Thailand’s Center Point
“I tried crispy papaya salad, duck curry, basil fried rice, every dish was amazing!”
“I like SriPraPhai a lot, especially for the sheer variety, but I'm definitely coming back here asap.”
“The restaurant seems to be half grocery store, half restaurant which at first had the group I was with and myself a little hesitant.”
Thailand’s Center Point
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Has TV: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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My friends and I stumbled upon this small Thai kitchen/grocery store for dinner on a Wednesday (as I think most people do when they realize that Sripraphai isn't open on Wednesdays). For a small place, it has a pretty extensive menu, and I imagine there is probably only one chef in the kitchen to serve the seating capacity (about 20 people), so service was SLOW. It took about 20 minutes for our appetizers (spring rolls and Thai salad) and Thai iced teas to come out, and after we finished that, it took another half an hour for the first of our entrees to come out, and there was a 5-10-minute spacing between each entree. But I did enjoy the food. The Thai iced teas were a bit sweet for my taste, but after adding some water into the cute mason jar it came in, it was fine. My entree, the spicy noodles with seafood and linguine in basil sauce, was indeed very spicy but abundant with squid and shrimp.
Overall, even though the food was good, I don't know if I would go out of my way to come back here when there are many other delicious Thai options in the area.
This oddly named spot is a quiet Thai restaurant right next to the famed Sripraphai (yelp.com/biz/sripraphai-…), and seems to get plenty of runoff from impatient people who had intended to eat there instead (tenous business model!).
They're also part-grocery… but there's actually another Thai grocery right across the street (yelp.com/biz/inthira-tha…) (also a tenuous business model!).
The food has always been solid, but if you're looking for a great Thai spot to excite your taste buds, Woodside has other options that I'd put first. BYOB is a plus, though. Overall, Thailand's Center Point is a good place to branch out a little from the typical canon of NYC Thai, but not by too much. Pad khee mao for the Sripraphai crowd will always be there, and it's pretty good here. The pad pring is perfectly spicy, and their curry noodle soup is great when you want something incredibly unhealthy.
The cute, clean interior has a cafe vibe. It's obvious this is a family-owned establishment, to the extent that one of the staff once brought our delivery order by herself, still in her apron, which I thought was very sweet! (Granted, it was late and I live close by.)
Such a warm and homey Thai restaurant … with the craziest som tum (papaya salad) ever, the strips of papaya are deep fried! It is like eating fried Japanese gobo (burdock) sticks which you can often get at izakayas. I think we also got an eggplant stir fry and one other thing… sorry my mind was so clouded by the amazing som tum. 🙂 I'll be back, since I'm hopefully moving to the hood soon!
We desperately needed food after 6+ hours at a sketchy car dealership (aren't they all?). I'm glad we came to this place. It was empty when we arrived around 6 pm on a Friday night, but a few more people arrived later. The place is really small and also contains a mini shop. All of our food was delicious, including the pad kee mao, the eggplant and ground pork dish, and the seafood soup. I especially enjoyed the pineapple fried rice, could have use some more shrimp though. Good place to go to if you're in the neighborhood
Golden bag- Tastey. Fried wonton like things. With fresh ground pork.
Salmon curry-amazing. The skin was super crispy yet the meat was very moist. The sauce was also not overwhelming. It was not too creamy with the right amount of spice.
Shrimp pad thai- I really liked that was not greasy and not too peanutty.
Fish cakes- ok
Fried papaya salad-also amazing. It had tons of fresh seafood and loads of flavor. Eat it quick because it does tend to get soggy after a while, especially the pieces at the bottom that had been soaking with the dressing.
Thai fried/roasted chicken – too salty. Not a fan.
I really loved this place. It reminds me a lot of what Sripraphai used to be in the very beginning. The prices are also very reasonable with each dish being about $10-15. The downside is that it sometimes takes them awhile to bring out food. The salmon and the chicken took over 20 minutes. I think it is because they make everything from scratch and I think there are only 2 people cooking. This is going to be my new Thai place!
How good is this place? The most spectacular dish of this four-day foodie trip I'm working my way through Queens. Yesterday's Crispy Papaya Salad and Thai iced tea were simply spectacular, filled with bits of flavorful batter fried papaya, shrimp and squid, lime, cilantro, garlic, tomato and more. The juice of the lime (I think) has been made into a sweet/salty/sour experience. Also a sight to behold–we eat with our eyes as well. Truly a remarkable dish that's exceptionally large for the price. There is a lot of flavor going on in this dish. Somehow I worked my way through most of it. It's an intoxicating experience.
Don't expect to be bowled over by the restaurant's interior. It's a half-way attempt at a Thai grocery on side of the room, and restaurant that seats maybe 20-25 on the other. Don't come looking for great ambiance. Clearly an amateur concept and design. Come here simply for the food that will be placed in front of you. You will not be disappointed. There's something special going on here.
Even more remarkable to the experience: later that day I'm on the #7 train headed to Manhattan. Train ahead stops in station because of a mechanical problem so all #7 trains are held. Minutes later we all get up and exit. My evening dining plan is screwed. I start walking, run into a musician with instrument on another subway (I run a music web site for a living). We get talking, decide to have a drink, then dinner follows that. We're in Williamsburg probably 6-8 miles from this joint and chatting food and he says: "one place you have to eat in Queens before you leave: Thailand's Center Point." My jaw hits the floor, I whip out pictures of that afternoon's lunch.
Before you go:
– Cash only
– No alcohol
– Yelp's map pin locates this incorrectly 3 blocks west on 39th as of this review.
– Subway stop at 61st & Roosevelt is your closest transit access.
This place had good review so i was excited to try it. I had takeout for my boyfriend and his parents we were having dinner at my place. We ordered several things. Squid salad, beef salad, basil tofu fried rice, chicken pad thai, and massaman curry. I dont know why but they all tasted very very fishy to me. Quite literally, like the fish sauce. None of these had a unique taste. Even the plain white rice that came with the curry tasted fishy. I have been to alot of thai restaurant but this place i will not order from again…
I have never heard of this place prior to tonight. It was a default to the fact that we'd driven out for Thai food at their neighbor, Sripraphai's, except the kitchen closed earlier than anticipated. Not wanting to drive off from the area, I turned to trusty Yelp to see what else was around close enough to walk to and Bingo! Down the block. Score? No, not really.
I am a big big fan of curry and anything curry based. Their massaman was a bit too sweet for my liking. Not bad by any standards, but it was a bit like getting sprite expecting water. I was expecting more heat and spice from it. The order came with roti and again, I was expecting thinner and crisper but it came out more like scallion pancake without the scallions.
The fried shrimp and "dumplings" off their menu were good, simply because they were fried.
Their mussels were okay but the broth they were in had a distinct flavor I couldn't quite put my finger on which was okay if it weren't overwhelmed with a lemony aftertaste.
Overall, it did its job and I came home un-hungry. Ish….