I actually ended up in this place by mistake but im glad I found it. The place is small so there is no seating area. You order the food from a kiosk. The staff was a friendly guy and the place looks clean. The food was really good I enjoy it. I was so hungry that I fail to take pic but I can assure you it was good. Just an fyi be careful when opening the small soup container it might just leak all over you.
Emily G.
Really good take out spot! This Thai dish, Khao Mun Gai, is inspired by the Hainanese Chicken and Rice dish of Singapore. I ordered the steamed chicken and rice option, and it was delicious. The chili dipping sauce complemented the dish perfectly. I'd definitely come back again for lunch or get it to-go for dinner.
Kaoru M.
GAI Chicken is my new favorite lunch spot around Grand Central Station. This is a mostly take-out oriented Thai chicken joint. "Chicken & Rice" doesn't sound that exotic, but their flavors are addicting! They offer roasted and fried chicken as well as chicken tenders and wings. The chicken can be regular or spicy, but each type of chicken comes paired with a spicy dipping sauce. My favorite is their spicy green sauce which is an explosion of flavor and heat. Only caveat I'd say is that their sauces likely has Thai fish sauce in it. While this adds umami and depth to their sauce, it does give it a bit of a funky smell for those who might be sensitive to certain odors. Their rice is a ginger rice that's honestly delicious on its own, but excellent when paired with their chicken. Each of their rice bowls also comes with a complementary clear spicy daikon radish broth that's great for cleansing your palate. I downloaded their smartphone app, and started ordering ahead on the app. This is great as the food is consistently ready to go when they say it will be. Great service!
Jeremy J.
My wife and I were looking for NYC's famous chicken on a stick and the place was not open yes so we took a chance and tried this place out. I AM SO GLAD WE DID. This place has the best fried chicken and Parmesan Fries, bar none. We got Spicy mayo and Thai Sticky BBQ SAUCE. We will definitely be back! Yummy!
Pierre P.
Good but not great. The boiled chicken was very bland (the jasmine rice actually had more flavor than the chicken). The crispy chicken was a bit better, but still fairly bland.
Rebecca Q.
Fast casual thai food! I felt like they skimped on the fried chicken when I ordered, and while I got a lot more chicken breast in my second bowl, it was dry and salty. You are better off going to Chinatown for a heaping serving with cheaper prices.
Dewan A.
Awesome spot. 1) This place is a fast casual Thai food. 2) The spicy fried chicken with rice was excellent. I also got the extra spicy fried chicken for about 5 bucks. 3) I hope they come to Hoboken, NJ. It is the perfect type of restaurant for the area.
Irene K.
I loved the food. It's really tasty but the service here This was this girl today and she was rude, i asked her questions but she was just staring at me and didn't answer like she's bored and doesn't want to work there.
Dom G.
Ordered spicy chicken rice bowl for lunch. Pretty tasty and spicy if you can handle the heat. The rice was nice and gingery. The salad on the side helped cooled down my mouth. I ordered via an app and walked over to collect it at lunch - a pretty straight forward process. Definitely an enjoyable lunch and could have done with more chicken because it was so good.
Cee E.
I didn't realize Gai chicken and rice was a chain when I came here for lunch last week but they have two other Manhattan locations. The restaurant is pretty tiny (standing room only) and they have a very condensed menu which consists mostly of chicken - either fried, steamed or roasted. On their menu, they distinguish between white and dark meat. I don't usually think of this when I order food, although I guess people usually say white meat is better for you? I went with the dark meat roasted chicken which came rice and green salad. I also ordered a side of chicken to go. I thought the chicken was extremely tender and flavorful. Very well seasoned. Even though the chicken was roasted , it was a little on the oily side which in turn made the rice underneath oily since they packed it together, but it wasn't too bad. I thought the portions were very generous. I didn't even need the extra side of chicken and was able to save it for another day. The ordering process was simple. They had two self serve kiosks in the store where you place your order and wait for your name to be called. My food was ready quickly and the service was friendly. I would definitely return for a takeout or delivery order.
I love this place very fast foods always good. I always get the roasted chicken comes with a nice spicy sauce on the side. Healthy portion always makes a great lunch not too expensive.
Ryan H.
Try: Roasted Chicken Bowl!Why: I really liked the Thai style roasted chicken, which were large strips of tender chicken on top of ginger rice with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber. This was a MealPal order and I thought it was a large portion, great deal! Also, the spicy chili sauce added great flavor to the bowl. Notes: The shop is a small takeout place in Midtown, and convenient for office workers in the area. They had the MealPal order ready when I got there and it was still hot. No seating available but you can easily enjoy outside or take it back to office. I took it home from Grand Central and it was still warm 20 mins later.
Abbe W.
On one of the nights we were back in the hotel early and didn't really want to go out too far. As I was checking for a restaurant, I saw that this place was close to Club Wyndham Midtown 45 and the reviews were pretty decent, so we decided to order for pick-up.I wasn't sure which style my daughter would like so I picked both the roasted chicken and steamed chicken. My daughter ended up liking the steamed version since she's familiar with Hainan chicken. Both styles were very good and a good portion as well. The soup was a little more gingery than I had hoped but not too bad.Overall, the place definitely would get my visit again if I ever stayed nearby. It's not quite Hainan chicken but a great variation of it. Best of all, it was delicious and satisfying.
Selena L.
Been wanting to try GAI Chicken & Rice for a while, and I finally did! There's no seating here, but GAI is an affordable and convenient choice for a take-out meal.I went with the steamed dark meat chicken bowl. You have the option to get soup with your meal at no extra charge, of course I went for it. Meat was tender and light, but still flavorful. Rice was fragrant, and the soup had a nice gingery flavor to it.
Phoebe A.
My friend and I wanted try the Hainan chicken, and while not super authentic, I thought it was still pretty good. I got the spicy chicken rice and my friend got the steamed dark meat. The chicken was delicious and juicy, and the green sauce was incredibly tasty. Surprisingly the broth was kind of bland, but it didn't take away from the meal. We also got the fries, which were pretty good and crispy.The place was kind of small with very limited seating. The service was very quick and convenient.
I actually ended up in this place by mistake but im glad I found it. The place is small so there is no seating area. You order the food from a kiosk. The staff was a friendly guy and the place looks clean. The food was really good I enjoy it. I was so hungry that I fail to take pic but I can assure you it was good. Just an fyi be careful when opening the small soup container it might just leak all over you.
Really good take out spot! This Thai dish, Khao Mun Gai, is inspired by the Hainanese Chicken and Rice dish of Singapore. I ordered the steamed chicken and rice option, and it was delicious. The chili dipping sauce complemented the dish perfectly. I'd definitely come back again for lunch or get it to-go for dinner.
GAI Chicken is my new favorite lunch spot around Grand Central Station. This is a mostly take-out oriented Thai chicken joint. "Chicken & Rice" doesn't sound that exotic, but their flavors are addicting! They offer roasted and fried chicken as well as chicken tenders and wings. The chicken can be regular or spicy, but each type of chicken comes paired with a spicy dipping sauce. My favorite is their spicy green sauce which is an explosion of flavor and heat. Only caveat I'd say is that their sauces likely has Thai fish sauce in it. While this adds umami and depth to their sauce, it does give it a bit of a funky smell for those who might be sensitive to certain odors. Their rice is a ginger rice that's honestly delicious on its own, but excellent when paired with their chicken. Each of their rice bowls also comes with a complementary clear spicy daikon radish broth that's great for cleansing your palate. I downloaded their smartphone app, and started ordering ahead on the app. This is great as the food is consistently ready to go when they say it will be. Great service!
My wife and I were looking for NYC's famous chicken on a stick and the place was not open yes so we took a chance and tried this place out. I AM SO GLAD WE DID. This place has the best fried chicken and Parmesan Fries, bar none. We got Spicy mayo and Thai Sticky BBQ SAUCE. We will definitely be back! Yummy!
Good but not great. The boiled chicken was very bland (the jasmine rice actually had more flavor than the chicken). The crispy chicken was a bit better, but still fairly bland.
Fast casual thai food! I felt like they skimped on the fried chicken when I ordered, and while I got a lot more chicken breast in my second bowl, it was dry and salty. You are better off going to Chinatown for a heaping serving with cheaper prices.
Awesome spot. 1) This place is a fast casual Thai food. 2) The spicy fried chicken with rice was excellent. I also got the extra spicy fried chicken for about 5 bucks. 3) I hope they come to Hoboken, NJ. It is the perfect type of restaurant for the area.
I loved the food. It's really tasty but the service here This was this girl today and she was rude, i asked her questions but she was just staring at me and didn't answer like she's bored and doesn't want to work there.
Ordered spicy chicken rice bowl for lunch. Pretty tasty and spicy if you can handle the heat. The rice was nice and gingery. The salad on the side helped cooled down my mouth. I ordered via an app and walked over to collect it at lunch - a pretty straight forward process. Definitely an enjoyable lunch and could have done with more chicken because it was so good.
I didn't realize Gai chicken and rice was a chain when I came here for lunch last week but they have two other Manhattan locations. The restaurant is pretty tiny (standing room only) and they have a very condensed menu which consists mostly of chicken - either fried, steamed or roasted. On their menu, they distinguish between white and dark meat. I don't usually think of this when I order food, although I guess people usually say white meat is better for you? I went with the dark meat roasted chicken which came rice and green salad. I also ordered a side of chicken to go. I thought the chicken was extremely tender and flavorful. Very well seasoned. Even though the chicken was roasted , it was a little on the oily side which in turn made the rice underneath oily since they packed it together, but it wasn't too bad. I thought the portions were very generous. I didn't even need the extra side of chicken and was able to save it for another day. The ordering process was simple. They had two self serve kiosks in the store where you place your order and wait for your name to be called. My food was ready quickly and the service was friendly. I would definitely return for a takeout or delivery order.
Restaurantji Recommends
I love this place very fast foods always good. I always get the roasted chicken comes with a nice spicy sauce on the side. Healthy portion always makes a great lunch not too expensive.
Try: Roasted Chicken Bowl!Why: I really liked the Thai style roasted chicken, which were large strips of tender chicken on top of ginger rice with lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber. This was a MealPal order and I thought it was a large portion, great deal! Also, the spicy chili sauce added great flavor to the bowl. Notes: The shop is a small takeout place in Midtown, and convenient for office workers in the area. They had the MealPal order ready when I got there and it was still hot. No seating available but you can easily enjoy outside or take it back to office. I took it home from Grand Central and it was still warm 20 mins later.
On one of the nights we were back in the hotel early and didn't really want to go out too far. As I was checking for a restaurant, I saw that this place was close to Club Wyndham Midtown 45 and the reviews were pretty decent, so we decided to order for pick-up.I wasn't sure which style my daughter would like so I picked both the roasted chicken and steamed chicken. My daughter ended up liking the steamed version since she's familiar with Hainan chicken. Both styles were very good and a good portion as well. The soup was a little more gingery than I had hoped but not too bad.Overall, the place definitely would get my visit again if I ever stayed nearby. It's not quite Hainan chicken but a great variation of it. Best of all, it was delicious and satisfying.
Been wanting to try GAI Chicken & Rice for a while, and I finally did! There's no seating here, but GAI is an affordable and convenient choice for a take-out meal.I went with the steamed dark meat chicken bowl. You have the option to get soup with your meal at no extra charge, of course I went for it. Meat was tender and light, but still flavorful. Rice was fragrant, and the soup had a nice gingery flavor to it.
My friend and I wanted try the Hainan chicken, and while not super authentic, I thought it was still pretty good. I got the spicy chicken rice and my friend got the steamed dark meat. The chicken was delicious and juicy, and the green sauce was incredibly tasty. Surprisingly the broth was kind of bland, but it didn't take away from the meal. We also got the fries, which were pretty good and crispy.The place was kind of small with very limited seating. The service was very quick and convenient.