Located near Union Square and Flatiron is this recently opened Thai restaurant that specializes in modern take on Northeastern Thai cuisines. I was able to book a reservation for 2 quite easily just a few days prior for 5:15 PM. Since the restaurant space is quite large, this wasn’t that much of a problem. When we walked in, the vibe had a very familiar dark Asian restaurant vibe that a lot of new Korean, Chinese, and Thai restaurants are trying to do.

Many Thai restaurants are located around the Midtown area. This one is a modern Thai restaurant inspired by the flavors of Bangkok street food. Unlike other Thai restaurants, the menu here has some interesting options that lured us in. The name comes from the airport code for Bangkok in Thailand. Since we were around the area, I made a reservation for 2 just a few hours before very easily.

Mitr Thai is a Midtown Thai restaurant that is located very close to Bryant Park. It can be a great option for Thai if you prefer to stay east of the Theater District. When we walked in around 5:30 PM on a Thursday night, we actually had to wait about 30-40 minutes. The restaurant was very full both downstairs and upstairs. We were seated upstairs in a 2-seater.

SaiTong Thai was a relatively new Thai restaurant that opened near the Theater District. One of its allures is that it appears to be an upscale Thai restaurant. The menu when I glanced at it seemed pretty decent although the prices were on the higher side. Since we had a theater date, we decided to check this restaurant out. We easily made a reservation for a Saturday at 5:30 PM.

SEA is a casual South East Asian restaurant from Chef Jungsik Yim of two Michelin Star restaurant, Jungsik. The restaurant offers a raw bar, small plates, and shareable plates with creativity. We were able to make a reservation pretty last minute for 5:15 PM on a Friday evening fairly easy. We arrived a little early, and they were able to seat us without issue. We had some high expectations that this restaurant will have great flavors.

This new Southeast Asian restaurant is located on the third floor of the Columbus Circle mall. The restaurant is part of the “Quality Branded” restaurant group, which also included Quality Italian, Don Angie, and Zou Zou’s to name a few. What was exciting about the menu here was that it was leaning into higher end Vietnamese and Thai flavors. We were able to make a reservation a few days in advance for two people at 5:15 PM on a Friday evening.

We won yet another lottery for one of the theater shows, so we were hoping to walk into Wondee Thai. As expected, there was a line outside and a wait inside, so we didn’t want to gamble missing the show if we had waited. We instead opted to walk a block south to this restaurant which had no patrons. We were able to walk in for 2 at 5:30 PM on a Saturday night without reservations. There seemed to be 2 sections to this restaurant, a left and a right. We were seated on the left on a small table with stools.

We haven’t really explored much from the middle of Central Park and up. My partner’s friends live in East Harlem, which according to Google maps, begins East 96th and goes north. They chose this neighborhood Thai restaurant, Chu Ros Thai, that they adore and highly recommend. We basically took the local 6 train northbound from the N/W junction, which took about 20 minutes to go up. For a party of 4, we were able to walk in without reservations at around 4 PM on a Saturday evening.

We’ve been just demolishing a ton of restaurants around the Theater District since we’ve been going to a lot of Broadway shows. This restaurant was on our eyes to go to, but they always take a small break between 4 to 5 PM, so it can put a little time crunch if you have a show around 6:30 to 7 PM. However despite the restaurant being small with probably 5 or 6 tables, we were able to walk in on a Sunday evening around 5:30 PM without reservations. The food here is less about your normal Thai food, and more about chicken set meals.

We’ve recently been on a Thai binge trying different regional Thai foods ranging from southern to northern. I’m finding that northern Thai food tends to be a bit too spicy and too sweet for me, although the tastes are sure to accentuate those who need such bold flavors. This restaurant has recently been acknowledged by Michelin guide and is located near NYU around Union Square. We were able to walk in without reservations at around 5 PM on a Friday night, though they said our meal was limited to 90 minutes.