Uncle Boons

How can a place server dishes that are amazing, every single one of them that we tried. The only reason for a 4 star is space being tight and configuration of the space. Food was so amazing. We had the octopus, bone marrow, crab rice, curry, eggplant and roti. Aaamaaazing. Every single dish.
Definitely going back. As authentic as it gets. Not an overwhelming menu, just perfect.

I came here with a friend for dinner and wasn’t sure what to expect — I’d heard a lot of hype about Uncle Boons since they were awarded Michelin stars. My friend and I shared a roti — crisp and buttery. Then I ordered the papaya salad and grilled baby octopus. The Papua salad was crunchy and cool, salty and sour — just how it should be. The baby octopus was charred in a salty sweet black bean marinade and grilled to perfection. The inside was soft and supple while the outside was smoky and blackened. Highly recommend for a fun meal and good service. The only thing to note is that the space is small so get there early or be ready to wait for a few minutes. It’s worth the wait!

Visited Uncle boons Monday, around 6:50 to put my name down for a table of four. Everyone at your party needs to be present for them to seat you. I’ve passed this place dozens of time and it always looks really crowded.
Atmosphere: small cozy place, located down a couple spaces on garden level. Occupancy of maybe 30 people, fit snugly. There were several families around us. Very very loud ethnic music.
Service: Our server was not having the best day. She seemed annoyed with questions about providing recommendations, didn’t seem too knowledgeable about drinks and in general stayed away from our table. Food came out extremely slow. The restaurant was not at capacity when we ordered or during our meal. It was strange as we watched other people come in after us and get served before.
Food: Preface: We ate with a pescatarian, which influenced our food choices. Food is an elevated ‘street’ thai style. Authentic flavors.
Mieng Kum (betel leaf) — Tasty. Leaf looks like it gives a good dose of chlorophyll. I would have enjoyed the filling a little more on different type of lettuce leaf.
Hoi Tak (green curry snails). Interesting chewy texture– wish that these came with a little more sauce. We had served with sticky rice instead of the roti.
Yum Mamoung (green mango salad). Very fresh. Great starter. Nice portion size.
Mee Krob (sweet breads). Strange textures mixed together: very soft ‘sweet breads’ and other things. Will pass on this the next time.
Kao Pat Puu (crab fried rice). Table favorite. Although I would have enjoyed a little more crisp to it.
Pla Muuk (grilled baby octopus) Very crispy! Great texture and taste
Plaa Yang (whole roasted dorade) Leeks are charred perfectly. Dorade was slightly undercooked, with very little flavor.
Puk Boong Fai Dang (water spinach with garlic). I could have eaten three servings of this and been happy. Light flavor, just oily enough.
Definitely would have tried any of the meat dishes. But honestly, the food came out so sloooow. We were so hungry in between the items that it became rather unpleasant. Not sure why this happened.

Here is the problem with Uncle Boons: THE MUSIC LEVEL IS TORTUROUS. Food, I would give a four or five, based on the multiple meals I had there last year, including a dinner for 10 we had hosted. We loved the food. Which is why we invited a friend out to dinner, as a treat. But this time my party and I could not even make it past reading the menu (with the aid of our phones, because it was so dark) before we realized we were being assaulted by sound. It was beyond uncomfortable. We couldn’t hear each other, and we wanted to converse. We asked them to lower the music and they did… for about 3 minutes.
As we left, other diners told us they totally sympathized. One table said they had wished they had done the same before ordering.
We came for good food, but left with ringing ears and a bad taste in our mouths.

The place has a lot of potential. The food is truly interesting, multi layered taste profile. I tried the chicken liver and pineapple, a spicy lamb salad, and a seafood grill sampled, all where delicious and an intriguing experience. The problem is that the place has a weak Air conditioner and gets humid and stuffy (don;t know if to make you feel like in thailand) so prepare for that.
This might be a better spot if they have a cool well adjusted environment.

I loved Uncle Boons. The restaurant has a bar in the front as well as some tables, and additional tables in the back. It’s pretty dark in here and space can get tight when they’re full.
Our order for two consisted of the following:
fried chicken hearts
crispy sweetbreads
grilled baby octopus
chopped lamb salad (lamb)
khao soi
The chicken hearts were a great start. Crispy, with lots of fresh cilantro and a chili sauce. Next came the sweetbreads — this was a pretty large plate (for a small plate), and was full of good flavors and textures with crispy noodles and peanuts. Tasted very fresh but rich at the same time. The bbq octopus was perfectly barbequed and the flavor was on point — not sure what the sauce it was served with was because I loved the octopus by itself. The chopped lamb salad was delicious — our server told us that this would be at the high end of the spice scale, but it really wasn’t very spicy. Just a good kick but nowhere near overpowering. Tasted so refreshing with mint and pickled onions, and was a huge dish. Would definitely get sticky rice to pick up some of the extra sauce. The Khao soi was amazing — I love khao soi and they did it well here. The chicken was cooked so well and was so juicy. The coconut broth was perfect, and the house made noodles were good too, along with the nice crunch from the fried noodles.
The service is top notch here. Our server was extremely knowledgeable about the dishes, and guided us in our decisions. Water was refilled promptly, and plates were cleared quickly. Each dish was again explained to us when it was brought out.

Haven’t had great luck with Thai food in the city lately, the last one I went to was Pok Pok in Brooklyn, which was such a letdown after having an amazing meal in their Portland location. I was craving Thai recently, my friend and I decided to come to Uncle Boons for a last minute dinner after reading all of the fantastic Unilocal reviews on this place. I liked the variety of dishes being offered here and not a Pad Thai in sight (yay!). I wanted to try more dishes, but alas, we decided to be sensible and not go too crazy. See below for the dishes we tried:
Heavenly Pig Ears — I love love love pig ears, and I was super excited that my friend was up to trying the dish as well. I really enjoyed the way Uncle Boons treated the pig ears, it was well seasoned and fried to perfection. The dip was a great pairing as well. I love the combination of saltiness, sourness and crispness. They were like little pig ear fries, I could eat these little suckers all day long. My friend and I polished off the plate in minutes, and in complete silence.
Kaduuk (roasted bone marrow) — I have not met a bone marrow that I don’t love yet. This was no exception. The beautiful slab of bone was filled with perfectly roasted bone marrow and came with a trio of dipping sauces. I wish the accompanied toast was less charred and a tad thinner so it would be easier to bite. The satay sauce on top was a nice touch, but I still think the best bone marrow is from Landmarc (I know they are prepared differently, different cuisine and all that, but a good bone marrow is good bone marrow!)
Mieng Kum (betel leave wrap) — Honestly, I thought this dish was kind of meh… If you look at the description of this dish on the menu, it consisted of all the things I like, i.e. dried shrimps, ginger, lime, chilies, peanuts, etc. It came with a toasted coconut dipping sauce. I thought the dish was somewhat bland, which was a let down after all those amazing flavors in the other dishes. I think it was an interesting dish to try, especially if you never had betel leaves before, but it is definitely not a dish I would order again
Guay Jap (Grilled Pork Jowl) — also a bit of a let down, it wasn’t bad per se, I was expecting something different. It was my fault for not reading the menu description closely, I wasn’t expecting so much broth, and the flavor for the pork jowl was lacking. Also wished there were more noodles. The highlight of the dish was the soft cooked egg, haha, probably not worth $ 25 just for a duck egg. We ordered a side of Roti to eat this dish with, maybe rice would’ve been a better side.
Toasted Coconut Ice Cream Sundae — so glad we ended the meal with this dish and the reason I pushed the rating a bit higher after the last two disappointing dishes. This was sooooooo good! It contained coconut ice cream with a huge pile of whipped cream, toasted peanuts and coconut. I haven’t had a sundae in a long time, and it made me feel like a kid again, albeit a very sophisticated kid with a fancy sundae. My friend and I loved every single bite of this dish.
Service was decent, the place filled up really fast after we were seated and our waitress was extremely busy covering all the tables. I had to track her down a couple of times for drinks/​water refills/​one more side order, etc, but that was understandable given how busy she was. The tables were pretty tight together and the volume could be quite loud. The cocktails were good, but they could go lighter with the crushed ice. Overall, it was a fun trendy restaurant that actually served above average food. Would definitely recommend the place!

It’s no wonder why it took me so long to get a table at Uncle Boon’s — it’s that good! Definitely order the betel leaf wraps to start, so crispy and tasty! To drink, I ordered the beer slushie which was very refreshing and a great compliment to the meal.
Make sure to share everything so you can try more things. The sweetbreads are a MUST order. These are perfectly complimented with a noodle salad that is divine.
The crab fried rice is delicious, and so is the masaman curry.
Love the décor and service is super friendly and attentive.

I came here for a date a while back ago and again for my birthday dinner with friends. It’s a great place to get some of that authentic Thai flavor. I love this place because you’re not going to find Pad Thai or Drunken Noodles on the menu. They really make sure to introduce you to dishes you’ve never had before.
They also have some great cocktails and a fun little bar where you can wait for your party.
Dishes I like:
— Crab Fried Rice
— Green Mango Salad
— Leaf Wraps
— Beef Ribs w. Massaman Curry
— Grilled Pork Jowl

Had a solid meal here last weekend. The crab fried rice, beef short rib curry and the fish were all good. The apps were tasty too, tho could have done without the riblets. Drinks were fine. Place was a bit pricey and the wait was way too long, but gave us chance to go grab a couple drinks beforehand. Not running back but good.

Came here with 6 people 3 of whom were from Thailand, and we were all very excited to try this place after months of waiting.
First of let me say that I eat Thai food AT LEAST twice a week, and I’ve had everything from super authentic to the watered down westernized version. Uncle boons uses Thai ingredients in a beautiful way and the food is delicious. Authentic, it is not, in the words of my Thai friends «this is not Thai food, but it’s good»
The food:
We literally tried everything. Here are our favorites,
Frog legs– I’ve had them before at another place and they were awful, uncle boons does them right they are tender and juicy, if you’ve never had them before try them here. Don’t be scared they taste like chicken.
Loved the papaya salad had to order it twice, a must try
My absolute favorite of the whole night was the lamb salad. Amazing! This dish is so well put together and balanced. Lamb doesn’t have the gamey overpowering flavor.
I don’t like crab but everyone was raving about the fried rice. So I’m just going to throw it out there because it was a favorite at the table, if you like crab go for it.
Drinks:
Cool cocktail list, I like the spicy tamarind margarita, frozen beer is a fun way to drink beer.
Service:
service is very very laid back not what you would expect from such Michelin star restaurant servers here have bit of a tude like they’re doing you a favor for being there.
Overall I would say this place has great food, cute hipster décor and everyone is clamouring to get in the door. They don’t take reservations and they fill up minuets after the door opens. Uncle Boons is fusion at its finest, food is good bit its a try once and never go back place for me.

Highly recommended by some friends that have been here multiple times.
It was a last minute decision to eat here, so it was too late to make a reservation. We decided to just wing it. For a party of 3 — we got pretty lucky on a Saturday night. EXCEPT our 3^rd person was late and the table was given to a party of 4 (with everyone there) that was behind us. They told us it’d probably be around 90 minutes. basically we would have to wait for that table to finish eating before we could grab a table. We went around the corner for some drinks before we came back. They take your number and send you a text when your table is ready, but you may have to wait a few minutes when you get back. I think we waited another 15 minutes from when we got the text.
The ambiance of the restaurant made me feel like I was in a different country, not in NYC. I couldn’t wait to order food and try it. We ordered a few things so we could share family style and have a taste of everything.
Laab Neuh Gae — spicy chopped lamb salad. Very, very flavorful. Almost a little too much flavor so it’s best to get this with a side of sticky rice to ease the flavor a little. Very refreshing with just the right amount of spice.
Plaa — yellow tail collar. The waitress recommended this dish and I am so glad she did. It ended up being our top favorite. Definitely give this a try if you are here. There is a good amount of flesh in the collar and it was grilled just perfectly with a delicious, caramelized glaze on it. I wish we ordered another one.
Kao Pat Puu — the crab fried rice. Chunks of real crab meat in every bite. It’s expensive, but what do you expect when they are using real crab meat? It’s not going to be cheap.
Kob Woonsen — frog legs over glass noodles. The frog legs were crispy and had tons of flavor.
I think we licked all the plates clean when we came to the end of the meal. Everything was delicious and service was great. The only disappointing thing was at the end when we ordered the mango & sticky rice. it took forever. Other than that, the food is delicious and authentic.

Uncle Boons é um d o s melhores Thai de New York e localizado no coração do Soho. Não foi uma surpresa quando ganhou uma estrela Michelin. Mesmo com uma Estela os preços são bem bons.
Os Drinks são excelentes assim como a comida. Tem várias opções grelhadas feitas na Rotisserie que pode ser observada a partir de bar.

Get the fish. Did you hear me? Get the fish. You don’t like whole fish? Still get the fish. I’m just kidding, don’t get the fish you don’t like fish. but it may change your mind!
Charcoaled dorade is delicious. The meat is tender and melt in your mouth soft, but the skin is so crispy that you can’t believe that it is possible to make fish like this.
Want to feel like you are eating healthy tasty things? Get the pea shoots on the side. They add some sort of shrimp flavoring to it which makes it extra umami.
Finish with the mango sticky rice for something sweet and savory. The champagne mangos on top of coconut sticky rice makes it a great dessert to share so you still have some money left over to come back again!

Uncle Boon’s is amazing! We loved everything we ordered, but most notably, their gai-​yang (grilled chicken) with mango salad was superb. The chicken was so tender and so perfectly executed. A MUST order here!
Our waitress was also very sweet and attentive, and recommended the right amount of food for my cousin and me to share over dinner.
This place is perfect to bring a date to, with Thai relics and décor thru out, dimly lit, stoned walls, and a small bar if you’re just in the mood for drinks.
We’ll be back!

Had been meaning to try Uncle Boons for awhile, especially after the place received a Michelin Star for 2016. We managed to snag a couple seats at the bar on an early Friday evening. You can make a reservation on
, but most tables were taken early on for weekends, save for times like 5:30pm. The place is pretty cramped, but the smells inside are pretty amazing, and you can see the rotating spits, full of the grilled and roasted meats. Most of the walls are decorated with vintage Thai movie posters, which gives it more of an underground eatery-​type feel.
We went quickly through the menu, which had a lot of a nice-​sounding items, and finally went with the Yum Mamoung (green mango salad, avocado, crispy dried squid, cilantro, chile and lime), Khao Soi Kaa Gai (golden curry with egg noodles and chicken leg), and the roasted/​grilled bone marrow satay. The green mango salad was great, not too sweet, and the crispy squid bits were delicious. The grilled bone marrow, which was prepared in front of us, was very ornately plated, and came with some satay sauce, pickled vegetables, finishing salt, and some grilled brioche. Easily the prettiest dish of the night, and also incredibly rich and tasty. The golden curry was just the right saltiness and consistency, and the crispy fried noodles on top were a nice touch. However, the cooked egg noodles in the curry were just a tad mushy, and it would have been nice to have some jasmine rice, which does NOT come with the meal and is $ 3 extra. Nonetheless, everything was pretty good, and while we weren’t full, it was enough to tide us over. Note: They add a lot of cilantro to everything, so for those of you who have an aversion to cilantro, make sure to note that when you order.
Service was fine, although not very personable, and really didn’t give any good recommendations, given that she was the bartender. Not to mention, I got the bolan (basically a jasmine tea bourbon old-​fashioned), which had a very stingy pour. My glass was less than ¹⁄₃ full, and it still cost about $ 13. Yikes. In general, the qualms I had were mostly with value. We paid about $ 70 per person with one drink each, which was easily one of the pricier Thai meals out there. I’m not saying Asian food has to always be cheap, but the value here is harder to find.
In all, I can see why they got a Michelin Star, with the very unique offerings and expert preparation. The food quality was pretty good, but you can get much more for your money at Somtum Der (which also just received a Michelin Star for 2016) for some really good Thai food, just a walk away on Ave A. I would come back to Uncle Boons to try some other things like the lamb larb salad, the half-​chicken, or the coconut sundae, but I wouldn’t wait long for it.

During the dark and gloomy days of Winter Storm Jonas 2016, we were ill-​prepared and buried indoors without food, drinks or livelihood. As low-​key and dimly lit as Uncle Boons is, it was a bright light in the midst of disastrous precipitation.
I was informed this was a Thai restaurant, but one glance at the menu told me I had to be on my A-​game. It was rather refreshing to not find pad thai on the menu and I was unfamiliar with the extensive selection outside of 2 or 3 dishes. What you should know here is that one main entrée will fill you up — for three people we had 3 entrees (boneless beef ribs, golden curry, crispy duck luck) and 2 appetizers (grilled Issan pork and rice sausage, roti) which were more than enough. Let’s just say the food was fantastic and authentic; it’s so hard to criticize a restaurant like this when the portions are filling and you’re dying to try more dishes but know deep down the feeling of overzealous ambition.
The most surprising thing for me was how popular Uncle Boons is. While this place screams ‘local favorite’, during a blizzard when there were just two or three people on each block, the wait here was still an hour. Luckily, we snagged a bar table near the front of the restaurant which was so small we had to combine the appetizers so all our plates could fit. However, the waitress was extremely accommodating and made sure we were comfortable. At one point, my friend asked what lipstick she was wearing: «Men Love Mystery». Given the unfamiliar menu, traditional vintage artwork decorations and quirky indigenous music rippling through the stealthy operation in Nolita, I’d say I do love a good mystery.

This place rules me! How unexpected and fantastic! Tony went here with some coworkers recently and bragged how good the place was. So, when Valentine’s Day rolled around, I suggested we return. Boy, I’m glad that I did b/​c this place is now in my top 5 restaurants in all of NYC. Trust me… this place is definitely worth checking out!
Note that, if you’re coming here thinking you’re gonna get a typical Thai meal (Pad Thai, etc.), think again. This place is pure street… and delicious! See below for a list of things to try.
–The Lamb Salad — spicy but AMAZING… and you MUST get the sticky rice side to go with it (it cuts some of the heat but also tastes really good with the «salad»)
–Mee Kroc (Sweetbreads – that’s some kind of animal insides – and crunchy noodle) — Ok, don’t be thrown off by animal innards! This appetizer is so tasty! Get this and share it.
–Northern Style Golden Curry — Excellent noodle dish with pork and chicken.
–Pork & Rice Sour Sausage — This sausage tastes light and creamy believe it or not. Very tasty! It is served with cabbage.
–Milk Toast Dessert w/​Coconut Ice Cream — JUST DO THIS if they have it when you visit. It’s amazing thick cut toast soaked in sweetened condensed milk and fried up like French Toast! Be sure to ask for a side of coconut ice cream with this.
As for drinks, their Tamarind Margarita (Baa Baa Bo Bo) is too sweet for me… but their beer is amazing!
Finally, the atmosphere at Uncle Boons is quaint and romantic, and the service is first-​rate. It’s definitely a great date place!

4÷27÷15, 8 PM — Arguing with my then boyfriend about where and what kind of food we should eat for my pre-​birthday dinner, he told me about this place he was recommended to by a chef. I was a bit skeptical as I was more in the mood for Korean food, but after reading my fellow Unilocaler’s reviews and taking a peak at the menu, I decided to go for it. OMG. Everything was amazing here. E-​V-​E-​R-​Y-​T-​H-​I-​N-​G.
Even though pretty packed for a Monday night, we were seated immediately as we lucked out with a table by the door. Awesomeness.
We started off with the Kob Woonsen (Garlic & Soy marinated frog legs with glass noodles). Holy crap, it was delish. Crispy af and the noodles were a tad spicy, just the way I like it. Then we had the Kaduuk– Roasted bone marrow satay with toast. I’ll admit I was a bit put off before I tried it, but the presentation was beautiful and it was very, very good, plus that toast was so damned soft.
Crispy rabbit with fava beans & sawtooth herb in sour turmeric curry– OH MAH GERD. Yes, it was crispy but tender. The sauce was almost too good. I was ready for more.
Massaman Neuh– (Boneless beef ribs with Massaman curry) my fave dish of the night, Jesus H. Christ, that beef was so damned tender that it broke apart with just a teensy bit of prodding with my fork. I was in love and DEMOLISHED that dish. Had a side of roti with it and dipped it into the sauce and I almost died & went to heaven, seriously.
For dessert we had the condensed milk brioche toast with the coconut ice cream. It was soft and buttery but not too sweet which was a perfect complement for the ice cream.
Drinks were amazing as well. We had the Singapore Sling, Mekong Manhattan (which was super strong but so damned smooth it just glided down your throat) and the Baa Baa Bo Bo, which was so good I had two glasses.
Our server was nice and the food came out fairly quickly. Definitely have to go back again, they totally deserve that Michelin star they got last September.

This place was amazing in the following aspects:
A. Just received one Michelin star — very hard to nail for a Thai restaurant
B. Many of my friends were suggesting to me this place with 100% positive opinions
C. Reservation was so hard
Everything pointed to the same direction so here I came, with a very high watermark set.
Also did my research before coming so I knew exactly what I’m going to order. Both the lamb salad and the marinated half chicken had won awards so got those. As meat lovers, we also went ahead and ordered the crispy frog leg and the pork sausage. All of them were fantastic while I enjoyed the spicy lamb salad a lot — not at all too spicy.
I can already vision myself coming back.

Wow! I can see how this place got awarded their Michelin star. The combination of flavors in everything we ordered was so unique and unlike anything I’ve had before.
We were a party of 3 and basically just walked in on a Thursday night. Everything stood out about this spot. From the décor that took me back to the flea markets in Bangkok to the eclectic music, we knew we were in for an experience.
What we ordered:
— seared chicken liver with roti — roti had just the right amount of puffiness to absorb the curry of the chicken liver. If it wasn’t socially unacceptable to pick up a plate and lick it clean, that is probably what would have happened.
— spicy chopped lamb salad — i noticed some other Unilocal reviewers complaining about the spiciness of this dish. I didn’t find it overwhelmingly spicy but I wouldn’t use that as a reason to skip this dish. If spice is a concern then just let your server know, because this is a standout dish. We even ordered an extra roti to have alongside it (and can also help to curb the spiciness).
— rotisserie half chicken with mango salad — mango salad was amazing! They actually have the mango salad in appetizer portion which I would highly recommend. We couldn’t get enough of the salad. The chicken is great also but its the dipping sauces that make it flavorful.
— boneless beef ribs in massaman curry — by the time this dish came out we were already so full. But the flavors (as with everything else) was incredible. We loved this dish with the sticky race and roti as well to soak up the remaining curry. The beef was incredibly tender.
— coconut sundae — do not skip this! made with coconut gelato. Would consider coming back just for the sundae.
This is a very creative and dynamic twist on Thai cuisine. This is not the place to come if you’re looking for standards or classics (except for Thai tea maybe). Will most definitely be back!