Auttharos

New Décor at the same place before (Zabb Elee).
Nice and great foods.

Aye! This place is closed! I don’t understand why this page doesn’t reflect that. When you check this on your phone — google reports as closed.
Unilocal doesn’t state that. When I called the place, they lied and stated they are sister restaurant — and are Thai also. They are NOT — it is now Japanese — different menu altogether — which is a shame, I wish they had been honest over the phone. We decided to go to a Thai restaurant elsewhere in the area instead that night.

This is now my favorite Thai spot in Queens. Stopped here last Saturday for dinner and was pleasantly surprised at how delicious everything was. I can be a harsh critic for Southeast Asian cuisines, too, having had some really tasty authentic dishes in Thailand myself. I ordered the penny wort and sweet basil seed drinks (they come from the cans), pretty standard. And then the food: roasted pork over rice, chicken pad Thai and seafood Thai fried rice. The roasted pork was perfection drizzled in a sweet, heavy-​bodied sauce garnished with cilantro over white rice. The fried rice came with fresh squid, shrimp and sliced fish balls. The pad Thai was not dry but moist and full of flavor in a zesty orange sauce. Not a fancy place, but a small, hole in the wall ambiance and was decently clean. Definitely will be coming back!

Used to be my hang out spot, «used to be», But based on today thank you providing me a bad service, meh food. Nothing else to say.

My favorite Thai spot. Too bad parking is inconvenient, however conveniently located right on E, F, R and M train lines. I suggest family style approach to eating. Layout of menu in addition to the dish names confuses the hell out of me. Usually just order a dish from each section to have your bases covered.
The larb dishes are my favorite thing here. Ground meat of your choice stir fried with a ton of fresh herbs and lime. Really an explosion of flavor. Get it really spicy, great with rice.
The lemon grass soup is also a pretty unique dish. Really refreshing. Tried a few, prefer the chicken one the most. Something about chicken and soup works. Any other meat works better in a stew imo.
The grilled meats here are as good as all the better ones you’ve tried in other restaurants. Nothing extraordinary, but a solid choice to up protein intake if you’re fearing muscle atrophy.
Crispy pilot fish is fried really well here. Really really deep fry. I mean you can eat the whole damn fish if you want. I particularly enjoy fried food so maybe I’m a bit biased.
Even the generic pad Thai is delicious here, they work in the peanuts. Adds a nice crunchy texture.
Try the raw sausage salad. Not entirely raw, but kind of pickled. Found it disgusting at first but it grew on me. Something that you can’t really describe but it’s definitely an acquired taste.

So sad! Tried this place again and sadly I can’t improve on the ratings. Although service is ok, food portions are sadly small! I def prefer ayada or chao Thai over this place.

Terrible service.
Went with my fiancé after hearing great things. It was on the later side of the evening, but they definitely had enough customers to keep the kitchen occupied. Fiancé ordered delicious crispy pork dish and a thai iced tea. I ordered grilled pork and a side of vegetables. His food came (no iced tea though) and once it was clear that my food was not arriving yet, we shared that. Literally 20 minutes later I’m still asking for my food. She brings my side of vegetables — wedge of raw cabbage and some frozen green beans. Maybe I missed something and the veggie side is for you to add to a soup or something, but seriously. Even then it was pretty sad. Five minutes later my pork finally hits the table. As well as that Thai iced tea. Delicious pork, but it was JUST grilled pork. What the heck took so long?!
All in all, good food, but shamefully bad service and kitchen coordination. Maybe it was a bad night, but I won’t be back.

Tried this place last week, the staff are friendly. Nothing special on the décor. And the food needs more Thai flavor. And they need to serve more desserts…

This place is flavor bomb! If you have a strong palate for Thai food this is the place! Well nothing special on the décor of the restaurant just a white wall and aluminum table. We order some food which taste very strong and delicious and alot on onions. We also order combination papaya salad which is shocked us with the price!($ 20) well it was nice to eat here but i wish their menu is easier to read. We would like to try again next time in smarter way.

This place offers authentic Thai food, just be mindful some of the dish is very spicy. The dark noodle is on sweet side, ton yum soup is very spicy. The food comet out slow, there are only three tables at that time. It’s make up by good service. Next table prefer a salard buts it’s too spicy, they make them a new one for free.

Noooo… Zabb Elee is closing for renovations starting Feb 29, 2016. When they will open again they do not know! I’ll be missing their delicious papaya salads and noodle soups for the time being :(

Partying on a Monday Night (Part ³⁄₃)
It is 11:30 pm. I am definitely drunk. As we left Judy & Punch (see Part ²⁄₃ below), Ben L. asked if anyone was hungry. Drunk = munchies = YES. So, being the good Thai boy he is, he drove my and Roger H.‘s drunk butts to Jackson Heights for some late night authentic northern Thai cuisine at Zabb Elee.
And BOY was it authentic. You won’t find any kind of pad thai here, no siree. You also won’t find the kind of spicy that Americanized Thai restaurants do spicy. If it weren’t for Ben, I probably would never have known to come here because it’s pretty intimidating for a non-​Thai person. Rewind to a conversation with Ben about four hours prior:
Ben: «Do you like spicy food?»
Me: «…I can’t believe you just asked me that.»
Ben: «Is that a yes?»
Me: «Duh! Do you not know me at all??»
Back to the present:
Me: «Holy fudge, my tongue is dying!» *chugs water*
Ben: *face palm*
This is LEGIT spicy. Just a few bites of any dish set my mouth on fire. It was torturous but amazing at the same time. (I guess that makes me a masochist?) Also, having grown up in a Viet household, I am accustomed to and love sour sauces. Everything we got here, from the salads to the curry, had some kind of sour flavor, and it was AWESOME. I liked every single dish we had, but if I had to rank them:
1) Pork neck salad: it was amazing how tender the pork was, and the dressing was reminiscent to Vietnamese fish sauce.
2) Spare rib mushroom soup: it’s similar to tom yum, only even more sour and spicy. I LOVED the lemongrass flavor. Even though it was pork spare ribs in the soup, it reminded me of chicken broth for some reason.
3) Green papaya salad: julienned green papaya, crushed peanuts, fried pork skin, another even more sour and spicy dressing… what’s not to love… besides the occasional chili pepper that gets in your mouth and sets it on fire for the rest of dinner.
3) Sour bamboo curry with shrimp: yes, this is a tie with the green papaya salad. Although the rest of my table wasn’t impressed with this dish, the presence of the sour bamboo brought back so many childhood memories of when my mother would make sour bamboo soup. It was my first time having a sour curry, but it worked for my weird taste buds.
Zabb Elee may be too spicy for newbies trying to break out of the Americanized Thai bubble, but I think it’s a great place to get a lesson on true authentic northern Thai food. (Also, I think you can ask for the spiciness to be toned down a little?) I would definitely come back here to try some new dishes… maybe one day even come here without a Thai person! *gasp* (LOL just kidding, Ben.) Either way, it was a great way to end (and sober up from) a drunken Monday night. Thanks to all the water I chugged in my futile attempts to douse the fire in my mouth, I woke up the next morning with no hangover and no burning bathroom situation. Yay unintended benefits!

This is a traditional Laotian dishes of Northeastern Thai fare. I’m a big fan of Thai cuisine except Hub can handle the spicy factor compared to me. It only made sense to opt for something different as we tried many Thai spots already. We shared the Thai papaya salad, sauteed Chinese broccoli with crispy pork, and Thai fried rice with crab. The fried rice had real chunks of crab meat unlike other places that throws in either imitation crab meat or itty bitty pieces. This is the real deal here. The crispy pork was quite tasty with the rice. If you like savory and salty dish, this is def a top pick. The papaya salad was very spicy and plentiful. I only took a small portion and the heat was no joke. Most Thai spots tend to make the larb and papaya salad really spicy. I believe that is the authenticity of the Thai fare. Natives prefer their dishes to be spicy. Staff was prompt and attentive. Also, be mindful that some local customers may not appear as friendly esp to outsiders. Aside from that factor, the food was great. Def will return to try other dishes!

I’ve been coming since way before this placed deservedly earned its Michelin star, and it’s always been near the top of my list. If you’re looking for delicious, authentic Thai food that isn’t «drunken noodles» or «pad thai», please come here. My favorites are the pork noodle soup, crispy catfish and spicy crispy pork, but pretty much everything is great. Open late, too!

Small restaurant and it gets busy! We ordered a bunch of plates to share– prepare your mouth and stomach for the spice because shit is spicyyyy.
The papaya salad numbed my mouth, but I couldn’t stop eating it! Though… I couldn’t really taste a difference from Ayada’s or even Sriprapai’s…I just really like papaya salad!
We had the duck larb, marinated chicken, the sautéed morning glory, crab fried rice, pig neck, and the grilled chicken hearts.
Everything had a very homey feel to it which I appreciated. Loved most of the dishes except for the pig neck and duck larb, which is what a lot of people recommend but I can’t see why!
This is pretty much the only good thai spot in this area full of Indian and Nepalese food! Don’t skip a chance to have dinner here!

My first time eating Thai restaurant in NYC and this doesn’t make me disappointed. I feel like I m back home again. It worths to eat an authentic Thai Esan food with fair price and this is gona be one of the restaurant I will recommend my friend

My lovely friend from NYC took me to this place. When we craving for Thai food at 2am.
If I were at my house in Northern Virginia and crave for late night Thai food. That plan is pretty much game-​over for me. Those Thai restaurants in my area never open until late night.
This place offers many variety of Thai dishes. They even serve fried egg salad! Which is sunny-​side up egg Thai style (crispy edges). It was very comforting and delicious. They seasoned it perfectly. Perfect amount of lime juice and fish sauce.
Sauteed morning glory w/​crispy pork belly is also another rare Thai dish that’s hard to find at any Thai restaurants in Northern Virginia. So I was very pleased.
Fresh and flavorful morning glory with perfectly cooked crispy pork belly.
Nothing beats late night comforting, authentic Thai food. They can be spicy, salty, sour, sweet. Whatever flavors you prefer. Zabb Elee nailed it!
Lastly, of course if you like to drink at late night, come visit this restaurant! Authentic Thai food matches perfectly with beer and cocktails.

I was expecting bold and spicy flavors but I got more bitterness. The larb was very lime-​y — too much that it was overwhelming. The papaya salad also had too much lime juice. It made everything taste sour. These two dishes were ordered mild and it came out just that. Other reviews said mild=medium but ours were perfectly mild. The grilled beef was not what I expected. I thought it would be slices of beef on skewers grilled on a flame. Instead, it was pieces of beef that looked like it was steamed instead. It was very chewy and unappetizing. The spicy chili sauce on the side was very good though. I guess Northern Thai/​Isan cuisine is not for me.

This is definitely not your typical Thai food and I was excited to give it a try. Unfortunately the food really just fell short for me. My wife and I split three dishes. We ordered them mild after reading all the reviews. The duck larb, crab papaya salad, and the steamed beef. The duck larb was decent, but nothing that blew my mind. I liked the the taste the lime gave to it though. The crab papaya salad was just kind of ehh and the crab was basically non existent. Finally, the steamed beef was kind of tough and bland. We both kind of left a bit unsatisfied.

Great Thai place steps from the jackson heights station and the little tibet area. Much better than the Manhattan branch which looks like a nightclub. Many things are slightly better at other places but zabb elee is a great all rounder. When it is cold, I like to order their soups, like the special beef noodle soup (containing blood in the soup) and hot pot style soups like the tom zabb with pork spare ribs. The latter can easily be shared with a group and has a great strong flavor. Additionally, I would try their pork neck and their seafood is really nice too.
Follow them on facebook to learn about the special dishes they will feature for a week or two at a time. And, if you don’t feel like Thai, check out their new izakaya downstairs (which I have reviewed also.)

This place was so wow. First, the dishes are so cheap, it’s ridiculous. We got such a variety of foods, I could hardly keep track. Second, the quality is top notch. No wonder they’re Mich-​starred. That noodle soup would keep me coming back time after time. I liked their drinks, too. The thai teas were not crazy sweet, but were still delicious. Plus, we got great service for our group of 12, which I admit, is pretty difficult to find. I also have to concede that not every dish was mind-​blowing, but every one was better than average.

Very authentic food we came here every time when we come to New York. I love everything on the menu. The prices are very reasonable. I’ll be back.

1) nice, enthusiastic server (long hair guy — someone out of a cartoon)
2) the food absolutely does NOT look like the pictures (so keep your expectations low)
3) having said the above, they taste alright
4) the duck larb tastes horrible! I dont know what the other reviewers had but certainly it was not a «must-​have» at this establishment
5) the tom yum soup however, was very tasty (great spice and sour ratios). Highly recommend the soup
6) we caught one of the servers (female) transferring left over food into to-​go containers WITH HER BARE HANDS! Im sure thats a health code violation…

If u haven’t tried Zabb Elee already, do your taste buds a favor and get your bottoms there!
I recently tried their Manhattan location, but nothing beats this Thai mouthwatering goodness tucked in the middle of Queens.
I have to admit their food is not suitable to those with low spice tolerance, and I don’t mean Tabasco, not old spice, and definitely not the «extra spicy» from Spice. Do yourselves a favor before you start slapping negative reviews, and head the door.
Here you have REAL Thai spice (to be honest maybe a step down from the real thing) that got my South Asian friends raving!
Definitely get their Tom Yum (which is more of the tom kha in Americanized Thai restaurants), larb, crab papaya salad, oh while your at it, just eat the entire menu!
Very affordable, staff is great, service superb. Dingey little thing, but who cares! My cravings for Zabb Elee starts before I leave.

My friend said her Vietnamese friend recommended this place so we were really excited to eat here. My friend had also had a dark noodle soup before and was craving it.
We shared the duck larb, dark noodle soup with beef, and pad thai with chicken.
The duck larb was one of the most flavorful dishes I’ve ever had. It was so mouthwatering and I couldn’t stop eating it. Spicy and salty and tangy. Meat was lean and soaked in sauce. The cabbage neutralized the meat and paired very well.
Another dish I’ve never had… Dark noodle soup. What does that even mean? Well it was basically this really savory soup. And just like the duck larb, you cannot stop. Noodles cooked perfectly, but wish there was more beef.
The pad thai was also one of the best I’ve had. Not too sweet and not too sour. Just really solid pad thai. Had no bad things to say about it.
Great service here and I want to go back to try some more of their delicious food!

Grubhub lists an 11:30 opening here, so ordered accordingly, yet arrived at the Michelin-​starred joint* at 12:05, after the estimated pickup window, to find the only staffer on the phone with Grubhub. When she finally acknowledged me (trying to get her attention for a while) she said they didn’t open until 12, and that it’d be 15 minutes for the food. Ended up being 12:25 before I had anything to eat, defeating the purpose. Roasted Pork and Crispy Pork over Rice were tasty but far from excellent, or even at the level expected.
*which now has a Sake bar too

The food here is amazing and authentic! We got the same stuff we ordered at pok pok — larb and beef dark noodle soup. In addition, we ordered grilled squid and crab fried rice.
The space is really small and not baby friendly. However parking is easy.

This place was great! They have two menus — one for the more typical dishes you’d expect in a Thai restaurant, and another with some more «exotic» foods, like duck larb, chicken gizzard, etc. I ordered the crispy pork and basil sauce. Got mine spicy (I guess the second-​hottest level) and it had a pretty good kick. I love spicy, but I’m not sure how I would’ve fared with the spiciest level-​food. Thai iced tea was great too.
Cash only.

Having a hankering for Thai food, I was so excited to come to lunch at this restaurant. However, it fell a bit short of my expectations. It may have been due to our ordering choices so I would be open to the idea of coming back and trying different dishes.
I came with my child so it would take a few minutes to settle him in. When sitting down, I told the waitress I would need about 10 minutes to settle him in and look at the menu. She proceeded to come every 2 minutes to try to take our order. I was thrown off a bit by the persistence as it wasn’t very busy at the time so it wasn’t like she needed our table.
We ordered a Thai iced coffee, lycée thai tea, crab papaya salad, tom yum soup with pork leg and the rad-​nah noodles with beef. The Thai iced coffee was delicious and tasted like a mudslide. The lycée thai tea was very sweet and tasted a bit artificial. Our favorite dish was the rad-​nah noodles. Surprisingly it came with a lot more beef than noodle as it is usually the other way around. We were a bit disappointed with the crab papaya salad and the soup as we thought they lacked flavor.
This place is cash only and it seemed to have two levels.

For all the features on different foodie websites and being a 1-​star Michelin-​rated restaurant, I’m surprised Zabb Elee doesn’t have more reviews. I could have gone to the one in the city, but I decided to travel out to Woodside to have «the real stuff».
The place was fairly empty with the exception of 2 other parties eating in the restaurant with me and my friend. It was Friday night, which, to me was a bit odd for such a «popular» restaurant.
People — be warned, when they say spicy, they actually mean SUPER DUPER SWEAT YOUR ASS OFF SPICY. Which is exactly what I’m looking for. We ordered the papaya salad, medium spicy, which was a perfect amount of spice to begin with, but by the time the aftertaste kicked in, your mouth was on FIRE. Like, get a Thai Tea with milk because you’re going to need it. It’s best for people who like to eat spicy. The preserved crab in the papaya salad was absolutely delicious.
For my entrée, I ordered the nam ya — fish curry — somehow expecting it to be similar to my mother’s (she grew up in Cambodia and makes this exact dish) but too bad, not the same at all. They warned me that it would be spicy, but seriously — nobody would enjoy food that was THAT spicy. Do not get this dish — you will be in pain for the rest of your evening at dinner. The flavor was great and the vermicelli and veggies went well with so-​called «curry» that is more like a fish stew, but you could hardly taste anything because your taste buds were burning off. Just saying. Girlfriend’s crispy pork dish was delicious, aside from the fact that some of the crispy pork was just straight up crisp and no pork — got a little hard to chew.
They were out of morning glory /​water spinach /​cong xin cai… and I totally wanted it.
I got the lychee Thai tea — no milk — and I really wish I had. It’s also ridiculously sweet.
Come here with an open mind — they have a large menu with your boring normal stuff like pad Thai and then another menu with authentic Isan Thai food. Go big or go home!

This place is not your typical choose your X type of meat with your Y type of curry Thai restaurant. The food here looks and sounds authentic and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Their menus are quite organized, with the first sheet containing the noodles and rices while the second sheet has the bolder and more unique options.
Upon choosing the spiciness level, choose down because if you think you can handle it, you probably can’t.
Thai Papaya Salad with Crab ($ 9.00) — Different from the Crab Papaya Salad apparently. This salad comes with raw marinated crabs. The crab meat was gooey and penetrated with a soy sauce-​like flavor. The papaya salad is a staple of Thai cuisine so you must order it with the meal. Its tangy and savory and shredded papaya offers a crunch. (⁸⁄₁₀)
Chicken Tom Zabb ($ 9.00) — The Tom Zabb «spicy soup» is the perfect representation of Thai flavors. You can get the fragrant herbiness of lemongrass. the heat of the chili, with the saltiness of fish sauce. There is so much action on your taste buds that leaves you sipping for more. There is not much to eat though with the exception of some mushrooms and string beans so order something like sticky rice (2.00) that can soak up the soup. I ordered a medium spicy and my lips and tongue were in pain. (⁹⁄₁₀)
You have to be a spicy food lover or a fan of bold, strong flavors in general to enjoy the food here. Once you get pass that requirement, looking at the pictures on the menu is pure joy to the imagination. I need to come here with a group because there is just so much dishes I need to sample.