Thai 51

They have a functional online delivery portal and fast delivery, but that’s as charitable as I can be about this place. I found my pad see ew borderline inedible. The tofu was incredibly dry and the dish just tasted off. The spring roll that came with the lunch special was fine, but not particularly fresh-​tasting.

Convenient lunch spot close to my office. I particularly like the Pad See Ew here. They also have the options of fish (tilapia) and mussels for their curries, fried rice and noodle dishes, in addition to the other more regular options like chicken, beef, tofu, etc., which sets them apart from the other Thai restaurants in the area. Lunch combo is very reasonably priced, and the tom yum gai soup is very good, especially in this weather!
Seating is very, very, tight! Restaurants in East Midtown are tiny!

So I patronize this establishment regularly, the food is consistently above average but the service is garbage. I should have not been surprised by the day’s events because 90% of the time I eat in the restaurant, they always try to give me the wrong food. It has never bothered me before though, because the correct order is usually swapped out pretty quickly.
However, today really pushed me over the edge.
I ordered 2 lunch specials for delivery, both with vegetarian duck (I don’t eat meat.) The orders arrive, one contains chicken. I call to ask for a replacement, she assures me my order is on it’s way.
1 hour later… Still no food. I call again, CLEARLY stating I had received the wrong food. Apparently she was just not listening during the first call, because now she says she will send the replacement order. Incidently, she also asks for the chicken entrée to be returned? Ummm… Eww. Do they need proof that I’m not lying? Or will they serve this to someone else? Or is she just hungry herself and really loves the cashew nut entrée with chicken? I don’t care who you are, none of these explainations is reasonable. What if I have Hep B? What if I hocked a huge angry loogie on the chicken carcass? The options are endless…
I’m definitely left feeling pretty unnerved by my experience. And at this juncture, I have yet to receive my non-​meat entrée. I find the staff here pretty arrogant, considering the plethora of Thai options in the neighborhood. Thanks for nothing jerks.

First, I will say, the food is decent. I ordered the spicy basil noodles with beef. Decent– not bad, not good, lacking in basil seasoning or taste (except for a huge, multi-​leafed stem that was a piece of inedible garnish).
I ordered a Thai Iced tea. Then I also asked for tap water– that’s when things got weird.
Waitress: «Sorry, we don’t have tap water. But we have bottled water»
Me: «You don’t have tap water???»
Waitress: «No sorry»
Me: «You guys don’t have tap water?»
Waitress: «No sorry… the city pipes.»
At the end of the meal when I said I would leave a bad review, the supervisor comes by
Super: «Sir, we can give you tap water but it may not be clean. The pipes.»
Me: «No water… but you have ice.» I point to the Thai iced tea.“
Super: «I can go out to buy ice, Food Emporium has ice»
So here’s my take on it. Either they have a policy where they don’t give out tap water, so that customers would have to buy the bottled water, OR, there really was an issue with the pipes that day. If the latter was true, the restaurant should have shut down– rather than continue to brew tea, make ice cubes, cook and wash food in questionable water. Or, if there was an issue with the pipes, they could have offered free bottled water to customers who asked.
Honorable mention was how they made me change seats because I was only a party of 1, and supposedly a party of 10 had just called in. Again, this is shady, because the party of 10 never came, and meanwhile the seat I originally sat in was given to a couple a few minutes after I was moved. If in fact there was a party of 10– I should have been allowed to sit there until they showed up (when I would have gladly shifted). Moving my seat was not such a big issue for me, but just another example of how the service is questionable. I felt like I wasn’t given priority because I came as a single diner.

3.5 stars for this QUICK thai restaurant w/​just cramped restaurant seating! i suggest you order TO-​GO and sit at the beautiful Greenacre park across the street!
LUNCH SPECIAL: $ 8.95 for an entrée & one appetizer
—Spicy basil noodles: you can add mock duck, chicken, or tofu w/​o an extra cost! reminded me of drunken noodles which i like but MAN WAS THE DISH OILY
—vegetarian spring roll: Deep fried served w/​sweet & sour sauce. nice & crispy
definitely filling! and up to «midtown» lunch par

A cute, but very small, lunch spot. I’m a sucker for a good lunch special. An appetizer and and entrée for $ 8.95 in midtown sounds reasonable to me. You only get one spring roll with the lunch special but my pad thai portion was a good size. My friend got fish cakes and we’re both pretty sure they were fish-​flavored tofu (not sure if we misread the menu). I will say, if you get «seafood» anything, make sure you like squid because it’s pretty much 2 shrimp, 1 muscle, a few scallops and squid squid squid. But, I must say the pad thai was very tasty.

I’ve had mixed experienced at this place over the years, so I can’t go 5 stars, but I just had a delicious lunch special, which was a very generous portion and a great price. Really nice spicy noodles with talapia. Great alternative to the standard options.

I order lunch from here like everyday.
Their red curry is amaze!
Their veggies in garlic sauce is pretty good too.
Delivery is super fast.
Yep– I’m a fan!

Went here with a couple of co-​workers because we were in a rush to get back to work, but heard this place was pretty quick for a sit down place. And indeed they were very quick (we were able to get seated, and finish eating withing 30mins).
They have this pretty neat $ 8.95 lunch deal that gives you a choice of an appetizer & an entrée. The appetizers aren’t too big for example fried spring-​ish rolls, soups, or salad something to that nature. I decided to get one of the chicken soups (was kind of sour but that is the style of the soup). For the entrees the list was a bit more extensive (has the usual pad thai, pad see eew, and thai curry). I decided to go to my go to dish chicken pad see eww, and it was very well made.
For the price/​the service the qaulity of food was very good. I would definitely go back there with co-​workers again.

Menu is pretty basic. Service (around 2 — 3; after lunch) was mediocre. The place is very tight, with booth seating around the perimeter being a right angle seat. Ow.
The food is why you go; it is very tasty and fresh with very reasonable prices. Green curry veggies with tofu had a pleasingly flavorful base with typical aromatic qualities of the dish. It was as good or better than what I can make at home, and that’s why you go.
Veggie dumplings were good, but basic, with a crispy fried onion garnish and a sweet brown dipping sauce. Spring rolls were passable with a pretty basic rice noodle/​carrot filling. I should note that the carrots were matchstick type that you buy from a store; not julienne.
Overall, for what you get in East Midtown, it is a very good value. The food is on the tasty side of what you should reasonably expect from a thai place.

LOCATION: It’s a very small place. About half the seats are pretty close to the front door, so in cold or damp weather it would be uncomfortable.
THE MENU: Having decided to go in based on the menu outside, I was surprised that the prices were higher once you sat down. The menu was also much more limited inside, which was disappointing.
WINE: The note on the door was very prominent about having 2 for 1 drinks but this only applied if each person had two drinks. These kind of places don’t encourage you to hang around, as the food and check comes out kind of fast, they didn’t offer us our second (free) drinks.
FOOD: Good food overall.
THE BILL: The total with tax and tip came to $ 67 for two entrees (one chicken and one duck) and two glasses of wine w/​o any appetizers. When asked about the wine, they would not adjust it and still didn’t offer the second glass. It wasn’t worth arguing over but it was not the best kind of service. It was too pricey to be enthusiastic for a second visit.

Thai 51 has some of the best Thai food in the city for an affordable price. I eat Thai food pretty often and they have the best Massaman Curry and Peanut Sauces.
It is a little more expensive on the moderate scale and the place itself is pretty cute — but definitely cramped and you have to bring your own liquor which could be a plus or minus — depending if you plan ahead and your pocketbook.
It’s definitely worth checking out and if you take advantage of their lunch specials — they’re located directly across from an amazing public park/​space w/​waterfall and seating — so you can always grab it and go sit across the street.
Definitely one of the better Thai places in the city. I just gave 4 stars b/​c of the small space & slightly higher price scale.

Another accidental (and yummy) discovery. Thai 51 is very small, so I’m not sure it’s ideal for a group, but if you’re picking up take-​out, it’s fine. I stopped by this place because it was near my hotel, and my friends and I ordered three dishes (unfortunately, I can’t remember what they were). The wait staff weren’t overly smiley, but it didn’t take long to receive our orders (we didn’t call ahead to order), and we were very happy with our dishes. It was obvious that they had been freshly made, they were flavourful and steaming hot. Plus, the portions were quite large, so perfect for sharing.

Definitely a gem in midtown for us office dwellers.
Reasonable price (NYC midtown standard) and authentic thai food. I’ve only had the pad see ew but just thinking about it right now makes my mouth water.
I’ve had a LOT of thai and this place definitely does it right for the (lunch special) price.

Their green curry is decent, although has very large pcs of eggplant and zucchini — they need a chopper for their next birthday present!
Delivery is super duper quick — like 15mnts quick!

Really happy to use this place regularly.
I ordered the lunch special delivery, so got «Goldern Bag» and «Red Chicken Curry». Fantastic! But was still hungry after the meal.
$ 8.95
Not sure what everyone else ordered, I had my head in the trough.
I do know that everyone ordered from here the next day again!

Food was a 3, but almost everything else was a 1 or 2. Eek.
This place was basically empty when we arrived. We both ordered pad thai — mine was veggie and my friend added chicken. The food arrived pretty quickly and was very visually appealing. No special flavors here, but tasted good. I never really expect an out-​of-​this-​world pad thai, and usually think it tastes about the same as the last place I ordered it, so, I/​we were pleased. (She didn’t specify, but didn’t think it was bad enough to say something, so that’s a good sign.)
Service was crap, but we didn’t really expect more than that. They needed to seat people and we were done eating/​ready for them to take our money, but had to get their attention to take it after waiting awhile.
My real issue mostly involved the space itself. This restaurant is way too small to have as many tables as it has. It quickly filled up and I was extremely uncomfortable for most of the meal. The guy next to me was coughing up a storm, so I probably have dysentery or something now… and the people on the other side were just generally annoying. The guy slurped every single thing (even his water) and was making all sorts of chewing and grunting sounds, and the girl kept posing for bizarre pictures. I should not have this much information about these people.
Good food, but a bad food experience. Order takeout and save yourself a headache!

Thai 51 has a great lunch prix fixe menu for a low price. The restaurant might be small but it looks really welcoming. My coworker and I was lucky enough to be able to grab a table for 2.
I had the Goldbag for appetizer which was presented really cute. You get two «goldbags» filled with vegetable and chicken. Freshly fried it has a nice crunch to it with a lot filling. For entrée, I went for something new. The Tom Kha Noodle Soup with Tofu looked like a bowl of Christmas. The broth was milky white because of the coconut and there were grape tomatoes, peppers, and parsley. It was on the sour side which threw me for a loop since it smelled like coconut.
Service was quick and waitress were attentive. Tight spaces in the restaurant but it’s not a reason to not come.

Wasn’t expecting much, as NYC is filled with mediocre Thai food. We walked in and the place was TEENY. It was dark and the font on the menu was so small, I was straining to not only see it, but then read it. I sighed inwardly — another mediocre Thai experience.
And then the food came out. WOW. Started with the Jeeb Dumplings and they were a good start. I had Shrimp noodle soup and it was fantastic. Also got to sample the Green curry, Red curry and the Pad Thai. All 3 gave me entrée envy. The Pad Thai was among the best I have EVER tasted, and I have tasted a lot of Pad Thai, most of it pretty forgettable. Despite being stuffed to the point of exploding, I kept stealing bits of my partners Pad Thai, much to his dismay.
I’d come back for sure. Its tiny but worth it. And the sign they have on the door to the restroom is hysterical.

I am floored! Best Pad Thai I’ve ever had! ever? ever! For a quick bite to eat at lunch, I can’t believe I got such a treat! The chicken came in big pieces and weren’t too dry, and the noodles/​sauce were perfection. The salad that came with the lunch special was super yummy too! I was a little turned off by the 2 dollar tea, as I barely took 2 sips out of it (as I was too busy chomping down the food), and recognized the tea bag logo from the Chinese supermarkets that charges 20 bags for 2 dollars!!!
The place is rated a B, but I don’t think I care at this point, I will be coming back very shortly. The restaurant is also VERY small, so be prepared to sit VERY closely with strangers and their conversations.