Zaab Zaab

Verdict

Zaab Zaab is the right answer if you want serious Isan-style Thai cooking at a price point that makes the outer-borough trip an easy call. A Michelin Bib Gourmand (2024) and back-to-back rankings on Opinionated About Dining's Casual North America list (#253 in 2024, #255 in 2025) confirm what regulars in Elmhurst already know: this is one of the most credible Thai kitchens in New York City, it costs a fraction of what you'd pay for comparable precision in Manhattan. Book it for a group meal, a casual special occasion, or any night you want food that actually challenges you.

Portrait

The dining room at Zaab Zaab on Woodside Avenue is colorful in a way that undersells what comes out of the kitchen. The cooking is Isan in spirit; the northeastern Thai tradition that leans hard on fermented fish sauces, dried shrimp, fresh chiles, lime; and it arrives with an intensity that rewards diners who come prepared. The smell from the kitchen, all roasted garlic, fish sauce, charred dried chiles, signals immediately that this is not the kind of Thai food designed to comfort first and challenge second. It is the inverse.

The larb ped udon is the dish most frequently cited in the venue's critical coverage: duck breast and duck liver with fried duck skin, mint, lime, fried garlic. The liver is not softened or disguised. If offal puts you off, the papaya salad made with house-fermented pla ra is a more accessible but equally uncompromising alternative, oceanic and funky in a way that most Thai restaurants in New York do not attempt. Beef kapow with holy basil, whole fried fish, rotisserie chicken marinated in coriander and lemongrass round out a menu that is designed to be shared across multiple dishes. The award notes specifically flag the fried whole fish and hot pots as high-return orders alongside the headline larb.

This is a $$ restaurant, which in practice means most diners will leave well-fed for under $40 per head. That price-to-award ratio is hard to argue with: Bib Gourmand recognition from Michelin explicitly identifies good food at moderate prices, the OAD casual list ranking puts Zaab Zaab in rare company for a Queens neighborhood restaurant. Zaab Zaab now operates outposts in Brooklyn and Manhattan, but the Elmhurst original is the reference point, the one worth visiting if you have the option.

Counter and Bar Seating

Zaab Zaab is not a counter-dining destination in the omakase or chef's-table sense, but the informal, open format of the room means seating near the kitchen action is part of what makes the experience work. For solo diners or pairs, positioning close to the kitchen gives you proximity to the kitchen's output, the hot pots arriving tableside, the whole fish coming out of the fryer, it sets the pace of the meal better than a corner table. If you are dining alone, the bar or counter-adjacent seating is the practical move: the menu is designed for roaming across multiple dishes, the energy of watching the kitchen operate helps orient a solo diner through what is otherwise a group-format menu.

Special Occasions

Zaab Zaab works for a casual celebration with the right group. The dining room is not a white-tablecloth environment, the noise level is consistent with a busy Queens neighborhood restaurant, so manage expectations accordingly. What it delivers for a special occasion is a meal that people remember: the food is aggressive enough to generate conversation, the price is low enough that ordering broadly does not create anxiety, the Bib Gourmand credential gives it legitimacy for guests who need a reason to make the trip. For a birthday dinner with heat-tolerant friends or a group that knows Thai food, it is a better call than a mid-range Manhattan restaurant at twice the price. It is not the venue for a business dinner requiring a quiet room or formal service.

Know Before You Go

How Zaab Zaab Fits the NYC Thai Scene

For Isan-style cooking in Queens, Ayada is the other name that comes up consistently, the comparison is worth making: Ayada is broader in regional Thai coverage while Zaab Zaab goes deeper on Isan heat and seafood. Fish Cheeks in Manhattan covers Thai seafood from a different angle, more accessible, more downtown, easier to book for groups that don't want to travel to Queens. Bangkok Supper Club, Chalong, and Eim Khao Mun Kai fill out New York's Thai options across different formats and neighborhoods. For context on how Zaab Zaab's Isan focus compares to the source, Nahm in Bangkok and Samrub Samrub Thai represent the benchmark in Thailand itself.

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