Zabb Elee

I’m genuinely shocked that this place has such a low average rating. I was in last night, and thought the food was excellent.
We ordered the following:
DINNER
1. Crab papaya salad: delicious, and much bigger than we’d anticipated. The crab elevated the flavor profile of the salad, and the flavor was bright and punchy. We went with medium-​hot for this, which was the perfect move.
2. Pork namtok: pretty good, although for me, it was the bottom of the pack between the three main course dishes (this was, however, only because the papaya salad and pla rad prik were so good).
3. Pla rad prik: whole fish should always be a part of your meal at an Asian restaurant, if they offer it. This was a stunning dish, both in terms of its presentation (it comes on a huge plate, which was a little concerning for two people) and its flavor profile. I’ve actually never had anything quite like it at a Thai restaurant. The crispy skin, flaky flesh and tangy-​spicy sauce were a perfect combination. Of all the dishes we ordered, this would be my recommendation for a must order.
4. Sticky rice to go with the main dishes: cooked well, and not overly dry (which is sometimes a problem with sticky rice)
DESSERT
1. Mango sticky rice: you can’t go wrong with this, honestly. With that said, the mango here was perfectly ripened, which I appreciated — it’s hard to find perfectly ripe mangos!
All in all, definitely a place I’ll consider coming back to!

I am not going to lie. When my wife chose Rabb Elee as our restaurant for the evening I was not excited. When I saw the sign proclaiming its Michelin rating I got a little more excited, and figured my wallet would be angry, but… details.
The food was terrific. My wife went safe with pad thai, which was excellent. I went with crispy pork over rice and it was also delicious.
Friendly and polite service. Good food and fair prices all make me want to return again. I hope to make a stop during my next visit to Manhattan.

Service was fantastic, we were the first customers to arrive for lunch. Waitress was very attentive and very helpful in choosing our spice level. Food was amazing and the mixed papaya salad was to die for. It was just the right amount of spice, but people not use to spice may find it overwhelming. Overall we enjoyed the food and the atmosphere, can’t find anything to complain about.

Authentic, delicious, SPICY food!!! We ordered a few dishes that were so flavorful, so spicy, that I had tears of joy in my eyes :) Crab papaya salad: I would get the regular one instead. Duck larb was nice. Swamp cabbage was amazing. Fried pork was to die for! Go an have a blast, I highly recommend it.

Went with a couple of friends earlier this week. The menu is difficult to understand off the bat so we had our waiter explain what the different sections were. He was very helpful and methodical and made solid recommendations. We got the chicken larb, a sweet pork sausage dish, a crispy pork and veggie dish and the chicken lemongrass soup. Ironically I thought the 2 chicken dishes were the best and was expecting the pork to be amazing. The crispy pork was incredibly tough and chewy but it had good flavor. My friend really liked the sweet pork but it wasn’t my thing. Too many onions.
The lemongrass soup was amazing. It was light and incredibly flavorful. It provided a good balance to the other, denser dishes. The larb was phenomenal. My group eats pretty spicy but knew this was going to be intense so we ordered everything medium spicy which was perfect.
We weren’t in the mood for cocktails but they look fun. I had the Malbec. It was ok. Will go beer or cocktail next time.
I’d come back here for sure. The menu is really extensive.

The crispy Thai pork is a must order!

Food
Papaya salad with crab was the best dish. The crap is raw (pickled) and not cooked.
Morning glory vegetable was a small dish and not worth $ 12.5. The dish was also too salty.
Fried fish was good. It’s a sweet and sour flavor.
Drunken noodle with beef was OK. Nothing special.
Service
Thai people in general are friendly people. Did came quickly.
After tip the four dishes was $ 85, which is pretty hefty for Thai food. Food was decent but not with the lofty price.

Aren’t they tired of winning! :) Too good! Delicious, tasty and authentic Thai home cooking. Revisited this week and better than before. Mango salad, duck larb, basil shrimp and fried curry red snapper were all great. Good times as usual.

Deliciously authentic Thai food. Ordered the duck larb, seafood vermicelli salad, and fried pork *drool*
The flavors were spot on and took us right back to our time in Bangkok. Will definitely be back for the next fix.

A friend recommended this place so my friends and I decided to come the past weekend and try it out.
Décor is okay nothing special.
Pad Thai was surprisingly good and not as sweet as other Thai places — definitely one of the better dishes this meal. Pork neck was really good too, would def come back for this.
Duck stew was terrible they should specify on the menu that it’s a whole duck with bone. The cook and seasoning was off and I could taste that very specific duck meat flavor. It kind of put off my appetite tbh. Also crab fried rice was a little soggy and very mediocre.
Overall price was reasonable (~$ 75) for four dishes but the food didn’t blow me away. Try it out if you’re in the area. I probably wouldn’t make it a trip just to eat here though.

What a cute place!
Got a reservation for a large group of us (15) on a Tuesday evening without a hitch. We took up half the restaurant. Food was delicious, quick and spicy. Their vegetarian dishes are surprisingly tastier than their meat dishes.
Some highlights:
Sticky rice. So good!
Be sure to specify how spicy you want the food to be. Thai food can get very spicy!
Kao Moo Dang — Super flavorful!
They don’t have many dessert options — but the nearby area has so many to check out. Get your savory here and head out for some sugar!

Don’t order delivery. Especially if you are hangry. I ordered at 6:46 PM via
and the food did not arrive until more than an hour later. When I called on 7:30 PM to ask for a status check, the person who picked up the phone spoke very accented, hurried English that you could barely understand. He said something along the lines, «Very important for us for you to wait.» And then just hung up. I called back again on 7:46 PM and made sure I was much more insistent for an answer and the same person picked up the phone. When I asked for a specific range of time, the man said «I don’t know.» I asked him, «You can’t give me number?» And he said NO! He had no idea when my food was going to arrive. Useless.
My food eventually arrived 10 minutes later (7:55 PM) and my disappointment in Zabb Elee continued to grow. The swamp cabbage is my favorite vegetable but Zabb Elee destroyed the dish. It was way too oily and it came with day old, dried pork belly. You couldn’t even bite through the pork belly! It was extremely tough. The vegetable itself was also old and did not taste fresh at all. WORST OF ALL, for almost $ 13, you were barely given any vegetables. They definitely short change you with their service, freshness of food, and quantity.

I walked in for takeout last night, and asked the woman who took my order to substitute ground beef for their standard crispy pork with Chinese broccoli over rice.
When I opened the package at home, it was sliced beef, and tasted strange.
I returned and the waitress approached me with an angry look, asking «What’s wrong?»
When I explained, she stalked to the back with the order (I followed) and went into the kitchen.
No apology, no nothing. (I think it might have been a language thing when I ordered, but still.)
This time, I checked the order before I left, but felt humiliated at the way I was treated.
I won’t be going back, and I won’t recommend this place.

Food was excellent. According to my friend whose travelled a lot, this place taste authentic and accurate as it would if you were eating in Thailand.
We had the pad Thai, and traditional soup. The soup is very large so it’s great to share. We were full on that. The pad Thai was nice and not heavy. I haven’t had it like this before. The soup was amazing ! Highly recommend this place. Open until 10:30. It’s cute and small. They don’t try to make it look heavily cultured but it looks classy and clean.

I really would give this place more stars, but I’m having a hard time not associating me getting sick right after coming here.
I met up with a friend here for dinner. Since we were kinda celebrating his belated birthday, I had him pick the place. So, we came across this place. It has a very romantic yet casual feel to the place. I love thai food, so I was very pleased with the affordable prices.
I ordered the shrimp pad thai and he ordered the black noodle dish. Both, I thought were amazingly yummy-​especially mine. Mine was $ 15, but only because I splurged on the shrimp. It was a huge portion too, yet since I hadn’t eaten that much that day, I ate it all.
Overall, my friend and I really enjoyed our time here. It was just very unfortunate that I happened to get really sick (not sure if it’s totally associated with the food I had here, but I rarely get sick) right after coming here. I probably should have chosen a lighter meal then the heavy pad thai noodles. Who really knows, but all I know is that I won’t be having Pad Thai again in a very very long time.

Best dish I had here was the basil shrimp. It was amazing. Small portion.
The Moo Yang (marinated beef) was extremely overcooked and tough.
Neither of the dishes come with rice so make sure you order one if you’re hungry.
For corn in warm coconut milk was gross. The corn kernels were hard and there was a bit too much ginger in the dessert.
Next time I come back, I’ll try other dishes and avoid the desserts.

I’m all about good Thai food when it comes to authentic papaya salad. I’ve been to Zabb Elee a few times especially for their Papaya salad, Lao style, of course. & their papaya salad does hit the spot! I’ve been to both locations in the East Village and Queens. Both locations just as good.
I love the white interior for the East Village location. It is extremely small but they do offer a few seats at the bar. Service is decent, sometimes it can be a little offhand.
The food here is delicious. If you’re an adventurous type and can handle your spice I would definitely recommend coming here. I love getting all my dishes EXTRA spicy (modify the spice however you like) Be aware the portions are pretty small so do yourself a favor and order some of their specialty dishes!

#I like how this Thai restaurant isn’t the regular run of the mill NYC Thai restaurant. It’s not just #Pad Thai and Pad See Ew. Actually, I’m not sure they even have those. I’m looking at their menu right now.
The #Pork Leg Stew was interesting. Had some fatty parts and pig hair on the skin, but the meat was tasty and #tender. I think this is more of a dish to share family style and eat with rice. I wish I had friends… and rice.

As other Unilocalers have mentioned, this is an interesting place and very different than your ‘traditional’ Thai restaurants. You’ll find an array of different noodle, rice, and curry dishes, but very complex and made with different ingredients than most of the other spots in the city.
A couple of friends and I were meeting down in the East Village and decided to come here for dinner one night. Our service was pretty lousy. Putting aside the language barrier (I’m Indian and am used to it), our waiter was not pleasant and did not answer our questions properly. We simply asked for recommendations and what vegetarian food he would recommend, but he didn’t say much except that they have tofu and vegetarian duck. The menu is pretty complex and difficult to read/​understand, especially if you’re vegetarian, so we wanted to know what options we had.
My friend ended up getting this curry dish with tofu and I got this broccoli and veggie duck dish, and we ordered a side of rice. My veggie duck dish was small, yet filling. There wasn’t much sauce to it, so it was a bit dry. There was NO broccoli! There were chunks of veggie duck and some greens, but that’s it — no other veggies or sauces or flavors. It was very interesting and honestly, I did not enjoy it. My friend mentioned that her curry dish was really watered down and didn’t taste well — salty.
Our other friend eats meat and he ordered chicken wings and these pork meatballs — both of which he wasn’t satisfied with. If he had to pick, he enjoyed the chicken more than the pork — they looked like small clay balls and were flavorless.
Overall, not a great impression of this place. The service and the food left us unsatisfied and if you’re vegetarian, definitely don’t come here.

I am by no means an expert on Thai food, but this food here tastes pretty authentic. However, many of the dishes are spicy, so I would not recommend coming here if you can’t handle your spice.
I was fortunate enough to come with a large group, and we were able to try many dishes.
There are a few dishes I left because I can’t remember the name and they weren’t particularly memorable in taste or appearance.
Thai Iced Tea with milk– Good, but a tad too sweet
Lychee Thai Iced Tea– Was slightly acidic. An interesting drink, but I prefer the regular Thai Iced Tea.
Pad Ped Moo Krob– This was very spicy, to the point where the spice overpowered the taste of the other ingredients and flavors.
Mix papaya salad– Okay, nothing too special
Larb-​Okay, but didn’t taste like much.
Mango sticky rice– delicious! This is hands down my favorite dish here.
Overall, the food here was alright. Nothing really stood out besides the mango sticky rice. The service was great and the waiter we had was very accommodating. The food was served in a timely manner. I left feeling unsatisfied however, I may come back and give this spot another go.

Un restaurant tailandès molt bo i barat. Està a l’East Village. Les cambreres són molt amables i t’estant molt a sobre. Aneu en compte amb els plats són bastant picants. Vaig demanar un picant mitjà i tot i que van recomanar-​me un nivell més baix (que vaig acceptar) picava molt.