Papa Thai Chef — Restaurant in Bloomfield

This place is tiny, intimate, and feels like a mother's cooking (or perhaps a father's cooking, based on the name of the place, haha). You can just tell from the flavors that everything is fresh and the food is made with love. Yes, it definitely lacks the level of spiciness one would find in Thailand, but this IS the United States, after all. They happily make it spicier upon request. I would go more often if I lived 5 minutes closer than I do. On doordash (I delivered for them for quite awhile), people that live far away order from this place pretty often, which to me is a testament to the quality of the food. If you are a large party, definitely order take out, it's THAT small...

We ordered takeout from Papa Thai Chef. For starters, we ordered spring rolls, dumplings, and curry puffs. Spring rolls were exactly as I’d expect a spring roll; nicely fried and crunchy. Curry puffs were the best I’ve ever had. The curry flavor was pronounced, which is often lacking. I’d have liked more of the dipping sauces provided with each appetizer.

For mains we ordered pad Thai and massaman curry with crispy chicken. Pad Thai was a perfectly stock pad Thai and exactly what I was craving. The curry was lacking in flavor; I kept searching for a little punch of spice. The crispy chicken was packaged separately and...

I hated everything I got. Green curry I specifically requested to make spicy but it was not spicy. Both the green curry and the tom yum soup tasted like a lot of sugar was added. Lacked critical thai herbs such as galangal, ginger, keffir lime leaves, and fish sauce. It honestly made me want to cry. I miss good thai food and this place leaves a lot to be desired. I wish I could have enjoyed the food but it was made for someone who doesn't know or had thai food before, classic food trick. Skimp on herbs and quality ingredients in place of sugar. If anyone has any actually good thai places in northern Jersey please...