Basil Thai At Urbana

Mylov S 3 months ago

I was really looking forward to the food served from here and completely let down. The Pad Kra Praow Moo Sub was sub par while I thought it would be the star of the show, hence the name of the restaurant. The Pad Thai was bland and dry. The MAJOR letdown was the most simple of them all.... The beef salad.... It was the absolute worst I've ever had. The beef was thick and dry like rehydrated jerky, and served over iceberg lettuce, there was absolutely no authentic flavor nor was the beef marinated, I've included a picture. I will not be back nor recommending this restaurant to anyone looking for Thai food.

JAKS VIRAL 5 months ago

Good food, nice place… but why is “spicy” so sweet? 😅 Ordered veg dishes expecting proper Thai spice levels, but the sweetness completely took over. Not bad — just not what I expected. Curious if anyone else had the same experience or knows which dishes are actually spicy there 👀

Alla Radwan 5 months ago

basil thai is a goated option if you’re looking for authentic thai food on campus. they have a wide variety of dishes that i still want to try but a highlight for me is their pad kee mao. chewy soft noodles with really tender meat coated in an umami sauce and customized to any spice level you’d like. their spice levels are actually spicy so be warned. lastly, the owners are very friendly and the vibe is relaxing and pretty casual. perfect place for a quick lunch, a date, or to bring over friends from out of town

Pranav Krishnan 5 months ago

Best Thai I've had in C-U so far, hands-down. This place should be rated much higher than it is. Food was 10/10. Ordered potstickers, pad thai, and pad kee Mao. Potstickers were a little oily on the outside but beautifully juicy on the inside. Great tamarind(?) based dipping sauce too. Pad thai sauce was tasty, could've used more peanuts. Especially creditable was the chicken - well marinated, tasty. Not dry/bland grilled chicken breast like is typically in these dishes. Pad kee Mao was also beautifully flavored, with rich garlic umami. Fresh basil added a good touch. Well marinated meat too, and good noodles. Note: the spice level is legit here - their level 4 'Thai spicy' is formidable, but still very tasty. Hard to get that balance right. Would recommend a low (2-3) spice level for pad thai though to not mask the flavors. Ambience is nice - plenty of natural light, framed paintings, clean and airy, basic furniture though. Blows the more value-focused green street establishments out of the water, without being too much more pricey. Imo better than the much more hyped Siam terrace. The baseline quality of basic dishes tells me their cooking and ingredient quality is high - I e

Dishan Gunya 8 months ago

Make sure to get the food spiciness one level down because their medium spicy is very spicy. The food was great but I was teary the whole time. Other than that, we had a good time and the place was energetic.