Bangkok City

Bangkok City

123 State Street
New London
(860) 442-6970

They have winter and summer hours, so call ahead. They are open for lunch and dinner and usually closed on Sundays.

Quick Peek:
Kids Menu: No, but many of the appetizers are kid friendly and the main dishes can be split.

Dirty Looks?: Families are very welcomed by the staff, but it is a date spot on weekend evenings.

High Chairs/Boosters: Available and clean

Bathrooms: Clean. No changing tables.

Boredom busters: None other than the sushi chefs in the adjoining Little Tokoyo and the very interesting decorations. The staff does not mind if you look around.

Deals: Discounts on Monday and Tuesday nights.

Other: I do not recommend this place, or any Thai food, for a family with a child with a severe nut allergy. Peanuts and cashews are a MAJOR component of Thai food.
Bangkok City is co-located with Little Tokoyo which serves a full Japanese cuisine menu as well as fresh sushi. You can order from both at the same time.


First off, Thai food is wonderful! It is not as heavy or greasy as Chinese although many of the dishes will remind you of Chinese food. Most of the dishes are stir-fry style. Thai food uses a lot of the same basic ingredients, but in combinations you may not be accustomed to seeing together. The names of the dishes may seem odd and intimidating, but rest assured you can order by number. Thai food also does not need to be hot/spicy to be great and at Bangkok City you can specify your degree of spiciness: according to their menu, "* Coward, ** Cautious, *** Adventurous, **** Native Thai." I always order Coward for me and the girls and Dining Dad always orders Native Thai which clears out his sinuses and leaves him slightly sweaty.

Thai food is also very kid-friendly even though they may not recognize any of the names. When we told the girls we were going there for lunch today Angel sulked and declared there was no way she was eating that. Monkey just chanted McDonald's over and over. But we went anyway and at the end of the meal Angel declared it DELICIOUS! Monkey still wanted Mickey D's.

First, we ordered the Chicken Satee (satay). You can get beef, pork or chicken. The server brought out a little hibachi with the fire going and chicken tenders (already cooked - the hibachi is just for warming the meat) on wooden skewers. There were six in all as well as a peanut sauce and a cucumber salad for dipping. At $6.50 they are a pricey appetizer, but it is something I can guarantee the kids will eat and roasting food over an open flame at the table is just cool! The kids at the table next to us each got one order as their main course. Other good kid-friendly appetizers are the spring roll and the stuffed shrimp.

We each ordered a dish from the lunch menu ($6.95 each - $7.50 for the shrimp dishes). All of the dishes come with the soup of the day which was a chicken broth based rice soup - very yummy and liked by all. Angel got the Pad Keing (#10) with beef which is basically strips of beef stir-fried with fresh ginger, carrot, onion, scallion and muchrooms in a brown sauce with rice. Very mild, very crispy, very fresh - in fact we practically have no left-overs of this one. Monkey got the Pad Preow-Warn (#13) with chicken which is basically sweet & sour chicken except the chicken is in strips instead of deep fried as it would be in Chinese. I had the Pad Thai (#1) which I usually love, but it was a bit off today. It is made with stir-fry noodles, shrimp, pork, with egg, bean sprouts, and scallions and topped with ground peanuts. The other dish I really like is the Pad Karna (#12) which is chicken sauteed with broccoli, carrot and mushroom in an oyster sauce. Dining Dad ordered Pad Bai-Gra-Prow (#18) with beef, a spicy dish with beef sauteed with fresh basil, pepper & scallion in chilli sauce. Dining Dad notes that Thai Basil is NOTHING like Italian Genovese basil. It is more citrus-tasting, but also has a cooling taste to it. It is great as the major flavor in less spicy versions and provides a nice coolness when you kick up the heat!

The service. It's not the Four Seasons. They seat you fast, they take your order fast ( a little too fast if you don't go in knowing what you want), and they bring out the food fast. No problem there. Then you will never see your server again. They never come back to ask if you need anything or how your food is. Is is cultural? I am not sure. But we have been here many times and it is always the same. You have to go find someone if you need more water. Actually today was very funny - we were all out or close to out of water and Dining Dad went to find someone who came to our table and filled my and Angel's glasses and then walked away! He returned a few minutes later with a new napkin for Dining Dad - not sure why. Be prepared to also track someone down to get the check.

A final note on Bangkok City: it is very accomodating to families and Thai food is a great gateway to trying new, more exotic food because it is great-tasting food without being spicy.