to my dish, but that's my own fault because I got lazy and ordered the Pad Thai. The Pad Thai was not bad, simply not what I wanted that night.
Service was reasonable, but not fantastic. The only thing that pushed me to four as opposed to three stars was that the beers were cheap. That'll always do it for me. Worth dropping in on a casual night for sure if you've got a hankering for Thai, but don't necessarily want the intensity of nearby Sea Thai.
It seems you have to go out of your way to find bad Thai food in NYC. Not every restaurant can be Won Dee's or Sripraphai but hey, you can always find good pad thai or decent curry at almost any Thai place.
that said, Chai deserves some notice because they got the decent foods plus a very affordable drink menu plus a cute cozy interior plus a server who has the memory skills of a savant. he simply doesn't write shit down. he'll take a whole table's order, apps and entrees and drinks, and repeat it back to you.
and it's not on the main w'burg strip so it's never crowded... at least not in the ~9x i've been there.
get the snapper, the mango salad, and chuchee curry.
I am not sure if anyone would disagree with me that the decor here is pretty nice. I mean you can't beat schnazzy little pools with flowers floating in them. It kind of lends a soothing romantic vibe.
I did like the food, though I was wishing for more noodles in my dish by the time they were gone. No worries though. I just have to go back, which I will. The Gold Bags were tasty and fun, though they don't quite fit in the narrow sauce thingy.
Overall a pretty nice dining experience. Sure. I'd go back.
Nothing to write home about, or to Yelp about for that matter.
The atmosphere, prices, and most importantly food quality were acceptable.
Can't say it would ever be my first choice but I will probably go back at some point. There are plenty of other Thai restaurants in the neighborhood to check out first.
In an epic battle between David and Goliath, Goliath sadly wins this battle.
Nested right across the street from the powerhouse Thai restaurant SEA, Chai basically doesn't have the ingredients to dethrone the reigning champion.
Like ying and yang, Chai offers a quiet and serene environment - with a small floating pond where you can sit next to. While SEA is an enormous, dark party cavern. Chai is definitely very pleasant to relax your mind while eating good Thai food - unfortunately most of the dishes I had were very bland and non-Thai-ish that my mother could have prepped up. The chefs inside just don't have the herbs or sauces ........Their sauce seems to be purchased at a local Asian supermarket.
*Chai's Thai Coffee is much much much better than SEA's. Highly recommended. (You actually taste the tea, unlike SEA where you just taste sugar)
In retrospect, the food is much healthier as there is not as much preservatives - giving more of a natural home cooked taste. For example, the thai beef/mushroom was very home style - I swore I once made it at home.
Their soup was very good and the appetizers very appealing. Definitely try out their fried dumplings.
Definitely try out their masuman curry - I had the chicken. They have a lunch menu so get a better rate by ordering from there.
I still had an enjoyable experience here but the food pales in comparison to SEA. Chai's prices are just a little cheaper compared to SEA. (by pennies and dimes)
*Street (metered and non-metered)parking is convenient during the day time but at night it is flooded with nightlife especially the weekends. The L train Bedford Ave station is only 2 blocks away. Very trendy and hip area. Considered safe.
Who would have thunk it! Two Boutique-ish Thai Restaurants, just doors from each other in, of all, places, Williamsburg!? Last I checked, this neighborhood was more populated by the stripes and torn jeans crowd than the peace-loving people of Thailand.
While Sea can be seen as a treat, in all it's "Sex and the City" glory, the experience of dining in a place that's supposed to be "chic" and "savory" doesn't mesh well with the noisy, dark club atmosphere. Even moreso, the last time I went, I had one bad shrimp and not such a great sleep following my meal.
Enter, Chai.
No, this place isn't a tea joint, but dare I say it, a "chic" and "savory" Williamsburg Thai restaurant (really, they are a dime a dozen along Bedford), that unlike it's neighbor, is intimate and quiet(er), even charming, if you consider the tiny reflecting pool, pink neoness and three-seat bar of the front facade!
Now, dish prices are decent, and for some reason, I believe their more vegetarian/vegan selections yield heartier portions! Mmm... Papaya salad! I dug down and tried their "Beef BBQ, Thai style" for $10 and received what seemed to be smoked and flattened (or thinly sliced) Vietnamese BBQ. It was, just good, but chicly small, I was still hungry afterwards...
Oh, and I absolutely hate their chairs... you know, the heavy ones with metal legs, that are near impossible to move and make the most horrible, loud sound when you move the chair against the cement/cobblestone floor! Possibly the worst thing a restaurant could employ.
So... should I somehow end up in Williamsburg, on North 6th and Berry with people who absolutely have to have some Thai food, I'd choose Anytime... Nah! I'd choose Chai, I'm done with the Sea.
Great green curry - really, really good. Cheap, too -- would absolutely go back.
I usually entertain my out of town guests at Chai. The atmosphere is cozy/sophisticated, the food is always above average, many made to order dishes are on the menu (esp good for the "sensitive") and the staff is more than attentive.
I think I must have visited Chai on a good day. I thought our food certainly beat out Sea (though that's not too difficult). The fried leek cake appetizer was quite tasty, and the tom yum soup was spicier and more nasal cleansing than the usual blandish soup you find at every other Thai place in Brooklyn. I also enjoyed the veggie duck.
Pleasant and cozy atmosphere too. I really think this place is underrated in this neighborhood amongst the oversugared bland Thai behemoths.
One of my favorite restaurants. Even after a work lunch with my boss when she forgot to pay the tab and I was confronted by the delivery boy on bicycle a week later. But I digress. They have the best vegetarian duck w/ garlic sauce. My friend and I always order it and the Crispy Tofu with Chu Chee Curry Sauce and Papaya salad and share. The Thai iced coffee is super sweet and amazing. This place is cheap $7 for a vegetarian entree, plus they have an even cheaper lunch menu. I don't go to Planet Thai or Sea, this little place is my favorite Thai in the neighborhood.
Best Thai around. I have spent time in Thailand and know the food; CHai is the most authentic while also being the most healthy and palatable. Some of the other places in the area are hard to fathom and digest.
Chai is great on every level. Like any place in NY, it has off days, but I have seen much worse from other places in the area. For three years now I keep going back to Chai.
My girlfriend and I have been going here for years. We're hooked on the Choochee curry coconut with crispy tofu and the Sautd vegetarian duck with chili and basil. The veggie duck is the best I've ever had - and I've had a lot of wheat-meat. It's crispy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. The service is usually outstanding and very hospitable. Portions are refreshingly "accurate" - something we Americans might determine to be a negative. The only gripe I have is that I wish they would do something about the sound that the chairs make when sliding across the floor.
I'm sure this place gets a lot of overflow from Sea. We came here on Mother's Day when the wait at Sea was an hour. This place borders on a 2 star...my meal was almost inedible. It was a noodle dish that turned out to be a soup, to my surprise. It had the strangest aftertaste. I asked for a couple of limes, and I think the waitress was offended. They came out dry like they had been cut for a couple of days. I managed to get enough juice in the soup to cover up the weird taste, and just hoped it wasn't something that was going to make me sick (I never send food back). My cousin's dishes were much better than mine, though Mo P just got soup and an appetizer and the portion was incredibly small.
Another average Thai place. But! Fun! - at least more fun than some of the others ones I've been in. What makes it fun? Well, its strange to say but I really like the dishes they use - they are all non-symmetrical which just adds just the right touch of character to this little place. The food? Not spicy enough, and the dishes that are supposed to have galangal had no galangal - and the dishes with mushrooms didn't have straw mushrooms. I can be picky about these things - if you aren't so picky its a good spot to come by late and get a bite.
It looks very pretty on the inside - cozy and intimate. Never went in, but weeks later ordered their delivery. They couldn't find my apartment, (it's not hard) and didn't call me to ask- just went back to the restaurant. When I called an hour later asking where my dinner had gone, they sent out the same delivery guy, with the same food! It arrived ice cold, two hours later, and I had to pay full price for it. Sigh.
i used to love this place so much that before i moved to williamsburg i'd make the trekk from manhattan to eat their veggie duck w garlic sauce.
then i realized that they kinda skimped on the veggie duck and filled in with too many mushrooms. on a cold winter night, i decided to order the veggie duck, but asked for them to please put less mushrooms, and perhaps a little more duck. they served me the dish ICE fucking COLD with EXTRA fucking MUSHROOMS! then they charged me for extra mushrooms!!!!! WTF?!?!?i worked up the guts to complain, but all they did was remove the extra charge for extra mushrooms and explained that they served the food cold to me because "the back door of the kitchen was left open." okaaaaaaaay. the didn't offer me a free desert or anything to make up for the ass food. recently i ordered the veggie duck w garlic as take out and i've decided that it is waaaaay too salty and it gets too slimy/soggy to-go. gotta eat it there crispy, but forget it. something changed. it's always sad when the love affair ends.
We tried to go to Sea but there was an hour wait and we were starving. I convinced my friend to try Chai because it looks intimate and there wouldn't be as long of a wait. I got the Tom Yum soup which was solid in comparison to other Thai places. The shrimp were slightly over-cooked but I was grateful for the warmth. We also got the crispy noodles with chicken and the beef masuman curry. The noodles were fantastic, as authentic as any Cantonese restaurant. The beef curry was tasty although the sauce seemed to be dominated by the peanuts. By far the best dish was a special of pomelo salad with crispy shallots on top. This was fantastic as the acidity and sweetness were in perfect balance. The shallots added a great contrast of texture too. I can't speak to the delivery but this was a nice discovery.
There are too many Thai restaurants in Williamsburg, especially within 2 blocks of Chai, for this restaurant to last much longer. Its slow delivery times and small portions don't help its chances either. If you're wandering around, and couldn't get into your first few choices, maybe give this place a try, but otherwise, give it a pass for somewhere else.
i'm not sure why williamsburgers are so negative and rude. this place is wonderful! they have great vegetarian dishes - the crispy tofu chu chee is delicious and so is the vegetarian duck with basil. the appetizers are fun and tasty too. i have never had bad service or noticed the place being loud in the dozen or so times i have been there. definitely worth a try (or a second try for the people who don't love it here).
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