Thai 55th Restaurant

Thai 55 comes to my workplace a few times a year with fresh, hot lunchtime servings of popular dishes such as pad thai (with your optional choice of protein), Bangkok chicken which is huge strips of chicken!, basil chicken, Thai pepper steak, yellow curry chicken, fried rice, cashew chicken, cucumber salad, and our choice of white or brown rice, and egg rolls, veggie egg rolls and crab rangoon on the side or to make a combo, for a healthy, delicious lunch under $ 10!
The choices are sweet, spicy, tangy; with three different sauces (love them all!). Definitely something for everyone. I’ve never been to the restaurant in Hyde Park, but I’ve liked everything I’ve tried from here and have it whenever they come to us!

DO NOT COME HERE. Despite being nearly empty, my one dish took 25mins. When it finally arrived, the green curry was watery and bland — I could not finish it. Service was slow and unremarkable.

I ordered delivery from here on Thanksgiving day since I didn’t visit family and didn’t want to cook. The delivery guy was very nice and the food arrived quickly and was hot and ready to eat.
I wanted to try a lot of things, so I ordered beef pad thai, the vegetarian appetizer plate, and a taro smoothie. The appetizer plate was supposed to come with vegetable tempura, fried tofu, baby vegetarian egg rolls, and crab rangoon. Mine was missing the crab rangoon, which was disappointing but not disappointing enough for me to call the restaurant. The egg rolls and tofu were just ok but the vegetable tempura was pretty good — although not if you’re expecting real tempura. It’s very greasy but exactly what I wanted at the time.
As others have noted, the pad thai was quite sweet. I still thought it was tasty and the beef was reasonably tender, so I’m looking forward to eating the leftovers. The smoothie was also sweeter than I expected, but you can’t really mess up a taro smoothie. I would definitely recommend it.
Overall the meal was pleasant but not great. If you’re just looking for noodles to fill you up and don’t have too many expectations you probably won’t be disappointed. I will probably be ordering from here again.

My buddy brought me here one Saturday afternoon and swore by this place. He’s a way more adventurous eater than I am I must say, I’m not a closed minded eater, I’m just more of a go-​for-​what-​you-​know type guy especially when you get up into the $ 20+ range.
Food was not bad at all, nice and spicy, and modestly priced from what I remember. Friendly waitstaff, decent parking, no real issues, just beware for those who are faint of tongue and stomach because this is genuine Thai and those spices can mess you up if you’re not used to that!

Ew. I ordered the Drunken Noodle and Green Curry Fried Rice. The noodle barely had any noodles at all and was basically just ground beef stir fried with way too much sauce. The Green Curry Fried Rice had no flavor at all and the vegetables were undercooked. I’ll second what someone else said about the spring rolls. They are vile and a waste of money.
I got take out and had to re-​cook everything at home to make it palatable. Don’t waste your time on this place. Try Phở 55 or Snail.

Uncooked vegtables. Not flavorful. Maybe it was a bad night…

Very, very bad service, awful and mean. I gave one star because I cannot post a zero. With such «service», I don’t care what kind of food I get. I will never step into this restaurant ever again into life.
The waitress had been extremely impatient since we walked in. We had had four people but one of us decided to leave. So she kept asking us impatiently and repetitively, «three or four?! Are u sure?!» Are we that idiotic that we don’t know how many people we have?
Then I asked her to place my order. She looked at me, said nothing, and went on with her lunch. A few minutes later, I asked her again, and her majesty responded:“JUST WAIT TWO MINUTES.” No excuse me, no please.
I don’t know how I pissed her off and why she gave me the face. If such conduct can be called «service», it should be «minus service» because it brought me nothing but anger and nausea.

Meal was average for me. Too much soy sauce in the fried rice. Didn’t enjoy the crispy noodles with with very little eggs in it.
Waitress was in a hurry to take order and disappear inside.
What I liked most was the environment with a calm view. I prefer Phở 55 even though it’s the same owner.

Definitely my favorite Thai place in Hyde Park! I have dined in once and gotten delivery twice, and every time has been really good. I usually get the drunken noodles with tofu which is delicious, though I have to order it mild unless I want to drink a gallon of water with my meal to cool my tongue. Last time, I also got the garlic tofu and vegetables, which was surprising yummy for being such a basic dish! I’m definitely adding that to my usual order.
Like other reviewers have said, delivery is very fast and the delivery man was very nice. Great restaurant to satisfy those Thai cravings!

Out of all the Pad Tai here on 55^th street I think it is the best here, and for the best price. I favor this Thai Iced Tea of all of them as well.
The waiters aren’t that friendly as they are in Snail though… Sometimes I go to Snail just so I won’t have to deal with the people here. There are no «please» «thank you» or any common courtesy attitudes as far as it comes to service. Asking for a straw is like a gamble because they’ll roll their eyes or make it seem like we are such a bother. In better words: any requests are a little annoying to them. I asked if I could sit near an outlet, he looked at me as if I had asked for a free meal. (No he did not sit me by an outlet)
But see here is my thing: I’ve been here 3 times and every time I order the sweet coconut banana dessert they never have it! And it’s always a diff weird excuse. So I guess I’m walking to the Snail Thai to get my dessert. Boooo

I live in Hyde Park and typically go to Argyle for good Asian food but was desperate for dinner one evening when I decided to try this place. The décor was nice, clean and simple. I ordered a classic Thai fresh vegetarian spring roll which was TERRIBLE! Super think, flimsy and cut into 6, ½ inch pieces. Ate one bite and we left the rest. Ordered Pad Thai (spicy) which was swimming in a soup like sauce and tasted nothing classic Pad Thai. Have eaten the same dish throughout Thailand and this place is nothing like classic food. Will not go back.

Pros: The food is good to me. I only order Chicken Pad Thai as a carry-​out and I can’t complain.
Cons: The CUSTOMER SERVICE! DO NOT DINE IN! The male waiter came to our table and asked us if we were ready to order our food, and we were, so we gave him our food order. But, then he preceded to walk away without asking if we wanted some drinks. Is it me? or is that supposed to be waiter protocol. Anyway, they brought out our food and then we never saw them again. Literally. I wanted another drink and I couldn’t find them (the male or the female waiter) to wave them down. They were behind the counter in the back. They never came back to our table to check on us. However, when new customers came in, they magically appeared and I was able to get the waitress’s attention to get another Coke. Then a few minutes later, when the waitress came to give the new customers their food, she asked if we wanted boxes and I said yes, but we wanted to still sit and talk, and she said, «ok.» BTW, the place was practically empty.15 minutes later, we didn’t receive our boxes, and, again, neither waiter was nowhere to be found. I went to the back and I asked the waitress where our boxes were. She just looked at me and said «ok.» As if we never established that she was getting our boxes. Then the male waiter came, boxed up our food, and gave us the check. Then the waitress came out and they started speaking a different language to each other. I know they were talking about us. But, no worries, they will never get my hard earned money again. That was the worst customer service I have ever had. No wonder why people just do carry out there.

Our third year of Super club took us to a small Thai restaurant found in The heart of Hyde Park. Thai 55, was pretty good. It’s a nice quant authentic experience. As you know, our Supper Club focuses on finding BYOB restaurants, that we haven’t gone to before. After the third year of doing this, you can imagine that it gets hard to find something new.
However, I can’t believe this place has never been on our radar. We started off with the deluxe appetizer plate. They cut it in half for us to share everything. Nothing was too amazing here, just ok. Then we ordered a smörgåsbord of food. A few of the items were the green curry
Roasted duck, Bangkok chicken, lobster sauce seafood, shrunken noodles and a rice dish. Please note there were like 8 of us. LOL.
We shared everything and were pretty amazed with the duck curry, drunken noodles and lobster sauce seafood. All were items, the waitress suggested.
All and all, this place is worth at least one try! You can dine in or carry out. I could imagine it becoming your neighborhood go to place for Thai.

Someone else called this place consistent, and I’d have to agree. I much prefer Siam down the street, but this place is much more generally tasteful I think. The atmosphere isn’t much, but it’s also not like someone’s weird house. The food isn’t the best Thai, but I think there is probably nothing actually gross on the menu. And the prices are the same as all of the other Thai places on this street (except for Snail, which imagines itself the fancy one).
My first Thai Iced Tea came from Thai 55, and I will never forget that — instead I have spent lots of time trying in vain to recreate it on my own (the true problem is that I am limited in the amount of sweetened condensed milk I wish to knowingly consume).
All in all, Thai 55 is serviceable. I guess the most important thing to note is that it is NOT Phở 55. Though Thai 55 was the start of the 55^th street Asian Empire, it’s not as flashy or expensive as its younger counterpart Phở 55, and I like it more for that.
Panang curry is always a good choice — sweet and nutty.

My family has been coming to Thai 55 for years! We love their food. We mostly only order carry out and I must say they always have our order ready on time and it is always right. The few times that we have dined in it has also been a pleasant experience!
We love the Drunken Noodles, the Pad Thai, and the Bangkok Chicken! Those are our three staple menu items. The portions are a good size too!
We had an exchange student from Thailand a few years ago and she loved Thai 55 as well. She said their food was very flavorful and authentic.

If I could give this place a 0, I would. I ordered food from this place, their famous Bangkok combination — rice and chicken. The food was absolutely disgusting and looked much worse than it tasted. It was like shredded dog food mixed with some very strong mustard oil. I got very sick from eating the food, and when I complained to the manager he said he wouldn’t offer any refunds or exchanges or even an apology. I would never try this place again and I would never recommend it. So save yourself the trouble, just don’t do it! Find another place, any other place.

Not the best Thai I’ve ever had, but it’s consistent. I’ve never dined at the restaurant; only ordered delivery. The delivery drivers are fast, courteous and super nice. The phad Thai is kind of bland, even asking for 5 star spice… but we can add our own from the collection we have at home, no big deal.
This is definitely the go to place for delivery in our house.

They’ve got good food based on what I’ve tried (pineapple shrimp curry, crab rangoons, egg rolls, shrimp fried rice), although I wouldn’t say that any of it is especially remarkable. A bit heavy on the soy sauce with the shrimp fried rice, but it still tasted good. I tried the pineapple shrimp curry twice. The first time it was great, and made me want to have it again. I ordered it about two weeks later and got food poisoning… so, I guess, ymmv. Can’t go wrong with the egg rolls and crab rangoons, though.

Been here a few times now. The food is decent — large enough quantities so you leave full, but not the best in terms of taste. This place has never been close to full when I’ve gone in (~noon and ~6 PM).
The pad thai here is decent enough that I would go back for it, and the entrees are all okay. The great part about Thai 55 is that the food comes out pretty quickly and is not very expensive (~$ 8 on average per entrée).
However, the best part about Thai 55 is their honeydew smoothie with tapioca. Sure, it isn’t as good as some of the places in Chinatown, but given the lack of any bubble tea in the Hyde Park area, this place isn’t bad at all! And you can get it to-​go, so maybe next time I’ll skip the food and go for the smoothie.
Food: 2.5÷5
Smoothie: ⁴⁄₅

We went here with friends that live in Hyde Park, the food was good. everything was seasoned well and the portions were large enough to share or take some home.
It is also BYOB with no cork fee, which is a plus! Next time we plan to try Phở 55 next door!