Basil n’ Spice Thai Cuisine

Yellow curry w/​shrimp. Mango sticky rice and pad Thai. All was good. Yellow curry was the perfect level of spiciness. Our server was super nice and we were foolish, so we didn’t deserve her kindness.

Authentic, fresh, and all around good Thai food! The flavors are rich and perfectly spicy. I would highly recommend eating here.

Basil n’Spice is nicer than your average Thai restaurant, at least in Central Massachusetts, and has very attentive service. We ordered three things: the Fresh Rolls, Larb Gai, and Basil Pad Thai. The fresh rolls were fine, although we make better ones at home and the dipping sauce was a bit too molasses-​like. At $ 6 for what is essentially two large rolls cut into three pieces each, I don’t think I would get this again. The Larb Gai probably wasn’t completely authentic (it was made with chicken), but it had all the basic flavors that you crave in Thai food (sweet, spicy, sour). My only complaint with this dish is that the sweet and sour overepowered the spice a little bit. The Basil Pad Thai was completely average, and wasn’t at all spicy even thought it was advertised as such. Again, the flavor was too sweet.
Basil n’Spice isn’t a destination Thai restaurant and it has relatively small portions compared to other Thai restaurants in the area (you might actually be able to finish a dish here). Still, its not a bad place and if you happen to be in the area and craving Thai food, its worth a try.

Soooooo good! You can tell the dishes are cooked with A LOT of love, the flavors are outstanding! Service is friendly and welcoming, and the whole restaurant has a cozy and warm feeling. Easily my favorite Thai place around the area :)

There was definitely a lack of quality Thai restaurants in Worcester until basil n spice opened. It’s now one of my favorite restaurants and my boyfriend and I eat here regularly. The food is always on point. Some of our favorites are the chicken angel, Thai fried rice and the tung tong appetizers. I also love the lychee Thai ice tea. The owner is incredibly nice and will usually come over to say hi to us if she is there. I highly recommend basil n spice if you are looking for delicious, quality Thai food.

Love this place! The prices are a little bit higher than your usual Thai joint but the portions are great and everything tastes fresh and well done! I can only recommend this place as a takeout because that’s all I have gotten from them. I have gone in and wished I had just sit down because their décor is tasteful and very beautiful! I hope to go in for a nice sit down meal soon!

The staff is congenial, service attentive, dining area attractive, but the food was not to my liking.
Tasteless spring rolls that reminded me of Chinese egg rolls without the 5 spice powder. Maybe they were bagged /​frozen ones? Pad Thai that was swimming in a horribly sweet sauce, and meat dishes that had 5 pieces of meat, and a few vegetables. Sauces on meat dishes were very good though.
Even though we spent $ 50, I left starving.
Seems many Thai places have tiny portions, overly sweet dishes to cater to American palates, and skimpy meat inclusions to cut costs.

After reading the reviews, had high hopes. But ultimately, they did not deliver. Most of the issues are service related. Ordered from the vegetarian section of the menu «Spicy Tofu Eggplant» But there is no tofu. Waitress said she would get us some tofu, took the dish back. Came back and said that it did not come with Tofu — we pointed out that the menu title for the dish included the word «tofu». Waitress told us that the kitchen said because we ordered from the Vegetarian section of the menu it doesn’t include tofu. Huh?
Another dish we ordered: Green Curry, specifying tofu as the «meat» («Meat» is the menu description). We were brought curry and could not find any tofu. Discussion of Tofu part 2 — waitress told us we could not order tofu as a meat, because mean was not vegetarian. She offered to bring us some tofu to put into the curry. Came back and told us that the kitchen said that tofu is too bland and it would need to be cooked in the curry for them to serve it as curry with tofu. Apparently, the kitchen is stubborn because they refused to provide us with tofu to put in the curry even though we acknowledged that plain tofu is bland.
There were three of us. Two dishes came out together and the third person’s dish came out 15 –20 minutes later. We asked several time and the waitress said that it was coming right out. The restaurant was mostly empty — so this is not an issue of there being a full house (and even if there was a full house, they could have timed the dishes together). Does the kitchen have only one pan to use to with which to cook?
The food was alright. Nothing to get excited about and certainly nothing to make one want to return given the kitchen’s refusal to make the dishes described on the menu (and then refuse to attempt to fix it). Extra spicy — our request — was not really spicy. Food overall bland (even with out including the ‘bland tofu’ that the kitchen refused to provide).
Not sure why others are enamored but his place.

What a gem this place is! Worcester has been lacking in a good Thai restaurant for years but that is fixed now that Basil n’ Spice is here! The vegetables are all fresh, meals are made to order and spiced perfectly. The Massaman is delicious and the soups are perfect. This is a completely unassuming building, as noted behind Funky Murphys, but the inside is perfectly decorated to feel warm and welcoming.
The only thing that kept me from giving this a full five stars is that the service was mediocre, at best. I’m hoping that improves as they find their groove.

Service: Poor. I waited 5 minutes before being greeted on a Tuesday night with only 4 tables being served. There were 3 waiters-​one of them was in training and was not guided by the other two who were chatting almost the whole time. My order came out and sat there for 5 minutes before giving me my bill. I was not asked given utensils or napkins with my to-​go order.
Food: Bland. The Thai spring rolls lacked everything a spring roll is supposed to be. I asked for duck with my fried rice (which is not one of the meat options with the rice) and was told that it would be charged as a duck dinner ($ 20). One, dry, overly crispy filet of duck was placed on top of the rice. I was not asked what spice level I wanted and it came out with no spice at all.
I won’t be coming back and I don’t recommend it to anyone.

The food was great but the host, I think, was rude and completely in his own world. The wait was also crazy long, and there was a wait for everything; taking our order, getting water, appetizer (smaller than expected for the price), the food, getting the check took ages and I had to bring it up to the bar to get my card charged. I’ll definitely come back but make sure to block out 2+ hours for the meal.

Service was attentive and pleasant. Excellent cocktails but poor beer selection for a beer lover like myself. Would be nice to have at least one IPA offering on the list. The food was outstanding and on par with the best Thai restaurants I’ve been to in other cities. The Penang is spicy, the vegetables and meat are definitely fresh. Doesn’t taste as if they ever saw the inside of a freezer. Appetizers were great– try the tung tong special out. I’ll definitely be back!

By far the WORST Thai food I have ever had the unfortunate reason to eat.
Went in on the suggestion of my hair stylist on a day of a very long motorcycle ride. Wanted to go in and order «take-​out.» Placed the order which was nothing very extensive, but after about 45 minutes… STILL NO FOOD. It took the dishwasher coming out of the kitchen to deliver clean glasses to notice us sitting there too long to do something… KUDOS TO THE DISHWASHER. Then all of the sudden there was a hustle in getting our order… which in the end SUCKED!!! I spent almost $ 60 on my order only to not even eat the food because it was so bad… THAT IS A LOT OF MONEY TO THROW OUT!
I am looking at other reviews and am shocked by them… so either I was given bad food because they were busy… NOT AN EXCUSE… or people don’t know good Thai food and think that this place is it???

All I can say is, WOW! I’ve only had Thai food a couple of times but this knocked my socks off! If you are like me and want to try Thai food but don’t know where to start, come here and get the Drunken Noodles. The flavor was perfect and the spice wasn’t overbearing. Do yourself a favor and try this place! No wonder it was rated best food on Shrewsbury St.

Food was great. Love the arts & little table figurines (photos, Buddha statue). I enjoyed the mango fried rice the most. The others were good but nothing to wow about.

We ordered takeout from here and everything was great. I highly recommend the drunken noodle.

5 stars for the food
2 stars for the service — everything here takes too long! The time it takes to put in your order, the time to get your apps, to get your entrée, etc. make sure you have plenty of time and enjoy the food, which is very good.

So impressed by this new place! Had my reservations at first as I’ve been spoiled by real Thai food back home BUT I would definitely say this is the most authentic Thai in the Worcester/​Shrewsbury area. The pad thai is perfectly flavored and not too wet/​dry. The curry puff tastes exactly like what we make/​get in Asia. The desserts are pretty good too. Definitely recommended!

While there are a handful of decent Thai spots in Worcester, none are really all that outstanding and some really walk a fine line between being authentic and being just another Pan-​Asian/​American grease pit. Also, as far as Shrewsbury Street and the East side of Worcester go, there really are no Thai restaurants to choose from.
That all said, my wife and I were very excited to see Basil n’Spice Thai restaurant opening up on Shrewsbury Street and I am happy to say that we weren’t disappointed.
Unfortunately, the restaurant may be overlooked by anyone perusing the neighborhood looking for good food, because it is set back off of the street, between Funky Murphy’s and Dunkin Donuts. Hopefully, Basil n’ Spice improves their signage so it is more easily seen from the street. It would be a shame to see such a good restaurant overlooked.
My wife and I decided to give Basil n’ Spice a try for lunch one random Wednesday afternoon. The menu contained all of the typical favorites, plus some additional specialties such as Wild Boar and there are daily specials to choose from as well. Also to our delight, there are ample options to choose from for vegetarians also.
The ambiance is very nice as well. The restaurant is clean and bright with lots of sunlight and fresh flowers. The one downside is that the parking lot is a little cramped and difficult to maneuver, however there is usually plenty of parking on the side streets in the area.
The service was very pleasant and timely. The waitress took time to go over the choices on the menu and she came by to check on us a couple times during the meal.
For lunch, they offer a weekday special for under $ 11 that includes your choice out of several appetizers and main dishes. My wife ordered the vegetarian Thai Rolls with Crab Rangoon and a Side Salad for her appetizer and she ordered the Red Curry Tofu with Vegetables and Rice for her main course. It was very delicious and a good amount of food for $ 10.95!
I ordered the Spicy Basil Tofu which is fried tofu sautéed with red and green bell pepper, onion, carrot, broccoli, green bean, mushroom, scallion and basil leaves. Again, it was delectable and a very satisfying amount of food for $ 9.95.
The presentation of the food was also well done. I took a couple photos here with my camera phone but they really do the dishes justice.
You really have to try Basil n’ Spice for yourself. I highly recommend giving them a try next time you are in the mood for really delicious food at a great value or the next time you find yourself on Shrewsbury Street looking for something that really stands out.

First time here and excited to find an actual Thai restaurant in Worcester with real Thai food. I was so disappointed in other Thai restaurants in Worcester area that I almost gave up.
Tried the lab gai which is a very spicy complex spicy salad that is mostly ground chicken with rice. Combination of hot meat and rice with cold salad veggies and very spicy dressing mixed into the meat.
Also tried Tom kha gai soup as that is one of my standards for testing a Thai place. All the flavors that are supposed to be there were there. Including galangal. Lemongrass. Scallion and cilantro. A tad sweeter broth than I like but otherwise perfect.
Atmosphere is really nice upscale. Staff are super super friendly. Want to come back again with others to try other dishes.