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About the Business
Since 1996, Brown Sugar Cafe has made a habit of getting to know their customers and feeding them well. Besides the personal attention that gives the restaurant its local feel, 'they stress the importance of buying fresh kaffir lime leaves, galanga, and other ingredients, although they're more expensive than the dried varieties.' 1 The restaurant, with its broad menu, is a haven for Thai students longing for a home-cooked meal and welcoming to Americans experiencing Thai food for the first time. Having built a loyal following of repeat customers, Brown Sugar Café added a second location at 1033 Commonwealth Avenue in 1999 and are pleased to announce the opening of The Similans on 1st Street in Cambridge. Despite the expansion, Brown Sugar Café maintains the attention to detail and commitment to quality that made them popular.
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Q:
Is there alcohol here- I saw someone said beer and wine?
A:
Recommended Reviews
Overall rating
978 reviews
5 stars
4 stars
3 stars
2 stars
1 star
- May 23, 2014
Maybe I just never know what to order here at Brown Sugar, but both times I've left unamazed and still hungry.
Thai food, yah, that pad thai never gets old, but we got the pepper beef and the soft shell crab hot pot too and the flavors did not amaze my taste buds. The portions were pretty small for the prices.Helpful 1Thanks 0Love this 1Oh no 0 - Robo T.Rough and Ready, CA66867421Jan 21, 2024
I hadn't been to Brown Sugar in about 20 years!! Actually reading that sentence outloud makes me feel ooooold.
Brown Sugar is still amazing. I went in on a cold winter night recently and the restaurant was nice and warm. They had jazz piano playing and the vibe was perfect. The service was amazing.
The gaprow chicken is one of the best. I asked if it could be medium spicy and it was perfect. The chicken satay was delicious, tender and flavorful. The thai ravioli are filled with pork and shrimp which isn't my favorite but they were still good.Helpful 1Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - A S.Rockland, MA026841Apr 12, 2024
I've heard lots of good things about this spot so decided to try it recently. Got tom yum noodle soup and some fried dumplings. Soup was very flavorful, but literally had one piece of shrimp, one scallop, one piece of squid, and maybe two pieces of chicken. Felt skimpy, but maybe I'm being picky. Dumplings weren't my favorite, though the dipping sauce was good. Ambience was fine service was fine, lunch prices were on par for Comm Ave restaurants.
In the end it was fine, but maybe I'm just not that into Thai food as I'm not sure I'll be in a hurry to come back here.Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - 45196Oct 19, 2023
As name of this restaurant,
Food had too much suger on my few orders
and did not taste sauce and ingredients itself, so that I got shaky hands and uncomfortable stomach after the meal. I don't even think they use brown rice, tasted like way too much refined suger, cheap candy sort of flavor.
30 years ago this restaurant was amazing once by the way.
10 years ago did not impressed me and this time was below average saggy suger deal.Helpful 2Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - Mar 25, 2024
Everyone needs to come here! The staff was extremely accommodating and ensured that my khao soi would be made with tofu. Loved the khao soi and honestly the portions are bigger than almost every Thai place I've been to in Boston. It's such a cute place, right near BUs campus.
Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - Haley E.Pearland, TX274275Feb 2, 2024
Good service!! We got the spare ribs, pad thai, and grapow noodles. The spare ribs were the best and I would get again. The pad thai was okay. The sauce was almost soupy and very sweet. The grapow noodles were really good but definitely spicy.
Helpful 1Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - 232951104Mar 24, 2023
Despite how not-Thai the name sounds (my friend suggested that "Brown Sugar Cafe" sounds much more like a bubble tea store than a restaurant), I was super impressed with how delicious and authentic my meal here was.
My friend and I came around 7:30 on a weekday. The (surprisingly spacious, really high-ceilinged) restaurant was pretty empty at the time, and we were seated really quickly. Service was very prompt, and in fact had to circle back a few times because we hadn't decided what to order yet, mostly because their menu is enormous. (Someone described it as the Thai version of the Cheesecake Factory menu, which is definitely very true.) Also, we realised not all the menus were exactly the same - some had extra pages with specials and what not - so do note that when ordering.
We started with the Brown Sugar Spareribs - super delicious! The random cherry on the plating led me to slightly lower my expectations (seems like a typical American (TM) thing to do), but thankfully this was totally misguided. The meat was super tender - each bite just falling off the bone - and it was super well cooked, with a light, smokey flavour that really brought out a lot of the savouriness of the ribs themselves.
We also had a pad see ew and the khao grapow. Pad see ew was very tasty and served as a great flavour complement to the khao grapow, by which I mean the minced pork was actually SO incredibly spicy that we were basically alternating bites to not burn off our taste buds. (The server did ask if we wanted mild but I said no, which was the right choice. Very authentic!) Really delicious regardless - the pork was super flavourful and fried in a very yummy sauce.
Portion size was also really big - we packed up our leftovers and probably still had enough for 1-ish meal each - and definitely worth the price. Also, we did remark that the comforting/relaxing ambience actually did kind of give off café vibes - although it's unclear whether that's related to the name or if they would look very kindly if we just parked ourselves here like doing work at a café.
Regardless, though, I am very keen to come back if not just to try some of the million other things on their huge menu. Looking forward to it already!Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 0Oh no 0 - Oct 9, 2022
Can't quite agree with the high reviews. I am a fan of Thai food and have tried many. Here, everything was so salty that it's hard to tell other flavors.
The have the creamy Tom yum - granted it's rare to to see and they use jumbo shrimps as it should be, but other than that, again, just salty taste.
Also have to comment on their Thai style pad Thai, which feels nothing Thai at all. I wonder how their regular pad thai would taste.
Servers are not rude/too bad but definitely not helpful when you try to get advice on what's good.
I also don't really enjoy the environment, which is dark and has an old feeling.Helpful 6Thanks 0Love this 3Oh no 0 - Sep 13, 2022
Their "Tom Yum Goong Yai" (spicy soup with extra large shrimps), I must say, is Brow. sugar Cafe truly special dish. It is the creamy type with coconut milk inside. Definitely what distinguishes this dish from other Thai restaurants in the Boston area is the size of the Shrimps. The jumbo size make them truly special.
Beside the comments above, the ingredients seem to be all in there--lemon/lime, coconut milk, condiments, etc.
Highly recommended you try this dish. It's the best Tom Yum Shrimp Soup I've had in quite a long time.
Soft Shell Crab - Poo Pad Pong Garee (see picture below) is quite decent as well.Helpful 10Thanks 0Love this 8Oh no 0 - Oct 5, 2022
Came here with a reservation on a Saturday night for a birthday and we had no issues getting seated. The space wasn't too busy so we could've done without calling ahead, but better to be safe than sorry!
The staff was relatively efficient and good with service so nothing but positive things from that front. They did get one of our orders wrong however, but it wasn't a huge deal. They had a pretty large menu which made it a little difficult to choose what we wanted, but a majority of our table settled on crispy chicken pad Thai. We got two appetizers and drinks along with our main dishes and everything was pretty solid. The tea hit the spot, the scallion pancakes were deliciously crisp, and the crab rangoons were super yummy.
I went with the gaprow noodles for my entree and I enjoyed it a lot. I will say that it's extremely spicy (I got the normal spice level) and I had some difficulties eating it because of that, but the Thai tea helped out a lot. Once I ran out of drink though, I decided to bring the rest home since it was a little bit of a struggle.
We came for the birthday disco ball they offer and the experience didn't disappoint. The lights dim, music plays loudly, and they bring out a dessert with candles for $15 if we request it. The experience was great and our friend was happily surprised - awesome end to the meal!
Overall, our dinner was a lot of fun. The prices are a little steep for Thai food, but things tasted great and we had a nice time. I'd definitely recommend this place for birthdays for the unique disco ball experience!!Helpful 0Thanks 0Love this 1Oh no 0
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