Pad Thai
“It is located on 8th Ave, right across from the Post Office and MSG, which is especially convenient when we take the train in-and-out of the city since Penn Station is right there.”
“The pad woosen (sauteed glass noodles) were tasty and a good alternative to the usual pad thai.”
“You can order delivery for about $15bucks.”
Pad Thai
Takes Reservations: Yes
Delivery: Yes
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
Good for Kids: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
Caters: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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– one of my regular "go to" places for lunch within minutes of my office
– quick service
– recommend: chicken pad thai and spring rolls (which are complimentary with their lunch special)
– generous portions for the price
– $10 minimum on credit cards, lunch specials are under $10
Looking for a Thai restaurant? Nearby MSG and Penn Station with reasonable prices? Then look no further and stop by Pad Thai. You can easily miss this place it's so small. But it's definitely worth trying.
I don't know many Thai places in NYC where you can get Pad See Yu for dinner for $10. My friend got Salmon Teriyaki for $14 which she said was very good. As for me, my noodles were cooked great. The staff was nice enough to add some extra heat to my meal, as per my request. And then were great enough to keep our water glasses constantly full. (Damn, those spices got to me.) We split some shrimp steamed dumplings which were quite good, although I wish had more flavor. And my Thai iced tea $3 just hit the spot. Perfect balance of sweet and richness.
The only thing I have to say which was kinda interesting was feeling the train rumbling underneath the restaurant. Didn't bother me too much but definitely shocked me the first time I felt it! The place was very cute and intimate. I'll be back if I am craving for my Thai food fix.
For years, coworkers have told me to avoid this place. For the most part I have. But recently, some of us were in the mood for Pad Thai. But because of the sweltering heat, I could not talk them into going to 9th Ave. for some authentic and delicious Thai food. So impartial as I was, I said why not, let's try it out. The first thing I noticed was that the establishment was renamed to Oriental. Everything else pretty much remained the same, the same Thai cuisine but now Japanese food also added to the menu.
A staple dish that almost every Thai restaurant includes on their menu is Pad Thai. Many judge a restaurant's success by the quality of their Pad Thai. If the Pad Thai's good, then many conclude that other dishes must equally as good if not better. But if it's bad, then they avoid returning back. For the most part, I've never been to a Thai restaurant that has messed up on Pad Thai, and I figured it must have been their signature dish, following the name of the old restaurant. So that was exactly what I ordered from the lunch menu: Chicken Pad Thai ($7.85 + $0.70 Tax = $8.55). Included on the side is choice of appetizer (spring roll, salad, or chicken soup).
In less than 3 minutes, several take out bags were brought to the front counter. I didn't think much of it, figuring it was for the delivery guy or someone else's order. But then another 5-6 minutes passed by, before the cashier looked at the bag and confirmed that was my order. I was a bit agitated that it sat longer on the counter than it took to cook, but what really got me worrying is how quickly they made this dish. My guess is that it is sitting in a huge steam-like tray in the kitchen.
When I made my way to opening it, the Pad Thai included the usual ingredients of chicken, scallion, tofu, egg, peanut bits, and a sparse amount of bean sprout (approximately 10-12 bean sprouts). Portions were not great, filling about 3/4 of the white plastic takeout container. Sitting on the top was a lime wedge that looked like it was browned from being cooked and slightly dry. Sure enough when I picked it up, it was steaming hot, to the point that I couldn't hold it for more than a few seconds. I quickly squeezed the wedge and mixed up the concoction. I took a bite, then two to reconfirm my thoughts. It was the most bland Pad Thai I've ever had. The chicken was dry without any taste, the noodles although cooked just slightly past al dente but held no real flavor as well. It was disappointing and I wasn't sure if I even wanted to finish eating it.
I decided to try the 2 mini spring rolls (Po Pia Taud) that were included with my lunch special. Inside, the menu touted the spring rolls were stuffed with bamboo shoots, cabbage, and carrots. The spring rolls were crispy and not too oily, but they tasted exactly like their ingredients, texturally satisfying but lacking in any flavor. Luckily, a small container of sweet & sour sauce was included, which helped amp up the flavor and make the spring rolls more palatable. After I ate the spring rolls, I decided to pour the rest of the sauce on my pad thai, which helped to make the Pad Thai more edible.
One thing to note: The menu says the credit card minimum is $15, but I was told that the undisclosed minimum is actually $10. I'm guessing they can honor that when they feel like it, or give you a hard time, so plan on bringing cash if for some reason, you enjoy coming to this restaurant. My experience was a total letdown and I will not be returning. With the likes of Thai Select just a couple blocks north on 9th Ave., I would definitely go to the latter without hesitation. And if you're willing to travel just a little bit further north past Port Authority, there's dozens of excellent Thai restaurants to try. Pad Thai doesn't live up to Thai cuisine, and they really need replace their chef if they hope to stay in business. If my opinion is worth anything, avoid at all costs!
Came to this place on my lunch break because I was craving pad thai. And the place is (was?) named after that dish, so they must be great, right?
The pad thai was flavorless, and not very peanuty, which is part of the draw for me. Just a few peanuts sprinkled on top.
My entree also had tofu in it, which I thought was odd, but at least there was a lot of chicken. Will not return.
Oh, and the menu has something printed about credit card minimums ($15 maybe?) but when I asked an employee, they said $10 was fine.
So so soooo sad…for Lunch…Ok ok i'm not in the business of writing a bad review for the sake of writing a bad review. I read a few reviews and had just wanted a nice thai meal during lunch.
Ok so why 2 stars? First we got there it was hustling and bustling and we thought, hey this must be a good sign of a restaurant at lunch time. It was literally packed and we waited only like 5 minutes for a table. Not too bad considering it's lunch and the place is relatively small. After being confused by the waitress who was running around madly dropping dishes off at people's tables and shuffling people in, we ended up at a table by the wall, having to kind of push around a couple of people to sit down.
We look at the menu and see the lunch specials. Me and my colleague both ordered from the Lunch Specials menu, seeing as you get a choice of soup or salad or spring rolls on top of your main dish. I ordered a noodle dish with spring rolls and she ordered a rice and chicken dish with a salad. It's lunch, it's very busy, i don't expect great service, but i expect some service. The woman was nice enough, but that was about it. Everything seemed….off i guess. (I digress)
So what came for me was 2 pretty tough and very doughy spring rolls that tasted as if they were from frozen and deep fried as opposed to made on site. Minus a point. The salad my colleague had was massive. Insanely large, it looked as if it could have been a meal in itself. The main dishes we got – the noodles was given to me in a big plate, and it filled less than half the center section. My colleague was given this heaping mound of chicken and veggies plus a large mound of rice. So i'm looking at this and i'm thinking ok – well that's VERY disproportionate in serving sizes…minus another point.
As i ate – i became very aware that the beef i ordered in the noodles – i ended up counting 5 measly slices of beef. My colleague had so much chicken she couldn't finish (and she rarely doesn't finish meals). Minus another point. All i'm saying is that it was a bad experience from the get go.
I guess i won't be coming back.
Decent dishes. I don't really like to eat in establishments that play loud techno music. I prefer to eat slowly, so soothing classical music is preferred. Maybe that's their idea. Play fast music, so people can eat faster, and get out of there quicker. The place is small, so they probably get busy during the lunch hour. We ate here in the evening, and there were only 2 customers in the restaurant. I ordered a mixed vegetable dish with tofu, and a bowl of rice. It was okay, but it didn't wow me.
The PATH was completely shut down at the 34th Street station. The gates were pulled down. There were soldiers redirecting PATH riders to other NJ transit options. Meanwhile, my GF's Amtrak train was held to a stop at New York's Penn Station. Perfect timing for our impromptu dinner date in the city!
Our hankering for noodles brought us here. We were not disappointed. We ordered Kwaytio Kee Mao and Pas Woosen. The portions were slightly smaller than what we're used to getting for this type of cuisine, but still allowed for leftovers. The prices were slightly higher than what we're used to paying for this type of cuisine, but understandable for its location. The food was pretty tasty! Not the best we've had, but still pretty damn good!
We didn't really expect much for an Asian restaurant in this area, but we were actually quite pleased.
Not good. I give three stars to the spring rolls and one to the pad see ew. Maybe half a star to it. My co worker and I ordered from here and needless to say, I won't be doing it again. It came fast so can't complain about the time, but the minute I saw the pad see ew, I knew it was going to be a no go. The chicken was funky tasting, there were little to no veggies and the sauce was really bland. It tasted more like Chinese than Thai to me…I ate around a quarter of it.