Thai Basil

Only a brief experience here, but very authentic and flavorful Thai dishes that can cater to a wide audience.
You’ve probably heard of Thai Basil via their Food Network and Travel Channel fame — they’ve been on Bobby Flay’s Throwdown and on a special feature highlighting Thailand. Of course, this pretty much works to their advantage, as Thai Basil is worth the the praise and popularity.
The décor is simple and straightforward — actually, it’s almost like walking into a family’s dining room, with wooden tables and chairs. There is a wall of farmer’s hats lining one wall and another adorned with an interesting white bottle pattern.
Service is friendly and to the point, if not unintrusive.
The Pad Thai is the dish that brought them into the spotlight on Throwdown, so of course we had to order that. It is a decently large portion, enough for two. The noodles are well softened and flavored with that familiar sweet and tamarind sauce. Raw bean sprouts and crushed peanuts accompany the dish. Also ordered the Panang curry, which had a really deep flavor of all those spices you love in a panang, and the carrots and peppers give a nice contrast to the protein of your choice.
Overall, Thai Basil is an unassuming, humble, and authentic Thai experience. I’m looking forward to trying a wider variety of dishes from their expansive menu.

Thai Basil Restaurant is an authentic Thai Restaurant in Northern Virginia. They have something for everyone on the menu. The walls were decorated with hand woven hats, fabric wall hanging, and hut like roof for the bar area. The service was efficient and the food was delicious. I liked everything we ordered and I’d definitely order everything again. I’ll admit that Thai Basil is one of the better Thai restaurants in town. They use fresh ingredients and none of their dishes have MSG.
For drinks, we ordered Thai Iced Tea. They were a bit more iced than usual but it was still refreshing. For appetizers, we shared ‘Goong Hom Pha’, which consisted of crispy spring rolls filled with shrimp, carrot, celery, and spring onion and served with sweet and sour sauce with a hint of chili. For lunch, we shared a Pad Thai with Chicken, which consisted of stir fried rice noodles, chicken, egg, spring onion, and soybeans prepared in a sweet tamarind sauce. There was a nice blend of tamarind and palm sugar.

Delicious dinner. I had my favorite, pad Thai and my hubby had the tilapia special. Only thing missing was a Mai Thai thought the Thai beer was good.

Having eaten here about 6 times over the last 20 years I have to say that the place has hit rock bottom. I know it still draws a formidable lunch crowd, but I think those diners are missing the boat. This place was once semi decent but along with the shopping center has become run down, dirty, and smells funny. Dishes are questionable as to authenticity, and despite some reviews and Bobby fucking Flay, has the worst Pad Thai I have ever eaten. I would rather eat dog food than eat here again.

Thai basil is average for what they charge. I think they are surviving off of the Bobby Flay episode popularity. There are better Thai places just a couple of miles away.

Delicious but a bit more expensive than similar Thai restaurants in the area. I got a spicy tofu dish here that was tasty but I must say that the bill was more than a similar meal a few miles up the road.
They are accommodating to vegetarians though so I will give them that, for sure!

Excellent food! Come on and off and Thai Basil does not disappoint. Great food. Nice restaurant. Great prices. Highly recommend it!

I visited Thai Basil once previously and would’ve described the experience as Average to slightly above Average. However, on my most recent visit a mere few weeks back, I have vowed to never visit again.
Although the restaurant was nearly empty on the weeknight we visited, the servers appeared to be overly zealous to clear our table. The food was bland and the portions were small, given the prices.
There is nothing about this place that is memorable and I certainly won’t be returning.

This is the best restaurant in our (8mi away) radius. I come here all the time since this is the best option for vegan and asian cuisine HOWEVER recently my garden roll had chicken and shrimp, I normally don’t pay attention after frequenting a restaurant very often and building rapport but that happened so I was disappointed but they corrected the issue by remaking it. I didn’t want rolls after so 3 ***, but still the best in our area! It’d be great if they could swap places with Smile Thai but that’s me being selfish living all the way out in Stone Ridge: o)

Chopsticks have a really funky smell! I though it was the food but realized it was the chopsticks, so had to switch back to the metal utensils.
The restaurant is famous for its pad thai, but we werent blown and thought it could’ve been better. The restaurant itself looks a bit dated on the inside.
The tom yum had nice chicken pieces but the onions chunks were a bit much. Other than that, just another thai place.

I decided to stop by Thai Basil for lunch with my coworkers this week. Located in a small shopping strip, the restaurant is known for their chef’s appearance on Bobby Flay’s Throwdown television show (which I was not aware of until my coworkers informed me). The environment is very casual and relaxed. Normally it is very packed for lunch, but today we were seated immediately by the window. Prices are reasonable and they do offer lower prices for lunch (although I did not see any combination deals).
The service here is what you would expect at a more traditional Asian restaurant — they are prompt but they do not fully engage or interact with guests. I found their spice levels to be humorous: 1 Pepper = American Hot, 2 Peppers = Mexican Hot, 3 Peppers= Thai Hot and 4 Peppers = Laos Hot. I guess that’s their impression of each culture’s tolerance for spicy foods? LOL
Now I will admit that whenever I go to a Thai restaurant I usually order the exact same dish, every single time. Thus, I would say that I have a pretty good take on what is considered tasty pad see ew. Their beef pad see ew ($ 8.95) was okay — nothing extraordinary that blew me away. The beef was lacking in flavor and tenderness, and was quite chewy. There were only a few pieces of American broccoli (I counted 4), and the noodles had more of a rough texture as opposed to being super velvety and soft.
My coworker commented that their spice levels were not consistent — she normally ordered with 2 Peppers (aka Mexican Hot) but her food came out extremely spicy today. Before leaving I also got a chance to try their Thai iced coffee ($ 3), which I found interesting. It had a musky taste that was sweet at the same time. Very reminiscent of Thai iced tea but with a strange twist.
Overall I was not impressed but would be interested in coming back to try their pad thai, which is what got them famous in the first place.

Waiter service is pretty good here! The lady was really nice. Food was pretty good! not spicy enough even though I ordered thai hot. but still tasted really good! Came with some of my friends, their first time eating at a thai restaurant and they really enjoyed it. The only gripe about this place is that their seating is really small here and you will be sitting right next to strangers. The table arrangement are very close to one another. lol I review bathrooms as well and their bathroom is clean. Not hospital grade clean but it is clean enough so that you don’t have to hold your breath going into it! it is a single bathroom so you do have to wait for your turn. If you can’t eat spicy, don’t come here! the more spicier the food gets the better they taste! ,
Also the restaurant is hiding behind some trees so it might be hard to find if you are coming down route 50!

Absolutely delicious!
Had the drunken noodle dish at the «Thai Spiciness» Level (3 out of 4). It was definitely spicy! However, unlike other places that just pack on the heat the flavor of the dish still came through. Loved it.
My wife had the chicken fried rice which was nice and light, I had a few bites here and there to help cool my mouth down.
Will definitely be returning.

I heard about this restaurant from a segment about making curry paste on «The Splendid Table» on NPR/​WAMU 88.5, which featured the chef.
Everything was really delicious from start to finish. We strongly recommend the fish cakes for an appetizer. Super light and very flavorful. Very easily the best I’ve ever had.
Tried two soups: both were excellent. Rich coconut flavor in one, outstandingly fresh light tomato in the other.
The excellence continued with the entrees. My matsuman curry was bold and the beef was fall-​apart tender.
Finished the meal with a slice of blueberry cheesecake which was superb. Fresh blueberries, tasty blueberry sauce (with just a hint of lime was it?).
During our visit, we experienced attentive waitstaff and a lovely visit to our table from Chef Nong. She clearly enjoys sharing knowledge about Thai cuisine – when we thanked her for explaining a dish to us, she happily exclaimed we needed to be sure to come back to try everything on the menu.
As she departed out table, Chef Nong exuberantly told us her new cookbook came out that day! Since I’m unlikely to be able to cook any of the recipes in jt as perfectly as she, I’m glad there’s Thai Basil in Chantilly.

Had high expectations for this place but was real disappointed. We ordered the pad raad na and the pad goong kap naw mai. The former was very bland and left a ton to the imagination. The latter was very much so the taste of what I get at every chain Chinese place I have ever been to. It’s not bad, but it is indistinct and really disappointing. Was basically soy sauce stir fry. The chicken and shrimp in both meals were great though, high quality. But this underwhelming experience was so unexpected that we decided against dessert.

This place is pretty cool and sadly tucked away in the back of the shopping center.
I have heard my co-​workers talk about this place for years and how the lady who owns the restaurant was on the food network and how the food was amazing. I finally took a chance and tried it and I was pleasantly surprised.
I had the drunken noodles and loved every bit of it. The only down side was that at the end of our meal, we asked for separate checks and the guy who was working threw a fit and had to manually divide our checks up on a calculator.
I hope they upgrade their system because the food is good.

Let me just tell you their #1 appetizer, Khanom Jeeb, is a life-​changer.
I haven’t ventured too far into their menu, but the Pad Kra Praw is packed with delicious flavor… three peppers all the way.
The place gets pretty crowded around lunchtime and as it is a small restaurant, plan accordingly. Take-​out is really fast there, but I do wish sometimes while I’m at work that they delivered.
Their staff is very efficient and nice. I would definitely recommend as my favorite Thai restaurant in the DMV area.

I used to love this restaurant — it was one of my favorites when I craved Thai food. But recently, I’ve felt that it has been going south. The last time I went, I got very sick from the eggplant dish I ordered. I’ve heard from other friends that they have gotten sick there as well.
I am putting Thai Basil on hold for a while, and I hope next time I go, I can write a more positive review that their quality has gone back up to where it used to be.

My husband said that this place had good thai food for America. I was skeptical because after being in Thailand this summer we are both particular about american thai food.
We had showed up at noon on a Saturday just as they opened. Other people have already populated the place which intrigued me since it must means it is good. It is like when you go to some place with a whole bunch of old people inside. It means it is good and cheap.
My husband and I were promptly seated at a two seater by the window. We start off with water and we order Tom Yong soup. One with chicken and one with shrimp. I was thrown off by the taste as it was nothing like I had in Thailand. It disappointed me in that aspect but it was decent with some spicy. My husband liked his because it had two huge shrimps in the soup.
My husband ordered the drunkin noodles made thai spicy. I can’t remember the name of my order but I did take a picture of it. I loved that Thai spicy meant a flavor kick to the ass.
Overall the food was decent but still didn’t taste like Thailand. It was another Americanized Thai food place.

I’ve been to this location a few times with co-​workers who rave about it. However every time I’ve been disappointed.
The place turns into a mad house at noon so I understand service can be slow but it took over an hour for the food to come out and people who sat down long after us had their order taken a food come out before us.
To top off the service I was given the wrong thing twice.
Now the food I will say is decent but by far not the best Thai in the area. I’m not sure who gives out the awards the post area in the building but I will not be attending again when there are better options just down the road.