Ugly Baby - Buy Reservations

I am telling you right now: I've lived in New York City for ~10 years, and the Kao tod nam klook (curried rice and pork skin) is one of the best dishes I've had here. Period. There were moments where I couldn't believe the burst of flavors with every bite. Insanely delicious.We also got the fried turmeric sea bream (I swallowed bones and I liked it that's how good it was) and the banana leaf crab meat curry called Hor Mok (which was easily my second favorite meal at our table). Beyond that, every single person working was personable, happy to be there, and so damn pleasant. I can't remember but I think I tipped 27% just because I loved them so much. Anyway, in short: go here. Go here now.

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My expectations may have been too high, as the only thing that seemed to live up to the hype was the heat.Quality: The first thing to understand about Ugly Baby is it is going to be spicy. Almost every dish on the menu brings the heat, and there is no adjustment, so if you don't like spicy stay away. While a few bites were a lot, the heat wasn't truly a big concern for me. We shared three dishes. My favorite was the Kang Prik, which was a sort of spare rib curry. The meat was excellent and I really enjoyed the flavor. The Kanon Jean Kiew Warn Gai, a chicken noodle curry was just okay. I felt here the spiciness could have been balanced better and the chicken texture was not the best. Last we had the Pla Tod Kamin, fried seabream, a suggestion of the waiter as a less spicy option. I would not order it again, it lacked flavor, and was just not worth the effort with too much skin and tons of bones. I understand why it was offered, but I feel like a less extreme moderate dish is needed. While I did not order, I was impressed by both the beer and wine lists.Quantity: Need a bit more than one dish to be satisfied.Value: $22 for the Kanom Jean Kiew Warn Gai. $22 for the Kang Prik. $32 for the Pla Tod Kamin.Ambiance: Ugly Baby is a small Thai restaurant located in Gowanus. The space is narrow and long, with a few tables on the left wall and a tiny bar in the back. Bright colors are found everywhere, including what the staff is wearing. If music was playing it the background, it was completely overwhelmed by conversation.Crowd: Reservations are essential. Some of the rudest customers I have encountered recently.Service: The servers were excellent, but the food came out extremely slow.Parking: Some street parking.

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I came here on a Friday night about 45 minutes before closing. The place was PACKED! There isn't a lot of seating but luckily, we snagged a table relatively quickly. The four of us split three dishes: Pla Tod Kamin (server recommendation), Kanom Jean Kiew Warn Gai, and the Penang beef. The Penang beef dish was our favorite - INCREDIBLE flavor and medium spice. The Pla Tod Kamin was good as well - it's a full fried fish and was a nice non-spicy dish to balance out our meal. The Kanom Jean was an OK green curry dish, definitely the spiciest of the three dishes we shared. Definitely will be back to have the Penang beef again, and excited to try some of the other dishes on my next visit!

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Came here for the second time after a few years, and it was almost as good as I remembered! It wasn't quite as spicy as I remembered (which is a good thing, also perhaps because I got a Thai iced tea this time to help with the spice). The spare ribs we got were amazing. The meat was tender, the broth was flavorful with just the right amount of spiciness and it was delicious to eat over rice. The squid with shrimp and egg yolk was also good, but I thought they overdid it with the fish sauce and it was a little bit on the salty side. The flavors were great, but I thought needed to be toned down a notch. The egg omelette was also good. The spicy sauce that it came with was delicious, a perfect mixture of spicy and tangy. The egg I thought was just a little bit over fried (edges were brown and just a little bit too crispy). Overall, our experience the second time around didn't quite live up to par as the first (although everything was still delicious). I think the ordering system they have where you have to order a few days ahead of time makes it hard because you might not be in the mood for what you ordered a few days ago, and they don't let you make adjustments to your order. I would still come back for the spare ribs!

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It's true - this is likely the overall spiciest meal you'll have for a long time. But it's not numb your mouth spicy, or drown out the flavors spicy - it's enhance the meal, bring out the flavors, compliment the ingredients spicy: it's incredible.When I first came maybe 4-5 years ago, I could only manage a bite or two of each dish, and I was crying and my entire body was on fire. They even brought out lettuce leaves on top of ice to help me out (I think they can also bring coconut?) But my dining companions loved the food, and I knew I had to work on my spice intake to work up to giving this place another go. Since then, I've been working on my heat tolerance, and I'm happy to report that now 4-5 years later I ate all our dishes with no discomfort!It was well worth the wait. My favorite was the squid and shrimp with salted yolk - the thickened sauce/paste is addictive, I wish I knew how to make it at home; and the sliced chilis in it were great, not even that spicy! The pork shoulder with glass noodles is delicious - so many flavors and textures beautifully combined. The spicy green curry chicken with vermicelli noodles was by far the spiciest, with little red chilis floating everywhere; it brings such a deep, flavorful heat, though. There's also an extensive wine and beer list, with so many unique choices (a bit pricey, though).I wish this place had more seating so they can accommodate more people (there's definite demand!), and the inside bright neon painted walls are a bit distracting. Right now the only way to make a reservation or order takeout is to DM them on Instagram which feels a bit weird. All in all, highly recommend this place for a more authentically Thai experience!

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Colorful decor, delicious food, friendly staff, and a dedicated kitchen team. The best part is they don't cut the spices unlike most of the Thai restaurants overseas. Keep up the good work!

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