Tamarind

I come here about once a week for my green curry fix. I always order the green curry with chicken. Like one reviewer said, it is like crack. It is so delicious. It is very spicy for me though (a bit of a spice wuss), so I usually ask for it to be made a little more mild. It is a generous serving, and it comes with rice.
I haven’t gone to any other Thai places for green curry because I’m always afraid I’ll be disappointed. Tamarind has the best meals, I feel, because the vegetables served with it are always fresh and cooked perfectly (not soggy). I appreciate fresh crispy, not over cooked vegetables and value this highly about Tamarind’s food.
I have also had the chicken cooked isaan style. I did not like it, but it came with yummy sticky rice. The chicken was dry, though.
I’ve also had the crispy angel appetizers. They’re really cheap and tasty.
Service is always attentive and friendly. Never had a bad time here. Five stars for the green curry and service!

Our favorite spot. Small but big flavor. I recommend the angry salmon. BYOB gives it that 5^th star.

Hands down one of our families favorite places to eat in Philly. Chef is amazing and we love her! Sautéed Ginger Curry is amazing but then again everything there is!

I ordered takeout from Tamarind last weekend and was not disappointed. I ordered the pad Thai which came with tofu and shrimp. I ordered it at a level 3 and was fine with the spiciness of it. I also ordered some of their vegetarian spring rolls which were also quite delicious.
The portion was sizable and I had enough for left overs the next day.
I would definitely recommend and I look forward to trying some of the other dishes.

I ordered the Chicken Rad Kee Mao and Chicken Tom Kha soup and it was soooo good! They don’t disappoint. At first I was nervous because noone was dining there and I ordered takeout but I was pleasantly surprised. I wish they were my local Thai spot but sadly I’m just visiting on business.

I’ve been coming to this place for years and I have NEVER been disappointed with the food or service. My dishes always come out so fast, the staff is so nice, and the food is amazing!
I always order the Pad Kra Poa, and I love the subtle taste of the basil. It’s cooked to perfection! There is so much flavor in this dish.
I also have tried the chicken in yellow curry which is amazing. It’s not too salty, it’s the perfect combination of coconut flavor and vegetables.
Sometimes it does get packed on Friday and Saturday night as usual, but it’s worth waiting for it. I would HIGHLY recommend this place!

Nice low key spot… Food was good; service was great!!! The wait for the food was minimal and the prices were very reasonable.

This place has great service and food
We had no idea if they were open or not so I called them and they welcomed us in before opening:)
Very attentive and the food was tasty. We had the Panang curry with chicken and white rice and the Radna with chicken. Also some refreshing Thai iced tea
It was our first time there and will definitely go back again.

Came here with friends this summer. It felt small but cosy. I couldn’t feel the ac, so I got a little bit worried in the beginning. The décor was nice. I just got the pad thai, a safe choice. I almost got the green curry but I was kinda nervous I’d still be too hot from the lack of ac and heat from the curry. The pad thai was delicious but not the best I’ve had. My friend got the green curry, she said she enjoyed it. The service was also good.
Overall, I thought it was good and I may try this place again if my friends want Thai food and we’re in town. However, I probably wouldnt go out of my way to come back.

What a delicious Thai find in Philly! I absolutely love Thai food, so when my friends asked what I wanted to try, I was grateful for the opportunity to ask for some Thai. We headed to Tamarind around 7 on a Sunday and it wasn’t too busy. It is a BYOB place, but we didn’t have the foresight to bring a bottle of wine. Oh well.
I started with the som tum salad with papaya, carrots, tomatoes, and peanuts. It was so fresh and tasty! The flavor was great and it had a great little kick without being too overwhelming. For my main dish I got chicken green curry and it was right up there with some of the curry I had in Thailand. The coconut flavor was sweet, and with a 3 star spice level (you can order up to 7 stars but order with care) it had some nice heat on it. There were tons of veggies– green beans, red peppers, basil leaves, etc. to balance out a good portion of chicken. Our waitress was great and we had a nice evening. I would recommend this cute little spot for your next Thai craving!

Literally just walked past the place and thought «why not?»
First off this place has the BEST customer service experience I’ve seen in my past two years here in philly. On top of that food was excellent cooked to the T. I enjoyed the fact that we could actually decide our spice levels here which is pretty sweet!
Overall great experience I’d definitely come again and again!

Great service and delicious food! My best friend was fasting for Ramadan and they were soo respectful with when to bring our food out. They also always asked how we were. The food had alot of flavor and is one of the best thai places I’ve been to in Philly.

Two words: Veggie friendly! And without losing any of the essential Thai flavors. Loved this place for solid, right on, perfectly spicy and delectable Thai food. Small casual place where it’s all about quality food! The menu is huge and all the typical Thai dishes are great. Loved the papaya salad, green curry, vegetable radna, and fresh summer rolls. BYOB.

If you’re walking past this restaurant on an empty stomach, you’re doing yourself a disservice.
A few reviews question how Tamarind has such good reviews, but don’t let this discourage you, because these «bad» reviews are outshined by the many amazing ratings Tamarind receives, and they deserve no less.
I came here on a date with my girl friend. We started with the calamari. They were larger than normal squid sectionals fried perfectly and paired with what I believe was a sweet and sour dipping sauce. It’s exactly what calamari needs to be, crispy and flavorful (sauce).
Then came our separate appetizers. I went with the steamed crab dumplings. They might have looked simple and innocent, but they definitely packed a meaningful, flavorful bite. I would definitely get these again.
Them came the entrée, I went with the Pad Kee Mao with beef. Upon first bite, my taste buds soared to another dimension of flavor. I fell in love. The spice factor for this dish was on point. It wasn’t overbearing and complimented the dish wonderfully. The noodles were done perfectly and the basil sauce was addicting. The portion size was very generous and I walked home happily knowing I had some amazing left-​overs to look forward to.
To top it off (BYOB!!), the service here was quick, sweet, and attentive. There are so many other dishes I look forward to trying and I will definitely be back.

Pretty surprised at the positive ratings of this place. I found it mediocre at best. The restaurant wasn’t too busy and we walked right in on a Saturday night around 8. I was underwhelmed by the décor and the bathroom was down a flight of steps and was small and pretty dirty. The service was lacking and we had to ask for plates and chopsticks multiple times. Now, I can overlook all of that if the food makes up for it. Unfortunately, it made the experience that much worse!
We started with the steamed dumplings. They were by far the most unflavorful dumplings I’ve ever had. No spice, no seasoning. a mouth full of blandness is what I got. Meh. Moving on to the main course, we split 3 dishes between the 3 of us. We got the green curry with chicken, the pad thai with shrimp and tofu, and the pad kee mao with beef. Triple meh. If I am being nice, the green curry was at least spicy which gave it some flavor. The vegetables in it seemed like they came straight out a microwave steam bag and it just wasn’t anywhere near authentic thai food. The pad thai was bland as well and I echo a prior review on here that I was surprised (and not in a good way) to see a lemon wedge served with the dish. Pretty sure that speaks volumes to the legitimacy of the food here. The pad kee mao, which is one of my favorite dishes normally, was oily and again. bland. It seems like there are only two categories of flavor at Tamarind: spicy or bland. Covering up a dish with spice doesn’t make it a good dish. it just masks the boring and uninspired food underneath.
The portions are large and the price is reasonable. but I would rather pay twice as much for a smaller, more flavorful portion of food. My hunt for decent Thai food in philly continues. Sigh.

Have I never reviewed Tamarind?
My favorite Thai dish is red curry with seitan and/​or tofu. I would say for this dish I come to Tamarind 65% of the time and the other 35% of the time I go to Erawan in Chinatown. This is like, several times a week. Up until recently I used to tell myself that there simply wasn’t anything better than Erawan in Chinatown. Well I don’t believe that’s true anymore.
Tamarind is a bit different, as expected, but equally as delicious.
Here are the key differences between the two best Thai restaurants in the city in my opinion:
— Tamarind is slightly spicier by default (not a problem as this is my preference.)
— Tamarind is slightly less flavorful than Erawan.
— The rice at Erawan is better. It’s sticky Jasmine rice cooked perfectly. Not sure what Tamarind uses.
— Tamarind’s portion is slightly bigger. I’ve left Erawan wanting more, which I think added to my sense of preference. Though to be honest, I’d rather leave lusting after my next experience than totally full, so this is a wash.
— I don’t need to make any vegetable substitutions at Tamarind (At Erawan I have to say hold the eggplant and add broccoli. This is the default at Tamarind!)
— Tamarind has more vegan appetizer selections, and overall those selections are better, but I don’t feel the need for an appetizer at Tamarind, so again, also a wash.
— Tamarind is 4 blocks closer to my apartment.
So there you have it. I’ll go to either one any day of the week for red curry. But it’s usually Tamarind.

Oh Tamarind, how do you have such great reviews? I was looking forward to dinner here all week after reading about delicious thai food that was even called the «best in the city» by fellow Unilocalers.
I don’t think Tamarind is actually the best of anything — service, décor, and food were all standardly mediocre. They were somewhat accommodating of a large group, but seemed annoyed that we stuck around after our meals and actually wanted to see a dessert menu. Throughout the meal we were left to find corkscrews to open our own bottles (it’s BYOB). Our food came out with terrible timing, leaving us with the awkward situation of half the table watching the other half eat, lest we be stuck with cold noodles. At the end of the meal we had to ask to pack up our food, as the staff seemed eager to just toss our leftovers.
My spring rolls were ok, but my pad thai was bland and the shrimp were very overcooked. I won’t be back — I’d honestly prefer fast-​food pad thai that at least comes with the proper citrus.

I was really excited to come to Tamarind because of the great reviews and since Thai is currently my favorite cuisine. They were very accommodating for our party of 9 which included vegetarians and vegans. The waitress patiently explained dishes to the Thai naïve and everyone found something to eat. Unfortunately, I was underwhelmed with the food. The vegetable spring rolls were fine, just your standard veggie roll. I was not feeling adventurous so I went with the tried and true shrimp pad thai. I only made it 5 or 6 bites into my dish before asking for it to be wrapped. It really lacked in flavor and was totally uninspiring. Something that also bothered me was that it was served with a lemon wedge when I totally wanted (and expected!) a lime wedge. That could have salvaged the taste. Overall, we were happy that they were patient and accommodating to our loud (and tipsy) party of 9, but the food wasn’t anything special.
**Update** Both myself and a friend have both experienced a mild case of what we believe to be food poisoning from Tamarind. I am keeping at 2 stars because this was only ²⁄₉ people at the table and they did work hard to accommodate a large group, but I am never risking the unpleasant side effects of eating here again.

Go here.
Finally checked this place out after noticing a Thai restaurant by my place. Checked out the reviews and it looked great. It did not disappoint. We had the chicken, beef, and shrimp satay, the pad Thai, and the green chili with a spicy level of 4. (It goes 0 – 7) I was warned by previous reviews that it may be unbearable over 4, I think I could have took it up to a 5 comfortably, but it was spicy. The spice didn’t linger though, have a drink of water (or white wine) and it was gone. Satay was typical, Pad Thai was as expected, green chili was phenomenal. Go here for the delicious spicy torture most places are afraid to serve. Total bill was $ 35, we brought a bottle of wine. This place is awesome.

Tamarind Thai is a lovely restaurant with a spacious yet intimate feel, delicious food and welcoming staff.
I ordered:
_​Sauteed Chicken with Cashew Nuts, but I substituted chicken with tofu. ($ 11.95. See photo of my order.) Comes with white rice, not photographed.
_​Thai Salad with peanut dressing = yum ($ 4.95)
_​Panang Curry ($ 11.95): My friend ordered this and said it was a bit spicier than he thought it would be since he asked for it to be mild. He liked it, though.
Would return!