Jaiya Thai Restaurant

For those who are wondering why this place is often called ""the best thai in NYC,"" well, it used to be. It's gone downhill in the last year and a half. Somehow they simultaneously redecorated the interior and took all the flavor out of the food. I've stopped eating at Jaiya, but this place used to be amazing. more

I flew in from Bermuda and my friend and I wanted some thai food. So I typed in best thai in NYC in google and I liked this restaurant's website. But what you see and what you get are two different things. I called their restaurant twice and emailed them twice and no one replied. The food was below average. How this restaurant was rated to be one of best thai restaurant's in NYC is a bigger mystery than the Bermuda Triangle. And to top it off. After leaving $3 change the waitress came back pointing out that the tip was below the 17% 18% and 20% Normally I would tip 20 -25% but this service did not even deserve the $3 Cons: awful service and below average food more

Surprisingly good, and they don't pull their punches when it comes to the heat. more

The food is DELICIOUS!!! I tried Jaiya after reading good reviews and was not disappointed. I had their lunch special the first time, and dinner the next. Each dish I ordered had its own taste level and did not borrow curries from other dishes. I enjoyed the food, which was excellent. Beware of the spice level though. I am Indian and love spicy food, and can take all kinds of spicy, but DO NOT ask for VERY spicy. Your tongue will burn like hell. Medium spicy is very spicy, so stick with mild if you don't like spicy food. But the food is oh so delicious and worth it. The best in the city, and I live in Hell's Kitchen so have tried the umpteen Thai places here. Pros: Yummy yummy food Cons: Tiny place more

I'm a professional reviewer so usually the restaurant experience is a combination of how tasty the food is, the level of service and ambience and of course value for money. \r \r Food\r \r The food is below average, there's really no taste to it at all. Its just very spicey, and I can handle spice so it wasnt a problem, but if you get over the spicey hot taste, there's no flavor. \r \r Service is Terrible \r I saw a family wait for 40 minutes, their name was next on the wait list, I was standing at the bar and could follow the conversation, and then when it was their turn, the host gave their table away to another group, who was her friend who spoke her language (from the same region). When the family mildly protested she said they had come there first, which was rightly contradicted and they they made up a new reason and said no these guests had reservations, which was totally untrue as I was on the reservation list and saw there was no other person there. Which was quite inscrupulous and not professional. The family who waited 40 minutes left.\r \r The waiters are over eager to take your order and rush you out the door with the bill paid, so you have to eat fast or worry about the waiters howevering around you asking if you are done, this was done in more than a few tables I noticed. I had made a order and half way through they said they didnt have it and so had to reorder, they recommended a dish more expensive that would come quicker. \r \r The Ambience\r \r Extremely loud and noisy, packed into a small sitting area, elbow to elbow with other guests and you just cant have a decent conversation with your dinner company. \r \r Value for Money\r Not at all, below average food, terrible service, noisy loud ambience, overall not recommended. \r \r Thank you.\r \r Pros: Very little, food came reasonably quick. Cons: Terrible Service, below average food, extremely noisy environment. more

The service was polite, but awkward. At times, the waitstaff seemed overeager -- to take our drink order only moments after our arrival, and to take our money just moments after handing us the check (We were still sorting out our cash on the table when a waiter came and tried to take the black book away). That in itself wouldn't have been a big annoyance, but there were several instances during the meal when they had to come back and tell us they didn't have the item we had ordered. We asked for a $26 bottle of wine -- ""Sorry, we only have this $30 bottle of wine."" We asked for jasmine rice -- ""Sorry, we only have sticky rice."" At that point, both my friend and I were getting a little frustrated. On the food, which was very good, a word of warning: If you're used to ordering your curry with medium spice, you might want to consider the mild. My medium was more like a 5 out of 5 as far as I was concerned. Any spicier and it simply wouldn't have been edible for me. Maybe I'm just not used to authentic Thai cooking, but I like spice and I didn't want to order ""mild."" Oh well, if I go back, I'll know better. Pros: good food, no reservation needed for party of 2 Cons: awkward, poorly timed service more

well, i went here after hearing soooooooooooo much about this place. the food was average and the decor was too dark. I could barely see my food! if you like realy spicy food go here... it dosent do much on the taste-o-meter. the spring roll was gross. too oily, old smelling and tasteless. the chicken was just avergage. it isnt cheap either. the papaya salad was like 11 bucks! I wont be going back here again. Pros: very spicy Cons: they try to hurry u up. food not good, decor is miserable more

I am a Thai food lover. I ordered Pad Thai, while my frd ordered some shrimp / prawn glass noodles in apot. My pad thai looks really small with bean sprouts taking up half of the plate - though, I was so full at the end that I needed to doggie-bag it. But the pad thai is one of the best I have tried - it is not orangy in colour and does not taste like ketchup / tomato sauce. It is truly tamarind based sauce. Perfect balance of sweetness and saltiness. (I ordered mild but you can choose spicy.) The glass noodles we got it spicy but it is not super hot. Tasted just right. The prawns are a bit tasteless.\r \r BUT the service is really weird. We arrived before 6, the restaurant was empty. Some of the servers were cleaning the big crystal lamp - which I found so weird during dinner time. I may not have came in if I hadn't sat down already. Usually waitresses come ask for orders either after a long time or see that you have your menu book closed. But she came quickly to ask for our orders, which, again, is really weird given that they weren't even busy at that time. Then, she was very proactive in showing us the wine list and asking if we want to order appertizer... Well I guess some restaurants do that. But maybe it is the way she asked, I felt like they were trying to squeeze money from their customers, instead of trying to be nice. \r \r People started coming in after 630. When we left, we saw that ThaiNY right next door is so crowded but Jaiya only had a few tables. Which is really sad cuz the food is really good here. What a pity. Jaiya really need to improve their service... Not that it was bad. Our waitress was pretty nice. It is just really weird. I didnt feel comfortable as a customer. I have to try ThaiNY and see if it really deserves the crowd. Pros: authentic food, good portion Cons: weird service more

please do not support this restaurant by dining here! the food is not good at all (for great thai food, visit ""THAI NY"", right next door! it has superb dishes that are dependably good and the service is great). at jaiya thai, however, the service is absolutely terrible (and i'm usually not one to care about service). after telling the waitress, and then the manager that the appetizer (sausage) was inedible, the entire evening went downhill. 1. they were rude and ignored us--we couldn't even order another appetizer. 2. some of our entrees were disgusting 3. we waited over an hour for our food (which was done intentionally, clearly) 4. the manager doesn't even care! i wanted to strangle her neck while saying, ""i wish i could get you fired, you IDIOT!""\r \r please don't eat here. go to THAI NY. that's what i get for cheating. Pros: a mean ""spice"" to the food Cons: idiotic manager, rude waitress, not fresh veggies more

We ordered food which never came. To be fair the food is good but the service, or lack thereof is ridiculously horrible. Pros: Good Food Cons: HORRENDOUS SERVICE more

I went to this restaurant because of it's high reviews. The reviews were correct. Although not the best Thai food I have had, The dishes were all very tasty. We had three appetizers: Egg roll, Fish cakes, and Chicken Sarte. The chicken and fish cakes were excellent, but the egg roll was missing something. My GF ordered the seafood pad thai and had asked for it not to be spicy. Sure enough, it came out mild. The waitress even insisted that I try medium spice instead of very spicy for my seafood dish. My meal was excellent, but I would have preferred more spice. I don't blame the server, because Im sure she has had to deal with people who don't know that Thai food IS spicy. I saw an earlier post complaining about how spicy it was. That's rediculous. How do you go to a Thai restaurant and expect things not to have spice?? In the end, I would definitely recommend this restaurant and would love to come back and try the seafood soup. The couple next to us ordered it(Locals in the area) and it looked VERY good. Pros: Great prices for great food, excellent drink specials Cons: A little small more

This is a very good restaurant. I like to eat there, but most of all I like ordering in. Their fried rice and soups are the best.\r The only thing I don't like is the spring rolls, too fat and not too tasty.\r Every thing else is fantastic! Pros: Great food Cons: Spring rolls more

I went to this Thai place because of its good name. I was so dissapointed with the food and service. My Pad Thai dish was so spicy with no reasons. The food probably used too much of MSG. I had to drink a lot of water all the times while having a dinner. I will not come back here again. Pros: good name Cons: Many indian customers look like indian restaurant than Thai. more

Jaiya used to be a great Thai restaurant in town. I went to had dinner last night with my friends. The food was so oily and spicy for no reasons. The fish we ordered was so dry. The service was not that friendly. My friends and I had experienced a dissappointed dinner. I hope they will take my comment and be back on track again. more

I went to Jaiya multiple times because I live in the neighborhood and there was only one Thai restaurant in the area (now another Thai restaurant - THAINY - opened right next to Jaiya). Even though some dishes are quite flavorful, food is always consistently oily. I like their garlic chicken, so I kept on going back there. However, my husband felt disgusted with the oil in the food and he refused to go back there anymore. more

My hubby & i both love thai food, maybe becoz its close to indian, we always go to jaiya for thai food, as they really have grreata food. The service is not bad and the ambience is okay too, but the offd............Its the best thai food in town. gotta give them that. Pros: great fish Cons: - more

we stopped by to eat here after a movie. it seemed to be a neighbourhood type of place so i wasnt expecting much. we ordered pad thai ($10) and their fish special ($25). the pad thai was average i thought that it lacked flavour and was a little dry. the fish turned out to be deep fried red snapper in a peanutty coconut red curry. i thought that it was too heavy for the hot summer day. it was also pretty spicy, even though we had asked for mild spice. apparently you can specify different degrees of spiciness for each dish on the menu. overall, i thought the food was really average, so im not too eager to come back. i did read some reviews posted on their door about their noteworthy seafood soup, so ill probably try that if i do return. Pros: no wait Cons: fried fish, food is only ok more

As good as the original in Queens...very spicy...great quality...staff gracious, friendly...most customers are Thai. more

I have loved Jaiya for over 5 years and have eaten there countless times. But sadly, they have suddenly gone dramatically downhill recently. The last three times I've eaten there (I often get the same dish) I've noticed the portions have been cut in HALF -- same price though. Also the dish I often get that has Thai basil in it -- the basil they are using is black, charred-looking and totally tasteless. It is supposed to be green and flavorful! I live very near Jaiya, LOVE Thai, and have given them a ton of business over the years, but now I'm done with this place. Three strikes and they are out. I hope they get it together again some day. Pros: Used to be GREAT -- maybe will again someday Cons: Poor quality basil, tiny portions, service is hit or miss more

Once we got seated after half-hour, the service from was appalling. When one of us asked for eggs to be added to an order of vegetable pad-thai, the waiter responded with a lecture on how, and I quote, ""...eggs come from chicken, so (how they are) not vegeterian..."" My wife didn't even get what she ordered - when she told the waiter about it, the response was that he forgot?! The ginger ale -- based on what he gave me, it was more like I ordered ginger ale on the rocks! At the end of it all, I had a waiter yelling at me for the minimum tip that I gave him. Almost spitting in my face, he told me that he will remember my face and not invite me in again. Good thing he is going to remember my face - because I am never going to this restaurant! Pros: It's inexpensive, The mints were good Cons: Poor Service, sub-par food more