Restaurant in New York City, United States
Bold regional Thai; go with a group.
Soothr is the East Village Thai restaurant that has earned Opinionated About Dining Casual North America recognition three years in a row (2023–2025), and it rewards repeat visits more than first ones. Come with a group of three or four to cover a wide, regionally specific menu, and consider the bar for solo visits — the cocktail program is genuinely worth your time. Booking ahead for dinner is advisable; the room fills consistently.
If you went to Soothr once and liked it, go again. The kitchen at 204 E 13th St in the East Village has been earning its stripes consistently enough to rank on the Opinionated About Dining Casual in North America list three years running — Recommended in 2023, #277 in 2024, and #281 in 2025. That kind of sustained recognition tells you this is not a flash-in-the-pan opening. What changes on a return visit is your confidence to order wider and deeper into a menu that rewards exactly that.
Chef Nate Lingwan runs a regional Thai kitchen that takes the cuisine seriously without turning the room into a lecture. The interior reads warm and lived-in: weathered wood beams, tufted red leather booths, lanterns, and a back garden that pulls its weight in the warmer months. There is also a bar fitted with an antique telephone , a detail that signals the room has a personality. The back garden, in particular, is worth requesting if you are visiting in season.
The OAD citation points to bold, zippy seasoning across the board. Roasted eggplant salad is flagged as a strong opener; grilled pork salad arrives in a spicy lime and chili dressing that is described as turbocharged. The menu is sizeable, which is a practical consideration: come with a group of three or four if you want to cover real ground. Solo or two-leading visits are fine, but you will leave aware that you missed a third of the menu.
The bar at Soothr is not a waiting area , it is a legitimate place to eat. The cocktail program is noted as thoughtful in the OAD record, which means this is a room where drinks have been given actual consideration rather than assembled as an afterthought. If you are a solo diner or a pair who wants a more casual entry point into the food, the bar is the right seat. You get the full kitchen output, a more spontaneous pace, and a better sightline to the room's character. For groups, the booths and garden anchor the experience. But for an explorer who wants to order a few dishes across the menu and let the meal breathe, the bar counter is the move.
Antique telephone behind the bar is a useful orientation marker , sit near it and you are in the social center of the room, not tucked into a corner.
Within the New York City Thai category, Soothr operates at a different register than many competitors. Fish Cheeks in Nolita focuses on Thai seafood with a more contemporary presentation. Ayada in Elmhurst is the value standard-bearer for regional Thai in the outer boroughs. Bangkok Supper Club leans into a more modern, event-driven format. Chalong and Eim Khao Mun Kai each occupy narrower lanes. Soothr's advantage is the combination of a broad regional menu, a genuine room with character, and three consecutive years of OAD recognition , that is a more durable case for a repeat booking than novelty alone.
If your interest in Thai food extends beyond New York, Nahm in Bangkok and Samrub Samrub Thai in Bangkok represent the source-country benchmark for the kind of regional depth Soothr is working toward. Knowing those rooms makes Soothr's ambition clearer.
Reservations: Booking difficulty is rated Easy on Pearl, but the OAD record notes the room fills fast , book ahead for weekend dinner rather than relying on walk-in availability. Hours: Monday through Thursday and Sunday 12–3:30 pm and 5–10 pm; Friday and Saturday 12–3:30 pm and 5–11 pm. Location: 204 E 13th St, East Village, New York, NY 10003. Group size: Three to four people is the format that gets the most out of the menu; solo and two-leading visits work well at the bar. Google rating: 4.7 across 4,128 reviews , a high volume of strong ratings that tracks with the OAD recognition.
Come with at least two other people. The menu is wide and regionally specific, and ordering three or four dishes per person is how you get a real read on the kitchen. Soothr has held OAD Casual North America rankings from 2023 through 2025, which means there is consistent quality across the menu rather than one or two headline dishes carrying the room. Book a table in advance for dinner, especially on weekends , the room fills. If you are solo, the bar is a fine entry point and the cocktail program is worth working through alongside the food.
Yes, and for a solo diner or a pair it is arguably the better seat. The bar at Soothr has character , an antique telephone, a thoughtful cocktail program , and you get the full kitchen menu from it. It is also the natural format if you want a slightly faster, more spontaneous meal rather than a full sit-down. For groups of four or more, the booths or back garden give you the space to spread out and order properly. If the bar is your preference, arrive early on weekends to secure a spot.
The menu is described as sizeable and regionally broad, which generally means there is range to work with. However, specific dietary accommodation details are not available in Pearl's current data for Soothr. If you have a serious allergy or strict dietary requirement, call ahead or check directly with the restaurant before booking , contact details are on their reservations page. Thai cooking frequently uses fish sauce, shrimp paste, and chili as base ingredients, so anyone with shellfish allergies or heat sensitivity should confirm dish-by-dish when ordering.
| Venue | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Soothr | — | |
| Le Bernardin | $$$$ | — |
| Atomix | $$$$ | — |
| Eleven Madison Park | $$$$ | — |
| Masa | $$$$ | — |
| Per Se | $$$$ | — |
What to weigh when choosing between Soothr and alternatives.
Come with at least three people. The menu is large and built around regional Thai specialties — the OAD record specifically calls out dishes like roasted eggplant salad, grilled pork salad, chicken khao soi, and pork blood soup as highlights worth ordering across the table. Chef Nate Lingwan's kitchen runs best when you're covering ground, not ordering one or two dishes solo. Book ahead; Pearl rates the booking difficulty as Easy, but OAD notes the room fills fast, especially on weekends.
Yes, and it's a real option, not a fallback. The bar at 204 E 13th St is fitted out with an antique telephone and anchors the main room — it's a deliberate design choice, not a waiting area. The cocktail program is noted as thoughtful in Soothr's OAD record, so pairing bar seats with a few dishes from the regional menu is a workable plan, particularly if you're dining as a pair and couldn't get a booth.
Soothr's menu leans heavily on meat, seafood, and fermented ingredients that are standard in regional Thai cooking — which means vegetarians and those avoiding shellfish-based seasonings should ask specifically before ordering. The menu is sizeable enough that there are options to work with, but this is not a kitchen that leads with dietary accommodation. If vegetarian Thai is the priority, Fish Cheeks in Nolita has more explicit flexibility on that front.
Soothr is primarily known for Thai in New York City.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
