Tuk Tuk
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 neighborhood 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. We’ve been here a few times, and we always notice a decent amount of locals that continue to stop by. It’s relatively easy to eat here without needing to make a reservation.
Ambiance & Service
The interior is very no-frills and feels like a spacious mom & pops type of restaurant. A tuk tuk is basically the three-wheeled open-air vehicle that transports people around. My partner had rode one of these when they were in Thailand. There is a section in the restaurant where you can see a cutaway of this.
Otherwise, the area is very open with lots of room, and the service is extremely fast.
Food
October 18, 2018 - First Visit
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.
March 1, 2025 - Second Visit
The Homemade Lychee Soda ($5.5) tasted like sparkly water with lychee syrup. It was notably balanced and refreshing.
The Thai Iced Tea ($5) tasted like all the other Thai iced teas with a bit more condensed milk in it.
The Som Tam Thai ($11) was a green papaya salad with string bean, tomato, garlic, and peanut tossed in chili lime vinaigrette. Just like our first time, the papaya salad was consistently delicious. We asked for mild spicy, and it didn’t have much of a kick at all.
The Shrimp “Nam Prik Goong Sod” with Thai Omelet ($18) came with fiery shrimp-chili dip made with fermented shrimp paste accompanied with spinach omelet, steamed veggies, and Jasmine rice. This was rated as a very spicy dish, but they were able to make it mild for us. The flavor is in the fermented shrimp paste, but everything else was relatively bland with no seasoning. The Thai omelet did not have much seasoning in it either, so it was just not exciting to eat by itself.
The Mee-Kiew-Hang Noodle ($18) was a Thai street-food favorite, made Bangkok-style with egg noodles, chicken wontons, roast pork, bok choy, and ground peanut. It was served with lime vinaigrette. This was pretty good. The egg noodles were lathered with some sort of peanut like sauce and was seasoned well with the lime vinaigrette.
Final Verdict
This is a very decent Thai restaurant in the Long Island City neighborhood. The meal overall was not expensive and pretty decent for the area. Service was fast and attentive.
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.
Revisions
- Mar 1, 2025 - Second visit.
- Oct 18, 2019 - Initial revision.