8 Paet Rio

My family and I love coming here because anything you order is amazingly delicious. I usually order dishes with crispy pork, but i always enjoy the crab fried rice, where they put big chunks of crab that’s nice and sweet and juicy. (It’s the best dish when you’re craving crab but don’t want to do all the hard work of cracking and picking the meat yourself.) The Tom yum soup is not too spicy but very good here as a side. The waitresses are friendly and helpful if you ask for dish suggestions

I’m moving to an apartment right near this restaurant. I ordered the Pad Kee Mao and it was real spicy, which is a good thing. I am only giving 3 stars, because there really was little special about the food or menu in general. But, since I’ll be living close by, I plan on giving it another shot. I may revise this.

After not seeing my family for some time (I missed them), we decided to come here for a late lunch after much debate. At first, we were talking about going to a noodle soup place, but then changed our minds and opted for Thai. Initially, we were going to go to our usual spot Ayada, but we decided to give a new place a try and came here. But sad to say, this place did not really live up to the expectations.
The place was pretty full when we walked in at 3:10pm, so we were pretty hopeful that food would be good. We were seated quickly (the waitress shifted 2 people sitting at a four top to make room for us).
The menu was definitely interesting and not with the usual suspects of pad thai and curries, so we decided to be adventurous. For appetizers, we tried the pia sod without meat. These were rolls filled with bean curd, bean sprout, egg and topped with crab meat and a sweet glaze. Nothing exciting about this dish and the sauce was just too sweet. I found myself eating the veggie garnish to temper the sweet sauce. That’s not a good sign.
For the main entrees, we ordered the Khao Soi (a curry soup with drumsticks, fried egg noodles), Duck Noodle Soup, Yen Ta Fo (slightly sweet, sour, salty and spicy soup with Chinese watercress, fried tofu fish ball, squids, shrimp), Seafood Green Curry medium heat, and also the Pla Yum Mango (fried snapper fish with green mango, onion, cashew nut, peanut, scallion, cilantro with spicy and sour sauce).
And the verdict? Well, most of the dishes were just TOO SALTY. Only the Khao Soi was not as salty. The Yen Ta Fo was interesting and tasted slightly milder than a tom yum soup and I did like that there was Chinese watercress available. The only standout dish was the Pla Yum Mango, however, my family said the fish was fried a little too long and was a bit dry.
We were slightly interested in dessert and my cousin did eye some banana rolls at a table next to us, but when we asked about that dish, the waitress said they just sold out. That’s kind of nuts since it wasn’t even yet dinner time. Bummer.
And for 4 people to dine, our meal came to $ 93. Not exactly a bargain, and portions were on the smaller side. Meal was decent but nothing spectacular and left something to be desired.
Considering all the spectacular Thai options in this part of town, I think our family could agree that we will skip on this place in the future. Sometimes, adventures don’t always work out, but hey, at least we tried.

My friend and I go here almost every week. We love it! And the lunch special is really affordable! I have become addicted to their crispy pork with Chinese broccoli.
The ambiance is always really calms, and the staff is very kind and understanding. Even though we were one of those obnoxious customers who stayed for about 2 hours.

See you soon on Wednesday with Phachara Stancu waiting for been noodles soup — num tok naeu & fried fish with mango salad

In one word, disappointing. I was very excited to hear that this place was opening up here. They own a few restaurants in the city with a good reputation but at this convent location the food is very disappointing. The noodle soups are bland, dishes that should be full with good taste and spice are not up to par.
The décor is nice and so is the staff.

My husband just took me to this restaurant had a dinner… A very small place that can be Easily overlooked but has incredible food that comes out perfectly and their service are nice…
I had two entrée that I ordered… There are whole fish with mango that gonna be my favorite one when I come here again. And also the crispy duck was soooo damn good…
The portion are more than enough to fill you up…
I hope you guys come and try the best restaurant in Elmhurst neighborhood.

Outstanding Thai food. Everything from the basic chicken dishes to the pad thai and fried rice is just great. The atmosphere is a bit modern yet cozy. Great customer service as well.

I gave this review a lot of thought before writing it…
There are a lot of 5-​star reviews so maybe my expectation was set too high.
I wanted to give them a higher rating but read on…
Compared to all the other great Thai places around the area Paet Rio need to work on portion size and saltiness. All the dishes we got were all too salty.
My dinner consist of–
Ka Mu Phalo (tender pork leg on dark sweet soy) — rated ³⁄₅
Chinese water cress with crispy pork– rated ⁴⁄₅
Kua Gai Noodle (tofu sautéed with flat rice noodles, egg, lettuce, squid & soy sauce) — rated ⁴⁄₅
Food– ⁴⁄₅
Service– ⁴⁄₅
Décor– ³⁄₅
Restroom– ⁴⁄₅
Customer comfort*- ²⁄₅
*Note: I happen to have gone during winter time when it was still cold outside. It was freezing inside because they did not turn on the heat.
Customers were all wearing their caps and winter coats hugging cups of warm tea.
Hope my experience is better the next time.

It was in the middle of winter but God forbid they turn on the heat! The servers were wearing coats.
The portions are small for the price.
The food is beyond salty. It was extremely hard to eat. I needed a ton of water to drink with the sodium rich food.
Ugh they have to work on these things before I ever come back.

AKA 8 Paet Rio on Grubhub, where their menu can easily mislead, and doesn’t contain all of the items recommended in the 2014 NYT Hungry City piece on the joint*.
The confirmation email & text took quite some time to arrive, and contained grossly exaggerated estimates, so when I arrived well before that window, the food was already cold. In classic Thai lunch special fashion, the bag was disappointingly light, containing just one container not even filled to the top. To compound these misfires, there was absolutely zero spice in the dish, despite request for the highest (oh, and FYI to the kitchen: good crispy pork ≠ standard takeout pork with a weak crust).
1 L17. Khao Mu Krop Ka Na Lunch Special
[Pork, Hot and Spicy] $ 7.50
Subtotal $ 7.50
Tax $ 0.67
Tip $ 0.00
Free Grub $ –5.00
TOTAL $ 3.17
NYT Hungry City 2014:
*“RECOMMENDED Miang kha-​na (dried pork with broccoli leaves), khua kling (pork belly stir fry), khao soi (curry soup noodles), yam pla duk fu (crispy shredded catfish salad), phat phak bung mu krop (crispy pork with watercress), pla yam mango (crispy fish with mango), rad kaphrao (duck with holy basil).“
Elsewhere:
«Phimploy Likitsansook, the woman behind Wondee Siam in Hell’s Kitchen, opened this Thai restaurant in August. In a recent review, Ligaya Mishan notes that much of the menu here is the spicier food found on the „secret menu“ at Wondee. Favorites include the khua kling (a dry pork belly curry), the khao soi (noodles in coconut broth), and the miang kha-​na (a salad of Chinese broccoli leaves, pork, peanuts, and chilies).»
«Phimploy Likitsansook lets her hair down at this Elmhurst Thai restaurant, a wild child sibling to Likitsansook’s beloved but tamer Wondee Siam outposts. And if the kids over in Manhattan are spooning Siam’s rich curries over rice, Paet Rio might be courting a different crowd with bowls of rusty colored num tok, an opaque noodle soup seasoned with fresh animal blood. Diners choose pork or beef broths lurking with springy noodles and tender meatballs, the whole murky bowl a tempest of iron-​rich, earthy flavors.»

In case you were curious like I was, what does «Paet Rio» mean… this is another name for Chachoengsao, Ms. Likitsansook’s home province in Thailand.
The space has stylish décor — similar to a typical Thai restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen. The atmosphere is nicer than the other Thai restaurants Queens: dark upholstered seats, rustic wooden paneling and tables, this is a good place to bring a date.
We had the num tok beef noodles and khao soi. The bowls of noodles were delicious and flavorful and definitely on par with Wondee Siam or near by Ayada. But I didn’t like the chicken in the khao soi was served as 2 drumsticks — If I’m ordering a bowl of noodles, I don’t want to mess around with bones. The noodles were filling and a decent portion. They have wine and beer here as well as Thai iced tea and coffee.
A huge downside for the restaurant is the high price point. I’ve noticed that they’re making an effort to lower the prices — with stickers on the menu that rounded many of the prices down to the nearest dollar i.e. 12.95 to 12.00 but I think there is still a ways to go. With many other options in the Elmhurst area serving good Thai food at a cost more palatable to the locals, Paet Rio needs to fit in — by lowering their prices or help the customer see the value in the expensive dinner bill.

As a Thai person, I usually give Thai cuisine the benefit of the doubt, but I left underwhelmed. The owner is the same owner as Wondee Siam in the city. The décor is pretty straightforward. Still can’t figure why the name is spelled different every where.
The food:
Por Pia Sod– Chinese sausage, bean curd, bean sprout, egg, crab meat rolled in fresh spring roll skin served w/​tamarind sauce. This dish is a common dish in Thailand and the one here is good but too sweet and thick from the glaze.
Gong op Wun-​Sen– Steamed shrimp with glass noodles, cabbage, scallion, ginger soy sauce, white pepper, oyster sauce, celery. This dish was OK but the color was off aka lacking in flavor. The shrimp was cooked nicely, but the noodles were slightly undercooked. The mushrooms were a nice addition and they were the non American shiitake variety since they had more flavor.
Kaeng Som Sour Curry– Kang som paste, mixed vegetables, shrimp. The flavor was pretty respectable, but it was a tad sweet for me and the number of shrimp was pretty skimpy.
Pla Nueng Manao– Steam whole fish, garlic, chili, lemon juice. It was pretty good as well, the chili and garlic was on a nice addition but the flavor of the fish on the bland side. It was also kinda unusual that they popped the eye out and put a big cherry tomato in it’s place.

Really authentic fresh Thai flavors and a diverse menu of authentic dishes that you can’t try anywhere else. As always with proper Thai joints in the city, don’t waste their time by ordering the typical green curries and pad kee maos. Order khao soi, which has great crisp noodles in a curry soup that has two big chicken legs for you to gnaw on. Order a whole fried fish. Order a papaya salad (warning, spicy!) I’d love to come back and try some more; it was just two of us.
That said, it is a bit of a distance to go considering the excellent Larb Ubol is much closer to us in Manhattan. But if you are here, this is one of the best and I suspect it beats Ayada (not qualified to give a direct comparison but based on clientele I would put a couple bucks on this)
Other review reaction: For crying out loud, eat the food fresh. Don’t get it delivered and then give them 1 star after your food stews/​cools down in a sealed container for 20+ minutes in transit. This is why we can’t have nice things.

In short: bland food, small portions, high prices, kind of annoying service.
The steamed dumplings are rank, just downright gross. They are supposedly made up of minced pork, chicken and shrimp seasoned with garlic and cilantro. All I tasted was chicken, but the meat itself was weirdly dense, like it was compressed chicken parts that had been overcooked then wrapped in a wonton skin.
The curry puffs were fine, though they put the cucumber sauce in a miniscule container that makes it impossible to dip the puffs into it.
The pad kee mao was not good, and the portion was very small. It had broccoli, cauliflower, and possibly Chinese broccoli, which I’m not a fan of in drunken noodles. It wasn’t spicy and the flavor was off, it tasted similar to soy sauce.
Thai ice tea was good if not a little sweet.
The weird service involves trying to order from them on Seamless. I’m about 7 minutes away from this place by car, and according to Seamless they deliver to me. After placing an order online they call me up to tell me it was «an accident’ that we’re in their delivery zone and that they’re waiting for Seamless to fix the mistake. Seamless however says the restaurant needs to contact them to tell them to update their delivery zone, which they haven’t done. It’s been a week and Seamless is still showing them as being a delivery option, so if you want to order delivery I would call first to be sure they actually come to your area.

After reading a few reviews and a raving review in the NY Times, we decide to give this place a try. Paet Rio is a homage to honor Phimploy Likitsansook’s hometown in Eastern Thailand, Chachoengsao. Much of the dishes are her best kept secrets. With the success of Wondee Siam in Hell’s Kitchen, she ventured onto Paet Rio in Elmhurst. It’s really an eye opener, the place was in the middle of renovation last summer ago. Although, we had a few dishes bookmarked, we went with our favorites. Hub had the Rad Panang which def did not beat Ayada’s version. Theirs was good but not as flavorful. I had the Rad Na with Beef which was perfectly small portion in an over-​sized plate. If you’re starving, go with the Pad Kee Mao instead. And, we both shared the Som Tam Thai– papaya salad.
Paet Rio def has some quality dishes. There were a few that we like to try on our next visit. Overall, expect your fav dishes to be cooked in traditional Thai style. Portions are on the smaller side and pricier. I do plan on returning to try the much raved dishes: pla yam mango, Miang kha-​na, khua kling just to name a few! Also, ask for dessert of the day. We didn’t get to try their home made desserts since more ppl arrived on a Fri night.

There can never be enough Thai restaurants in Elmhurst! With that said, I was excited to try this place for the first time last night. I try to keep my Thai food fix intact.
The first thing that caught my attention was the décor. Pretty chic in a humble kind of way for an Elmhurst spot. I guess that explains why the prices on the menu are a bit steeper than other nearby Thai places. I am confused by the spelling of the restaurant name on the menu. No wonder when I tried to Unilocal it, nothing came up. I took a picture of the menu and the restaurant’s name read PATE RIO. Hmm. another spelling error I found was «crap meat.» I am HOPING and PRAYING that they meant «crab meat.»
We got three appetizers: The marinated pork on skewers, papaya salad, and Thai spring rolls. The first two were pretty good. Stay away from the spring rolls. I don’t think it’s worth a try. The pork was tender and the sauce that came complemented it well. The papaya salad — well done! I asked for medium spicy for my salad but the waitress warned me and I took her warning. I think I could have handled medium spicy. I appreciate her consideration though.
For the main dish, I got the Chinese watercress sauteed with crispy pork. Delicious! The portion was decent for its price. Flavor — not too salty, pork not too hard. Everything about that dish was just right. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about their Kua Gai Noodle (flat rice noodles sauteed with choice of meat, egg, lettuce, squid and soy sauce). The little flavor there was in the dish was not a pleasant one. I thought the meat smelled a bit weird — enough to make you lose your appetite slowly.
The main entrees do not come with rice? What’s up with that? So we had to order rice separately. We tried the sticky rice. Not sure if all sticky rice are made equal but I was not crazy for it. When sticky rice fails me, I stick to regular Jasmine rice that never disappoints.
To sum up, there are better Thai restaurants in the neighborhood that are also less pricy. But if the curiosity gets the better of you, don’t be afraid to give it a shot. I know that this won’t be my regular spot.

Sunday Lunch
12PM
Thai friend often comes this area for visiting temple, Thai food shopping and anything Thai. She arranged to have lunch at this new Thai restaurant on Broadway. The walk from Jackson Hts/​Roosevelt station was less than 10 minutes, not bad, and from West 4^th station, it only took 36 minutes. Thai friend that was already in the restaurant said «You are now in Thai town!» and she mentioned F train stops at the main station, Elmhurst station, for weekends.
Tom Kha Soup with chicken ($ 4.08) — ⁴⁄₅ impressive!
Raw crab salad ($ 12.98) — ⁵⁄₅ Amazing!
Mat-​Sa-​Man Curry with beef ($ 11.98) −3÷5
Pla Yam (crispy fish) w/​Mango, — ⁴⁄₅
Kee Mao Noodles with chicken ($ 12.98) — ³⁄₅
For dessert, we tried two different desserts but very similar in taste. One had a thick spread of custard on a sweet and salty coconut rice, yum. The other one was a custard cake that had interesting grainy texture. We were very full but could not stop eating.
What was different and unique about this restaurant was that we had Karaōke show during our lunch, one song only, by one of the cute waiters. I enjoyed uniquely Thai experience in the city was very special.
They open late till 3AM and after the kitchen closed, around 2AM, the place becomes Karaōke joint for catering to local Thais. How sweet is that!

Was excited to try this place when they opened. However the service was quite slow and they werent even busy. The moo ping was delicious and i love that they have that on the menu considering most thai restaurants do not. The pad thai color was very pretty but the taste wasnt that good. I would say too sweet. And if i had to choose the beat pad thai it would definitely have to be sabay. My nam tok moo noodles were good and a very decent portion. Overall i would go back there to try other things.

I was sooo excited to try this new place out, especially after Nuch’s (formerly) five star review about all of the truly Thai dishes.
Overall experience: not bad. Definitely not the best Thai place around and definitely not the worst.
My dining partner Nuch P. was actually disappointed this time around with her order of fish chili stirfry. «Something was missing,» she said. I felt the same about my beef noodle soup. The noodles were too wide (yes, I asked for wide noodles. but I didn’t expect lasagna-​sized ones), the soup was too salty, and the flavors — especially for a beef stock made with coagulated beef blood, was unusually flat.
If it weren’t the first week for the restaurant, I would be more forgiving. But, the place is brand new and still trying to attract and maintain customers. Being «meh» so soon can be damaging.
Don’t worry, Paet Rio, I’ll be back and you’ll get another chance.