Noa by September in Bangkok — Restaurant in New Haven

I had to come back and edit this review. The owner reach out to us immediately and was so shocked by the treatment we received from his hostess and manager. He sincerely took ownership of what happened and assured us that he didn’t tolerate that type of behavior from any of his employees. The staff there was quite diverse except for the 2 girls who were supposed to be the face of the restaurant. Remember first impressions are lasting. He offered to feed our entire party again for free. Only 4 of us were able to return the following day and the service and the food was perfect. I will patronize them every time I return to New Haven. I encourage everyone to do the same.

The low rating is due to the blatant racism shown by the hostess and manager of the establishment. I placed a reservation 2 weeks prior to our visit via Google and received confirmation for the 13 person group. Part of our group arrived 15 minutes earlier and were separately seated per far apart. Upon our arrival (well within our 15 minute grace period) the hostess was on the phone and never acknowledged us or made eye contact. After 10 minutes I requested the manager. She came to the front of the restaurant and greeted us. I spoke of our reservation and she told me they didn’t accept online reservations. She also said they didn’t accept large parties and was only offering reservations for groups of 4 people max. Mind you the first 8 people in our group were already seated together and there was a 16 person group of East Indians seated and enjoying their meal…. together. They were plenty of empty seats as there were only two other people dining there. This encounter was filled with passive aggressive behavior from the manager stating she would try to seat us close to one another but we had a 1.5 hour time limit. It was explained that their kitchen was small and they could only produce 5 places at a time. I understood that but not the time limit. It seemed like they didn’t want a group of African American professionals who spent ~$400 and tipped them well. They would’ve rather sat there empty, which would’ve been the case had we not patronized their establishment last night. If that restaurant had not been requested by the graduate of the day, I would have walked out of it. At the end of the day the food was delicious (I am craving one of their dishes now) but because of the behaviors I will never darken their doorstep again. The day was supposed to be about my daughter but it was marred by RACISM. Shame on the employees who basically lied, denied and attempted to patronize us by acting like they were doing us a favor by seating us with the rest of our family although we had a reservation. Money will be lost if these...

love seeing people enjoying southeast asian food because I grew up with it. It’s what my family cooks and it is my comfort food. I enjoyed everything I ate last night at trivia night.

Tom kha gai creamy coconut chicken soup was super rich and flavorful. It had pieces of chicken breast, slices of shiitake mushrooms and grape tomatoes in it. It was great for an extremely cold evening.

Drunken noodles with duck was a group favorite. Flat, wide rice noodles were cooked till soft and chewy. Flavors of Thai basil and a little kick of heat paired well together. The duck could’ve been cooked to a nice medium. It was a bit over done for me but wasn’t dry. The dipping sauce for the duck was very fish sauce forward. I wish the duck was marinated with flavor so you can eat it with the noodles. I felt like I was eating two different dishes but it was really one dish. Highly recommend the noodle dishes here. The pad see ew is another favorite with the same type of flat, wide rice noodles.

Curry chicken was served with white rice. It had a little bit of vegetables on there but if it was cooked with red or green peppers it would’ve given a better presentation to the dish. Still very flavorful.

Laab tofu was served with lettuce, radishes and cucumbers. We usually eat it with rice at home too but you want the fresh produce to balance the savory, sour and umami flavors. I’ve never had it with tofu but my friend is a vegetarian so it was interesting and flavorful. The toasted sticky rice in the laab truly shines through. I would eat it again.

Fried shrimp with tamarind sauce was so delightful. Shrimps were huge, fried to perfection in a light tempura batter and drizzled with tamarind sweet and sour sauce. It’s also served with lettuce, radishes and white rice. I’d order this again.

Thai hot wings had a tasty sticky siracha sauce on it. It was sweet with a tiny kick to it. Chicken wings were delicious.

The rock sausage is served in a cute little basket over a bed of lettuce and sliced radishes. I would eat this with rice at home. The sausage was juicy and sweet. Very tasty.

Pineapple tofu fried rice had a beautiful presentation served in half of a pineapple. It was tasty and very pretty to look at!

Thai iced tea was sweet, creamy and refreshing. Sangria and lychee mojito was very good. The bar area is beautiful. The restaurant was packed. Atmosphere is beautiful.

I wish all the food came out at the same time so our group of 6 could’ve eaten together. Dishes came out one by one and food got cold. Also, the music could be turned down a tad so we could hear one another at the table.

All in all, I recommend this wonderful restaurant and I’d love to return to try...

Noa (NOT) by September in Bangkok -- Noisy, Overpriced, Underportioned, Generic Taste, Poor Service.

Love the original September In Bangkok. Same owner but food was dramataically different. More like watered down "American Thai" food with neon light and loud music. The place is basically a rectangular box so it was noisy. With loud music they played it was impossible to carry on a dinner conversation without screaming.

Appertizers were rather pricy and came in very small portion if you take out the garnish. Duck Roll was two very small deep fried eggrolls cut diagonally in half. Could hardly taste or see any duck meat inside but shredded vegatable. For a total of 4 little single bites of very common ingredients it was $12. Esaan Larb Duck was a pretty plate, but literally had less than two table spoons of minced so called duck meat with garnish for $16. The meat had almost no sear and tasted like unidentified ground meat boiled in water or cook at a low temperture wok then seasoned with soy and fish sauce. The $13 Fried Calamari also had a lot of garnish. The calamari strips were very thin and quite greasy. It was mixed with fried onion strips of sort. Very few calamari for $13.

Pad Thai With Shrimp was $25. Shrimps were large and well cooked. Noodle was mushy very saucy and way too sweet. Portion was small and served in an even smaller plate so it definitely did not look like a $25 entree. The Tom Yum Fried Rice was $28. It was basically plain fried rice topped with sauteed seafood. Look was impressive but taste was not. The fried rice was swimming, or drowning, in thick, overly sweet, and very salty sauce. Hard to swallow--both stomach and wallet. Two other main entrees were subpar and nothing special. These were almost fine dining prices but the service was far from it. Our server just could not or unwilling to explain the menu. She was rude and unattentive. However, the bartender--he actully was our server at September in Bangkok in our previous visits-- is simply the best.

Management has a long way to go in this place. Suggestion: just turn down the music a little bit, copy the September in Bangkok menu and cook the food exactly same way, and make the bartender in charge of service -- 5 stars...