Thai food for 25 high school kids - midtown?

[kim2310]

We are bringing 25 high school kids to NYC in early March for the Model UN conference. Our country is Thailand so we would like to have a Friday night dinner at a Thai place. We will be staying at the Hilton on 53rd and 6th. We would contact the restaurant ahead of time to reserve space and we would like to keep the dinner under $25 per person. Any suggestions?

[orthorunner]

There is another option that may just be big enough; Q2, also on ninth ave. Have not been myself but have heard that it is relatively good. You could give them a call to see if they can accommodate.

[peter j]

I think Pongsri would be able to accommodate 25 guests. Not the best Thai in the area but still a very solid choice.

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Pongsri
244 W 48th St, New York, NY 10036

[Deb Van D]

I agree with Pongsri. Pleasant space, in the neighborhood, they accommodate groups regularly and I like the food and the staff very much.

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Pongsri
244 W 48th St, New York, NY 10036

[ExFlexitarian]

I immediately thought of Pongsri as well. They have a huge back dining room which could definitely fit 25 ppl at a time. The food is very very poor however.

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Pongsri
244 W 48th St, New York, NY 10036

[Deb Van D]

I disagree; I don't think the food poor at all. I wont belabor you with my Thai food creds, that would even bore me. But I like their nam sod as well as any that I have had, like the laab, and occasionally good yum pla muk, I don't care about noodle dishes, but their pad key mao and pad gra prow are good and they will adjust the heat if you ask it. Additionally, I think their soups are very good.

[squid kun]

What have you had there, and how was it lacking?

[michelleats]

With 25 kids you'll really need to break up the group a bit. (That's a very large delegation and an interesting country assignment!) Manhattan restaurants usually aren't that large, especially the Thai restaurants I can think of in midtown. I'd probably find five separate restaurants for five children, each. .

That said, if you want to try your luck, Vynl is one of the bigger, hipper Thai restaurants in the area. The menu includes some diner standards, too. Food is mediocre. Not actively terrible, just not great.

[msny98]

I am fairly sure the OP does not want to break their group into fives... they may nees 5 tables but it will be in one place.

Are you suggesting that the Thai places in midtown just have one or two tables each

[michelleats]

No. I am suggesting that most restaurants don't want and/or can't handle a horde of 25 high school children descending upon the place. There are many reasons for this, including the following: (1) Groups are always more difficult to serve since typically, orders need to be filled at the same time. (2) High school students generally do not have as much discretionary income as many adults and won't be ordering wine or beer, so restaurants would prefer to fill seats with other patrons if they can.

I hope Kim is able to find a great restaurant and prove me completely wrong. But these are going to be considerations that could make it difficult to find the kind of place she is looking for.

[msny98]

Plenty of choices in the 50s on 9th Ave. Pam Real Encore and Wondee Siam come quickly to mind. $25 per should be doable in both of those

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Wondee Siam
792 9th Ave, New York, NY 10019

[Pan]

Wondee doesn't have 25 seats in its entire restaurant, I believe. Pam's (the original) may be possible, but I rather doubt they'd take a reservation for that large a group. I don't know how large Pam Encore is. My girlfriend liked the Tom Yam Gung at Chanpen recently. I can't vouch for their quality (I was underwhelmed when I had dinner there several years ago), but the restaurant is somewhat larger than the other ones I've mentioned, I do believe.

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Chanpen
761 9th Ave, New York, NY 10019

[Deb Van D]

I think your girlfriend was lucky to have found something on Chanpen's menu that she liked. I had one of the singularly worst meals in my memory there.

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Chanpen
761 9th Ave, New York, NY 10019

[Pan]

I stand corrected, folks. Yeah, it does sound like my girlfriend lucked out on one thing there.

[msny98]

Wondee II is big enough, the one at 813 9th ave. They may need to make a special reservation as they normally do not take rezzies. Pam Real Encore (at 47th and 9th) is also definitely big enough and is somewhat "hipper" and has the best pad see ew in the area and takes reservations

Chanpen bites

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Chanpen
761 9th Ave, New York, NY 10019