Chao Phaya Thai Restaurant

Wasn’t bad! Wasn’t good! Just in the middle! I love eating out, and when I find a great spot I definitely rant and rave about it to friends, family and clients. But this fell short of my expectations. Didn’t «wow!» me as much as I had anticipated. I guess I thought, being that it’s one of those hidden hole in the wall restaurants it’d be great, it was just «ok!» for me, food lacks flavor and I’ve eaten at many Thai restaurants around town and had had some good tasting food. Perhaps in the future I’d give ‘em another try! But only is someone else is paying lol

I’ve been wanting to try this place for some time and final was able to tonight. The Pad Thai was superb as well as the Avacodo roll! They offer a 15% discount Mon –Thurs! Highly recommend this place. Tony the owner will great you with a smile!!!

Terrible experience. Food was subpar, delivery was awful. It took 2 hours for delivery and 5.00 fee wasn’t worth it if it takes them a quarter of a day to deliver my food. Won’t order from these guys again! This is the Chao phaya in Somerville. The one in Somerset is great!

Delish!!! Delivers great food everytime.

Light and flaky curry puffs make a perfect appetizer that is not too filling.
Yellow curry dish with chicken had great flavor, but was a little too spicy for my taste — you can ask them for the amount of spice you want so next time I’ll ask for a little less!
I kept digging for the potatoes in the mix because they held the most coconut flavor making them so delicious.
Will return for sure!

Excellent food. Much better than Thai Kitchen and not that far away. Excellent pad Thai and also great mussels appetizer!

This place is a gem. It’s off Main Street and usually not crowded especially for lunch. It’s a shame because I have been to all the Thai restaurants in the area and I put this one as top two. Diversify people, Thai Kitchen isn’t that good, give the other Thai restaurants a shot. They are more authentic and flavorful.

Good Thai food. Bit pricy for lunch — had Tom yum soup and chicken & shrimp thick noodle dish ($ 5 soup $ 9-​$ 12 dish). Can’t wait to try other dishes.

When my family first moved to the area, this was the first Thai restaurant we ate in. We loved the spiciness and flavors of the food at that time, which was almost 10 years ago.
Just recently, I visited my parents, who still live in the area, and we decided to get take out from here. We ordered Pad Kee Mao, Red Curry with shrimp, and Veggie Fried Rice with tofu. First of all, the quantity of all three dishes was way too small for what they charged (almost $ 40 for all three). I now live in Manhattan, and these prices seemed to be closer to NYC prices; a bit unreasonable for central, suburban NJ. Although the flavors of the red curry was good, it seemed like the vegetables in it were just thrown into it from a can. The fried rice also had random black beans in it, making it appear like Mexican food instead of Thai food; a little weird.
All in all, a solid, but definitely not mind-​blowing experience of spicy, flavorful Thai food. Two stars deducted for high price/​small quantity and also, not the friendliest of service.

So disappointing. This was our go to Thai spot. Last two visits the food has been terrible. Tasteless sauces, soggy mushy spring rolls, shrimp tasted old. Yuck. Is there a new chef? Last time we will get take out from here.

Love the food here, never a bad meal. Can be slow at times but never to crowded that you are not served a hot, fresh meal.

This has been our Thai place for some time. Always great pad thai and garlic beef. We arrived to find only one waitress working a bunch of tables and the best was her lack of ability to speak and understand English so our order came out too spicy even though we asked for mild. Pad thai had to be remade since it was too hot. Since there was only one waitress the phone continued to ring all through dinner. Not good for a Saturday night!

Dinner last Saturday. Stays All time favorite. Really authentic as usual. Pad phed nor Mai, young peppercorn chicken are really good. Pad Thai as good as ever. Shelter for the spicy palate.

Tired décor, mediocre food.
I went w/​a curry dish. The beef tasted like it had been stored under a hot lamp all day, and the curry was less than flavorful.
Oh, and there was an oscillating fan in the middle of the «dining room.»
Better Thai food exists within walking distance.

The best Thai food I’ve had. Flavors explode in your mouth. After eating here you will see every other Thai restaurant you go has very americanized food. Now I’ve never been to Thailand but I would think this is as close I can get around NJ.
We had two dishes, Young Peppercorn and Coconut Clear Noodles. Both out of this world.
Next time I will go to the Somerset location since it’s closer.

If you do not mind coming to a place with a rude and unethical waitress just for the food then you might enjoy it.
I never write a review for anything, but this experience made me so angry that I must share with fellow Unilocalers.
I went there with two of my friends and a child, both friends were Indians (I am sorry to say that I must include this detail in order to tell the story). It was around 8:15pm on a Monday night when we got there and there was only one table with two guests who were about to leave. The place felt a little bit dingy so I was a bit hesitant to try out the food. One of the friends that I was with assured me that she has been here several times before and prefers this place to others in the nearby vicinity.
Because so many empty tables were available, we asked the waitress to seat us at a larger table so it’s more comfortable. I am not sure if she’s didn’t hear us or didn’t want to clean a big space afterward, but she brought a fifth chair to the small table and ignored our request. Secondly, the service was terribly lacking. The waitress could care less about our table because she spilled water all over every time she refilled the glasses and did not even say one word about it. Additionally, we had to ask her to refill our water several times and we were the ONLY ones there.
When our check was brought to us, we noticed a 15% gratuity added to it. We only ordered food for the adults as the child did not eat that type of food. When we asked the waitress about the 15% gratuity, she said that it was her policy (she’s not the owner). I asked her if it was stated so in the menu, if so that will be fine, but we did not see it earlier. She replied yes. I asked for actual proof as she kept giving us the run around for all our questions. The waitress actually brought over the menu and NO WHERE did it say there was 15% for a 3 people party. I called her out on it and she said that it’s a new policy for both Chao Phaya in Somerset and Somerville (I later called Somerset location to confirm and they said it’s only applicable in their Somerset location and not Somerville). My friend also asked when the policy came into effect and she said last year (2013). We again, called her out on her lies as my friend came here in February and the gratuity was not applied then. The only answer she could give was that she doesn’t remember seeing my friend here .
What was a good evening turned nasty. I was just appalled by the waitress behavior and her treatment toward guests. The reason we inquired about this gratuity ordeal was because we had an inkling of why she might have done it. She later confirmed our suspicion when she said «Indian people are like this» as we were leaving because we refused to tip on such an unethical behavior. Had she not done this, we would have even tipped her more than 15%. My friend and I have worked in the restaurant industry before, so we know how hard it is for servers, especially with a dead restaurant. Therefore, we always tip pretty well on our meals.
If you have made it this far in my review, I hope I did not bored you with the details. I just wanted you to make sure you know the policy before coming here, so that this person does not dupe you as she had tried to do so to us with her racist predisposition.

If I could give the extra .5 I would. I guess I am just overall disappointed in the service & the fact that I requested my meal SPICY and it came sweet and so bland ! It tasted on. Prices for Lunch specials decent but our portions were so uneven

I made the mistake of getting Tom kha gai soup and an order of spring rolls.
The soup was inedible, it looked like dirty gray dishwater.
The spring rolls were greasy, clearly cheap/​frozen not house made, and served with Chinese duck sauce. Disgusting.
I paid $ 19 for this horrific excuse for Thai food. No wonder the restaurant was empty. Never again!

Awesome food!!! You got to try!!!

We’ve only had the Pad Thai — but it’s the best version we’ve had within a 20 minute radius. The lunch menu puts it at $ 8, but the dinner menu (same portion I think) is nearly $ 13. A little pricey if you ask me. But, if you’re looking for good Pad Thai, this will do. Take out and a nice dining area available. Food comes out quickly but the service can be a little slow — our water glasses are usually empty and we have to flag someone down. All in all, great food. Subtracted 1 star for service and price.

Went here for lunch with my father one day. Their thai iced tea was delicious. Their service is okay. Decent thai dishes, Although I have had better in central jersey. Maybe I have adapted more to the other thai restaurants around the area. But they have a great selection for vegans and vegetarians.

I’ve tried Chao Phaya twice now and the verdict is not so great. I was hoping that the first time I was there was a fluke. It seemed like the heat wasn’t on despite the cold temperatures outside and requests from other diners to turn up the heat. We wore our coats the entire meal. The service was not great despite the restaurant being nearly empty. The food was nothing memorable.
Went back again tonight to give it a second chance since the reviews were good on Unilocal.Again, the temperature in the restaurant was cold, the food was mediocre. Both the vegetarians dishes we ordered (vegetable ga prow and panang curry) were okay with a kind of random mix of vegetables. It seemed like they just threw every veggie in the fridge into each dish. Carrots, butternut squash, kale, broccoli rabe, peppers, cranberries or some similar unidentifiable fruit (???), bean sprouts, yep, we got them all. And don’t forget to throw in a few random chickpeas, black beans, and red beans into each dish. The tofu in the dishes was not fried or sauteed and didn’t have much flavor.
The food was insanely spicy as well. I got 2 stars, which was supposed to be medium. Although I normally eat a lot of spicy food, this was almost inedible for me. I heard people at the other two tables complaining about how spicy their food was as well. My wife got only 1 star but hers was still moderately spicy, probably equal to most restaurants’ medium.
The decorations are also a little questionable. The tables are covered with a big piece of butcher paper because they much be too lazy/​cheap to change tablecloths in between diners. Especially classy since the waitress spilled water all over part of our table. Also, there are terrible fake flower centerpieces on all the tables. To kick it all off, about halfway through the meal it started to smell like someone was smoking right next to our table. I think there must be people who smoke right next to the air intake of their ventilation system, gross.
Despite the long vegetarian menu, we won’t be going back anytime soon.

This place has tasty Thai food at very reasonable prices in a plain location. Don’t forget to bring your own beer!
I joined two colleagues for a mid-​week dinner at Chao Phaya. The place was dead quiet with just one other table. Only one waitress was working and we had a bit more of a wait that expected until we could order. But after ordering the food came out very quickly.
We started with the Thai dumplings which are plump little purses of a very dense filling served with a thick (fish?) sauce. Those needed a bit more cabbage or something to lighten the density. Also ordered the curry puffs, three delightfully fluffy savory pastries with a very mild curry taste, served with bits of cucumber in a sweet-​sour dipping sauce, excellent!
All the noodle dishes seemed to be permutations of thin or thick noodles, shrimp, chicken, egg, bean sprouts and spices. Based on Unilocal reviews I tried Pad Kee Mao even tho I have absolutely no idea what that means :). What arrived were noodles that looked exactly like pappardelle (very broad and thin) with three shrimp, sliced chicken, green onion, fried egg and other good bits in a nicely spicy brown basil sauce. This dish is listed as spicy (one pepper next to it) and I ordered it number 1 of 3, aka mild. I like spicy food and this arrived just warm enough that I almost started to sweat, definitely not mild but perfect for enjoying. Just $ 12 for a nice dinner portion which I thought was completely fair.
We brought our own beer and they were happy to bring us proper glasses. Don’t expect much ambiance, the office-​like drop ceiling, fluorescent lights and plain interior shown in the picture are quite accurate.

G