I recently tried I recently tried Zaab-E-Lee Thai Street Food after seeing it all over social media, and it actually lived up to the hype. I ordered the spicy ground chicken with basil topped with an over-easy egg (Pad Ka Prow Kai Kai Dao) along with the basil fried rice with chicken, both at medium spice. The heat level was perfect, with a well balanced level of spice. The egg was cooked to a perfect runny consistency, coating the rice nicely. Everything was packed with flavor, and I would definitely come back. I have a pretty good Thai restaurant right across the street from me, but I would still happily make the 6 plus mile trip here again. That probably says more than anything else I could write. read more

I genuinely don't get this place; I have never eaten at a restaurant that varies so much in its taste and quality and service. When it's good, it is *really* good. Jaw droppingly good. I first ordered an order of green curry when I was sick. About twenty minutes after ordering, the driver cancelled my order with no explanation, though I was refunded. I feverishly ordered another. Inexplicably, the second delivery driver arrived with two orders. And let me tell you, this green curry was AMAZING. The curry paste was clearly made in house and fresh (something that's becoming a rarity these days) , and it came with a large piece of eggplant that had been smoked and grilled and permeated with flavor. Another reviewer had said that they hadn't had thai food these good in twenty years. I concur. In fact I felt bad; it was so good and the servings were so large that I can't imagine they made a profit off my order. The order literally sustained me for days. A few weeks later, I decided to expand and placed a big order for a group on a Friday. The order took a long time and the delivery person apologized, but I didn't mind. Good food takes time. Unfortunately, everything was average - not bad, but average. A few weeks later, I decided to try that green curry again. I wondered if that's just something they do well. And it was. . . not great. Thin, watery, bland, undercooked vegetables that had not been seasoned. Not bad, but definitely average. Tiny piece of raw eggplant, yuck. I wondered if maybe my first experience was a fever dream. But a couple weeks later, I tried again. The same order - green curry. And it was delicious again! Big smokey grilled pieces of eggplant, bamboo shoots, beans, rich flavor. I'm not sure what is going on here. Does it depend on who working? A ordered it again a few weeks later. Average. Uncooked eggplant. I ordered it again a couple weeks after that. Amazing, delicious, perfect. I ordered it a few days ago, and after half an hour I got a message saying the restaurant cancelled my order and I would be issued a refund. No explanation. Then I ordered it to tonight. Average, watery, and bland. Filled with bell peppers. Barely any other vegetables. The eggplant is just thrown in, barely cooked I have ordered about 12 times from Zaab Elee, and it's a gamble each time. I'm kind of feel like an addict, chasing the high of when its really good. I love this place but I wish I knew what was going on here. Would be five stars if they could get consistent. read more

If you haven't discovered @zaabeleechicago Thai Street Food yet, let this be your sign to add it to your list. From the moment you walk up, you might not expect what's waiting inside--but as soon as the doors open, you're instantly transported into the vibrant energy of Thailand. Think colorful umbrella-lined ceilings, and cozy seating nooks. One of the biggest surprises? How spacious it is inside. Owner Jessie has created a space that feels both lively and welcoming, with plans already underway to expand a private events room. Even though the restaurant has only been open for about seven months, you can tell she's thoughtfully building something special--so definitely keep an eye on their socials for future events and parties. Jessie greeted us and shared that this is her third restaurant, and it shows. Her experience and passion shine through in every detail--from the atmosphere to the menu to the overall guest experience. We started with drinks, and I ordered the iced Thai tea, which came in the most beautiful presentation--complete with a delicate flower floating on top. It truly felt like a mini vacation in a glass. For our meal, I ordered the Khao Soi with chicken, and I can confidently say it was one of the best I've ever had. Rich, comforting, and packed with flavor--it's a must-order. My husband went with the crab meat fried rice, a fan favorite--and for good reason. It was fresh, and flavorful. To start, we shared the satay and the "Tiger Cry"--a standout dish featuring grilled beef marinated with onion, mint, rice powder, chili, cilantro, and fresh lime sauce. Bold, vibrant, and incredibly satisfying. With a menu full of appetizers, curries, soups, and unique salads, there's truly something for everyone--and plenty of reasons to come back and try more. What really ties it all together is the hospitality. The entire team is warm, welcoming, and happy to guide you through the menu with recommendations. read more

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Excellent spot for BYOB Thai Their chicken wings are FIRE, with very tender meat. Pineapple fried rice is delicious. Friendly service and fun front room with whimisical decor and vintage Asian movie posters. They recently opened a cavernous back room perfect for larger groups. Accessible entrance. Bathrooms are single service but way in the back & old - can fit a wheelchair but there is little wiggle room & no grab bars. read more

Really charming interior, large space. Very kind workers. Love the expansive menu. The Penang Noodle is an absolute gem. Fried rice noodle tossed in a rich curry is a combo made in heaven. The crispy and chewy juxtaposition will have you craving more. The crab rangoon is super fluffy and delicate. This item is usually a greasy delight but here, it's a perfect starter. The Tum Tad has a fun mix of meats, seafood, and bites. However, the salad became extremely spicy even though we ordered mild. I am a big spicy eater as well, but even I was affected. Which is confusing because our noodle dish was medium but that was very manageable. The pad kanar moo krob has a juicy, soft texture but this flavoring fell really short in the whole grand scheme of things. read more

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First time at Zaab E Lee and honestly we were very impressed with how cute the interior looked and the high quality of the food. Thankfully we made a reservation in advanced and got seated in one of the cute huts inside but this place got packed within the hour. It's a family owned business and appeared to have just one server during the dinner rush but she did a great job attending everyone. We've never been to an "authentic" Thai restaurant before and normally stick to the more well known dishes such as Panang Curry and Pad See Ew. We love venturing out and trialing new foods so we started our dinner with the Moo Daad Diew (fried pork) which was 10/10 chefs kiss. Highly recommend this dish because for how tender and delicious the pork was. For the entrees we ordered Khao Soi with chicken (perfect curry sauce) and the Yum Ma Ma (cold seafood dish with noodles). Both were great and had a beautiful presentation. For dessert don't miss out on the mango sticky rice, we were fighting over the last pieces of it. Oh and it's BYOB and they don't charge a fee for it which is excellent. I can't wait to try more dishes and make this our new go to Thai restaurant in the area. read more

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Tucked into Albany Park, Zaab E Lee Thai Street Food feels like stepping into a lively, slightly offbeat corner of Thailand--equal parts neighborhood hangout and destination dining. It's the kind of place that doesn't just serve food; it pulls you into its orbit with color, heat, and personality. The real star here is the food--and it hits hard. Zaab E Lee leans into bold, authentic Thai flavors, especially from the Isan region, so expect serious spice and punchy seasoning. This is not toned-down, tourist-friendly Thai; it's vibrant, funky, and unapologetically intense. read more

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3.5 stars, rounded up to 4. After seeing trending posts on Instagram, was so excited to give it a try. Recently traveled to Bangkok during the summer and we miss authentic Thai food so much. Based on the Thai menu, we thought maybe it's as close to Thai food from Thailand but we were wrong. Photos are promising. Taste, not so much. Decor and service was good. Portions are on the smaller side and it's a typical Chicago Thai place. Don't forget they don't play with spicy so if you can't handle "Thai spicy", stick with American medium spicy. -goong chae nam pla: shrimp salad. We really came for this dish (and the fish) as it's hard to find in Chicago but were so disappointed. Typically they take sashimi grade shrimp with fresh garlic & spices. Looked like they used Costco style frozen shrimp. Thawed and put a lot of garlic to hide the shrimp texture. I was worried I may get food poisoning since it's looked like thawed uncooked shrimp. I only ate 2 pieces & am ok. -pra sam rod (fried fish); when done right, fish meat has a lot of good flavor with crispy on the outside. The fish had no other flavor than the fish itself. The sauce looked like it was from bottled sauce and not homemade special sauce. This, too, was very disappointing. -som tum; flavorful but too much fish sauce. They use dried shrimp as garnish so be careful if you have shrimp allergy. -creamy tom yum: definitely not creamy. It's a typical tom yum. -moo ping: on the pricy side for 4 skewers -fried rice -pad Thai- typical. Nothing special. Overall, good to try to get my curiosity out but we won't be returning. read more

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This place has AMAZING Thai food. They take such care and elevate every dish. Service was "top notch" too. Food came out fast and hot. I didn't catch the waiters name but he was very kind. We had crab rangoon and the scallion dumplings to start. The rangoons were so puffy and delicate. One of the best I have ever had. The scallion dumplings were delicious. Lots of scallions but not too strong and maybe a bit of cheese in the filling? Very tasty. The main courses of crispy pork belly and pad thai with chicken were also very good. The menu is a bit confusing as the main courses do include your choice of a protein but it doesn't say that on the menu. Also, the description of the two crispy pork belly dishes are identical, but the waiter explained to me how they were actually different. We loved this place! Please don't get put off by the look of the outside of the building - so cute inside! I can't wait to come back and try more! read more

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The food was tasty! The options were great. The space is deceptively large (back room). The staff was nice. The prices were reasonable. I'm glad I gave it a try. read more

Deep fried tilapia in sweet chili sauce...crab fried rice...kha soi...KILLER MEAL. Thai iced tea to finish off an awesome lunch. read more

Zaab E Lee - Thai Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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The establishment is kinda off by itself but there is surrounding street parking available. The decor is very Thai and vibrant; they also have ambient Thai music in the background. The staff are very nice and attentive. It seems they specialize in Isan Thai food, and also offer Thai dishes that I don't typically see elsewhere. I forgot to take pictures because I was so excited to eat but my favorite items were the moo ping and tom yum goong. Their sauces were perfect! I'm from Thailand and I think it's a little Americanized but they do the country pretty good justice. read more

Zaab E Lee - Tom Zaab - Thai Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

Here now with my partner. We ordered a little over an hour ago. My food came out 30 min after ordering. His has still not arrived. So apparently you are supposed to watch each other eat one at a time? Service is terrible. They just don't seem to care. If we could we would just walk out but I'm sure getting the check will be another ordeal. Trust me. Go somewhere else. read more

Nestled in the eclectic Albany Park neighborhood is this amazing new Thai restaurant that caters to the street foodies! The dish that everyone should try is "Som Tam Thai", aka papaya salad. It is anything but standard. The fragrant flavors and textures are beautiful in this dish, a must have! Simply the best Som Tam in Chicago. The staff is friendly and the place is colorful! We have gone there twice already! read more

Zaab E Lee - Amazing "Som Tum Thai"!!! Must try!!! - Thai Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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First time checking out this place! It's pretty new so they r just getting settled. The service was nice when it was just us 4 and one other table but once they got 3-4 tables it was a bit hectic for one server. Would recommend having more ppl so it's easier esp if there are phone calls too. The food was amazing. The extra spicy was actually Thai spicy and the flavors were no joke. Super flavorful and even for a basic dish like pad Thai , they had so much flavor and noodles had that nice wok hay too. The Thai ice Thai is a must again super flavorful and didn't feel like it was just from a powder. The papaya salad was full of Thai chili and the blue crab that's fresh and raw just the way I like it from Thailand. The tom yum soup had amazing flavor - hot sour spicy amazing. The food is 10/10 for sure. The only thing I would improve on are for real menus( currently the full menu is on paper) and more servers. Otherwise would def come back and the decor is super cool inside too! read more

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First time trying so I only got ordered a few things for delivery. Crab Rangoon - 3.5/5 - I don't typically order crab Rangoon from a Thai place. These looked better than they tasted but they scratched the itched. Veggie Red Curry - 4.5/5 - Green curry is my go to when trying a new Thai place but they were out of stock. I will say the red curry was delicious! Beef Pad See Ew - 4/5 - Another one of the things I like to try when checking out a new place. This checked the box for sure. Can't wait to try more stuff soon. I definitely want to go eat there too, it looks super cute. read more

They're serving delicious and authentic Thai street food, the portion was huge and staff was amazing!! Highly recommend the som thum Thai, Thai fried rice, and pad kee mao (drunken noodles)! Ambiance was nice and to teleport to Thailand read more

Zaab E Lee - Thai fried rice - Thai Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

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Went on a Sunday for lunch, we were lucky enough to be seated before a big rush. The food was delicious, I can honestly say some of the best Thai I have ever had. The decor is cute, and the waitress was very nice. They are understaffed as stated in other reviews but they recently have blown up on social media so please give them some grace while they catch up with their newfound popularity. Will for sure be going again. Highly recommend the fried pork belly appetizer with the tamarind sauce. 10/10 read more

The food here is amazing. Get anything, especially anything with pork belly. But you can tell they really care about all items as the Thai menu staple Crab Rangoon is well above the normal you find elsewhere, Excellent menu and cooks who make the food. The atmosphere inside is definitely a "date night" place, very romantic. And the service is very friendly and warm. This is easily one of the best new restaurants in my neighborhood and the best of like 5 different restaurants in this location since I moved nearby 6 years ago. I read more

Food was delicious. Chive dumpling is garlic and onion in a dumpling bun. Tom Yum soup filled with shrimp and tasty broth. We had a waiter who was down to earth. He made excellent recommendations. Food was fast and warm. The place is So Cute with lateens on the ceiling and a big fan. Paper mobiles of different colored fish decorate the cute booths read more

Zaab E Lee - Inside of booth - Thai Near Me - Chicago, Illinois

I can't wait to try every dish. All in the name of research of course. The first thing I had was a home run. And it's dangerously close to home. Quick, friendly service. With the loss of Rainbow Thai Cuisine on Western near Lawrence I was bereft. But this! Feels like a little spot in a small village. Bonus points: It's a woman-owned business. Huzzah! read more

Fantastic! Every time we go here the food is excellent. We tend to get pork belly entrees as they are off the charts. But even a more typical Thai food item like crab rangoon is well above what you usually get from other Thai places. The menu and the cooks are excellent here. The atmosphere for eat in is definitely "date night". So cute and romantic. The owners really put a lot of thought in here, too. Service is always friendly and warm. This is now a go-to place in Albany Park for me. This location has had many restaurants over the last 5 or 6 years. Zaab E Lee is the best by far. Well worth the train, drive, or walk (if you are lucky like me to live nearby). read more

Waited an hour and a half and still never got my entree. They dropped off my appetizers, crab rangoon and chive dumplings after an hour and they were mediocre at best, also a chive and a scallion are different so it's a scallion dumpling with big pieces in it instead of small chives which are more pleasant in a dumpling. No one apologized and after I paid for parking twice and still didn't get my entree I decided to pay for my appetizers and leave and they were so understaffed that no one was even at the register to do that because they were doing other things while a line of 20 ppl were there waiting to be seated while the entire place was already full, all mostly still waiting for food as well. I work in the hospitality industry and I've left one review ever and that was for Las Tablas on Lincoln Avenue probably 6 yrs ago because it was the worse experience ever from beginning to end but even there at least I received my food this place has very good food from what I can see and smell but the service is egregious and there's no excuse for being that understaffed in Albany Park unless you are trying to hire only asians which from what I see is exactly what's going on. Keep that up and you won't have a restaurant. One of your most popular dishes which is a seven flavored fish can't take thirty minutes to make during a business influx when you have limited seating and no staff. Food might be good but service is terrible and if you are going to be severely understaffed you better make sure the staff you have on hand learns how to communicate, read customers faces and body language so they can recover customers when they are upset instead of just filling up waters and walking off like everything is fine when we all see the disaster of a service on a Saturday night playing out in front of our eyes. Everything is do expensive nowadays and Im tired of places who think they can charge $30+ for entrees but can't set themselves for successful services on Saturday nights in Chicago when the weather is 60 degrees and everyone is out. Grandmas recipes won't save you for long you better get your shit together and learn how to run a restaurant. read more

What a wonderful Northern Thai experience. Everything we had was delicious, fresh and well executed. Our favorite was the Crying Beef and the pork belly dish. Very good spice levels without asking and when we asked...it was super hot! We would definitely drive back from the suburbs as there are no great Thai restaurants near us. We loved the ambiance (the cute tented tables). 5+++++ read more

This is the first time we tried restaurant after saw the review. Food was good. Specially the Tom Yum soup!! Spicy basil chicken was Al's good. We also had Thai fried rice. Service was very good also. Loved the decor. read more

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This is the second time we have been to this restaurant and I'm pleased to see they are doing a brisk business. The food is truly exceptional. We started with chive dumplings and meat skewers with sticky rice. My main was khao soi and my husband got panang curry. The only drawback was that they are seriously understaffed. Most of the time there was only one server , and no one was busing tables. Luckily we were in no hurry, but I think next time we'll go on a weeknight. read more

New place in Albany Park on Lawrence. Obscure location but very cute interior redecorating. The food was fantastic and the owner/server was so sweet and accommodating. Chive dumplings were the starter hit followed by extremely flavorful tom yum soup. Main was a stir fry mixed vegetable dish with rice. Equally as tasty and fresh! Highly recommend supporting this local business. They are really making an effort to serve authentic and tasty Northern Thai cuisine. read more

The Panang Noodles are great and prefer noodles over rice anyway! Pad See ew and potstickers also very good. Very nice owners as well! Give it a try. The tented booths give a romantic touch. read more

Everything. Best Thai I've had in 30 years. I'm ruining my secret here. I take it back, don't go here. I want to be able to get a table.

Terrible service sat in lobby waiting for order over 30 minutes they told me 5 ridiculous slow woman at front desk!!! Horrible food!