Thai 101
“So we decided to order the Green Curry with Chicken lunch special and a Pad Se Ew with Beef ($10).”
“Firecrackers: A-
I'm not sure what makes these "firecrackers".”
“Bangkok chicken delicious and the basil noodle wonderful.”
Thai 101
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: 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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This is a great place for some cheap, delicious and excellent service of Thai food. I got the spicy pineapple curry with chicken which was flavorful but not too spicy. The ingredients tasted fresh and the different textures mixed in like the bamboo shoots and peppers and pineapples were wonderful. The happy hour menu is also awesome with its drinks. I got the princeess cocktail which is a mix of grenadine,vodka, peach snapps and pineapple. I also tried the cosmopolitan. Both drinks they made strong and sweet which I appreciated that they didn't water it down. Happy hour is only $5 for cocktails, $4 for a glass of wine and 2 beers for $6 super affordable. The staff also let us linger and didn't try to rush us out at all. Absolutely love this place and would come back to try more dishes.
Planning a night in Bayside is easy. There are a slew of Manhattanized-priced restaurants with Long Island quality up and down Bell Blvd to choose from. Unfortunately for me, I wasn't up for a bloated dining experience. Enter Thai 101. Nestled in between a slew of small storefronts off 39th ave and Bell, is an unassuming, railroad style space serving up delicious Thai food, however, I can not tell a lie when I say the extended happy hour brought us here! 4 – 9:30 pm? $3/4/5 B/W/L! We decorated our table with Singha beer bottles and empty rock glasses formally known as 'Princesses.' A rosy mixed drink that every gentleman should court.
Reservation are usually never a problem on the weekends and I've generally been here on the account of OTHER nearby restaurants having a long standby wait. This restaurant tends to mild your meal so you will have to be specific about your preferred spice level. The Tom Kha soup was delicious despite our longing for chili. Similarly, we were graciously satisfied by the Pad Ki Mao noodles and ANYTHING duck!
Service is hit or miss, but I generally enjoy my meals here, particularly sitting in the back where there's no cell reception, so you know… you can connect with people and food.
I usually trash every Thai restaurant I go to.
Simply put, I have yet to find a half-way decent Thai restaurant in NYC. There are phenomenal Thai places in California. Even better ones in Japan. But NYC has been cursed with the worst Thai food in the world.
That said, I'm not going to trash Thai 101. Don't get me wrong, it's still not Thai food. I'm guessing it's a first order approximation of Thai food as interpreted by a Chinese chef. However, the difference is, I actually kind of liked the food as long as I don't regard it as Thai food.
Thai food is all about the juxtaposition between salt (fish, bonito, nam-pla) and sour (galangal, lemongrass, kaffir leaves). There's none of that in any Thai place I've been to in this city. There's none of it here, as well. However, I did find the food to be enjoyable, so I'm giving this restaurant 4 stars. So far, I am a fan.
I also have to point out that unlike many Thai restaurants in the city, this restaurant is actually quite affordable. So they get a double-kudos from me.
Firecrackers: A-
I'm not sure what makes these "firecrackers". Perhaps the way they look? It's shrimp in fried batter. There's a semi-sweet / sour dipping sauce that comes with it. None of it spicy, so I guess the "firecracker" moniker must be based on looks. However, it was very good. I just wish the batter were crispier.
Chicken Wings: D
I don't like sweet and sour chicken wings. If you like that kind of thing, you'll love these wings. The wings themselves are average sized, not the gargantuan wings you sometimes see at Thai places.
Tom Kha Soup: B
I don't consider this to be Tom Kha soup since there's no fish paste or nam-pla (there's no fish taste at all). However, the flavor is nice. I vastly prefer my tom kha soup. It should've had an almost soap overtone from kaffir lime leaves, but I could detect no lime leaf aroma in the soup.
Tom Yum Soup: B
Too sweet. Not enough nam pla. I couldn't detect lemon grass in the soup. The soup was good, but just isn't tom yum soup. I vastly prefer my tom yum soup.
This is a very affordable Thai restaurant. They have $7 lunch specials and majority of their dinner entrees are $10. I ordered the chicken drunken noodles and a Thai iced tea.
The Thai iced tea comes in a mason jar, which is cute. One of my biggest pet peeve when I order drinks is when they put too much ice & they filled it half way with ice. So I would skip the drink or ask for less ice because otherwise, it's not worth it.
The drunken noodles are really good and I didn't find it too spicy! It could also have been because I was drinking Thai iced tea because my friend tried some of my dish and said it was really spicy. & her spice tolerance is much higher than mine. I thought the portions were big and I even brought back leftovers.
Stumbled across Thai 101 last night, lucky me! Originally planned on going somewhere else on Bell, but my girlfriend noticed the "Happy Hour until 9:30" sign, and there was no discussion that plans had officially changed.
It was pretty empty, plenty tables open at around 7:30pm on a Tuesday night. Our waiter, though he didn't speak much English, was extremely helpful and pleasant. He made food suggestions and of course suggested a happy hour drink. ($5 cocktails, $4 wine and I believe $3 beer but don't quote me on that).
The food was affordable also. We ordered the firecracker shrimp, which wasn't bad but not what I expected. It was shrimp wrapped in fried wonton and drizzled with spicy mayo. I ordered the pineapple fried rice with mixed seafood and cashews — amaze-balls!!!! I can't wait to come here with the hubby, so needless to say I def recommend and will be back!
I don't think I've ever given a rating this low. Unfortunately, it is for a few reasons rather than just 1. I was really craving Tom Yom Soup and happened to be on Bell Boulevard, so I eagerly ran in and ordered the soup. It took quite a while for it to come out and when it did, I merely picked at it for a bit. It didn't satisfy my cravings at all & the taste didn't appear to be all that fresh. I also ordered the basil noodle lunch special, which came with a side of spring rolls (blech). It wasn't as crispy (and again, wasn't fresh) as you find them to be at other Thai restaurants. The basil noodle ended up in a to go box, where I seasoned it with sriracha to my satisfaction while I watched Netflix. But unfortunately, by then, it didn't even taste like the original dish that I had ordered. In conclusion, I probably won't eagerly run into here ever again.
(P.S. The prices are semi cheap though)
Great place to get some Thai food. They have lunch specials for $7 and their happy hour is the bomb (4-9:30pm). Service here is great! The waiters are very friendly and the do their best to make sure you enjoy your meal.
I come here all the time and I must say, the portion size for all of their dishes are pretty big. For appetizers I recommend the crispy calamari and the satay. The calamari is well season and crispy and the chicken satay is very savory.
Their pineapple fried rice is very tasty, filled with large chunks of pineapple, cashews and your choice of protein (I always get the beef). Their pad se ew is also very good, the flat noodle tastes great and the green vegetables provide a nice crunch.
This place deserves more customers. Unfortunately bell blvd isn't the best place to start a restaurant as it's not very active during the day. Do yourself and this place a favor, come here and chow down.
BKNY is our go to Thai restaurant when in Queens but they were closed for vacation so we decided to try Thai 101.
Appetizers were as follows:
Crabmeat dumplings: tasted like packaged frozen
Firecracker shrimp: crispy, hot and tasty
Satay chicken: tough and rubbery
Entrees:
Beef Pad Thai: delicious
Ginger Salmon: over cooked, over salted
Pad Puk: was a sad Puk, a vegetable dish my daughter found too sweet for her taste
Dessert:
I took the waitress on the sideand told her it was my daughter's birthday so please send out a dessert with a candle in it. The waitresses reply was we don't do that I don't have candle.
Oh well I ordered desserts to share anyway
Desserts:
Fried ice cream with vanilla ice cream: very good
Fried bananas with green tea ice cream: yuck!!
Thai 101 appears to be an absentee owner restaurant and it is obvious by the level of service.
The question is, would we go back again?
That is a definite No