Gaw Gai Thai Express

I was a fan of the food here but their policies are getting ridiculous. Aside from being cash only in the store, they will not deliver unless you’re over $ 10 which used to be tricky because the prices WERE reasonable and you needed make your order meet the minimum. And they charged a $ 2.50 delivery on top of the minimum. And then you tip on top of that. Now they’ve not only increased all their prices but you still pay the $ 2.50 fee, plus tax and tip. So one meal here — a simple rice dish — for delivery is now around $ 17. Everything this establishment does is for the benefit of the owner, who I learned also owns Tuk-​Tuk. They lost my business over their greediness. I suggest ordering cheaper and equally as good Thai food (if not better) in Sunnyside, right around the corner. Will be posting this in Facebook pages that cater to LIC.

Order from work once a week, I can’t get enough of their Pad Thai. Never disappointed. Service is fast, nice and food is delicious. I had better Thai food but for the price you get what you pay for.

First time here, in the area for work. I must say this is a Thai TAKEOUT and there isn’t any service or anything. Everything is DIY. Food is mediocre — no option to adjust the spicy level — the spicy isn’t sufficient if you had Thai food from other restaurants. Their spice combination is short of flavor. Doesn’t hit you with the pungent aroma in actually Thai restaurants. Ordered the Pad Kee Mao — you can only have it with chicken. No restrooms, extra charge for everything and they even post to not be on your cellphone while ordering. Seems like this place is only good if you need a Thai fix, or you never had real Thai food and you believe this is as good as $ 8.50 can get you. Be my guest. So for real Thai food, do yourself a favor and go a bit further and try somewhere else.
Three stars for great attempt at flavor profile.

Gaw Gai is a good option for Thai in the Court Square area. The place is tiny — there are only a few tables, and it’s usually so crowded with people waiting to order/​waiting for their food that I wouldn’t recommend sitting anyway.
The food is decent and it’s usually ready pretty quick. They accept cash only, which boggles my mind in this day and age, but what can ya do? Plenty of ATMs nearby.

If you are ever in LIC, Queens, this eat in/​take out spot is a jewel. They have all the Thai staples that we have grown to love. The food is tasty, inexpensive and made to order. The service fast. The décor is clean-​nothing special, but they have a few tables and chairs if you want to stay and eat. They also do a brisk delivery business too.

Gaw Gai just recently started charging an 18% delivery fee when you place orders online. This goes directly to the restaurant and NOT to the drivers. I think this is ridiculous and will cause me to no longer order delivery from them. Bad move by the owner.

I’ve only done delivery here — they deliver to Roosevelt Island for a $ 5 fee (which goes to the delivery person). You have to call to place the order. Food always tastes fresh and delicious and I’ve never had a problem with delivery taking too long. Delivery options when you live on Roosevelt Island are few and far between, so Gaw Gai is def top two for me!

Curry puffs tasty… wish the portion was more than 2 though. Chicken satay was good. Cute and simple little restaurant. Would return.

Hands down the best pork chop I’ve ever had. Im looking forward to coming here again.

Decent Thai take-​out with option to dine-​in. Food came out relatively quick considering we stopped by for lunch around 2pm. As it was cash only, we stopped by an ATM outside. The attitude as noted by other Unilocalers is quite appalling. The two staff members did not budge from the register. The young male was too busy counting money to notice a line forming with customers. And, another young female that shot you dirty looks if you ask questions or make any comments. While the food is decent and spicy, it’s true that there are other Thai spots in the area. Portion wise is not bad for the price. They fill a plate full when you dine-​in. The place is a bit small and extremely regulated. Note the door sign and postings all over the place. A lot of No’s and not a whole lotta service. If you are in the area, this is a good spot for a quick lunch.

The food is pretty good, but their service definitely needs some improvement. I understand that the staff are under a lot of pressure during lunch time when they have so many customers, but at least you should put on a smile. But I seldom see them smile. Sometimes they even yell at customers. The other day I saw some customers were picking up their orders without knowing that they should also be in the same line as those who were about to order food. Instead of explaining nicely to these customers, one lady at the cashier counter started to yell, «one line only! one line only!» It sounded so rude. Probably they thought that they were doing a favor to customers for selling them food. They could have been nicer and more professional.

I always find myself here for lunch. It’s a good Thai food joint in LIC. The prices are reasonable, the services are friendly and the food comes out timely. The only thing that I hate is seeing that obnoxious sign of «rules». It’s so juvenile, I’m sure they can present it in a friendly manner.

The food is decent, especially since it’s a convenient spot near my job. HOWEVER, the 50 cent charge for plum sauce makes my blood boil. There’s a charge for just about everything besides a fork and napkins. The staff is usually friendly, they do save your information by phone number, so that is very convenient.
They’re also a cash-​only business (why are you charging tax?). I wouldn’t suggest that someone go out of their way to get to this place, but if you’re in the area and need a quick Thai fix, it’ll certainly get the job done.

Best Thai food in the city. Love the Basil Fried rice.
They close early so make sure you get your Thai craving out of the way before 9pm.

This off the beaten path Thai fast food joint is great! I’ve been here couple of times and even ordered dinner from them, and its always great. I do think you get a semi bigger portion when you dine-​in, but they seriously give you enough food.
Ordered the Yellow Curry noodle Shrimp with flat egg noodles with side of Sticky rice. This was authentically spicy and not toned down for the gaiw-lo’s. The noodles were stucked together when it arrived to my apt, but no matter, I had planned to eat the curry with the sticky rice anyways. The shrimps were giant, fresh and crunchy. The curry based was sweet but it was the right amount of spicy, YUM!
Another day, I was craving fried calamari and saw they had it as appetizer, so dropped by for a quick bite. It was $ 4.95, and it totally quenched my craving.
Coming back next time for their Roti Massaman!

I used to order delivery consistently from this place. Cheap ($ 8-​$ 9.50 for an entrée) and delicious Thai in the area, some dishes even had more flavors than Spice.
The quality of their food has gone downhill within these past few months. The green curry used to be fragrant, creamy, and spicy. Now, it tastes like watered down coconut milk with scraps of veggies and calamari. I wanted to give this place another chance so I ordered a handful of times afterwards.
Never again.

The food is okay, not bad. But the service and attitude is atrocious. Listen Gaw Gai Thai Express, you are not doing me a favor by selling me Thai food, I pay for the food, you serve me the food. I do you a favor by patronizing your establishment. But, no worries, I won’t do that again. There are more rules and so much stress involved with purchasing food from you guys that the ‘okay’ thai food is just not worth it. They do not take online orders except between certain hours, cash only, rules posted everywhere.
The numbers of rules posted are crazy, I never saw anything like it in my life. I took a picture of the first rule posted on the door and I was scared to take anymore pictures in case they tried to jump me. There is a rule that you cannot be holding a cell phone while placing an order.
Let me see if I can remember all of them… 1) No phone charging 2) No credit cards 3) no menus 4) no fake money (like, who posts something like that? does it really stop the counterfeiters?) 5) No restrooms 6) no harrassment 6) no talking on cell phone when placing order 7) no wi-​fi 8) do not ask for food in a take-​out bag and then sit down and eat it 8) no lime, only vinegar 9) internet orders between 11 am and 11:30 am only??? what the heck. Anyway, these are the postings I can remember, there are many more. The walls are covered with rules and also commentary about how, why and when you should talk, eat and the use of napkins and utensils. Just simply ridiculous.

Decent lunch special with a high price tag.
Portion is average.
I like the green curry duck, beef, and veggie duck.

When I first moved to LIC, I just assumed that Gaw Gai was the basic, poor substitute for Tuk Tuk. Not long after move-​in, Tuk Tuk shortened their delivery radius and I was left without their blessed roti.
I started ordering Gaw Gai more and more, and now find them to be a very reliable substitute. First — their pad see ew is quite wonderful. I am not a huge fan of Chinese broccoli but I happily devour every piece in that dish. We also really love their specialty rices — the Thai basil in particular is packed with flavor.
If I have any complaint, it’s that their curries could use refinement. While the flavor of the base is often great, the vegetables are often in gigantic chunks that make it hard to eat and less cohesive than one might want. For example, I like their massaman flavor a lot, but I will never want to eat a banana-​sized slice of onion.
That being said, they usually deliver very quickly and dishes have been even better in recent orders.

The trick with Gaw Gai is to order when they’re really busy (weekday lunchtime), or around 8:30pm, when they’re about to close. That’s when they’re most motivated to make food quickly, and it comes out freshest.
During those best hours, the pad see ew is the best in LIC by a zip code – take a hike, Spice. Just enough sweetness and plenty of blanched Chinese broccoli, big chewy noodles. And their prices don’t really change at dinnertime, so you can get a terrific dinner under $ 10.