Charm Thai (CLOSED)

Tom Yum Goong: I was looking for the lemongrass (the ingredient is listed in the menu) and after examining every piece of scallion, after turning every green pepper and, of course, after tasting every well measured sip of the soup, I still couldn't locate that mysterious ingredient. Also, why has the restaurant chosen to use the cheapest, the most tasteless and ugliest mushrooms for their Tom Yum, is beyond me. But at least the overall flavor of the Tom Yum was not too bad. Red Garlic Chili: It would be appropriate for many a Thai restaurant in NYC to print the sweetness level right next to the spiciness level symbol in their menus. It is important to realize that (oh, the quirkiness of English) "spicy" and "sweet" are NOT necessarily the opposites. The tamarind souse was way too sweet (pick any pure honey and multiply by a whole number higher than 1) and despite the "spicy" symbol in the menu, it had non of it. Non whatsoever. The dish as a whole had non of the Thai savory and spicy flavor -- it was more like taking a bunch of frozen shrimp and dumping them in pound of sugar, jam and honey. For a "dessert" I had steamed mussels: ever been to one of those deli buffets? At least the variety of their meat colors was more lively than the previous two dishes: from gray, through green to orange. There was nothing Thai in this dish. It looked as if someone ran out from the back door of the kitchen to the nearest buffet deli to grab it. The service: inefficient but nice. I had my "spicy" shrimp spiced up in the kitchen and was thankful for that. Most of the staff seemed pretty useless but they made up for the lack of costumers (Saturday late dinner time!) with their quite pleasant personae. Without them the place would be as dead as dead places could be. Tip them well folks!

I live on the other side of Manhattan but come here once a week. Steam dumplings are fabulous and I order the Mee Keow (sp?) chicken - wonderful dish.

I looked for a thai restaurant on Menupages.com and came across this one. I noticed all the good reviews and figured I couldn't go wrong. Since I live uptown, I had to take the subway (they won't deliver to my area). The food was delicious and I cant wait to sample a new dish the next time. I highly recommend it!

I order from here twice a week its one of my favorite restaurants on the UWS. The steamed dumplings (chicken) appetizer is incredible. I once ordered 3 of them as a dinner. The beef ordered in the peanut sauce (comes with broccoli) is an amazing taste combination. The food seems quite healthy to me too. I'm not sure how the peanut sauce is made but the beef and broccoli are both steamed. Highly recommended!

I'm used to disappointing Thai food in NYC, but this place was a pleasant surprise. As another reviewer mentioned, each dish had a distinctive and interesting taste (something you don't get in your typical pad thai factory), and was delicious. We had the seafood ravioli soup (full of roasted garlic, cilantro, and chives.. and delicious small ravioli, very good), an arugula salad (my friend's choice.. not really a Thai dish, but nicely done), a spicy flat rice noodle dish with beef (forgot the name - tasted good but perhaps a tad overcooked..), and the 'Jungle Curry', which was delicious, with an unusual, distinctive flavor. Aside from the slightly overcooked noodle dish (which still tasted great and which i'd have been happy to have gotten in a typical NYC Thai place), it was top notch. They clearly have someone in the kitchen who knows how to cook and cares about the food. Will definitely be back.

I was a fan right from the start. The service has improved, after a mishap with the chef they got him to come back, and the dishes have become more consistent in taste and quantity. The Charming Mojito, grilled scallops, and pad se-ew are all faves.

I just moved into the neighborhood. I love Thai and went to check out this restaurant. Ever since then, I've been going back. The food is delicious, the atmosphere is great and overall value is very good. I'd say this is the best Thai restaurant on the upper west side. I rated the service lower because they are a bit slow but if it means giving me a good meal, then I'm willing to wait. But the wait staff is very courteous and nice.