Nora Thai — Restaurant in New York

I’ve eaten at this restaurant twice before and had decent experiences. The food isn’t extraordinary, but a solid 7 out of 10 — flavorful enough to keep me coming back when I’m in the mood for Thai. That makes what happened recently all the more disappointing.

I placed an order through their official website — not a third-party app, but directly with them. I got a confirmation, and the estimated pickup time seemed normal. When I arrived, the place was busy, which I expected, and I checked in at the counter. The staff told me to wait a few minutes while they checked on my order. So far, nothing unusual.

But “a few minutes” turned into fifteen, then thirty, then forty-five minutes. Throughout that time, I had to repeatedly approach the counter to ask for updates because no one was proactively communicating. Each time, I got vague responses like, “We’re checking,” or, “It’ll be ready soon.” Meanwhile, I watched other customers, some of whom arrived long after me, pick up their orders and leave.

It became obvious something was wrong, but no one took the initiative to explain what was happening. I stood awkwardly along with other people waiting for takeout in the restaurant while the staff avoided the situation altogether. Finally, after about an hour, someone admitted they couldn’t find my order in their system at all. No real explanation, no apology that felt sincere, and no effort to make things right.

What frustrates me most isn’t just the technical issue with their system — errors happen. It’s the total lack of customer care once the mistake was discovered. If someone had pulled me aside early on to say, “We’re not seeing your order, but we’ll take care of you,” I could have understood. Mistakes happen, and most customers will forgive them if they’re handled with honesty and effort. But that’s not what happened here.

This was especially disappointing as a returning customer. I had supported this place before and genuinely wanted to continue doing so. But this experience showed me they don’t value their customers enough to own their mistakes or make an effort to recover from them.

For the management, a few things to consider if you care about retaining loyal customers: fix your online ordering system and improve communication.

I had hoped this place would become a reliable go-to for Thai food. The food is decent, and my earlier experiences had been positive enough. But after this, I’ll be taking my business elsewhere. There are plenty of restaurants in the city with good food and, just as importantly, respect for their customers’ time...

My friend came into town on a layover and wanted to grab some dinner so we found this random spot in Williamsburg. We ate outside due to the mandates but it’s unfortunate because the outdoor heater wasn’t that great and they were playing such good music inside (R&B and Soul). So we couldn’t hear anything unless we went in to use the restroom.

We ordered the calamari and the spring rolls as appetizers. The spring rolls had the right amount of crunch/flakiness. The calamari had good flavor and texture as well.

For the main course, i just asked for a regular shrimp pad Thai. The menu had so many options it was hard to choose from which is a good problem to have as a pescatarian but because we were kind of pressed for time before the kitchen closed, I chose whatever came to mind.

My friend had a rice dish. We both enjoyed our meals. I finished everything on my plate but the apps. 😋

My friend also ordered a tea which is presented really nicely with a candle underneath to keep it hot but the wind blew the candle out so that was pointless. They don’t have honey but they offered simple syrup instead.

The service was good. They were on top of the bussing and checking on us. The bathrooms were also nice. The look of the establishment itself was well designed (except for the outside). It wasn’t that fun. Overall it was a great find-I’d go back when the...

Visiting from Texas, we wanted to try something we weren't super familiar with so we chose Thai food. Hotel staff recommended Nora Thai and boy are we glad they did!

We asked a few of the restaurant staff for some recommendations. They asked if we liked spicy or non-spicy, which was very thoughtful of them! We went with the spicy route, but also tried a few not-so-spicy dishes. The ambiance was calm and relaxing, certainly a little romantic with the music and the lighting! And the service was wonderful, between the recommendations of the staff as well as the engaging conversation!

My fiance had a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and I drank a glass of Sapporo.

Our first course was an order of crab rangoons. They were perfectly fried and crispy with a delicious, warm, creamy crab filling!

The entrees we ordered were:

Crispy Pork Belly with a delicious garlic sauce and Chinese broccoli (not spicy at all!)

Khao-Soy Chicken, a yellow curry and noodle dish that was absolutely phenomenal! (spicy, but not too bad!)

Green Curry Beef, with wonderful flavors of basil, galangal, and green Thai chili. (the spiciest of the 3, and my favorite dish of the night! great heat and depth of flavor!)

The bill came out to $110 before tip for a total of four drinks, an appetizer, and three entrees. Not too shabby!

Thank you, Nora Thai and B for such a...