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Yum Yum Bangkok is one of the more consistent Thai spots on Ninth Avenue’s restaurant strip. But that’s not to say it’s exciting. The kitchen here seems afraid to offend, and most dishes emerge well-cooked but noncommittally flavored. Yum yum salads, greens tossed with well-cooked proteins in chili sauce, make good starters; they’re the rare dish spicy enough to make you reach for the water glass. Soups, like the standard coconut broth with chicken, are mild but flavorful, and a few odd pan-Asian choices—soba noodles, fried rice, spinach dumplings—are similarly timid. With quasi-industrial touches like metal sconces and tubular light fixtures along brick walls, the appealing dining room draws crowds most nights; you’re as likely to see neighbors chowing down here as tourists. Servers are friendly but brisk, and too-close tables mean eavesdropping on fellow diners is unavoidable. The unusual layout here, with two dining rooms connected by a tiny doorway, is the result of a 2004 expansion of the original 1999 space. — Michael Kaminer

Yum Yum spicy salad with shrimp, $9.95; chicken dinner with panang curry sauce, $8.95