Thai Villa

Cuisine	Thai
Price	$$$ (31-50)
Rating	8/10
Last Visit	July 20, 2019
Location	New York: Midtown

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General Notes

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Thai Villa is the best Thai restaurant I've ever been to. The experience is wonderful - the interior is beautiful and almost makes you feel like Thai royalty. I don't have that much experience with Thai food, but from what I can tell, the dishes are authentic. The flavor combinations are unique, and each dish is executed with thoughtful precision. Many dishes here you are unlikely to find in other Thai restaurants in America. This restaurant is really popular and the wait can be pretty long, but it's definitely worth the wait. I'd absolutely recommend giving this place a try!

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Positives

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> The food is amazing! Excellent flavor combinations and nice textures. I'd definitely recommend exploring something you haven't tried here - they offer things like Pad Thai, but there are so many interesting gems to discover and explore here.
> The interior decor is not quite like any other restaurant I've been in, and it works really well. It feels almost like you're in a royal castle; it's exactly what I would imagine from an upscale Thai restaurant. I love how the restaurant is not super bright, but each table is lit with ceiling lights. There are also upstairs tables and slightly elevated booths, which seem really nice.
> The waiters are super friendly. I actually went here twice in two weekends. The same waitress served me both times and actually recognized me! She gave some excellent recommendations, and we were not disappointed.

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Negatives

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> The menu is very, very large, which might make it a bit difficult to actually decide what to order, especially considering that most of the dishes on the menu are items you probably haven't seen before. Definitely ask for recommendations though!
> The wait can be very long. Even on a random Monday evening, waits can go as long as an hour. Thankfully, they have a live waitlist on Yelp (but keep in mind, it's only open until 7:30pm), so you can add yourself to the queue before you actually go there. Making reservations is a bit difficult, since you have to call them to make it.

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Dishes Tasted

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• ★★★★ Moo-obb Nam Puaung -- Grilled marinated pork with honey-soy glazed baby bok choy, served with coconut sticky rice. The pork is tender and incredibly flavorful. Sweet, savory, and bright. Goes really well with the coconut sticky rice.
• ★★☆☆ Royal Pad Thai -- Prawns, shallots, bean sprouts, chive leaves, peanuts, bean curd, and dried shrimp wrapped in a egg net. I'm generally not the biggest fan of pad thai. The shrimp was slightly overcooked and a bit hard. The flavors were good, but comparatively speaking this dish was slightly bland.
• ★★★☆ Red Curry (Chicken) -- Bamboo shoots, thai eggplant, string beans and basil leaves with coconut milk. The ingredients in the curry are not necessarily my favorite. The chicken was also not quite as tender as the pork. But again, the flavor is absolutely incredible.
• ★★★★ Panang Curry (Pork) -- Hands down the best curry I've ever had. I ordered it spicy, and it was the perfect spice level. The curry was the perfect consistency - relatively thick but smooth. Pork was tender and potatoes were nice and soft. The flavor of the curry is unreal. Would absolutely recommend!
• ★★★★ Ped Ron (Crispy Five Spice Duck) -- Deep fried half duck, batter-fried eggplant, served with tamarind sauce. The duck had an excellent texture - tender on the inside, crispy on the outside. I normally don't like eggplant that much but this one tasted great - almost like a banana. The sauce was the star of the dish and paired beautifully with both the duck and the eggplant. The fried batter bits added a good textural component.
• ★★★☆ Ray Rai Nah Phu -- Minced shrimp and rice noodles with curry paste wrapped with betel leaves and topped with lump crab meat. I love everything about this dish, except the betel leaves. One of the most unique flavor combinations I've had. The curry paste has a pretty strong coconut flavor. The textures pair well.