Playground Bar & Bistro And Taitoon Thai Karaoke

Reviews

• Jason Z.

  star star star star star 5 June 2026

  Best pork belly and Chinese broccoli. I believe it's call Kana Moo Krob. 3 dollar beers and 5 dollar cocktails. Can't beat this place.

• Suwanit T.

  star star star star star 4 June 2026

  Looking for real eastern Thai food? This is the place. I ordered a lot and all of them is just brilliant! Spicy level is Thai level, so be careful for those who cant really handle with the spiciness. I'd love to come here everytime i come to nyc. The best !!

• Jane K.

  star star star star star_border 24 May 2026

  Food: 4.5/5
  We stopped by for lunch. Ordered the beef salad, raw shrimp, minced chicken basil with preserved egg, tendon soup and tom kha soup with chicken. The beef salad was delicious. It was packed with basil and full of red onions and lemongrass. The raw shrimp had a ton of spices too with pieces of raw garlic. The minced chicken basil might have been the worst dish out of our order. It tasted bland and lacked flavor. The tendon soup is my favorite. Their tendons are perfectly cooked and has a chewy texture. The tom kha soup was delicious too but I'm not a big fan of coconut.
  
  Btw, their mild here is pretty spicy. Their mild is similar to medium spicy in other Thai restaurants.
  
  Service: 5/5
  I've been here a handful of times. The establishment is pretty small with limited seating. The girls here were very nice. My friend personally knows the staff members so everyone was very friendly to us.
  
  Ambiance: 2/5
  It's pretty dark inside. The walls are black with one red accent wall. They could use some renovation or even a new paint job. There isn't much to this place. They have one tv and a wall nail decor which sort of made the place look hip. Very plain interior. This place doesn't look appealing at first glance but I go for the food.

• Giacomo C.

  star star star_border star_border star_border 14 May 2026

  1.5 stars. Sorry fellow Yelpers... this time you let me down.
  
  Hip music is being played at this busy restaurant.
  
  Maybe it was just us, but as soon as you enter the place you get hit by a very strong funky smell... not pleasant.  
  
  We got the last table for 2 at 7:30p on a Friday evening.
  
  Since the menu is huge, we asked our waitress for her opinion, and she suggested the crispy duck salad and the deep fried cat fish. Unfortunately, they were both not good.
  
  My review only reflects these two dishes, so I clearly don't know about the other options on their menu. However, both the duck and the catfish were old, dry and barely edible. They tasted more like over cooked leftovers that had been left waiting for days. They were supposed to be deep fried; instead, they came barely warm, and their texture had more in common with old leather left to dry at the sun than succulent meat. Very disappointing. We opted for level 2 spicy (out of 5) and we could barely eat the food (left half on the dish), so keep this in mind when you order. It wasn't just the meat... the flavors didn't go... all we could taste were the spices... there was little else (and/or other ingredients) going on. Quality simply wasn't there.
  
  Their $5 happy hour special for cocktails is generous, but the "Mojito" I got was embarrassing.
  
  In addition, when we were presented the check, they charged us twice for each dish... an honest mistake they immediately rectified.
  
  Overall, I have truly no reason to ever go back.

• Alan S.

  star star star star star 10 May 2026

  This place is clearly the real deal - the vibe feels a bit like a seedy nightclub, complete with a karaoke machine and songs playing in the background along the lines of Korean trot.
  
  We started with the fried taro and bamboo shoot salad. The fried taro was good, although not jaw-dropping. We were warned the bamboo shoot salad was not vegetarian (and in fact is doused with a strong fermented fish sauce) but went ahead anyway. It was a little too pungent for my palette, and very spicy, but i understand the appeal. Pairs well with a Singha.
  
  For a main, i had the Tom yum soup with tofu which was fragrant and delicious. I do regret ordering it spicy, as I was only able to get through about half the bowl.
  
  The pandan with toast was a perfect recovery from the spice profile of the meal, and in fact one of the best parts!