Best Thai in Queens
The ten best Thai restaurants in Queens for 2026, Elmhurst's Little Thailand strip, Jackson Heights, and the Woodside original that started it all, ranked by current editorial consensus, not nostalgia.
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- 1Elmhurst · $$ · Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av (7 E F M R) · 76-04 Woodside Ave, Elmhurst, NY 11373
The Isan specialist that turned a strip of Woodside Avenue most New Yorkers had never heard of into a citywide dining destination.
It picked up three stars from Pete Wells and a Michelin Bib Gourmand, but the real tell is that longtime Elmhurst regulars still line up for a table alongside everyone who read about it.
Order Larb ped, the duck salad with crispy skin and toasted rice powder
Go on a weeknight, weekend waits can run past 45 minutes even now that the group has expanded to three locations across Queens, Brooklyn, and Manhattan.
@zaabzaabnyc ↗Zaab Zaab
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- 2Woodside · $$ · 69 St (7) · 64-13 39th Ave, Woodside, NY 11377
The Woodside restaurant that taught New York what Thai food could be, years before khao soi or larb showed up anywhere else in the city.
Three-plus decades in, the backyard garden seating and the pork leg over rice still outperform most of what's opened since to compete with it.
Order Crispy watercress salad with pork and shrimp, or the northern-style khao soi
The garden seating out back only runs seasonally and is worth the extra wait over a table inside.
Photo: Jeffrey_Allen, CC BY 2.0 Photo: Jeffrey_Allen, CC BY 2.0 - 3Elmhurst · $$ · Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av (7 E F M R) · 77-08 Woodside Ave, Elmhurst, NY 11373
Elmhurst's reliable, oversized menu, the place that can feed six different appetites at one table without anyone settling.
It doesn't chase a single signature dish the way its neighbors do, and that range is exactly why groups keep booking it out.
Order Drunken noodles with the crispy whole fried fish
Order your papaya salad a notch below your usual spice level, the kitchen's 'medium' runs hotter than most.
Photo: Krista (Flickr user goodiesfirst), CC BY 2.0 Photo: Krista (Flickr user goodiesfirst), CC BY 2.0 - 4Elmhurst · $$ · Elmhurst Av (M R) · 81-10 Broadway, Elmhurst, NY 11373Map ↗verified 7w ago
A Michelin Bib Gourmand mainstay on Broadway that treats regional Thai classics as seriously as its flashier Isan-focused neighbors treat their specialty.
The catfish-mango salad and the mussel pancake show a kitchen willing to go deeper into the menu than the pad Thai crowd usually asks for.
Order Yum pla duk fu, the crispy shredded catfish and green mango salad
Reserve ahead for dinner on weekends, the small dining room fills fast once the Bib Gourmand crowd finds it.
@saranrom_nyc ↗SaRanRom Thai
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- 5Elmhurst · $$ · Elmhurst Av (M R) · 77-16 Woodside Ave, Elmhurst, NY 11373
A six-table Isan spot that critics single out for covering more of northeast Thailand's regional cooking than anywhere else in the city.
The whole fried tilapia and the blood-thickened khao piak sen soup go places most Isan menus on this strip don't bother visiting.
Order Whole tilapia with a side of khao piak sen soup
Cash or Venmo only, and it's BYOB with a small corkage fee, plan ahead before you sit down.
@hugesannyc ↗Hug Esan
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- 6Elmhurst · $ · Elmhurst Av (M R) · 85-03 Whitney Ave, Elmhurst, NY 11373
A cash-only, decades-old dining room decorated with seashells and glitter that locals still rank above places twice its size.
It has never had a website and doesn't need one, the crispy duck salad and heat-forward curries have carried it on word of mouth for over fourteen years.
Order Crispy duck salad with cashews, pineapple, and ginger
Bring cash, cards aren't accepted, and the tiny room seats only a handful of tables at a time.
Photo: Krista (Flickr user goodiesfirst), CC BY 2.0 Photo: Krista (Flickr user goodiesfirst), CC BY 2.0 - 7Elmhurst · $ · Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av (7 E F M R) · 76-20 Woodside Ave, Elmhurst, NY 11373Map ↗verified 7w ago
A steam-table rice-and-curry counter, what Thais call a raan khao kaeng, that has quietly been outcooking sit-down restaurants for over a decade.
Three dishes over rice for under $20 shouldn't taste this good, and the sour bamboo-shoot fish curry alone justifies the detour down Woodside Avenue.
Order Sour bamboo shoot fish curry with a side of garlic pork
Go before 1pm on weekdays, the best curries routinely sell out ahead of the dinner rush.
@khaokangnyc ↗Khao Kang
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- 8Elmhurst · $ · Elmhurst Av (M R) · 81-32 Broadway, Elmhurst, NY 11373
A one-dish shop built entirely around Thai-style Hainanese chicken and rice, executed so well it's since opened a second location in the East Village.
Skipping a menu to perfect a single ten-dollar plate only works if the chicken is genuinely this good, and it is.
Order Khao mun gai, poached chicken and rice with ginger broth on the side
It's fast and takeout-friendly, making it the move when the rest of the strip has a line out the door.
@eimkhaomunkai ↗Eim Khao Mun Kai
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- 9Elmhurst · $$ · Jackson Hts-Roosevelt Av (7 E F M R) · 77-01 Woodside Ave, Elmhurst, NY 11373
A Thai-Japanese hybrid that's anchored the Elmhurst strip since 2005, splitting its menu between a sushi bar and full-flavored Thai standards.
Running two cuisines under one neon sign for two decades without either one feeling like an afterthought is its own kind of achievement.
Order Duck curry alongside the crab meat fried rice
The sushi bar is a real second reason to go, not just a hedge for the one picky eater in your group.
@shallotnyc ↗Spicy Shallot
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- 10Jackson Heights · $$ · 82 St-Jackson Hts (7) · 37-70 79th St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372
One of the first restaurants in New York built specifically around Southern Thai cooking, still rare even in a borough full of Thai options.
The Southern curries, thinner, sourer, and hotter than the Isan and central-Thai food dominating Elmhurst, are reason enough to detour into Jackson Heights.
Order Kanom jeen gang tai pla, rice noodles in Southern-style fish curry
The weekday lunch special is a genuine deal: an appetizer plus a full entree for under $10.
@kitchen79nyc ↗Kitchen 79
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