First Look: Talay Thai-Latin Restaurant

One of our readers had the chance to swing by Talay over the weekend and shared the following first impression with us:

I went [to Talay] with some fellow uptown friends Saturday night.
The menu was pricier than I was expecting and more limited. Maybe since the place is new they are still figuring it out. Covo next door had a much better range in terms of the menu and prices. But since some of us have been waiting or a good Thai place uptown for a while, I was disappointed to see such a limited selection.

The atmosphere is decent, though they went overboard with the lighting: it is constantly changing blue, red, green, yellow, whatever on a cycle that is kind of too fast for comfort. On the meal itself, between four us we had a range of responses from ‘not good’ to ‘ok’ to ‘pretty good,’ so accounting for taste, I’d be hard pressed to call it either good or bad and think it fair to say it was inconsistent.

I had sliced chicken breast in a really nice puree sauce that was really good. One friend had a salad with beef, while another friend had pad thai. She didn’t like her dish at all; She said it tasted ‘fishier’ than it should. Don’t remember the particulars – mine was $18 for a chicken breast… and I’m not a big guy, but I was still hungry afterward. Whole bill was about $70 before tip and none of us ordered drinks.

I’d say maybe 20 people were at the bar, and about the same number dining. We were there from about 9-11 p.m. We didn’t have to wait or anything and there were plenty of empty tables, but it still felt busy given the size of the place.

Unfortunately the service was definitely not great, I felt a little bad for our waitress. The place was pretty busy, and it seemed like they just didn’t have enough help. I understand the place is new, but they haven’t yet figured out the whole concept of good service that can make or break this place. [It] is out of the way and the prices aren’t cheap, so not many people are gonna hike up/over there for not especially great priced food with bad service. I mean if I were paying $12 for my chicken dish I would not be so critical, but since I was paying $18 then I expect to not have to bend over backwards (asking three different people) to get a knife to eat it with!

By the time we left, there was a decent crowd at the bar. It’s set up to open to the outdoors and is pretty comfortable in scale and vibe. The club upstairs wasn’t open yet; it must have been around 11p.m. by then so we were confused as to why we weren’t able to go in. At the end of our meal the waitress suggested we go up to check it out. She said it’s set up with a bar lounge and dancing area – no cover. Sounded good, but after a lackluster experience from the meal, we were ready to bounce.Unfortunately, on the walk back one of my friends paused on the sidewalk and did not have a good look on her face. Turns out the salad she ordered was ‘pretty good’ going down… but unfortunately needed to come back up. And she’s got a pretty strong stomach for all kinds of food. So, yeah I am curious to hear other people’s experiences. I think they still have a ways to go.

Talay Thai-Latin
701 W. 135th Street
212) 491-8301
Tues-Sun 5:30-11:30 pm

Open Table Reservations

Formerly known as Alma