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    Gai Kitchen

    4.3 (194 reviews)
    InexpensiveThai, Chicken Shop
    Closed 10:00 am - 9:00 pm

    Order Gai Kitchen Takeout or Delivery

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    GAI KITCHEN ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Dogs allowed
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Gai Kitchen

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    Thai Roast Chicken
    Al H.

    A fast food place with dishes that taste home made. That sums up my experience with Gai Kitchen in the heart of Chinatown on Mott Street. Born in the Mott Street Mall as a food stall, it is now a stand alone eatery for takeout and eat in. Order at the counter and there are tables to sit in. My food was brought out shortly after ordering. The chicken broth was very tasty, and seasoned with a comforting warmth, like sipping a hug. I ordered a "large" serving of Thai Roast Chicken over Ginger Rice. A nice change from plain white rice. The chicken was nicely flavored, and not overly spicey, which was a good thing. Very reasonably priced. A good deal.

    Chicken and rice
    Eugene C.

    I went to Gai Kitchen for the first time last week and got their roasted chicken and rice dish along with their scallion pancakes to go. They were both very tasty and affordable. I can see why this place gets the positive reviews that it gets. It's a casual spot with quality food served quick and affordable. It's a no frills spot that let's it's wonderful food do the talking.

    Large mix chicken with ginger rice
    Ray E.

    Walked by and decided to try this place I got the small roasted chicken over ginger rice and it was so delicious that I had to go back and get a few chicken over ginger rice for the family This time I got the large mix chicken over ginger rice and the fried chicken over ginger rice. And it comes with a cup of soup. All so delicious. The service was pretty fast and the staff are friendly. Definitely coming back and trying the appetizers.

    Steamed Chicken (Hainanese Chicken)
    Jerry H.

    I loveee haianese chicken and this place makes a pretty good version. They could season their chicken rice a bit more though but this is a great portion of food for the price

    Roasted chicken
    Mia H.

    I swung by here for a quick bite one day in Chinatown. This Thai spot specializes in affordable and quick bites--perfect for a casual meal. We ordered at the kiosk (which has a small additional charge in comparison when paying with cash). It came out fairly quick. We got their roasted chicken rice in a small. While the rice was so flavorful with lots of ginger and garlic, I felt that the chicken portion was not that great (especially in comparison to other price-comparable spots in Chinatown). Overall, I thought it was good but just not as advertised.

    Lunch hainanese chicken (small)
    Christine L.

    Wanted something small since it was a warm day. It is a nice space with handful of seating. There is an option to order on a kiosk. I ordered with the staff and was giving a number. Got the small chicken with rice and the Thai fish cake. Prices are decent for size. Chicken with rice was good and not overly oily. Fish cake was tasty as well. Liked that there's a variety of chicken dishes and smaller portions on days when your not overly hungry but still gotta eat.

    Thai Style Roasted Chicken Meal
    Audrey C.

    Good value for what you pay for. I recommend getting the garlic ginger rice with your meal. It's different and unique! The chicken is so flavorful. I would come here everyday if I could.

    Emily N.

    Limited seating and popular spot since it's so cheap! I got the small chicken rice which was only $6.5! It was tasty, would come back for the larger portion, which is still very reasonable! Green Thai tea was good as well.

    Maria M.

    5 stars for taste and prices. You can't beat their prices. 10-12 dollars for a decent size of meat with rice and salad. Tries their chicken combo option which was very filing. Place has tables but its nothing too fancy. Taste and experience are legit!

    Hainanese Steamed Chicken (Hainanese Chicken)
    Jeffrey L.

    Looking for an affordable yet so good tasting chicken meals in Manhattan, consider Gai Kitchen in Chinatown, Lower Manhattan. Here you can try their Fried Chicken, Thai style roasted chicken and their Thai style Hainanese chicken with a hot soup on the side. Good for casual lunch or quick dinner. The ambiance is nice with friendly and welcoming staff.

    Chicken Curry Puffs
    Jacky C.

    Gai Kitchen is one of those cheap eats you can depend on always hitting the spot without hitting your wallet hard. For under $10, you can hook yourself up with a Hainanese Chicken or Thai Style Roasted Chicken with rice (get the garlic rice). They also got some good appetizers, which I enjoyed the Chicken Curry Puffs and Chive and Scallion Pancakes. Their Garlic Fried Wings was fantastic as well.

    Thai Style Roasted Chicken small meal and Thai style Hainanese Chicken small meal
    Michelle F.

    My sister saw this on Instagram and suggested checking it out. When you first walk in, it's very well lit and clean. There was plenty of seating. I went in the evening and picked up 2 small orders of Thai style roasted chicken and Thai style Hainanese chicken. For $6.50, that portion size, I thought.. I probably could've gotten more of a meal especially for the Chinatown area. After eating it, it was a pretty good reasonably sized snack meal. The ginger rice was warm, soft, and packed with flavor. There could have been slightly more protein. I had the Hainanese chicken and used the dipping sauce that was included. I appreciate their transparency with the pricing differences for cash/credit. I could see myself coming back here and trying more foods and drinks from their menu.

    seating
    Hank C.

    A little clean shop serving Thai-style Haianese steamed and roasted chicken, fried chicken, spring rolls and more. Very healthy as it was steamed or roasted, but wasn't as flavorful as I expected (not enough salt/sweetness, I like the SIngaporean version of the sauce better I guess!). The ginger rice was very strong ginger... would have preferred something a little more soy sauce. I really liked their soup, though it was very heavy on the white pepper (which I like, others may not). Spring rolls were good without needing the sauce - veggies and spring roll skins were super crispy. Another pro - very affordable. A lunch or small portion was only $6-7 (cash a little cheaper than credit).

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    20 days ago

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    2 months ago

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    Justin T.

    Thank you Yew Jin Q ! =)

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    Thank you Al !

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    3 months ago

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    Thank you Eugene !

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    3 months ago

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    Thank you Ray !

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    2 months ago

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    4 months ago

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    4 months ago

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    4 months ago

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    2 months ago

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    Thank you Emily !

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    3 months ago

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    Thank you Maria !

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    8 months ago

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    Thank you Jeffrey !

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    9 months ago

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    Thank you Jacky !

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    11 months ago

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    Thank you Michelle ! = )

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    11 months ago

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    9 months ago

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    9 months ago

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    Thank you Amy !

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    6 days ago

    Food supposedly very good! Very long line of take out, packaging lady need a raise! Doing two job at once .

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    10 months ago

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    6 months ago

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    Justin T.

    Thank you !

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    Justin T.

    Thank you Patrick ! =)

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    1 year ago

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    8 months ago

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    Thank you Rebecca !!

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    Justin T.

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    9 months ago

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    Thank you Daniel !

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    Thank You Charlie ! = )

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    Thank You Roslyn ! =)

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    Ask the Community - Gai Kitchen

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    Chicken Stop

    Chicken Stop

    4.4
    (94 reviews)
    2.1 mi
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    The chicken was amazing. Juicy. Flavor-packed. Cooked like somebody in the kitchen still has…read morestandards and a little bit of pride. Every bite hit. Tender inside. Nicely charred where it needed to be. The kind of chicken that makes you pause mid-chew and point at the plate like, okay, now hold on. The beans were killer. Full flavor. Rich. Comforting. Not an afterthought hiding in the corner of the tray pretending to matter. These had real presence. The kind of side dish that starts acting like it pays rent. Deeply satisfying. Very much giving do not overlook me, sweetheart. And the rice? Stand up. Seriously. The rice came in with backup dancer status and somehow turned into co-lead. Fluffy. Well-seasoned. Actually worth eating on its own, which is rare because a lot of restaurant rice just be there for emotional support. This rice had purpose. This rice had ambition. Service kept things moving and the whole place felt easy to enjoy. No extra drama. Just good food doing what it was supposed to do. The atmosphere had that low-key, no-nonsense energy where people clearly came to eat first and talk later. Exactly the kind of mood a chicken spot should have. it's giving... every member of the group project unexpectedly pulled their weight.

    Last night was my first dining experience at Chicken Stop. There's a large, black grill at the…read morefront with whole chicken parts cooking on it. Orders are made at the register as soon as you walk in, even for dine-in orders. I ordered grilled chicken with yellow rice and red beans and a side of sweet plaintains. The chicken was those flat, paper thin strips with grill marks all over. It was tender but not very flavorful. The yellow rice was good and the beans were fine. The sweet plaintains were the best part of my meal. They were cooked nice and brown and they weren't mushy at all. I asked for hot sauce. I was given a cold bottle of hot sauce from the fridge. The dipping sauce helped to give the chicken a little zing. Chicken Stop is a narrowly built restaurant with decent seating, dim lighting and fake grass walls. There was a large, flat-screen TV hanging from the fake grass wall, showing the news. The satellite music was an awful mix of soft rock and country/western. Menu prices are reasonable. I have business in that area now. I'll be dining at Chicken Stop again.

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    Hand sanitizer on the tables.
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    Fluffies Hot Chicken - Midtown

    Fluffies Hot Chicken - Midtown

    3.4
    (47 reviews)
    2.3 mi

    Amazed how freakin good this was. The literal definition of "hit the spot"…read more Trust me, get the Fluffies Filled Fried. None of the mess of a sandwich but all the enjoyment plus it's also fries.

    Got the classic chicken sandwich, regular seasoned fries, coleslaw -- $27…read more First of all, the box for the sandwich is huge. And it is a decently big sandwich. Get ready for some messy eating. But also get ready for some dry ass chicken. There's a reason why I only cook chicken thighs at home instead of breast. One is moist and juicy, the other is not. Fluffies was not able to make their chicken breast any less dry than I could. I had to drench each bite with sauce to mask the dryness. Remind me to only buy chicken sandwiches that use thighs only in the future. The crunch on the fry was a little hard, the sauce did work, but overall I felt like I ate saucy and fry rather than a chicken sandwich. The fries are aight. Very well seasoned -- that was the best part. But I felt like I was eating a toss up with each fry. Some had the perfect crisp on the outside, others felt stale? Like rhymes with the feeling of cold McDonald's fries, obvious not as bad as that but hints of that texture every few fries. It's like I got a fresh batch of fries mixed with an old batch of fries. The good fries were gooood. The bad fries were ugh. Maybe it's cause I went at 11pm but there was still a stready stream of customers. Coleslaw -- nothing special. Got it cause you gotta eat your vegetables for $2. This would be the first time that my slaw is so one-dimension in color though. Sandwich so underwhelming. Dat fry seasoning tho. Maybe I shoulda gotten the Mac/fries.

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    Fluffies Hot Chicken - Midtown
    Fluffies Hot Chicken - Midtown

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    Boong’s Korean Fried Chicken

    Boong’s Korean Fried Chicken

    4.5
    (25 reviews)
    3.6 mi

    Delicious wings, chill restaurant, and friendly staff! I got the sweet and spicy boneless wings and…read moreI really think they were the best boneless wings I've ever had. The chicken was or excellent quality and the sauce was really tasty (an appropriate level of spice for sweet and spicy, but I would've appreciated a bit more heat as a spice enthusiast). I will be returning!

    This KFC, or rather Korean Fried Chicken place, opened up back in April on 1st Avenue, with a new…read moreone having very recently opened on 2nd Ave and 73rd. I went here a while back to order lunch for takeout, and it was pretty good. After they opened, they added some specials ranging from $15 to $17, combining chicken with fries or dumplings, and I went with the sweet and spicy boneless chicken with standard fries, as you can also update the fries to the "spicy snow" version for an extra $1. The cashier was friendly. The sweet and spicy chicken is their version of Yangnyeom/양념치킨, and the combo came with a few moderately sized pieces. The breading was crispy, and the chicken inside was pretty tender. There was some sweetness, and it had a mild kick, though it wasn't as spicy as I prefer. The fries inside were OK. They had a good crisp to them and a good crunch, but needed a tad more salt. The fry portion was also much larger, so next time, I would just stick with the chicken. The free kimchi was standard and decent. This was a perfectly decent Korean chicken spot. If it were any closer to a Korean neighborhood, I doubt it would be doing well, but there is a distinct lack of Korean places nearby outside of the primarily takeout spot, which doesn't specialize at all in chicken. It fills a niche, and I would likely at some point stop in again to try their Korean chicken sandwich or their plain chicken to try more of their sauces.

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    Instant Ramen station, mild to spicy, either to-stay or to-go: 4/16/2025
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    Gai Kitchen - thai - Updated August 2026

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