Thái Son

I’ve gone here a handful of times and as much as I try to like the restaurant, I come out disappointed. I usually order the phở tai and each time the bowl comes out luke warm. On top of that, the noodles have already expanded and soggy. The location in Jackson Heights is a lot better.

Came here on a random Friday afternoon with my boyfriend. It was not busy and there were about 7 servers on the floor.
That being said…
We ordered phở ga and #49 (sliced beef on vermicelli) and the pork and vegetable spring rolls. The food was very good, except the spring rolls, which were just all right. However, the service leaves much to be desired. We had to ask for the check several times and we ordered green tea ice cream for dessert (delicious, btw) but it took 20 minutes to get it.
All in all, nice and very reasonably priced meal but avoid if you’re in a time crunch.

What a buzzing packed quality Vietnamese restraurant! Didn’t even expect it to be completely packed but they found a table for me and a friend and we split a phở which was delicious (chicken in beef broth) and it was more than we could finish!

I’m from Elmhurst, Queens, so I’d love to swear allegiance to the Thai Son in Elmhurst. But that’s impossible. Because Chinatown’s Thai Son blows it out of the water.
Probably the best phở noodles I’ve had in NYC. The broth is pretty good too. The portions are reasonable and not too gratuitous.
Solid and consistent. Can’t ask for more.

This is an amazing Chinatown experience simply for the quality of the food, the efficiency of service and the reasonable price. The menu is both Vietnamese Thai and Asian however I can speak only for the Cha Gio and Bun Bo Hue side of the menu. Both of the aforementioned were incredibly well prepared and cooked the Bun Bo was chocked full of ingredients, there was no sparsity whatsoever.

Friday night and not too many people in this establishment, which was enough for us (party of 7). Inside is your standard restaurant for the area; not much on ambiance but a large amount of seating.
HUGE menu with lots of different options. Based on the Unilocal pictures, decided on the Spring Roll bowl ($ 8) and a beer ($ 4). Large bowl of noodles topped with chopped peanuts and perfectly fried spring rolls. Really liked the rolls which were made just right. The noodles are very bland, had to add hot sauce and some meat from friends’ dishes to get some flavor.
Service here is fine; a little on the slow end yet friendly. I feel like this is more of a takeout spot when you want something cheap and filling.

My family and I stopped here on our first trip to Chinatown. The restaurant got decent reviews so we stopped in. I had Beef with rice noodles, pickled cucumbers and carrots, lettuce and mint leafs; wife had shrimp with rice noodles, pickled cucumbers and carrots, lettuce and mint leafs; son had chicken curry; son had shrimp on sugar cane with rice noodles, pickled cucumbers and carrots, lettuce and mint leafs. Waiter was great and helped my son out when he wasn’t sure of the process on how to eat his food. Food was wonderful. Chinatown is a blast. Hint: haggle the price on everything (outside of restaurants).

Thai Son is my number 1 choice for phở, grilled pork, grilled chicken. I have been coming here for the past 15 years and it has never failed me once. Whenever I try to deviate and eat at one of the other vietnamese restaurants in Chinatown, I am always disappointed so I’ve made the executive decision to always turn to Thai Son whenever I have a vietnamese food craving!
Banh mis are another story though, definitely go to banh mi saigon for the best vietnamese sandwiches.

The food is good. I ordered beef stew. The soup was so good but a little bit oily. The beef tendon was big and so good. The reason I left 4 stars is for the slow service.

Awesome authentic Vietnamese cuisine. My favorite are the spring rolls & Beef cubes (Bo Luc Loc). Don’t forget the lemon aid soda!

I’ve been here a couple of times and this place never disappoints me. It’s great that it’s only a few blocks from the train station. It’s very convenient and every time I come here, it’s always packed! The portions are pretty big and worth it’s cost. The food is great as well.
There were only two types of spring rolls to choose from for my noodles. Either pick or veggie. I actually like the combination of both so that sucks. The pork spring rolls were good though.

I’ve been to Thái Son several times over the past few years. It is definitely one of the more popular Vietnamese restaurants in Chinatown. Most recently, I came here on a Thursday night with my three girlfriends. There was no wait and we were seated immediately.
I always order phở because, well, how can I not when I’m at a Vietnamese restaurant? The broth here isn’t the best I’ve had, but still pretty good. It is on the lighter side and sure tastes clean, if you know what I mean. The fried Vietnamese spring rolls were A-​okay. The tea was aromatic and satisfying.
Service was quick and efficient. The waiters never made us feel rushed even as we continued to sit there chatting after we were done eating, which I always appreciate. I mean we were there for an hour and a half and as you know. that is kind of a big deal in Chinatown where you are always rushed to get the hell out. Maybe because it wasn’t that busy though.
P. S. I did not leave here smelling like Vietnamese food. Sweeet.

Great for dine in & take out but the wait time is really long. Even after 20 minutes of waiting, your food still won’t be ready. Sometimes they forget what you order which is really upsetting. They don’t see to be the cleanest or sanitized restaurant. They would come out with freshly cleans tea cups in a box and place that box on the floor. Then the staffs would walk over it. That’s disgusting. Whatever was under your shoe could’ve fallen into that batch of freshly cleaned cups. They would just bend down and grab those cups and pour the tea in it for the customer. That’s just dirty. It doesn’t matter how busy it is, that’s a big no no.
Food wise, it’s okay. They got some flavor to certain dishes like the grilled chicken with vermicelli. That’s pretty good.

Came here while in Chinatown and not sure what to eat– and you can’t go wrong with phở! So my party of two decided to stop by here since it was close to the train station.
This place was pretty busy when I came on a Saturday afternoon and it was super cute with string lights and Asian plants scattered all over the place. They have lots of seating but most of the tables were already occupied. The server was not very attentive to us but service was definitely quick! We ordered a spring roll and two #1s.
The phở came before the appetizers and I have to say. the bowl was huge!!! Filled with lots of broth, noodle and meat. For $ 9, this definitely beats the Phở Bang I usually go to in portions. Unfortunately, the meat definitely tastes different and so does the broth, in a bad way. Since the bowl was so big I had to put so much sambal/​srircha in order for it to become a little spicy. My bowl was literally all red when I finished spicing it up! The spring rolls are small in size though the lettuce is definitely fresh. The fish sauce they offer is lacking– it’s not flavorful enough, perhaps not sweet enough? My favorite part about the spring rolls is the fish sauce but nope. this didn’t cut it for me.
One thing that really bothered me was that they short changed us. They weren’t really mean about it and quickly fixed their mistake but. that’s really careless of them. Would probably come back given such a convenient location

Stars in NYC have less relevance on Unilocal,case in point: the food and service here does NOT deserve 3.5, the food here is excellent, really well prepared, presented and fresh!
Green Papaya with shrimp salad– super fresh papaya, light chili lime dressing, and delicious shrimp.
Summer rolls: same as above, super fresh and tasty shrimp, shredded veggies and ftesh herbs wrapped in a delicate paper thin wrap
Ginger beef rolls– to die for. Like Japanese beef negimaki, but better, seasoned to perfection, take one wrap it in fresh basil, mint, sprouts, then blanket in the dark green lettuce leaf (romaine but larger?), dip it in the sauce (sweet rice vinegar and something…) and prepare to go, mmm mmm mmmmmm.
The milk tea, although simple, was the best I had anywhere, was a party in mah mouf. They also have extensive vegetarian options, and a fresh raw juice bar at half the price of shops where the guy making it has a beard and an attitude…
It’s directly across from the police, courts, FBI, and it’s packed with cops, and cops know how to eat, maybe they’re not Unilocaling, too busy taking a break from crime fighting, but they are an excellent indicator of good food and value; I think the low star reviews are from baby faced bearded types who wear their pants too tight and high maybe work at the juice bar mentioned above, the scourge of Unilocal NYC (sorry critical beardos, you don’t know it all).

Meh — I always want to try new Vietnamese spots, but this place is not it. Service is fine and fast, but the food is less than OK (bland, gummy. The pork is chewy and old.) and the portions are on the smaller side vs. others spots. I got severe WGT (White Girl Treatment) when my food came and the waiter was explaining to me what to do with my nuoc cham. Yeah, I’m good dude. Not my first rodeo.
+1 star for their enormous and tasty shrimp summer rolls and very tasty tea. They take credit cards.
Back to Nha Trang One I go!

Taste like the real deal, very flavorful. Order the #1 Phở noodle soup which is the combination of beef pieces, it’s the best bang for the buck. It is a extremely large order so be hungry when ordering. This is probably one of the better Vietnamese phở places In Chinatown.

Go for the Phở. Any kind will do. I prefer the pork chop. Get the Summer Rolls. Couldn’t agree more about the reviews of the peanut sauce. I could drink the stuff. You will not leave hungry.

A very decent Viet place for phở and rice dishes.
The only reason it lost 2 stars was because of service. Take out orders were always wrong for me as I always end up with either someone else’s order or they took down my order wrong. Table service can be a hit or miss. Some days it’s really packed to the point where they rush you to eat and pay while other days they are very slow at service and takes forever to flag down a server
Other than that I really do enjoy their food since it’s flavorful and quick.

Cheap and tasty! Phở was light and delicious, the grilled beef and pork are juicy. Our fave restaurant in Chinatown!

This place has seriously gone down the drain. The quality of the phở went from flavorful to a nasty «broth» that just looks like dirty salt water. This is not the first time I’ve received something like this either and I’m not sure whether it’s a change in chefs or if they’re just getting lazy. Please fix your phở! They are so cheap with the extra big bowl too. Only ¼ of the bowl had noodles, so disappointing.

Good phở place.
I got the summer rolls with shrimp, and that peanut sauce was probably the best peanut sauce I’ve had in NY. It was the right mix of sweet and creamy but not overpowering and not gelatinous.
The phở was good. The bowl was a bit small, but probably about right since it was $ 7. I would have paid a couple dollars more for a bigger bowl. Meat good, broth good, noodles good.
Service was good and fairly attentive. Hot tea on a cold day good, and I always like my ice water.

This particular writer is still of the mindset that the NYC Vietnamese food game is massively inferior to its sister city, the City of Brotherly Love (weird huh, sister city and all…), Philadelphia. So why the 4 star score? At this point, I couldn’t tell you… perhaps apathy… perhaps it’s judgment being rendered, as to Thai Son, relative to the other Vietnamese spots in NYC that have been disappointments. At any rate, the place is solid: as indicated by the hard-​to-​get-​seating during lunch hours in and around the Civic Center. If you role in solo to any other spot in the vicinity, you’re bound to be seated in moments; here however, even if you lone wolf it, expect to wait a bit… I guess the word on the joint is out.
I first started riding the Thai Son hype train after a couple of very harsh banh mi critic friends of mine raved about the ones churned out at this place. While I may not hold the banh mi in as high a regard as these aforementioned friends, add some extra pâté on the stuff (which is an available option) and you get some of the tastier Vietnamese bites as you can get in NYC. Salty, creamy, crunchy, spicy… nothing that you can really complain about.
The phở at the place is solid, but certainly not the best this writer has ever had. Broth is a tad over salty, but despite this fact it isn’t particularly tasty (weird yeah??). However, option #1 is one of (if not) the biggest bowl of phở I’ve encountered in NYC. And it’s pretty much a bargain with a price tag less than $ 8. They overdo it with the onions slices in the soup, bu I guess that’s just the effort on Thai Son’s part to add that much needed depth of flavor.
Do plan to spend your entire lunch hour here. Big serving sizes and potentially loaded wait-​to-​be-​seated times are to be had. It’s all worth it, but just know what you’re getting in to.

I have been coming here since 2006 and this by far is my most favorite place to get phở in NYC. I always will get #1 under Phở which is just gigantic bowl of noodles and meat. So delicious and full of that phở flavor. I know I should share such a big bowl or perhaps just get the normal size but for such a small additional price to get so much more, I can’t resist it.
I will be honest that service isn’t the best but I am not surprised as service in Chinatown is never good. They are definitely better than others however. As long as the food is good in this area, I’m fine and the food is great. I’ve had their spring rolls as well which is nice and crispy on the outside and full of meat on the inside. My boyfriend likes to get their pork chop phở which gives you plenty of pork on the bone for nibbling.
This place will always have a special place in my phở-​loving heart.

Thai Son has been a long time establishment in Chinatown that stood the test of time. It is interestingly situated in between an old-​school pub and another Viet restaurant.
It’s one of the first good Vietnamese restaurants I’ve eaten (since those high school days) so it really set the bar for all Viet restaurants I dine in afterwards. Its prices have risen over the years — phở is now $ 7 a pop.
Its #1 phở with everything in extra large bowl, also called «train head», always hits the spot and leaves me satisfied after the meal.
It’s apparent that the restaurant is old, lighting a bit dim, and can use a touch up. I can’t vouch for its sanitation, but I can confidently say I haven’t gotten sick from eating at Thai Son.
More Viet restaurants have open in Chinatown but I’d still go to Thai Son if I’m in proximity — now that tells you something. Its phở is consistent in quality and food always reach your table fast.

I have worked in this area on and off for the past 7 years so I have been here many times.
Ambience: If during the week (and before 5pm) you will encounter people who work in the courts. On the weekends it includes locals and tourists. Place is spacious unlike other restaurants in the area.
Food: Pretty tasty. I love the pork chops there. The spring rolls also good. Their soups are quite good, specially on a cold day. They also have this vietnamese sandwich that is super delicious but I think it is only available during lunch time. It is not the best food I have had in my life, but better than the other vietnamese places on that block.
Service: Decent and straight to the point.
Price: Pretty fair.
I would definitely suggested this place if in the area.

Delicious food. Fried rice was not flavorful but the grilled pork shops, the phở, the beef on salad and the lemongrass squid were all delicious plates. Tea is so soothing after a cold walk and we had a fantastic experience. Service was good but the bussing of the tables could’ve been more on point.

Big bowls of PHO! Great prok spring rolls. Plenty of lettuce for wrapping and basil. just love how its set up and its well priced. Been here for lunch and dinner many times, its always good service and consistent food. Great place to take out of towners. Do it. Just go.

My favorite phở place in Chinatown. I always get the #1 phở. It’s huge. I usually eat half and take the other half home so that I can add more noodles and beef. And it is so cheap. $ 9 with tip and tax.
I don’t really like their other food except their spring rolls. This place is the last of 3 phở restaurants on Baxter. Don’t get confused and go to the wrong one!

Thai Son is almost exactly the same as Nam Son. i’m guessing they’re sister restaurants. Same décor, exact same menu.
just like nam son, i’d recommend the #6 Phở Tai. If you don’t like your beef slices served rare, then just ask them to cook the meat before bringing it to you and they’re happy to oblige. They’re good with providing you with more bean sprouts/​herbs if you ask for more.
The shrimp summer roll was SO GOOD. The peanut sauce to dip the rolls were perfect…

Restaurant vietnamien dans Chinatown.
La nourriture y est excellente avec un excellent rapport qualité prix, 35 $ à deux avec deux entrées et deux plats principaux.
Les nems vietnamiens (avec porc) sont tout simplement excellents!
Nourriture en quantité suffisante.
Petit bémol, il y a un drôle d’odeur aux toilettes.

Out of all the places we could have eaten at, it had to be this place. I should have checked Unilocal because there was another viet restaurant right next door. Anyway, we came in during rush hour, the place was packed; this must be a good sign right? wrong. I thought it was going to be great, our food took a while to come out, so it must be great, right? effin hell no. As a Vietnamese, I’ve eating so many phos in my life, this was non authentic, flavorless and watered down $hit.
The bowl of phở didn’t have any phở aroma, so you can tell the broth was just probably made out of beef bullion cubes. The broth was not clear, it was muggy brown, you can see a lot of saturated fat just floating up top. The temperature of the broth was so warm, I could have drank that jank straight up if I wanted to. I ordered phở tai, which means the broth needed to be hot enough to cook the damn meat, I felt like I was eating raw steak.
These people seem to look busy but their food is crap. I’m sorry to say it straight up, but I was really pist at the quality of their food. Troi oi your phở sooooo crwappy!!! there will be no next time!

I had a bit early lunch here.
There were few customers when I was seated.
I ordered #1 phở Xe Lua, which included a lot of slices of raw beef slices, tendon, omosa…
I liked the phở here, though broth was a bit salty.
Service was decent, just like the same with other restaurant in Chinatown.

I can’t believe it’s been three years since I last reviewed Thai Son. I stopped coming here for some time over the last three years, but recently started coming back here for lunch or dinner with friends and the boyfriend and it felt good to know that the service and quality of food is still good.
The staff has quite changed a bit and it feels like there’s more staff than usual. Their menus haven’t changed, but there is an additional menu for fruit and vegetable smoothies that they make in-​house, that’s new and different.
On my most recent visit at Thai Son, my boyfriend and I had dinner here and we ordered the following:
— Phở Xe Lua — This is boyfriend’s favorite Vietnamese menu item. Whether it’s hot or cold, he almost always orders it. He really enjoyed the Phở Xe Lua. The broth smelled amazing and everything looked good as it should.
— Beef cubes with white rice, lettuce, and tomatoes — This is one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes. The beef cubes were very tender and moist. This dish was alright, but I felt like there was definitely not enough sauce. If there was more sauce I would have enjoyed this dish more.
— Vietnamese Spring Rolls — always fried to perfection and always delicious!
I am happy we decided to recently visited Thai Son again especially after not visiting it for 2 – 3 years. I am glad most of the food is as good as ever. Thai Son will probably be on my list of favorite/​to-​go Vietnamese restaurant.

Beef cubes are really savory (sauce tastes strongly of hoisin and garlic, I believe) and the pork chop rice dish was also very tasty. Will come back for these whenever I’m in the area. :)
Also, they have nice dyson hand dryers in the bathrooms!

Since it was close to work, i gave this place another shot. such a mistake since there are two additional viet cuisines right next door. I got the grill pork with spring roll over the vermicelli. I was only able to eat the spring roll and pork although i didnt even enjoy either of it. The spring roll was a bit hard and the filling has no distinguish flavor. the pork was a bit charred and overly salted.
The worst was the noodle, it was hard to the point that it was not edible. What a waste of my money.

Only in China Town can you fill up on lunch for $ 20 for two people and be satisfied. My husband and I both ordered #6 Tai which is a soup broth with beef. It was excellent! We also got spring rolls that you wrap in lettuce leaves and dip in a sweet and tangy dipping sauce… scrumptious did I mention the endless tea?!
The photos below show previous orders of: «summer rolls» and #49

Ich war schon in verschiedenen vietnamesischen Restaurants und dieses hier hat mich nicht gerade vom Hocker gehauen. Die Frühlingsrollen waren ok, die Phở verbesserungswürdig und der Kaffee…-.-’
Vorallem im Hinblick auf 15 Min Wartezeit, um einen Tisch zu bekommen (+ warten auf Essen) die Sache nicht wert.