Amina Thai

 

12

76

Leila C.

Bethesda, MD

Charming little Halal Thai restaurant which can be easily overlooked amongst all the Rockville strip malls. I noticed there were no pork dishes or alcohol served on the menu which makes sense for a Muslim establishment.  The staff were incredibly friendly and very attentive.

I ordered the spicey tofu (onions, green and red peppers, spring onions, bean sprouts, tofu) and my friend ordered the Lad Na (Wide Rice Noodles with Chicken), and veggie dumplings to start. The food was superb...wonderfully spiced...fresh....probably my favorite Thai food in the DC metro area.

Free Delivery!

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7

2

sunny p.

Silver Spring, MD

This hole in the wall Thai restaurant is awesome!  The Thai ice tea is really tasty, along with their curry dishes!

I was introduced to it by some friends and have gone back since then! Price is pretty decent and their pad Thai is also delicious! =)

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13

121

Dee B.

Bethesda, MD

Like the reviewers before me, I'm a fan of Amina Thai.  I took four co-workers here recently...and the next time we went out to lunch, they all wanted to return to Amina.

I cannot think of a negative thing to say about it, so - 5 stars it is!

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2

18

Matthew B.

Germantown, MD

4.5 Stars--I'm a big fan of this gem of a restaurant, tucked in a strip mall off Rockville Pike.  The noodle dishes are as good as any place in Rockville (especially the Pad See Ew) and the curry dishes are delicious.

No alcohol is served but the Thai iced tea and fruit juices are top notch.  It's relatively small and service is friendly and efficient.

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6

48

Carol B.

Mill Valley, CA

I would not have stopped at this place if it hadn't been for this website.  While traveling through Maryland during the Holidays, we stopped to visit a friend who "just" moved to the area.  We suggested Yelp (which he never heard of until now) and narrowed it down to two places.  

I started with a Thai Iced Coffee which is always delicious.  For the table, we ordered green curry chicken, pad Thai and chicken with vegetables.  All dishes were delicious and so very fresh.  The staff was extremely attentive and the restaurant was super clean.  

While the menu was sufficient, my only disappointment was that it didn't offer a larger variety of tastes.  Since I don't like/can't eat spicy food, I was limited on what I could order.

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2

35

Brian W.

Arlington, VA

The food's better in Thailand and the food is on par with some of the better Thai restaurants around here like Busara and Neisha.

However, I did like the fact that it's culturally influenced by the Muslim population of Thailand which gives it just something really unique and was some of my favorite food when I traveled there.

It is a hole in the wall, but rock solid.

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6

7

Jason S.

Potomac, MD

Having not yet found a taste for Thai food, and after having a horrible experience at another larger chain Thai restaurant in the area, I decided to try this place out. Let me say, I was not disappointed in their food and would definitely visit for my next Thai craving.

My friend had the pad Thai while I had the yellow curry. My friend's pad Thai was delicious and just the right portion. My yellow curry had some coconut milk in it, which I am not a fan of, but still liked regardless.

The decor was pretty plain and the restaurant was generally pretty small. I would not recommend for parties 10+ but would be a perfect place to quietly catch up with your friends.

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6

55

Charles B.

Mill Valley, CA

Yelp helped me find this restaurant and what a great find. Great food and good service. The dishes were fresh and the portions very sharable.

Although it doesn't look impressive from the outside, this restaurant stands out!

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Elite '08

15

116

Becky T.

Silver Spring, MD

Halal Thai sounds a little strange but all it means is that none of the dishes contain pork and no alcohol is served.  It's no exaggeration that this is the best Thai restaurant in town.  My friends and I all swear now to never go to Sala Thai again.  Not only was the food amazing but the portions are a lot bigger than that of other local restaurants.  Service was also wonderful.  I drink a lot of water with my food and it's always a pain to have to ask for refills.  At Amina's the waitress never let the glass fall below half-empty.  I have a friend who one time went there 4 times in one week.  It's that good...

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Elite '08

166

274

Ina K.

Silver Spring, MD

What I like about this place is the no-frills atmosphere. And when I'm looking for some good Thai food, I don't really care about decor. It's hard to trust Asian food that's too dressed up, because I've found that some of the best Asian food is found in hole-in-the-wall locations. (Is this a generalization? Maybe.) So it is with Amina Thai. You'll find it in a tiny strip mall that you pass everyday in Rockville; but once you know it's there, you'll never forget it.

I judge Thai restaurants by three dishes: pad thai, pad see ew (or however you wanna spell it) and their signature curry. When I went there for a friend's birthday for the first time, we ordered all three of these dishes, and I wanted more.

It's hard to give this restaurant 5 stars because I do have to include decor in my rating. (How can a humble restaurant like Amina Thai and best-restaurant-in-the-world Makoto both receive the same rating? You know what I'm saying?) But if you're like me, and all you care about is the food, then go to Amina Thai. It's great.

Some things to know: It's not great for a special occasion. Just go when you're looking for some real Thai food. It's also pretty small, so avoid taking a huge group if you can. Enjoy!

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2

24

Wayne C.

Houston, TX

I've seen these ethnic Thai specialty places pop up like a bad herpes infection. Places like the punny Thaiphoon, then Thai Tanic (I wish that was a joke. It's not.) Judging by the theme, I was half-expecting the next Thai-themed restaurant to be called Thai Phoid but I digress.

These are the big chains that lost touch to real authentic Thai food. So allow me to introduce to you Amina Thai restaurant.

I stumbled upon her place by chance but it wasn't chance but the GUIDING HAND OF THE ALMIGHTY! It's a place that can be described as quaint and the warmness of the Amina, herself, seem like you have just stepped into a long lost friend's abode or your own sweet home without the alcohol abuse and creepy uncle who molested you in the fifth grade.

The food are delectable. Sure they come with the fancy garnish like so many food from them big fancy restaurants but Amina's dishes also has the taste to go with the scenery. The scent goes with the taste. The seafood is always fresh. The curry is creamy and not too thick.

If you're not a well-versed student in the art of spice (pussy!), quench your thirst with a Thai Iced Tea. This is a must have. If you don't have their Thai Iced Tea at Amina's, you will die! Or just live out the rest of your life in regret that it almost feels like dying.

And if you feel like gabbing, Amina will happily engage you in one. Remember what I said about the warmness of Amina? You will feel it when she inquire about your day or your family. This is genuine charity that isn't govern by how big a tip you leave behind.

This is the perfect example the big boys can learn a lot from.

The meek shall inherit the earth.

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10

38

michelle m.

Cambridge, MA

I found this place today for lunch, and it was an amazing find! Amina is great - she rules with an iron fist and keeps the kitchen and wait staff in line! My water glass never dropped one-half of an inch below the rim the entire time. My husband had the Pad Thai and I had the Pad See-ieuw.  Both dishes were fantastic! On mine, the wide rice noodles were spongy and firm, not falling apart as at most places. The chicken was not overcooked, and the broccoli was crisp and delicious! After I was just complaining there were no good Thai restaurants in the DC area.... This place is a must!!

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2

3

deereyes r.

Falls Church, VA

I have been going to Amina Thia for about 3 years now. I live approximately 45 minutes away in VA and I drive in rain, sunshine, and even once in the snow just to get to eat delicious thai food! I love thai food already, but this place rocks! I have tried almost everything on the menu, and I'm always interested to see what the specials are. Just last night I went again and had the veggie rolls, salmon with peppers, and beeg with asparagus in red curry. LOVE IT! The best was definately was the fried bananas with mango ice cream! Yum! It sure made my night to eat such delicious food. Oh and have I mentioned the service? EXCELLENT! The wait staff is very kind and always available..they dont hide away for you to start searching for them. Amina always is around asking everyone if they need anything and whether or not the food was to their liking. She is always very happy and a pleasure to look at!:)

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0

1

Pizz A.

Washington, DC

Much as I'd like to have claimed to have discovered Amina Thai, keen-eyed Honesty prevents me from doing so.  Washingtonian magazine--World's Most Boring Personals or your money back!--selected it for its 2006 Cheap Eats list.

The first thing to know about Amina Thai is that it is the first and only halal (food permissible under Islamic law) Thai restaurant in the Dee Cee area.  What that means is that you won't be seeing any pork on the premises, you won't be quenching chili fires with cold Singha (try the mango juice, instead), and you will be enjoying a considerably-more diverse clientle than you might at your average stripmall Thai joint.

The next thing to note is that Amina Thai is named for owner Amina Toopet.  She will visit your table.  She will smile in a motherly way.  She will recommend dishes for this time and remind you to try others next time.  She will not lie to get you to order more food than you can reasonably consume at one sitting.  She is a Presence in the dining room.

The food, then.  Larb gai, an appetizer of minced chicken with cilantro in a vinegarette, was hot.  Not melt-your-eyes hot.  But blow-your-nose hot.  And saltier than the norm, both for the same dish at other establishments and for other dishes at Amina.  Tasty, though.  And the kitchen will cheerfully exclude items like raw onions from a dish upon request.  Pad thai, a benchmark dish for Thai restaurant evaluation, was generously portioned, to understate things considerably.  The lush mouthfeel of sweetish noodles offset by the firmness of the chicken and shrimp and the crunch of ground peanuts.  Quite good.  Red curry with chicken medium-hot in sauce enrichened by coconut milk, bulked by eggplant and bamboo shoots, and spiked with anise-scented Thai basil.  Rice accompanies the meal.  Extra rice costs a buck a bowl.  This may interest those of you who, like this reviewer, inhale at Thai and Indian and Chinese restaurants quantities of rice that could feed a Southeast Asian family for weeks.

If you have any room in your digestive tract after this or a similar meal, a) you are made of sterner stuff than I, and b) a modest dessert menu awaits your perusal. The green tea ice cream scoop surrounded by fried banana slices looked particularly good.

The aforementioned meal came in at under $35, so it's a bargain, besides.

So, to recap, cheap, good, friendly, unique.  And the dining room hasn't fallen prey to the Purple Neon Peril that afflicts so many area Thai restaurants.  Go.

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