The Snail Thai Cuisine

The place is as kitsch as we like it. Every time we went we didn’t wait long, though food was always very tasty. Decent prices.

Another fan here.
We mostly order take out — soups, appetizers, and peanut sauce:) — and the food is always ready quickly and tastes great. The few times we’ve actually dined in, we had seafood specials and they were delicious.
Love the staff too!

A hyde park staple. You will not find more authentic Thai flavors anywhere in the world outside of Thailand. You will be pleasantly surprised by every dish that’s brought out. Eat your heart out and taste culinary excellence. I have been coming to the Snail for 20 years and no other restaurant comes anywhere close. You will travel to come here.

Good food, they know my name and my fav orders. Service is great and done with a smile. Been going for years and I’ll keep coming back.

One of the major Thai eateries in Hyde Park, The Snail isn’t known for having the best thai food in the world, but it’s one of only a few thai eateries in Hyde Park, the prices are good, the customer service is fine, and the food is decent. Don’t look for anything too unusual, and you won’t be disappointed, order an old stand-​by and you’ll likely be pleased.

This our go-​to restaurant for take-​out in Hyde Park. The food is excellent and authentic, well-​priced, and the service is always good. We live down the street, so I can’t vouch the delivery service, but the food is always ready when they say it will be.
I’m very fond of the BYOB policy at Snail. My wife and I have enjoyed countless dinners here after work, splitting a 6 pack and eating too much.

My partner and I live in the neighborhood and have tried every Thai restaurant on the street (there are 3) and this is by far the worst of them. This isn’t because the food is awful but because the service is atrocious. Nonexistent. Twice we have waited 45+ minutes without acknowledgment or water or even a smile. Shame on us for waiting that long, but we have faith in a place surprisingly us with exceptional service beyond one bad night. Bad service is not done in malice but in poor prioritization and organizational management. I want to love it but this is the last time we will be coming here for a great long while.

I probably ate this 100k times while I was in school and it never disappointed. This was my go to place in the neighborhood to take people when they visited, order takeout, go with groups of friends, and just generally eat whenever I had the chance. The prices are decent and the service/​staff is excellent. Never had a bad experience, never had a dish that wasn’t fresh and well prepared, never had a long wait for a dish, never really had a complaint. Having literally eaten this food either in the restaurant or at a University event at least 100x, the consistency really stands out in hindsight.
My go to dishes from each section are the Crab Rangoons, Bangkok Chicken and the Mango Ice Cream.
The Crab Rangoons are better than those I’ve had at many other establishments. They are great.
But the headline here is the Bangkok Chicken. This is what you should order if chicken is at all your thing. Literally my favorite chicken dish of all time and there isn’t a close second. So good and so filling. This would be my death row meal (not that I’ve killed anyone) – that good. Always perfectly prepared and flavored. Years later friends and I are still tinkering in our own kitchens trying to recreate the unique blend of flavors. No easy task and I don’t think we will ever be successful. It is unique. I’ve gone as far as showing the description to servers at other Thai restaurants and asking if they have anything comparable and they never bring out anything close to this.
Love this place. Quintessential Hyde Park simplicity.

By far the best Thai of the three places in this area. The only place I would recommend someone go for Thai on 55^th. This place is just as good as the places I used to go to in the city I moved from that I had discovered over the years. I’m so happy to have found it! The only downside is that they are open less than he other restaurants and do not deliver to The Shoreland.

One of a few thai places in Hyde Park, Snail is pretty decent. Small store with reasonable customer service if you eat in, and does deliver to the surrounding area (including the university) on time. Nothing I’ve eaten has truly impressed me, but nothing has been too bad to eat.
I’ve had the following dishes, all of which were solid, average Thai dish: Pad Thai, Singapore Noodles, Duck Curry, Pad Sew Ew,

They are very sweet people, once they seat you (quickly I might add) they bring you water and some chips. They are very quick to server you which is great because every time I come here I’m always starving! Food is sooooo good! But my fav is Pad Tai :) it’s enough to for 2 – 3 people. Thai Tea is bomb too. Restaurant is always clean and the bathroom as well :) I ordered their coconut milk banana pudding dessert and it was so yummy! I’ve never had anything like it before :) I guess they didn’t have bananas and I saw the waitress run out of the store and then come back with a fresh batch of bananas. I was thankful they didn’t just tell me that they didn’t have bananas and that I would have to pick something else. They went out of their way to deliver great service. What more could I ask for?!

I like this place. Came a while back ago with a group of friends. We tried various items like the pad Thai, shrimp curry, fried rice and etc. The food was pleasantly good and flavourful. The customer service was fast, and friendly. I would recommend this place and come back to try the other items on the menu.

Favorite thai place in Hyde Park. The atmosphere and service is good. I’ve eaten here many times and ordered delivery as well. I always go with the pad see ew or the yellow curry. The portion sizes are reasonable with good prices. I also really like their green tea smoothies (especially when I don’t have time to make a trip to Chinatown).

Thai restaurants on 55^th street live in a dog eat dog world. I will respect that world and will rate them all differently here. In my mind, the hierarchy is clear, and the Snail is in the middle. But it is good! Just not good enough.
The Snail wins when it comes to atmosphere and the fact that you can color on the tables. This point can be a big one when you want to color on tables, which may be often. ;)
With the atmosphere in mind, though, Snail also marks up its prices from the clear price collusion happening elsewhere on 55^th Street. It’s just weird to see the prices of Thai 55 and Siam identical, then Snail marked up. I’ll save my 50 cents thank you very much! In general I think the cost is a sign of a greater point: that the Snail takes itself more seriously than the other Thai places.
At the same time, though, I’ve never been inspired by The Snail the way I’ve been inspired by other Thai food. I’ve tried new dishes, but never been wowed, never been a convert. It’s all just fine.
While this can be good sometimes, the atmosphere, the seriousness, this is not what I’m looking for in my 55^th street Thai, so I take my money elsewhere.
High credit card minimum, so be prepped with cash if you are getting takeout.

Good Thai food. We dropped by here once for lunch and tried some of their soup and the drunken noodles. Both were tasty and the large bowl of soup is very large, plenty to split between two people.

Nice size venue with authentic Thai cuisine. My friend had the pad Thai and I ordered drunken noodles with chicken, both dishes were delectable. I also enjoyed the own ton chips they serve as appetizer. Great place for a quick bite!

Good Thai restaurant in a neighborhood full of Thai restaurants. Not world class Thai cooking, but good enough by local standards.
PROS: Good menu (bigger than the usual neighborhood storefront), friendly staff, fast service. The food is delicious — especially the appetizers. Try the fish cakes! Good smoothies. The sweet, mild flavors of the food here makes this a good restaurant for children.
CONS: The flavoring in some of the entrees can be a bit too mild. Some of the entrees are even a bit too sweet. If you like a lot of flavor in your food, be sure to order a spicier entrée. The dining room can feel a bit cramped when busy.

I went to Snail thai an incredible amount of time. We ask for a delivery from them at least once every 10 days, not kidding…
We really like their curries with duck in general. The red or green duck curry with rice are just delicious.
The noodles are ok, nothing special. You can easily find better around. The appetizers are ok as well. I think that their strength is really in the curries.
Overall, a good place when you dont feel like cooking.

When I went a few weeks ago, my girlfriend and I ordered:
Drunken Noodle: In my experience, drunken noodle is always made a bit spicy. The drunken noodle here was not spicy at all — so I was pretty disappointed by that. I did hear the table next to us directly ask for it to be made spicy, so maybe I’ll try that next time.
Red Curry Fried Rice: On paper, this sounded delicious. It ended up being okay — I feel like they could have used more curry to really enhance the flavor because right now, it just had a weird balance of flavors. But not bad overall.
Stir Fried Chicken with Lemon Grass: I had pretty high hopes for this dish, and I was pretty disappointed. The sauce they use is pretty standard. I would not get this dish again.
I read a few reviews that this place has bad service — but when I went, the service wasn’t too bad (granted, there were only 2 other parties).

Left the Museum of Science & Industry with the broha in search of a casual joint to eat a late lunch. The Snail was perfect as it was only a short walk, and not too busy so we were seated immediately. The other tables were mostly college kids.
The tortilla chips they brought us were a bit strange for a Thai place, and they were really greasy! But can I really complain too much about anything that comes free? No. My pad Thai (no meat) was pretty tasty, but my brother was less than impressed with his drunken noodles.
I very much enjoyed the random assortment of art on the walls. Service was friendly but pace was a bit sluggish. Maybe that’s why they named it the Snail?