fyi: z is gluten-free (which means she can't eat wheat, rye, or barley) so our reviews are all from the gluten-free perspective. we care about how many gluten-free options the restaurant has and how helpful the staff is in dealing with our concerns.
gluten-free options: many gluten-free options are marked in the regular menu online (however, gf items are not marked in menus in the restaurant, so you might want to check online before you go). there is also a gluten-free "chy thai special" menu on each table with a few gf entrees. gluten-free offerings include appetizers, soups, noodles, curry, stir fry, and fried rice. dine in or take out.
total from a to z: 3 stars
a's review: * * *
chy thai's biggest failing is one of training. on their website, they have a gf menu that is quite clear and covers most of the regular menu. but when you call or walk in to place an order, the people you deal with are not as well informed. the receipt said the items were gf, but i wasn't feeling confident. it is lucky that z is not super sensitive to gluten. this is reallygoodthai food though.
z's review: * * *
as i've said before, when you're gluten-free any type of asian cusine can be tricky. when it comes to gluten-free thai food, there'sgoodnews and there's bad news about chy thai. thegoodnews is that chy thai has a lot of gluten-free options on its menu, and everything i have tried so far has been delicious. we've dined at chy thai and also had takeout over the past couple of months. i have tried the satay, the gaeng ga re curry, the pinapple fried rice, and the pad woon sen. (the pad woon sen was my favorite! hooray noodles!) and i am excited that there are still a lot of gluten-free options at chy thai for me to try.
the bad news is that the gluten-free options are only marked in the menu online - they're not available in the menus at the restaurant. and, unfortunately, the staff we have interacted with had absolutely no idea what being gluten-free meant, so we were unable to get any assistance from them in ordering. seeing as i am only gluten-free for rheumatoid arthritis (and not celiac) i don't get sick if a little bit of gluten makes it into my meal. however, if i did have celiac i probably wouldn't feel comfortable ordering from chy thai unless i was able to talk to someone on the staff who was more knowledgeable and reassuring about the contents of the food. overall i was a bit disappointed with chy thai since the gluten-free options seem so promising but i was left with a feeling that i wasn't sure if there was gluten in my dinner or not. perhaps chy thai will work on training its staff better in the future.