The Hungry Penguin
Nothing says “I should have just stayed home and eaten Christmas leftovers” like a cold crab rangoon. Unfortunately, I don’t mean cold as in lukewarm, like when you cook something and it just sits out too long and cools off – I mean cold, like when you take something frozen and drop it in the deep fryer, but your oil isn’t hot enough or you didn’t cook it long enough, because the outside is crispy but cool to the touch and the inside gives a barely-defrosted vibe. If not for my partner suggesting that I throw them in the air fryer for a couple minutes, these crab rangoons would have been downright crabby.
The other appetizer we got was some sort of tofu thing, which was OK – not great, not bad.
For our main dishes, I had the yellow curry and my partner got the pad thai. The flavor of the curry itself was pretty good, but I think there’s some false advertising in the spice level selections. I ordered “spicy” and didn’t detect even a single Scoville unit. In my experience it’s not uncommon for Thai restaurants to nerf their spice levels on takeout orders, and I know this is Massachusetts, where spicy food goes to die, but please at least give me a few red pepper flakes or something.
The veggies in the curry were hit or miss – the green beans and bell peppers were overcooked and sad, but the carrots, pineapple, and potatoes were good.
And then we have the pad thai. Visually, it looked unappealing, and although I didn’t try it myself, my partner said that it was really not good. Judge for yourself from the attached photo. Maybe the restaurant just really tried to cram a lot of food in the container and that’s why it looks like a giant blob of undercooked noodles. Or maybe it was a giant blob of undercooked noodles. And the shrimp were so small that we couldn’t even find two of them until the next day.
Finally, and this is just a general beef I have towards businesses that only do takeout — please just stop with the tip begging. Raise your prices if you need to so that you can pay your staff properly, but don’t ask your customers to voluntarily pay extra when a) they don’t even know to whom that money is going, and b) there’s no actual “service” being provided beyond putting some containers in a bag.
… moreKathryn Sullivan
Praya Thai is a lovely hidden gem! I stopped by while waiting for my tire change and I’m so glad I did. Jackie was so kind and helpful. I had the summer rolls (so fresh and delicious) and the chicken/shrimp pad Thai which was fantastic. I also had a Thai tea that was perfect.
… moreLaurel Kayne
Fabulous food and the nicest owner! She went out of her way to get a lunch together for me with tight timing, for an event at the New England Forestry Foundation in Littleton. Every dish was delicious, and the feedback I got from meeting attendees was “Everyone LOVED the food!” We got pad Thai with shrimp, tofu drunken noodles, veggie basil fried rice, veggie dumplings, summer rolls, papaya salad… all so good! It’s a great local option, especially when you’re looking for vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free options. We’ll be back for sure.
… moreJ O
We got 2x spicy pork drunken noodles . It was delicious and came with a great variety of vegetables. Noodles were so good.
… moreRuby Goldbaum
My new favorite place for thai food i was going to take a picture of my chicken curry noodle soup but it was SOOOOO freaking good I ate all of it before I could get the chance! the thai tea was amazing as well and I am so excited to have my pad thai tomorrow Thank you Jackie!
… moreDavid Laws
This was our first time, and we didn’t know that it was basically takeout only. So we ordered on the spot (the person behind the counter was very informative and had some good suggestions) and waited around for the food to be done, which wasn’t long. I ordered the yellow curry and my wife got a Thai salad that the person suggested. Both were delicious, with really big (almost too big!) proportions. I’ve eaten at a lot of Thai restaurants both in the US and abroad, and this relatively small shop that I had passed by multiple times without ever noticing it turned out to be one of the better!
… moreKathleen Homsab
The salad rolls were fresh and delicious, packed with vibrant flavors and crisp ingredients. The drink was incredibly refreshing, the perfect compliment to the meal. I’d definitely comeback to explore more items on the menu!
… moreDa C.
I’m very disappointed with the “Ubon Noodles” dish. I expected it to resemble Khao Piak, a dish I loved in Thailand. However, what I received was nothing like it.
To make matters worse, when my husband picked up the food, the lady wearing glasses offered him a job as a chef without asking his career background. I found this pretty strange and inappropriate.
… moreMary Brayton
This was our first time eating here. We ordered Pad Thai, yellow curry and scallion pancakes and my fiancé exclaimed this was his top 5 Thai restaurant. That says a lot because he loves Thai. The owner said to let her know how we liked it so here we are. Delicious!
… moreKate
This was our first order with Praya Thai, but it definitely will not be our last. The food was delicious and the servings were generous. I ordered Rama Garden and hubby ordered Spicy Chicken Cashew and we were both very happy with our choices. Their menu has many gluten free choices that are clearly marked. Our only glitch was that hubby ordered brown rice and we got two jasmine rice. It won’t keep us from ordering again!
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