Nine Thai by Thai Boulevard — Restaurant in New York

In Tokyo or San Francisco, this restaurant would be 3 stars ("A-OK"), but NYC is cursed with the worst Thai food in the world. We are the world's capital for bad Thai food. Most of our Thai food is cooked by Chinese chefs, so Thai food here tends not to use Thai ingredients like Nam Pla, Galangal, Lemon Grass, Kaffir Lime Leaves, etc.

In terms of using real Thai ingredients and fresh food, Nine Thai is "As Good As It Gets" in NYC (except my kitchen. I make the best Thai food in NYC.)

The problem most people have with Nine Thai isn't the food. People like Denise P rants "Worst Thai food I have ever had" but then complains about the size of her drinks, the size of her calamari, and the portion size of her fried rice. Typical. You want good, fresh, REAL Thai food not cooked by a Chinese chef? Come here (or my kitchen).

Not to say that Nine Thai is flawless. They are slow. There were two girls -- one was really nice, the other was slightly curt. Neither knew how to wait tables well. The restaurant is slightly dirty. I could use MORE galangal, lemon grass, nam pla, and lime in my Thai food. But you know what? Making Thai food is a pain... I like the food here, and I'll keep coming back.

Chicken / Veggie Curry Puff: A- This is homemade, not frozen. It's obvious that a human made these. Nicely fried, beautiful golden color. Nice filling-to-crust ratio. Delicious. Why not an A? I felt it wasn't curried enough. It could use more curry. Perfect for my 1.5y daughter.

Tom Yum Soup: B+ One of the better tom yum soups in NYC (hence B+). It's close to acceptable, but needs more lemon grass and nam pla. Needs more lemon and salty flavors; less sweet flavors. Slightly too spicy for my 1.5y old daughter.

Tom Kha Soup: B+ One of the better tom kha soups in NYC (hence B+). It's close to acceptable, but needs more kaffir lime leaves, galangal, and nam pla. Needs more lemon and salty flavors; less sweet flavors. My 1.5y daughter loved it.

Pad Thai: B+ Needs less ketchup (yes, there's ketchup in Pad Thai). I'd like more nam pla, shallots.and lime (It's not typical, but I prefer a wetter pad Thai).

Pad See Eew: B+ Nine Thai taught me the difference between chow-fun and pad see eew! Cool! Chow-fun (and most pad see eew cooked by Chinese chefs) is flavored more with garlic and peanut oil. Pad see eew uses the same kind of noodles, and similar ingredients, but concentrates less on garlic, has no peanut oil, and focuses more on sweet flavors. I never knew the difference between these two dishes!

Thai Fried Rice: A- Obviously fresh. There's a LOT of chicken in this dish! Big chunks of it (almost too much?) Nice flavor. Not oily, and not overcooked, meaning it was cooked fresh (overdone fried rice indicates it's been frozen and reheated a few times.) A bit bland -- could use more basil, oyster sauce, nam pla and basil. As is, it was hard distinguishing it from freshly cooked Chinese fried rice.

Massaman Curry: A A light-hearted brown-colored sweet curry. Not spicy in the slightest (flavor-wise, it reminds me of Japanese curry.) My 1.5y old daughter absolutely loved this curry -- she couldn't get enough!

Thai Iced Tea: B+ Pretty standard. Delicious, very sweet. It could stand to use a little less ice and be brewed a little more strongly.

Thai Iced Coffee: A I was worried there wasn't enough cream, but it turned out to be absolutely perfect. Very strong, very sweet. Maybe less ice would be great because it starts to dilute after 5...

My wife and I are foodies. We’ve traveled the world and enjoy eating traditional and authentic cuisines. We will typically go out of our way to have authenticity and quality over convenience. This typically leads us to eating Indian in Jackson heights, Astoria when we want Greek and so on. Here my unbiased opinion on nine Thai:

Food: Nine Thai is delicious. It is one of the few restaurants in NYC that closely resembles our travels through Thailand. We love the soups, pad see ew and curries.

You can read reviews commenting its inauthenticity, but those people may never had the chance to taste authentic Thai food. They could also be people who associate what Chinese food should taste like based on the Panda Express stall queens center mall. It isn’t those reviewers fault though from the many Thai restaurants we’ve eaten at in forest hills nine Thai isn’t afraid to use ingredients like fish sauce and galagang which most of us Americans aren’t accustom to. Also, it has a fragrance that again most Americans aren’t used to.

Service: Listen, know what you’re getting into. The owner makes the food from scratch. She sometimes also has to be the delivery person because these slander reviews can take a toll on a business. We plan for pickup and usually add 20 minutes to the estimated time we are given. And we do so happily knowing that every dish, including the soups, are made to order. Other restaurants will have a huge pot of Tom kha sitting there and you pay for it in quality. Also, the owner is a bit of sassy if you give attitude. Be kind, be patient, be appreciative of good food being cooked from scratch and you will have a 4 star service experience.

Atmosphere: I repeat, know what you’re getting into. The place is well decorated. But yes, most of her business is takeout and she will be the owner, waitress and sometimes chef. Sometimes my wife and I will eat in because nothings better than delicious hot soup served right away. I decided to give a 4 star for atmosphere and not 3 because I am knowingly walking in expecting her to be busy.

Overall: If you want to try authentic southern Thai food and don’t mind waiting for food to be cooked from scratch then nine Thai is a great option. It happens to be right around the corner for us which makes us thrilled to have them as a...

Shooting from the hip because I literally arrived here without looking at all of the reviews. For starters, this restuarant closes at 1 a.m., you have got to admire the dedication of being able to provide higher than average food when popeyes and white castle isn't matching your palette late at night. The main contact for the store was cordial,  cash only. However,  they now have Zelle as an option, so that's the middle ground compromise for people  ordering takeout.

I was there to pick it up so the delivery time is out of the equation,  only the time from the order being placed, and how long  to took for the food to be prepared.  Maybe I was cutting it close at 11:42 p.m. after looking at all of these reviews  of the 2 hour wait times, but I've managed to  receive the food around 12:16 for three meals. Alright not bad, off to a decent start.

So I ordered the pad see eew.   Portion size is generous, unless you people want to be specific about the meat. If so, fair enough, $16 for 6 pieces of shrimp does invoke a wanting  for more, maybe I'll have some better luck with chicken? The noodles itself  was a little dry, but the  sauce did manage to bring it back in terms of taste. It was too sweet,  but manageable (unless you are a diabetic).

Overall,  you would be surprised,  Nine Thai just made 4 stars. Bad customer service is Impossible if the interaction time is lowered to a degree (perhaps that's the best method for them), they made up for their shortcomings on cash only with zelle, and even if it was once in a blue moon moment, my food was ready in 30 minutes.  Remember as you read this,  it's probably the best you can manage at 12:30 at night if you want something decent.  They lose one star due to the fact that the option to pay for extra meat, (in my opinion), was probably the portion size the meat was supposed to be in the...