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50th St-8th Ave (C, E)
50th St-Broadway (1)
49th St-7th Ave (N, R, W)
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Best Thai food on Manhattan Island ( 2nd best in all of NYC ).
Tastiest Thai Beef Salad I've had anywhere and amazing crispy duck to name just a couple of my favorites.
Conveniently located in the West 40's, this little hole-in-the-wall is not to be missed if you are within miles of its doors.
Inexpensively priced with portions large enough for left overs, I try to hit it up every month.
From the outside, it looks like the most authentic Thai restaurant in the neighborhood (maybe it's because it lacked the funky modern interior every Thai place has. PLEASE, no more neon lights!), only deceiving the most innocent hungry bystander seeking a greasy and fulfilling meal. You will get greasy. Fulfilling? Most likely not.
I really wanted to like this place. I truly did. I've only heard great reviews from friends (a.k.a non-Yelpers--no offense, but their reviews only mean half as much. Just kidding!! Wait, no really...).
We ordered a few dishes for take out on a Sunday night through the phone. They said that it would only take 20 minutes. My friend and I walked there about 20 minutes after the phone call and our food wasn't ready. I don't mind waiting a few minutes, but we ended up waiting an EXTRA 15 minutes. They kept reassuring that our dishes would come out. Most likely they forgot to put in our order, but they denied ever doing so. Oh yea, this place only takes cash so make sure to stop by the ATM before stepping inside.
My Massaman Chicken Curry has seen better days. It was like a soupy milky concoction with huge pieces of onion, nonexistent chicken with a few pieces of potatoes. I had a few bites of everyone else's dish (Pad Thai and Pad See Ew) and again, those were all satisfactory too. Meh. Nothing special. In the end, my palate and my stomach were left unhappy. I forgave and forgot, until I had to write up this review. Dang.
I had the opportunity to visit Pam Real Thai a couple weeks ago when a date and I wanted to try something new in the way of Thai. It's so difficult to find great Thai food in this city, but when I went to Pam Real Thai I was very excited!
To be realistic, this isn't the best Thai food I've ever had, but it is pretty damn good. What impressed me most about Pam Real Thai was their cheap prices. As soon as I opened the menu and saw that a lot of their dishes were in the $5-7 range, I was like, "Whoa, have I been transported back to 1995?" In addition to the cheap prices, the sheer amount of offerings their menu has is also very exciting. There are a few pages of selections to flip through and they have some dishes that not many other places in the city offer.
I ended up ordering this curry noodles dish off the specials menu that was really delicious. It was a coconut-milky, spicy soup with lots of veggies, shrimp and wavy, semi-broad egg noddles. I also loved the pickled onion and cucumber relish that came with it on the side -- tasted great with the noodles! The perfect comfort food. I also tried a little of the papaya salad, and this was awesome! A lot of times when I go to Thai places they make their papaya salad too sugary or vinegary or something, and the salad dressing ends up overpowering your taste buds. At Pam Real Thai this salad was flavorful and interesting without being overdressed.
I was a little disappointed with the sticky rice. I'm used to sticky rice being very sticky, moist and kind of sweet, but at Pam Real Thai it was dry and did not have much flavor.
Service here was friendly and I think because we arrived around 10 on a Friday night, we were able to get a table in this relatively small restaurant with no problems. Luckily I have at least one friend who lives in the area, so I have an excuse to go back!
Good food! Decent prices and fast service. I have made two trips in the last week and equally enjoyed the wonderful flavors both times.
One wish would be that they would bring more than a rice cake sized portion of jasmine rice with the curry dishes. Seriously though, rice is cheap. I can't understand why they are stingy on the rice.
Been here a few times. The food is great and the prices are good as well. I love the Oxtail Soup! Its really filling and perfect for a cold day. Remember that it's cash only :)
I have been here a few times. It is slightly better than your typical local thai restaurant. And although I have to say their crispy pork wasn't the best I've tasted in New York, it still did an ok job. Other dishes are average plus so you really can't go wrong.
The biggest problem that this place had was the lack of space and unfriendly menu (for those who are not well versed in thai food). Both problem have been fixed. They expanded into the second floor and they got new menus.
Staff have always been friendly and the price isn't that bad for New York. Decor is nothing special, so more of a 'come with your friend' or a 'fifth date' kind of place.
Went yesterday for dinner, and was pleasant surprised by how good the food was and how not-expensive it was. We ordered the pad see ew, crispy pork with basil, calamari and some salad (for the lady friend). We also got a Thai iced tea, and the total bill was less than $40.
The pad see ew was probably one of the better ones I've had in America. The crispy pork, which the NYT recommends apparently, was also pretty tasty. The rice portion is pretty sad though, but I might be biased because I love/need lots of rice.
The decor is nothing to write home about. In fact, the mat in front of the bathroom is gross - really, really sticky. That said, the bathroom itself is clean enough and usable.
Flip open the menu and most every dish is around $12. I like to stick to the vegetarian menu, which is even cheaper and less oily! I love their vegetable Pad Thai - it's plentiful with vegetables, they put the bean sprouts on the side (for easy removal :P) and they'll ask you for egg/no-egg and peanut/no-peanut options.
Their lineup starts around 7pm and it's hard to fit groups larger than 4. So call when you exit the subway and by the time you get there, the food is ready. Take it to go and eat it at home or in Central Park. No tipping :)
Portions are large, so I always have lunch the next day. I live off of Pam Thai at approx. $3.75 per meal.
You're so close to so much good Thai, just keep going a little further. While I always think Thai is one of those foods that is tough to stand out when it's really good, it's quite easy to know when it's bad. Located n Hell's Kitchen where I'm pretty sure there's more Thai Restaurants per block than anywhere in Bangkok you can do far better than Pam Real Thai. Maybe I'm bias because my old boss's name was Pam and I hated her guts but if I find myself in the mood for Thai food and I'm standing on 49th and 9th, I'm walking 3 more blocks uptown to Q2 or (if it's nice enough out) 12 more blocks downtown to Aura. There are plenty of other places there too which I have not tried (Yum Yum alone has their own block) all of which I'm sure are at least as good as Pam, probably better.
As my friend guided us around her Hells Kitchen hood, I had two restaurant options for Thai food.
Option A had better food, my friend advised, while Option B had a better atmosphere.
"Both are better than Wondee," said my friend, who was referring to one of my favorite Thai restaurants in the city, a place called Wondee Siam V.
Apparently my amiga -- who I met randomly on a trek to Machu Picchu years ago -- lives near Wondee I and Wondee II and likes (but not loves) the food.
Them's fighting words.
In any case, I chose Option A -- better food, no-frillls -- so we sat down for a big, fat late-night meal at Pam Real Thai Food. My friend was right about one thing: this was some damn good Thai food.
We ordered and devoured papaya salad, pad kee mao and faux duck with basil -- all vegetrian, all fresh, delicious, authentic and served in plentiful portions.
My friend, who grew up in Delhi, loves loves loves spicy food (almost to the point of annoyance....sorry G!), and normally orders 3 or 4 stars, but we went with 2 stars cause I'm more of a pussy.
"So what do you think?" she asked, as I sipped on a Singha and looked at framed black-and-white photos of Venice (WTF) on the wall. "Is this better than Wondee?"
I love Pam, I told her. Wait, is that her over there? Sitting by the front door with the big white chef's hat?
Yeah, Pam is cool (My sister is named Pam, too.) Freaking awesome cook. And her vegetarian dishes may be among the best in the city.
"But have you ever ordered off the secret Thai menu at Wondee?" I asked my friend.
Her eyes widened and she flashed me a surprised look.
"Secret what menu?"
Pam's is a great go-to place for Thai food.
The Pad Thai is good. Not the best I'e had, but good. (For the sake of full disclosure, I had a roommate years ago, who's mom made the best pad thai ever. I alway compare Pad Thai to hers. It was light, refreshing, and citrusy.
Pam's didn't measure up to the my best ever, but I love Pad Thai so I'll enjoy their Pad Thai and other great, cheap Thai food dishes every once in a while.
Cash only, but luckily eating at Pam's doesn't break the bank.
I think Pam Real Thai is the best Thai in the city -- almost everything I've gotten here has been amazing. The food comes out fast and they have some specialty dishes that you can't find elsewhere. The menu is big, so bring friends and share everything. On my last visit, I split with friends, family-style:
Fried chive dumpling: very addictive
Beef Laab: sort of like a salad with ground beef -- phenomenal. Unexpected lime flavor gives it a kick (lime-flavored beef is surprisingly delicious)
Pad Naam Prik Pao with shrimp: my favorite -- big, fresh shrimp, nice and spicy sauce
Pumpkin curry with chicken -- tasty even though the pumpkin was not quite in season (it was green!)
The only disappointing item we tried was a noodle dish, called something like Pam House Noodles, which was sort of like pad thai minus the peanuts.
You'd never guess by the decor or location that this place would be NY Times- and Village Voice-recommended, but once you try to food, you'll understand why.
Very cheap! And tasty! Great service! Portion is large!
I am so lucky that I live only a few seconds walk.
I love their Som Tum (Green Papaya Salad)!
Q: What makes a restaurant a real Thai restaurant?
A: Normal Thai restaurants take your order and bring you what you asked for. Real Thai restaurants take your order and then surprise you.
That's what Pam Real Thai did to me. They brought me the wrong order and made me like it. I ordered panang curry; they brought me pumpkin curry. Their menu promises "Bangkok memories, recreated." Well, I've never been to Bangkok, so maybe they figured that instead of recreating they'd just be creative.
And it kind of worked. The waiter came over all apologetic and explained that my panang curry had gotten served to the adjacent table, and would I like the pumpkin curry that should have been the other diner's in exchange? We had a short conversation in which I ensured that it would be sufficiently "white person spicy" for me (because I'm a wuss and don't want to end up crying at the dinner table), and I accepted the substitution.
The guy at the next table who should have gotten it told me he'd eaten a pumpkin curry in Bangkok and had wanted to try it again. (No Bangkok memories recreated for him!) He asked me how it was, and I took a bite. "Sweet," I said. "Creamy. I like it." It was a coconut milk based curry, so it was rich and sweet, and the pumpkin gave it an interesting depth.
So I ate it. I enjoyed it. I would have liked it if they'd taken my meal off the bill, since it was a pretty big mistake, but I paid for it and didn't overly resent them afterwards. I'd like to go back and try their food again. Maybe if I order the pumpkin curry they'll serve me the panang?
Had a great sampling of the food here. LOVED the papaya salad. One of the best I've had.
This place affirms my theory that the dingier the place is, the more authentic and delicious it is (well sans cockroaches, which this place does not have).
Feels like I'm in on a random soi in Bangkok, well, minus the ladyboys.
That was the most delicious pineapple fried rice I've ever had in my life. It was just magical. I'm speechless.
I got this twice in a week!
Tomatoes were soft (I don't even like tomatoes), eggs fried to perfection, cashews (I usually don't like nuts in my food), that delightful sauce, just perfect, PERFECT!
Good solid thai food with all the standards plus lots of vegetarian options. Friendly staff and decent prices. Not a fancy place (you come here for the food, not the aesthetics), but great for groups (cash only though). Vegetarian duck was a bit too salty, but other than that, the other vegetarian dishes are all pretty good.
They also have another outpost on 46th with a similar menu, but more jazzed up decor.
I've been in a major funk recently and for some reason just can't seem to shake it -- thankfully, spicy food is exciting and comforting to me, thus I've found myself at Pam Real Thai three times in the past three weeks -- I wanted to wait awhile before writing this review so I could figure out how exactly I wanted to rate it -- usually whenever I want Thai I'll go to Elmhurst, I'm definitely a fan of this place but for those times when I want something a little bit closer this is just about as good as it gets.
Meal 1: The larb is very good, fresh and well-seasoned... The Som Tum Seafood is excellent, perhaps a bit too traditional in preparation for my tastes, but definitely delicious... The Jungle Curry is the best I've had in Manhattan, extremely flavorful with top-notch ingredient and just the right amount of kick.
Meal 2: The Pad Thai with Shrimp is great, generously portioned, though not terribly spicy... The Pad Prik Khing with Crispy Duck is terrific, tender with just enough fat... The Crispy Pork with Basil is wonderful -- much better than at Sripraphai in Queens.
Meal 3: Feeling particularly perturbed, I got the three spiciest items on the menu -- The Pla Lui Suan was absolutely fantastic, the mango was super fresh... The Nam-Prik Pla Too was incredible, almost addictive... The Kaeng Tai Pla, which I'd never had before, drove me crazy it was so wildly tasty and spicy.
The design and decor is nothing special or fancy -- for me that's a very good thing: it's cozy and relaxing, there's absolutely no pretense or attitude... Everything is clean... Service is warm and inviting... I love it here.
It used to better for sure!
I didn't mind waiting for a long time to get in, but that was before.
Not any more. I feel it is not worth waiting.
Something is flat.
Their Thai green curry and Tom Yam soup were good. But the other dishes were not that great.
My conclusion: There aren't many great Thai restaurants in Manhattan anymore. There is one in Queens.
Wasn't as good as I was expecting.
We were there on a Tuesday evening around 8pm. The restaurant filled most of its table but was never completely full. It's very very noisy even though it may not be fully occupied. The atmosphere is a casual one.
Chicken green curry was watery and lacked oomph. The chicken pieces were dry and hard, which unfortunately is typically the case at most run-of-the-mill Thai places in NYC.
Their 'famous' crispy pork with basil was tasty enough but the pork was simply fried until it's rock-hard, it could have been any type of meat and I wouldn't have known. I did enjoy the spicy/garlicky sauce though.
The crispy fried whole fish with chili sauce turned out to be the better dish during my meal. The fish was very meaty and the chilli sauce was thick, unctuous and had enough spice without being overwhelming. This was a good dish to order.
Best Thai food in NYC. The only place I get takeout from!
Best green papaya salad ever! Lots of chopped up and whole peanuts throughout (which make the dish!), big flavorful dried shrimp, and the vinaigrette just tastes amazing! I was daydreaming about this salad while at work today, so I went and got one for lunch. Aaah, it's as fabulous as I remember! :p Seriously WAY better than any other papaya salad i've ever eaten! (and I eat them a lot!). The portion is also huge!
All the food here is amazing. I just had to pay special homage to the green papay salad. :-)
I sort of like Pam Real Thai. In a sea of mediocre Thai restaurants with the exact same small set of dishes, it's nice to see a more extensive and interesting menu, The prices are on par with most other Thai restaurants. There really isn't much in the way of ambiance to speak of, but the food is decent. The first time I was there I had the crispy pork with basil (okay, but I had a much better rendition at Sripraphai) and the second time I had the Pad Key Mao which was alright.
This is my favorite Thai in Manhattan. The food is consistently amazing, service is great, and it's a reliable place to take visitors (and even an ok place for a date).
We have been eating at Pam Real for more than a year now. This is a reliable place if you are bringing friends. The service is good, food is great and decor is very thai and pleasant.
Nothing pisses me off more than when restaurants hand write in inflated prices because they are too cheap to print new menus.
I can tolerate this if it is a few items but when everything but two items are hand written in (sometimes inflated to 2-3 dollars more) that REALLY grinds my gears.
I mean, either write it darker so I can't see that you increased something from $6.50 to $8.95, or spring for some new menus!
Automatic star deduction.
Otherwise, aside from the food, this place isn't very memorable.
The decor is non existent and the service is mediocre.
If you want decent Thai food and don't feel like looking around then this place is worth a try.
It's not as cheap as people say it is (obviously since they hand wrote their new prices in) but it's still not terribly pricey. Their price increase makes them synonymous with any other Thai restaurant in the area. And in HK, Thai restaurants come by as often as a yellow taxi cab in Manhattan.
I had the Tom Yum soup with egg noodles which were very good. Even I'll have to grudgingly admit. The soup was nicely flavored and the ground pork provided a great texture.
My friend and I also ordered a spicy fried rice and it was VERY spicy but very good. Topped with mango shavings, I thought it was innovative and worth the price.
It's definitely some place you go for when you need a quick and cheap fix (kinda like getting a hooker, ha)- but nothing to rave over.
Oh and it's cash only so map out your ATM route.
Pam Real Thai = authentic, huge menu, casual atmosphere, homely waiters.
Pam Real Thai Encore = trendy, funky, pretty waitresses.
We had tons of food... larb and curry puffs to start, and then a variety of curry dishes (I had the chicken panang which was spicy and sweet and very savory). Even with 3 beers the total with tip was only $30.
Great place to dine pre-theatre outside of the throws of toursity Times Square.
I only discovered this place about 2 months ago, and I've already been there 3 times. It's that good! Some of the best Thai food you'll find in Manhattan at the absolute best price. It doesn't matter what you order on the menu... everything I've had there, and everything everyone I've been with has had there, has been amazing. I would recommend not sticking to safe favorites like Pad Thai, because these are going to be more or less what you'd expect. Feel free to be adventurous and order something you've never heard of, as it will most likely pay off.
As an addendum to my earlier comment, a friend of mine ordered the Fish Cake appetizers, and they tasted like Windex. This is the only time I've had anything bad here, so I'd be wary of those.
I've had a lot of Thai food in various neighborhoods in NYC, and this place is hands down my favorite. Yes, I've made the trip to Woodside to eat at Sripraphai, and in my opinion this place bests it easily.
I could seriously eat the Pad See Eil three meals a day for the rest of my life and die a happy man. Perfection. (Though I think Q2 has better Massaman curry.)
Cash only is annoying, the service is a little careless, and you will probably wait for a table at dinner rush. But totally worth it for the food.
One note of warning: if you ask for extra-spicy, you will end up like my friends and me, crying and sweating through our whole meal... beware.
I came here again with a friend for lunch and the quality was still really great. We had the Massaman Curry , the fried curry puffs and beef Pad See Ew. All three dishes were excellent and very reasonable. The total bill was about $15 a person. I'll keep coming back here whenever I'm in the area and in the mood for good Thai food. Also, the portions were so generous that I took home leftovers and had a whole other meal for dinner!
Really good and not expensive or pretentious. I liked the crispy pork (#E8) and massaman curry. I… Read more »
I love this place. I don't get a chance to eat here often because it's in Hells Kitchen and I'm in Murray Hill. But when I'm on that side of town I love to eat here.
The prices are fair, actually, I should say rather inexpensive. I ate here once with a large group of people. We ordered so many entrees and shared them. We were all so full afterwards with so many left-overs. (Typical American dining.) Afterwards we all paid about $20 each, which included tip. I was impressed.
My favorite dish is the Pad Thai with shrimp and the vegetarian duck. Ok. I know what you're thinking, "This whack-job keeps talking about vegetarian food in his reviews and duck should never be vegetarian!" Well, to this I would say, "I do, occassionally eat chicken and turkey, but never duck. And this non-duck-dish is delicious." And it's really frick'in good with rice, I can't get a grip. It's the sauce that it comes with that's amazing. The duck portion is just soy protein, but it's really good. Even if you eat meat you'll be surprised how good this dish is. There's also a lot of other vegetables with it.
As an appetizer I would suggest the Fried Chive Dumplings. They're really good. It's just a dumpling stuffed with chives. How simple could you get? But it's ground-breaking goodness. And be careful. The chives are moist and when they're fried they get super hot. The outside might be cooled, but when you place it in your mouth it's like chomping down on a hot coal. (I know, duh! But I never learn.)
The Green Papaya Salad is also a hit. Try that.
The Pam Real Thai Encore location is good as well. Just a more nicer looking place. If you're going on a date, you might want to go to Encore instead of the original place. But If you're dates not a snob, either place is fine.
Enjoy.
Had the pad kee mao. Portion was ample, but way way too oily.
Will try again to see if I can bump up a star.
Damn, this is oily... setting aside after halfway finished. And I'm a pig, so if I push away food something's amiss.
My favorite Thai restaurant in NYC. I don't think it could be located further from where I used to live in Brooklyn, but anytime a friend said they wanted Thai, I said I knew where to go.
I usually order on the lighter side here. I love the Yum Woon Sen and other salads. One is enough for a dinner but two is more fun, and provides lunch for the next day.
The interior is kind of divey though. I don't usually complain at restaurants, but I did the last time I went because a spotlight on one of the ceiling tracks was pointed directly at my eye. We were at a banquette and any attempt to shift my posture didn't seem to make any difference. I asked the host to adjust the light fixture, but he said he couldn't do that and gave some lame reason about the system being "designed" that way. I really didn't understand why he couldn't-- it would take a minute to push the light up slightly, hell, I would even do it for him, after all, I'm a designer! But my friend intervened before I could further the conversation and exchanged seats with me. She said it didn't bother her-- perhaps the light bounced off her contact lenses.
This episode didn't ruin our meal, however. The food was sensational and definitely makes my cheap eats in NYC list.
Pad Key Mao with Beef!! Green Papaya Salad!! I am pretty sure that they know who I am when I call in my order.
This Thai restaurant near Times Square did not live up to its name or billing. The Pad Woon Sen conjured up a sad image of doughy glass noodles dipped in soy sauce for flavor and not much else. The satisfactory Pad Thai and large portions helped rescue the meal. Ask for the Thai menu for the real Thai food.
$
Sorry Pammie - you're losing 1 star - though more really 1.5 stars.
Had dinner here last night and ordered the tom yum soup and green curry (yes I know, how original of me), but seriously Pam? Is this Real Thai or Real Chinese takeout? (Okay fine, the soup was good, though over-salty.) Off with yer' stars.
One of my *favorite* Thai resaurants in Manhattan (note: I purposely say Manhattan and not NYC)
I've…
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This place has everything you want from a Thai place and more..5$ wine and 4$ beer. We came around 10pm on a Saturday and this was the only place we could think of without a wait near the theatre district....because Hagi was a 2hr wait!
Ordered the crispy duck, bokchoy, woon seen with shrimp and chicken green curry. Everything was flavorful and came with white rice. The only thing I would like to see is more rice...but I heard rice was increasing in value nowadays. ^_^
I don't mean to sound like a pig- but the portions are too small. I have only ordered take-out from here and I am always left hungry afterwards. It does not resemble the portions from these photos at all - and I didn't order from the lunch menu. Maybe if you eat-in, they are bigger?
This is what it looks like if you order take-out - imagine a lunch portion of meat (not a whole lot even tho you have technically ordered the dinner portion) without all the vegetables and just a lot of sauce. If there are vegetables, they tend to be of the incredibly shinking and almost non-existent kind, like scallions, onions, some nuts...not even mushrooms. Seriously.
Incredibly, the food does taste good...but don't you just hate it when you're almost there and you're left hanging? You know what I mean? :)
Sorry- can't give more than three stars for this.
We tried Pam's based on the good reviews her on Yelp. As much as we wanted to enjoy Pam's because we live around the corner we can not give it a good review.
We tried Pam's on a Thursday evening about 45 minutes before closing. We asked if twice if we are going to be rushed because it was late and both the person that seated us and the waiter promised we would not. We ordered soup, drinks and three entrees. The waiter never delivered our drinks and tossed all of the food on our table in a mad rush. When we asked why the soup did not come as a first course the waiter rudely told us he wants to go home. They stood over us and moped around us while we tried to eat.
The food might be considered good (we thought it was average) but the people are far from good.
Ok...before you go on reading, this review is a bit old. (i ate here sometime last year) but hey, you can trust me.
The food portion is good. I remember having a lot of left overs, but it was partially due to us ordering too much. This is where my memory fails me - I don't remember what I ordered. But there had to have been at least a pad thai. It was good and not terribly too sweet. I also recall dumplings which were good, but generic.
The service was eh. It was busy that night and the dining room isn't exactly spacious. The crowded room added to the heat which all made the experience quite toasty. Still, something was lacking...nothing really stood out...which explains why I haven't been back.
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