Gong Modern Thai Dining

Amazing Tom Ka soup! Overall though a bit pricey… but it is great food.

This place is 3 blocks away from my apartment, and so I decided to pop in for dinner. It’s surprisingly nice inside — a great spot for a casual date or to chat with a friend. It was a wednesday night and not busy at all.
The food was surprisingly affordable. We had two entrees and an appetizer for under $ 35. The food was good. My pad kee mow wasn’t quite spicy enough, but I was able to get some hot sauce that made it perfect. My friend had a huge bowl of soup, and he reported good things.
It gets 4 stars because the service was pretty bad. One woman was working the entire restaurant, but because it was pretty empty and quite small that really shouldn’t have been a problem. It seemed like she may have been distracted by orders that were coming in for delivery. I frequently had to waive her down.
But, overall a good experience. I’ll be back.

Good food and atmosphere.
I went for a late lunch and got the pad see ew and a side of jasmine rice. It was really good and I was so full from the main dish that I barely touched my rice. If you’re in the area definitely worth checking out.

been here a bunch of times, latest about a week ago. its always good. i went 4 stars though b/​c i think its just a little bit overpriced, or maybe its just that i think u should get a little more for what you pay.
either way, i’m a big fan. pad thai w/​shrimp and the dumpling or skewer apps. yum.

My earlier review stands. Their tom yum soup, papaya salad, and pad kee mao are excellent. I love them so much that I never order anything else.
Relying on other diners’ comments their curries are very good as well.
We have been coming here since 2009 and the food is consistently excellent.
Again, this is for dining in, not take out.

There’re many Thai places near 96^th St where I live, and I’ve been ordering from several of them for a few months. It’s very hit or miss.
One day we decided to go uptown, just 3 blocks, to Gong. It’s indeed a good find. The place is small but airy and cozy, located on a quiet block. Early on a Saturday night, there were mostly couples.
The service is straight-​forward, no-​frill. The menu is small and food very decent. The fried banana and ice cream dessert is delicious.

Just had chicken pad see ew from here. I’m so impressed! It’s flavorful. Not bland, not too salty. I’ve been in the UES for a which is full of Asian take out places that aren’t particularly good. Gong totally surprised me. Will order from here again.

This was our last stop during my NY trip. All we wanted was to get a quick dinner and be on our way.
Our party of 5 waited 20 mins for someone to take our order. We would understand if it’s busy, but there was only one other couple who was already eating. A party of 3 came in and somehow got their order in and their food arrived before us. 30 mins after ordering, the other party had already finished eating and paid. Our food still hasn’t came out. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. Finally another 15 mins passed and our food came out.
Food wise, I enjoyed it. The portion was just right for my pad see ew. Thai tea was very good. My friend ordered steak at medium well and received an overlooked inedible piece of charred meat. To be fair, the waitress offered to have the dish remade or any other order.
After finishing our dinner, our bill took 15 mins to come to us.

This place is absolutely adorable! First off, it’s not right on an avenue, so it unfortunately can easily be missed. After trying this place out for their lunch special with a friend, I can honestly say I fell in love. First off, the outside is a bright yellow and so welcoming. The inside is tiny, but in a nice cozy kind of way, not in a claustrophobic way. The waitress was nice and our orders were done promptly. For the lunch special options, you get an appetizer and an entrée that varies from $ 8.25-$ 10.25. I myself got the spring rolls which came with two spring rolls and a plum sauce, and the shrimp pad thai as my entrée. The shrimp does cost a little more than the chicken or beef pad thai, but it was worth it considering the shrimps were pretty big. For such a great deal, great service, and a cute restaurant, this is the place to go for Thai food. I highly recommend.

If you are looking for good Thai food in the UES/​lower east harlem, this is it!
The restaurant is really tiny, but the food is fantastic! We sat at one of the window side tables, which was nice and kept us cool during dinner. The portions are extremely generous, and filled up even the two voracious boys we were dining with!
I got the pad thai and shared a papaya salad with my roommate, who got a red curry with vegetables that I also tried. Everything was really flavorful and exactly what I would have wanted from my Thai food. The price is also really reasonable as well, especially for the size of the entrees. For those who are interested in the papaya salad (which you should be!), just be aware that it is a little spicy, so if you can’t handle the heat you should probably stay away from this appetizer.
The service is friendly, although I don’t think the servers speak great english, so you may have to repeat yourself a few times just to prevent any miscommunication.
I will definitely be back if I am in the area!

I caught an allergic reaction in this restaurant due to them mixing the cooking utensils. I ordered chicken meal, and my friend ordered shrimp meal. I am allergic to shrimp, so they must of mixed his food and my food with the same utensil. I would not recommend this restaurant to anyone who has food allergies. I would never eat here again as this is unsanitary.

Decent place, however food is generally not spicy and a little sweet. Will return if in the area though.

Unexpected gem hidden on a street.
Lovely dinner — really delicious. Would definitely go again.

This is a cute, unassuming spot hidden up in the 90s. I went n a weekday and they had quite a few customers.
Prices are great– about $ 10-​$ 15 for a dish. I tried the ginger lemon tea, which was way too sweet for me. You can get it hot or cold. For my main dish, I had chicken wok-​fried in siracha and oyster sauce. It was not spicy at all… maybe they should put more sirracha. I paid extra for brown rice and they gave me som sort of brown rice/​red bean mixture kinda thing, I don’t exactly know what it was but it was DELICIOUS and made me feel less guilty about stuffing my face with rice becuase it was semi «healthy».
If I am in the area again, I do intend to be back!

We started off with the chicken curry puff. It comes with a cucumber chutney and a sweet chili sauce. I loved it! Although we were expecting more than just one large puff. But nonetheless it was yummy.
For the entrees we had the wok sautéed sauces. I got the garlic oyster sauce, which tasted just like it sounds. I love garlic so loved it. And my bf got the sriracha, sweet chili oyster sauce which tasted exactly how it sounds. Sweet with a little sriracha kick.
And I got the Thai iced tea which is fabulous because it wasn’t overly sweet like MANY other places.
Definitely, would go again.

It’s not the best Thai food I’ve ever had, but it hit the spot on a cold day in NYC.
The ginger honey tea was kind of… assaulting…to the taste buds if you don’t like invigorating teas. My sister and I each ordered lunch specials. She had the pad thai with beef and I had the kee mao with chicken. They were both reasonably tasty, but not anything I’d write home about. A little on the greasy side.
The place is crazy small but relatively empty around one pm on a weekday. I’d come back if I were in the area and craving Thai, but wouldn’t go out of my way.

My husband and I love this local Thai restaurant. When people visit us, this is a great place to drop by for a meal. Located in a small, unassuming location, this restaurant can probably only house about 20 patrons.
Lunch specials include some of their best dishes + an appetizer. I highly recommend the fried chive cake, as it is definitely something I have not seen before.
I am a huge fan of the pad see ew, and my husband pretty much loves all of their curries. Flavor and value of their dishes are great. Everyone we bring here loves it!

If I could give ZERO stars, I would. Terrible customer service. I’m a little shocked because we have come here plenty of times. But this place is officially off my list.
We came and ordered the lunch prefix on a bone chilling January saturday. The prefix came with an appetizer and entrée. When the spring rolls arrived they were hard as rocks and went flying off the plates when my boyfriend cut them with a knife. So needless to say they were on the floor. When the waitress came to us, I told her what happened and all she said was, «YEA… I saw.» Okay, can you bring a new one since they fell? Her reply, no sorry, we can’t. But it fell on the floor because they were so hard to cut. Her response, Well they’re not for cutting. And she walked away. Mind you we were the only people in the restaurant. Waitress was wearing glasses, had a hat on and had short black hair.
Oh and my shrimp salad which I ordered from the regular menu came with 3 shrimps which were cold and were supposed to
be grilled. Very disappointing. Never coming back here and if you’re reading this you shouldn’t either.
I was never enchanted with this place to begin with, but came because my bf liked it. Now WE will never return.

In short, get the pad thai. They serve a generous portion of it, and it’s flavorful and not overwhelmed by bean sprouts.
The peanut braised Indian trait curry with chicken was served… cold. Asked to have it reheated… was brought back cold. I suppose they prepared that dish first and left it out to serve all our dishes at once. The chicken was rubbery and the vegetables were flavorless. They had boiled or steamed the veggies and chicken together, then poured the peanut curry on top, so it’s up to you to mix everything together.
Also tried the massaman curry with beef, and the beef was like leather jerky.
The pumpkin custard was delicious, but I’d skip the coconut sticky rice. It’s just flavorless sticky rice with sparse coconut milk drizzled across.
Waitress was also very inattentive and seemed to have her head in the clouds. Place is rather small, with approx. 6 tables seating an average of 2 – 4 people each.

3.5 stars. Came here with a large group, they were pretty accommodating (but it was a Thursday night).
Nice, little place, clean and nice décor. Here’s what we had:
–Thai wings. These were okay, and only 5 for the price. Not bad, but not great.
–Pad kee mow. Pretty good, it was good and hot, but needed some more spiciness.
Unfortunately, for our large group, the food came out at different times. This was probably our fault, but still — I’d finished my food before some others had theirs.
Friendly service. Overall good.