Tuk Tuk

Summary

As we’re exploring the Long Island City neighborhood, this was a pretty good find. It’s on Vernon Blvd where there are a ton of neighborhoody restaurants. About 2 blocks away is a park that is in vicinity of the Long Island City sign and lets you view Manhattan from the east.

This is just mango juice and thai tea. The mango juice tasted like it came from a can, so you can expect it to taste somewhat artificial. The thai tea tasted pretty good if you aren’t expecting anything out of the ordinary.

The papaya salad (som tam thai) came with green papaya, string bean, tomatoes, garlic, peanut in a chili lime vinaigrette. There was a nice kick to it, and it tastes like how it reads. It’s light, acidic, and crunchy.

The boat noodles came in a dark flavorful beef broth, sliced beef, Chinese broccoli, basil, rice noodles, and beansprouts. If you have never had this, it’s actually pretty good. I’ve always thought of this as the Thai version of the Vietnamese pho. The broth has a very distinct flavor, but I can’t quite describe it.

The soft shell crab came with rice noodles, minced crab, and some lime. This was the special of the day, so it appears it’s not on their regular menu. I love soft shell crab, and this one was pretty good. The noodles and flavor were similar to pad thai except much sweeter. The lime helps break it just a tad. Just a note though, the minced crab meat wasn’t cleaned fully. There were little bits of shell still there, but I am not going to penalize the restaurant too much. Some argue that’s good keratin. I think though that the Topaz Noodle Bar does a better job with soft shell crab dishes, but this one still is fairly decent.

The meal overall was not expensive and pretty decent for the area. Service was fast and attentive.

Final Verdict

This is a very decent Thai restaurant in the Long Island City neighborhood.

Yelp Jabs

Be mindful that 20% tip added to parties of 6 & more.

Yes, that’s usually what restaurants do with 6 or more.

I’ve been a very loyal customer for years but today they told me there is a new $20 minimum to deliver to my office address (0.5 miles away). How is anyone supposed to order that much food for lunch? I guess they no longer want to offer delivery. I’ve always tipped well but will no longer order from here anymore. Shame, because the food is very good.

They probably lost money delivering to this Yelper’s office even with the tip. But you know, usually Yelpers throw common sense out the window when they review.