Simply Thai Restaurant

Today is my anniversary! My wife wanted Thai but didn't want to go far. This place meets those requirements. I'm going to make this fast and then update in detail later. Basil chicken is legit spicy. I got watery eyes. The yellow curry is good. More details later.

This was a total of $60 for ridiculously small portion except the noodles. There’s like 5 pieces of meat in the red curry which btw isn’t even red like what it should look like. It’s mostly coconut cream and barely taste the fragrance of the spices. The eggplant is also overly saturated with oil and barely has good flavoring. This was extremely disappointing on top of the portion size for $15-17 a dish.

Simply Thai is a great family friendly place. The food is great and was customized to our preference. I wish the number of people servicing in the restaurant would increase as very little number of staff were serving so many tables. The cashew chicken curry and Tom kha gai were my favorites. Totally recommend it!

Nice ambiance, Tasty food with balanced flavors. They are short-staffed and a bit slow initially in taking our order, but the quick food service made up for it. Definitely worth a visit!

Service is quite disappointing and we'll never come back to this place. Both waiter and waitress are not patient and quite pushy. It's difficult to add a bow of rice because thy never walk over and check, and looks busy even there are only 2-3 groups in the restaurant. When we want to have boxes to go, the waiter gave us a paper box for the soup. I don't feel is welcomed by this restaurant and staff over there just want to push to order, eat and pay. And don't make trouble for them.

Come here every so often when I’m in the bay. The wings here are darn good!! Also head a few beers and a pad see ew

I've been coming here since I discovered this place back in 2021. It's by far one of my favorite Thai food places. When you get take out you get a generous portion and the flavor is so good. Our favorites are: Chicken Pad Thai (medium spice) Beef Pad Thai (medium spice) Beef Pad See Ew (no spice) Thai Tea Medium spice per my mom and boyfriend is pretty spicy for them and they have a higher tolerance for spice so pick the level you feel you can handle to try. Or get one level below what you normally like in case it's super spicy. They close online orders on Sunday and Mondays due to insufficient staff but it states that when you try to order. I've eaten here in person too and the staff is super nice and helpful. Go support them ! (:

This is my go to Thai restaurant. My favorite dish is the lunch special "Red Curry Prawn". I like the prawns simmered in coconut milk with red curry, and pineapples, tomatoes, bamboo shoots, peas, bell peppers, Thai basil. The red curry with coconut milk has a hint of sweetness, which I like it very much. By the way, you can choose the spicy level based on your preference (default spicy is medium). I like the Lunch Special version because it also comes with salad, fried spring roll and sour soup.

Skip the beef - twice we got it in curry and it was too chewy, not tender. Otherwise, flavorful curry and noodle dishes!

I always enjoy SIMPLY THAI when I am Newark. I often order the Pad See Ew, as it's one of my favorites. The ambience is very cozy and relaxing. The staff is very friendly and helpful. Simply Thai offers a variety of options -- the food is very flavorful and delicious. I would recommend this restaurant. I would definitely try something new next time!

This place is such a cute local Thai spot! Cozy atmosphere and super friendly service--the waiter was really attentive and made us feel taken care of the whole time. The food was delicious--fresh, flavorful, and hit all the right notes. I went with the hot spice level and let me tell you... it was spicyyy (just how I like it)! If you're a spice lover, you'll be in heaven. Definitely a great neighborhood gem.

Was trying to call her on a Friday night to order for pick up but no one would answer the phone. So I went to their website and put the order in but couldn't find any sticky rice, so I ordered papaya salad, and mango with coconut sticky rice. When I got there it was pretty busy which makes sense that they didn't answer the phone. I asked if they have sticky rice and they told me no, which is surprising that a Thai place doesn't have regular sticky rice! Papaya salad was nice and refreshing and a good portion. The mango was perfectly ripe but the sweet sticky rice that came with it was dry and barely had any coconut milk. Prices on the higher side. As busy as it was when I got there the worker was nice and seemed to handle the rush well.

My friend recommended Simply Thai to us since we were craving Thai food. We came on a Saturday evening and got seated quickly because they were not too busy. The restaurant was not too big, but it was clean and cozy. The staff was nice and friendly, too. They were helpful when we had questions about their menu and kept checking on us if we needed water refills. We ordered Red Curry Chicken, Tamarind Chicken Wings, Pineapple Fried Rice, Fried Banana With Chocolate, Fresh Rolls, and Sweet Sticky Rice with Fresh Mango. The red curry was delicious. It had some heat which I appreciated. The tamarind chicken wings and fried rice were also great. The wings were sweet, tangy, and sticky. The sticky rice was good, but the fried banana was a hard pass. It was okay; the batter was good, but the banana didn't taste fresh. Overall, my friends and I enjoyed our visit to Simply Thai. The service was great and the price was reasonable.

We usually gym next to this spot and were craving Thai food after the gym. We decided to try this spot and got our typical tom yum and pad see ew. The Chu Chee Ta Lay was by far my favorite. The owner was so nice and had great recommendations for next time. I really enjoyed my dinner here with my husband and can't wait to come back :) Also, the portions are huge!

Ordered takeout on a Friday evening by phone without issue. Food got home 30 minutes later piping hot and delicious. Serving sizes were massive and four dishes fed 5 people with leftovers. Shrimp Pad Thai - Came with 9 quite large shrimp. Deliciously citrusy and savory, must've had like 4 servings of this throughout dinner. Beef Pad Kee Mow - Beef was tender if a little dry, noodles were nice and chewy. Solid take on a Thai food staple. Chicken Basil Fried Rice - Good but nothing to call home about. Chicken was toeing the line between moist and dry, but overall was flavorful from the basil. Panang Beef Curry - No complaints! Beef was more tender than in the Pad Kee Mow and not very spicy. Craveable food. Will probably be back when we can't figure out what to eat for dinner.

Order three dishes to go last night for dinner and this is what I got. Ordering take out of three dishes for dinner used to yield more food. Based on the dishes being served in the restaurant it is not worth it to order take out here. Dine in is the only option here. Food tasted good as always but we had to go out for more food.

This is our local Thai place for years now and honestly we love it more than any other place we have tried recently. Their service is quick but more importantly the food is delicious and they give such generous portions!

We have been doing mostly to-go from here. Portion size is good and very flavorful Food. We have tried their flat rice noddles and curry. All were good.

Want to shout out the super friendly staff members. Very attentive and nice. Always smiling and helpful with the menu. Inside looks clean and well kept but just a tad bit cold inside today. First time here and the food is ok. Ordered lunch plates that averaged out around $15 each and came with a side of rice, salad, premade veggie spring roll. I like the peanut dipping sauce that they placed on the salad. Soup of the day was not good at all.... Sour soup that was not working well with whatever else they put in it. Decent portions on the proteins which was a good lunch size. Pad Thai was super hot and pretty ok. I really like how all the food came out piping hot though. Ordered the yellow curry rice plate. Flavor was super faint and I did not like the tomato and red onion additions to it. Would've loved yellow onions and no acidity from the tomatoes. All the food came out super quick! Green curry, eggplant dish were both decent as well. Can't really write much else for the food. It's super average. Again higher rating due to the awesome folks that work there. Wish the food just matched their energy. Will possibly come back to try out other foods.

Had a group lunch here for the holidays. We came just before 12 and were seated immediately. They had a $14.95 lunch special that included soup, salad, a spring roll, and rice. I ended up going with yellow curry chicken, mild. The meal was pretty standard. Nothing to write home about but still hearty and filling. I always get yellow curry chicken because I love the creaminess and richness that coconut milk adds, and this was the same. The chicken was a bit different for me though. Not sure how authentic it is but most places slice the chicken thin but this place left it as big chunks of thigh (I think). A lot more juicy but maybe not as easy to eat. Not a negative just something I noticed. It also had tomato chunks which I never see. The curry was still delicious. The soup was actually really good. I wasn't expecting much but it was like hot and sour soup, which was really nice on a cold day. It was more spicy than I was expecting so careful when you first take a sip! The salad had a refreshing peanut sauce which I'd never had before. The one thing I would say is the lunch size for the curry itself was a bit small for the price. And the spring roll was a little too mushy for me personally. There seemed to be limited staff (only saw 1 waitstaff and there was a sign stating they were short on staff) but service was great. Food came out quickly despite being a large group and we had no issues.

First time here. Thai is one of my favorite food. The server, I didn't get his name but he didn't give us a good customer service, seemed annoyed, annoyed it was short staff (the sign said) not just to my party but others as well. I understand your short staff but you have to do what you have to do. The food wasn't that great except the fried rice.

Food greasy, very small servings, and they often mess up orders as there is a guy who has trouble understanding orders. Definitely better places to go for Thai food in Newark.

This Thai spot is just average. The food lacks authentic Thai flavor, and overall, it didn't stand out. It's also a bit overpriced for the quality. I'd give it three stars--nothing more.

Love the food here. We usually get take out. 5 stars for tor food. If you do take-out, just be aware that this place seems to be running on a skeleton crew, so adjust your time accordingly. Our last pick-up order took 1 hour (online said 35-40 minutes but when I went to pick up, I ended up having to wait an additional 22 minutes--minus 1 star for the longer wait). Good food, just don't be in a rush if you go there or get take out.

Very authentic and refreshing food. Good ambiance and service! My favorite here is Panang curry and Basil Fried rice.

This place is a hit or miss. Food was bland with zero spice or flavor. My lunch special looked like leftovers scraped together, missing the bamboo shoots entirely.

It's been a minute since I have been here. Didn't remember until I saw an older review. The service has improved note there is a disclaimer at the door stating to be patient due to low staff. Seems like local Newark folks come to Simply Thai. There pad Thai wasn't bad but had some nick to it surprisingly. The yellow curry beef was not so good since it wasn't on the menu. We should have gone with the chicken the beef was a bit well done and huge chunks. We asked for mild as my mom didn't like spicy but waiter said there needs to be some not zero. There definition of mild is like a level 3. Decent Thai food in Newark and I'd definitely come back. Restaurant is spacious and has lots of table and parking was not an issue. Definitely a huge improvement from the last time I was here.

This is the place I usually go for for Thai food. The place is a bit pricier but staff is always friendly and stop by occasionally to fill up our water. Food is delicious and flavorful. One of the dishes we usually order is deep fried catfish, which is crispy and aromatic and perfect to pair with rice. I would recommend stopping by if you're craving Thai food.

I was just here for lunch. We got the lunch special where you get a soup, salad, eggroll and rice with your choice of protein.. We got our food fairly quickly but the soups came out late.. I was probably already 80% done by that time. I started to eat my soup until I saw something floating in it. It looked like a flower blossom or something. I inspect it closely and it was a cockroach the size of a sunflower seed with its legs dangling.. I call the waitress over and all the says is "oh no" and takes my bowl away. She still billed us after. I should have taken a picture.. So gross and turned off right now, I feel like I need to hurl. GROSS.

I just discovered this place and I loved it. I can order on their website and pick it up. Yummy food. Will definitely be going back.

Came here to celebrate Valentine's Day. Had the Tamarind Chicken, Pakistan Tak soup. Red curry beef, and sweet rice Mango dessert. Perfect combo. All was great. Will come again. Only issue was they were short staff, but they handled it well. Recommend this for a Thai meal.

The lunch specials were good. Nothing extraordinary, but not bad either. It came with one spring roll, salad, soup, curry and rice. Great assortment for the price we paid. The servers, however, insisted that we order ASAP. I didn't get it. We didn't arrive around their closing time. We reached at 12:15 on a weekday and it was moderately filled. The servers also didn't seem like they wanted to be there. But our food came out promptly. It was nice and we all left feeling satisfied. All said and done, it's a one-timer for me and I'd try other Thai places in the area before coming back here.

Fast service and generous portions. Got shrimp pad thai and ended up eating it for two days straight. Thank you!

Roommate and I ordered pad see ew with beef and bbq chicken to go from here. Food was eh. Noodles for pad see ew were good but meat not the best. Also the bbq chicken seemed somewhat bland. That being said I am not rating the food 2/5. Its probably closer to 3/5 stars for me. The real problem I have with this place is while eating the pad see ew I saw a hair in the noodles. Pulled it out and it was extremely long and has made the idea of eating from this restaurant again extremely nauseating. My roommate and I both have short hair so it cant have been ours. I recommend the restaurant have their employees working with food wear hairnets.

Double check your food before you leave! I got a takeout of pad kee mao with chicken as my protein. Given the food is good, but when I realized at home and almost done, I realized that there was no protein! At this point when I'm about done, I highly doubt they would do anything. So, learned my lesson. Check your food before you take it to go!

I just had to update my review since the last time we were here, all I have to say is that the food is soooo good and fresh! I didn't take pics of all the dishes we shared, but the rice with shrimp was so flavorable, the papaya salad (forgot the menu name) is refreshing, we had 2 chicken dishes, one with noodles and the other was with veggies, be careful with the spices, we had medium and it was hot lol, we also tried their roti bread, OMG, a cross between a homemade tortilla and fry bread. Please keep in mind that they are having staffing issues and we were so impressed that only one person was covering a job that easily could of been filled by 3 people. Give them a try!

I was in town for the day and started craving Thai food. Found the closest spot near me and ignoring reviews on Yelp. Personally liked to try for myself before judging. I was highly disappointed with my experience overall. First off, I ordered my food over the phone and clearly stated pad see ew w/ beef. Instead I got chicken. The lady over the phone even said it back to me. Pad see ew is the main thing I order when visiting most Thai restaurants. Now to the food, there's not as much meat as you expect. Definitely felt like I was eating way more noodles. Also, I ordered green curry which was good and correctly made. It contained chicken, eggplant, bell peppers and basil. No issues there. Smelled amazing! I want to give this place another shot so I'll be back down the road but for now, so disappointed.

I was debating between trying to Sala Thai or my good old spot simply Thai, ended up coming back to simply Thai. Always loved their food and their service. You can't beat their pad see ew

Our FAVORITE Thai place in the East Bay! Simply Thai has been our go-to for a very long time. The food is always fresh, tastes amazing and the service is generally quick. After having gone multiple times for dine-in, we now order to-go. The dishes that we get most of the times are: Crispy Veggies, Spring Rolls, Pad Kee Mow, Spicy Basil Fried Rice and Panang Tofu. From all of these the Pad Kee Mow and the Panang Curry are our favorites. Always perfectly made and spiced well. Be aware that they can make it super spicy if you like. So specify the spice level while ordering. They generally have the order ready in about 30 minutes and it is always super hot. Totally recommend this place for some delicious Thai food!

Service is Horrible.... so horrible i paid for my coke and got up and left. after i started ordering and the waitress started to make fun of my order and commented like wow more and then when i asked for spicy she would say how spicy and I had to ask twice. which she got frustrated about. so I walked down to Craby Craby was Greeted seated and fed with no attitude. DO NOT GO TO SIMPLY THAI.

I ordered all vegetables and tofu 45.00 2 fried tofu 20.00 1 sautéed veggie 14.95 cucumber salad the sautéed veggies came in medium soup bowl definitely a rip off I won't be going back check food before you leave. I called back the lady yd me somebody else complained but she doesn't know.

Bad service: I sat for a minute and the waitress came to ask if am ready to order. I said no and then, a couple of minutes later, she came and asked again. It's 3 or 4 times in a total of 3-5 minutes that she kept asking if I am ready... I don't speak Thai and I need time to understand the Menu! Bad food: I order a paneng lunch special. I can taste that the pepper was not fresh and went sour and bad.... After the meal: Another lady came with a fake smile and asked me if the food was ok with the bill in her hand. No one cares to ask while I was eating. I understand that they wanted to close the restaurant at 2pm. Then, she came a minute later and checked on the receipt to see if paid the tips yet and took away the dish after. It's rude IMO.

Consistently solid, nuanced delicious Thai food for nearly 2 decades- standouts are the fried catfish, Penang curry and noodles

The food was delicious and "mild" was plenty spicy for me. I'm traveling for work and eating alone so i appreciated the tasty recommendation and the close walk from the Marriott. If I lived closer I would definitely come back.

I love the food here and the employees are so nice! Great hospitality, a nice woman offered me a glass of water because I was waiting for my food in their restaurant. The decor is really nice too.

Delicious! We REALLY enjoyed the ground chicken basil dish, Tom kha, and the basil eggplant dish. The panang curry, pineapple fried rice were good as well.

The food was to our liking and we started going here a couple times. The last 2 times we repented we shouldn't have gone there. First time we had a piece of plastic in the soup & when we complained all we got was an apology. This time (today, 10/4/2024, 8 pm), the person that served our table was totally rude from the beginning we ordered our food. He seemed annoyed and was behaving very very rude to us. He was not ready to listen to our preferences for avoiding fish and oysters sauces and egg in the food. He then swapped our order and got something that we didn't order . We were offered an apology by the owner but didn't swap the food for the order that we made. Then there were no napkins and spoons offered and when asked was mocked by the service person. I then complained to the owner cum manager cum cook and all offered again was an apology. And gave us a cold drink as an apology that we promptly denied to take. We left the food as is and paid the money and came back. I said you lost a customer today and he said "thank you" . So please Beware when you go here .

I've come here many times, and absolutely love the food! This is just my opinion, but I find it much better than Sala Thai (there's actually no comparison even)... I've tried many dishes here, but my favorites are the drunken noodles, the green curry, the tom yum soup, and the green beans. Of course, you can't forget the thai tea. Everything comes out piping hot, and has a lovely authentic flavor. I'm giving it a 4 vs 5 since the spice level seems to vary every time I go. Sometimes the medium feels like a mild, and sometimes it's so spicy that the food is inedible. I wish the spice was more predictable. All in all, I'd still come here time and time again for those dishes. Truly amazing food, and I'd recommend it to everyone!

Always fresh and delicious. My go-to for Thai food for sure. Nothing is bad. I have loved everything I've had. We've been coming here for years.

*a review during the COVID-19 pandemic* It's sad that every review I've written for this place has gone down in stars. I could have given 2 stars but I felt like 1 star reflected the whole experience and situation better. I was craving Thai food for lunch and so my family and I were going to order takeout from here. When we went to the website to place an online order like usual the website wasn't working. Instead, my aunt decided to give them a call to place the order so we would pick it up. The place had been open for about 15 minutes when she called. An employee picked up the phone and when my aunt told her she wanted to place an order for pickup the employee told her that all takeout orders had to be placed online. My aunt then told her how the website wasn't working but the employee still said the order had to be placed online. My aunt then told her that we were going to pick another place for lunch. Like, why would you answer the phone if you weren't going to take an order if someone wanted to place one? I was still craving Thai food so I suggested having it for dinner at the same place to give it another chance. We decided to eat there because it was in the middle of the week and I figured it would be quicker to eat there and have a bigger portion size (like all take out, it feels like you get less when you get food to go). When we got there it was packed and there was only one waitress on the floor taking orders. It was frustrating waiting for her to take our order and just watching her run around. I thought I was going to watch her fall and it literally felt like I was watching the game Diner Dash. It was obvious they were short staffed but even then they still kept letting people be seated when she obviously could not handle how many dine-ins there were already. She was overwhelmed and the way the food came out for each party seemed inconsistent with who ordered first. We eventually got our food an hour after we were seated and a lot of it was lukewarm to cold. We ate our food quickly since we were starving and we paid at the front and left ASAP. We were tired and ready to leave after the horrible experience. I understand many restaurants are short-staffed right now but they need to limit how many people can dine in if they can't handle it. Every party I looked at who dined in that night was not happy. I can't even tell if the food was actually good since we were starving. It's hard to support businesses if they don't even care about their customers and use common sense.

Our go to Thai restaurant since moving to the area. Great food - excellent peanut sauce. Most of the menu is gluten and dairy free. Highly recommend the fresh rolls, Tom kha gai, Choo chee salmon, green curry...you know all of it is good actually.

Really delicious green curry! "Medium" spice has just a bit of kick to it, nothing overwhelming. The side salad is a bit lacking, but I feel like that's par for the course for lunch specials. At least one, if not two, of the servers is Thai. Friendly attentive service even though the restaurant was busy during lunch hour. Will come back to try other dishes.

Highly recommended. My favorite Thai restaurant. I've tried other places but this is my favorite!! I love their pad Thai, Kom ka soup with coconut, duck curry, chicken curry , crab fried rice!! I ordered it all the time and their fried chicken wings, sauté egg plant super delicious every order has a distinct taste super yummy!! I would even order to go when I do t feel like cooking.. we've been a regular for 3 years or even more. Give it a try you won't be disappointed .

That is a Cock Roach!!! Owner did not even say anything but just took it back and said sorry and asked if we want white rice??????

I had a very bad experience with my recent online order with Simply Thai. After I came home, found one of the items is missing, and I tried to call the restaurant but they picked up and put me on hold for about 10 minutes without even say anything. Trying after multiple times, they didn't even care to realize their mistake, and ask me to drive all the way back to pick up the missing item which I didn't want to do. There is no way on their website to get a refund as well. Worst ever customer service!!!!

Terrible food, asked them to hold mushrooms since one of us is severely allergic but still added mushrooms to everything. They could end up in the ER. Worst food service ever. The waiters couldn't care less and are too busy. Skip this place. We tried to eat here because our favorite thai place closed, big mistake.

I came here yesterday and today, and both times I came here for lunch, they have one runner the whole time. Super kudos to them for doing the whole rush, it's just really rough doing that! The food is really good and they do their very best. Will definitely be coming back!