14 Best Thai Restaurants In NYC, Ranked

Thanks to a campaign of "gastrodiplomacy" funded by the Thai government to increase tourism revenue, Thai food has become a ubiquitous part of the American restaurant scene. While the Thai-American population is largely concentrated in Los Angeles, you can still find some of the best Thai restaurants in America in New York City, where the Thai food offerings range from the upscale contemporary to the down-to-earth and traditional. From the popular Isan cuisine of Thailand's northeast to the curries and other spicy dishes of Thailand's central and southern regions, there are plenty of options for international Thai cuisine.

Much of NYC's best Thai food can be found along the same three-block stretch of Woodside Avenue in Elmhurst, Queens. Home to the majority of NYC's Thai immigrant community, this street was recently renamed "Little Thailand Way" in recognition. If you know where to look, there's more incredible Thai food to be found in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and other parts of the city.

When dining at Fish Cheeks, naturally, you'll want to order fish — and you'll especially want to order a whole fish. Try the coconut crab curry, the grilled mackerel in a salty/sweet caramel fish sauce glaze, or the whole fried market fish; served with pineapple, ginger, fragrant Thai herbs, and crunchy cashews in a pickled garlic dressing. 

Not a fan of fish or seafood in general? Although fish is this restaurant's specialty, there are also plenty of other options on the menu available for landlubbers to enjoy; like crispy pork belly, khua kling, a stir-fried short rib dish, as well as vegan options. Diners should be aware that most of Fish Cheeks' dishes are served family-style, and the menu encourages sharing.

Opened in 2016 by brothers Chat and Ohm Suansilphong, and located on Bond Street in Lower Manhattan, Fish Cheeks serves contemporary Thai cuisine with a focus on family-style seafood.

Playground in Jackson Heights, Queens, is one of the few restaurants in NYC where you can (sometimes) find Thai insect delicacies such as ant eggs and silkworm pupae on the menu, although these are not always available. Even if they're not serving insects, there's plenty to enjoy at this small restaurant, which is focused on the cuisine of the Isan region in northeastern Thailand. Characterized by savory salads, grilled meats, and other simple preparations of fresh ingredients accompanied by sticky rice, Isan cuisine is the most popular regional cuisine within Thailand and is gaining international recognition thanks to restaurants like this one.

Choose from an assortment of Isan cuisine like grilled squid, sweet pork sausage, and mixed salads of herbs ("larb," or "laarb") or shredded papaya ("tom") with various meats — alongside Thai staples like curries and noodle dishes. The food at Playground tends to run spicy, so be careful when choosing from the five different levels of heat. 

Playground has a full bar and stays open until 11:45 p.m., making it a good choice for late-night dining. There are also private rooms for karaoke downstairs from the restaurant, one of the few karaoke options in the area.

Located on East 19th Street in Manhattan, Thai Villa is one of the most visually stunning restaurants on the list. The canopies and ornate carvings that decorate the walls and ceiling, suffused with soft golden light, will make you feel like you're dining in a palace; this is by design because this restaurant specializes in Thai royal court cuisine.

Thai Villa has a large menu with typical American Thai offerings like curries and pad thai, providing something for everyone. For a more unique dining experience, look under the Chef's Signature and Privileged Entrees sections. There you'll find lesser-known specialty dishes originally meant for the tables of Thai royalty: kha nom boung youen (a crispy egg crepe stuffed with beansprouts, peanuts, and mixed seafood), and yum ma-kua yao (grilled eggplant salad with shrimp, pork, and egg). 

Mieng kum is another highlight: A dish of bite-size leaf wraps made with the spicy herb betel, stuffed with a sweet/salty/savory mix of onion, dried shrimp and shredded coconut, topped with a palm sugar caramel sauce.

"Fusion cuisine" is the byword at Thai Diner, where you'll find dishes that inventively blend classic American diner food with tropical Southeast Asian flavors. Try the Thai tea-flavored French toast topped with coconut flakes, the disco fries drowned in creamy coconut massaman curry sauce, or one of many Thai-inflected cocktails. Thai Diner's turkey and rice-stuffed cabbage rolls are flavored with galangal and makrut lime, while their version of larb (laab) is made with fried chicken rather than the more typical ground chicken.

Located on Mott Street in the Lower East Side, Thai Diner is operated by chefs Ann Redding and Matt Danzer — the team behind several other restaurants, including Uncle Boons, Uncle Boon's Sister, and Mr. Donahue's. Like any great diner, breakfast, which includes two different breakfast sandwiches, is served all day. The drinks menu also features some unique offerings like fortifying shots loaded with Thai medicinal herbs. 

Kitchen 79 in Jackson Heights, Queens is eclectic in a number of ways. The food itself is a mix of dishes from Thailand's northern and southern regions, thanks to the two chefs hailing from different regions of the country. Kitchen 79 is, in fact, one of the first restaurants in NYC to showcase southern Thai cuisine, and many of the dishes on its menu are hard to find at other Thai restaurants.

Kitchen 79 is known for its generous lunch special, which comes with several different appetizer options. The owner's recommended dish is pad Thai, which is also one of the restaurant's most-ordered dishes, but the regional curries and specials are where Kitchen 79 really shines. Try steamed whole fish, the mild, peanutty massaman curry, southern style had yai fried chicken, or gang phed ped yaang, a spicy red curry of duck and vegetables.

Ubiquitous in the food of Laos and Thailand, especially Isan (which borders Laos), som tum is a refreshingly sour papaya salad. This salad is made from shreds of green unripe papaya pounded in a large mortar and pestle, with a tangy-sweet sauce and various meat and vegetable add-ins. 

At Som Tum Der, you'll find eight different kinds of freshly-pounded som tum in which the papaya is mixed with ingredients like pork, mackerel, salted egg, pickled crab, long beans, or tiny pea eggplants. Larb, fiery curries, and crispy fried chicken round out the menu.

With locations in the East Village and in Red Hook, Brooklyn, Som Tum Der opened in 2013 and earned a Michelin star in 2016. Som Tum Der aims to present a fully-curated dining experience, with an eclectic playlist of background music provided by a Thai record label, and traditional items from Isan culture on display, such as sticky rice steaming baskets and fish traps.

SriPhaPhai, named for founder Sriphaphai Tipmanee, is one of the oldest and most classic in the Woodside Avenue strip of Thai restaurants (alongside Zaab Zaab and Ayada), with a second location on Long Island in the town of Williston Park. The interior at the original Queens location was recently refurbished and expanded, but the food at SriPhaPhai has remained consistent since the restaurant began as a small Thai bakery in the 1990s. Some dishes on the menu, like pork leg over rice, and a coconut starch jelly dessert called khanom chan, are longtime staples.

The menu (cash only at the Queens location) is large and features Isan dishes like a delicate sponge of crispy catfish served alongside cashews and papaya salad. Unlike many American Thai restaurants, at SriPhaPhai, you don't get to swap whichever protein you want in a given dish, because each is served with the ingredients that best complement it. SriPhaPhai was one of the first restaurants to introduce NYC diners to previously unfamiliar Thai dishes and continues to uphold its standard of quality and authenticity.