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Sweet Basil
Rating Details »
- Nearest Transit:
-
61st St (7)
65th St (G, R, V)
- Attire:
- Casual
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take-out:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good for:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
10 reviews for Sweet Basil
My boyfriend and I go to Sweet Basil every couple of weeks. It's one of our favorite Thai restaurants in the city. The food is delicious and inexpensive. The staff is sweet and accommodating.
The drunken noodles are the best we've ever had. Though Sripraphai is the more well-known restaurant, the service is terrible. We've always found Sweet Basil to be more personable. And their drunken noodles put Sripraphai's to shame.
The decor was nice. I loved the vibrant wall colors etc. The food was ok. My friends dish was good, mine was pretty salty. I've deinitely had better Thai. Service was fine.
To be honest, this place does not serve authentic Thai food but I used to come here cause their peanut curry noodle is so yummy and it's something you don't find in other Thai restraunts. Also, I really recommend their fried bananas with ice cream. Other foods are so-so. But those two dishes, I love!
DAMN! DAMN! DAMN!
You want spicy Thai food? You come here to Sweet Basil. My co-worker recommended this place because I can handle Thai spicy and I was yearning for the sweet dishes of Chabaa Thai in SF.
Luckily, on my first try, I found the perfect dish to satisfy me. I ordered the Roasted Duck with Panang curry with thai iced tea. You can have your dish with white rice or brown rice and I opted for brown rice.
H-E-A-V-E-N!!!!!!!
That first bite into my curry was AMAZING. It was kick in the mouth goodness! AND I was really surprised how generous they were with the roasted duck!!! The dish was nearly brimming with duck which I was suprised since most establishments stiff you on duck parts.
The duck tasted fresh and was roasted to perfection and the sweet, spicy taste hit the spot. As I type this, I'm probaby going to get an order in half an hour!
The waitstaff is always friendly and attentive. You don't even have to ask for Thai Spicy...so if you can't handle it you may have to warn them to make it bland..
"Have you ever been here before?"
"No, but I read reviews on http://Yelp.com and people thought it was really good," I replied.
"I'm pretty familiar with the place so I kind of know the way around."
"I'm just hoping it's not closed. I mean it's about to rain." That would suck because I didn't know of any other Thai restaurants in the area.
"Hmmm..." my friend surmised as she scanned the steel pull-down doors.
"Crap," I clamored. I reached for the door, which didn't budge. I read the sign for Sripraphai. "It's closed on Wednesdays. Of all the days..."
I'm not familiar with Woodside and since she was from around the area, she asked a passerby who looked Thai as to where the closest Thai restaurant would be located. He told us to go to 61st Street and that we would find it near an Indian restaurant.
It was around 5:30pm and we were one of the first to be there. The service was both splendid and attentive. The ambiance was simple and clean.
Thai iced tea - good, but a little too sweet. Mix first.
Thai chicken wings - crispy, but the only thing Thai about it seems to be the dipping sauce. I'd pick this over wings at any Chinese take-out though since they were meaty and tender.
Green curry - bamboo shoots, basil, beef (our choice of meat), some type of potato, and spicy curry sauce. It didn't look appetizing, but it tasted much like a lot of other curries I've had. It's like a Honda Civic - good, but not great.
Thai fried rice - we ordered it with chicken. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought Thai fried rice is unique. It tasted like fresh-out-the-wok, homemade, fluffy...Chinese fried rice. This was a really good dish had it been advertised as Chinese food. I'm used to the slightly sweet, orange colored fried rice I've seen at a couple other Thai restaurants.
Pad Thai - silky, delicate, delicious, well-balanced with sweetness and spiciness. In addition, the noodles don't stick together. The crushed peanuts and the bean sprouts were on the side so you can choose whether or not to mix them in. This was the second best Pad Thai I've had to date. My friend remarked that she's found a new winner and it's the best she's ever tasted.
We went here last Wednesday (Oct 1) and I had to write a review. I would've kicked myself in the pants if I hadn't written it for the Pad Thai alone. If only the rest of the dishes were up to par. If only there was a way we could thank that man. If only...
Amongst the hundreds of Thai restaurants popping up in the woodside/sunnyside area this ranks pretty high for me! Excellent service, low prices and the food was just fantastic. The chicken had a smokey grilled taste unlike any other thai I've had.
Can't wait to go back for more.
I am no expert in Thai cuisine. I cannot judge whether it is authentic and homestyle, or innovative and original. All I know is that occasionally I want to come home, watch some Monk and eat some noodles with chicken and sauce.
I've only ordered delivery, so I can't comment on the ambiance or waiter service. However, whenever I ordered from Sweet Basil it always delivered tasty food at a reasonable price. I usually get one of the entrees or Pad Zee-Eew. I know, that eew part freaked me out at first too, but it's not at all eww - quite the opposite, in fact. The other day I also tried Beef Satae - grilled beef on skewers with peanut sauce. Surprisingly very good.
Regularly order from here and the delivery service has been decent. The drunken noodles are solid - not too soggy, but they do tend to stick together at times. Not as spicy as other restaurants' noodles. Their curry puffs are very delicious, and I get them every time I order.
I admit I had high expectations for Sweet Basil. The past establishment, Khao Homm Thai, was regularly compared to Sripraphai, and I was hoping the name change didn't affect the food.
We arrived shortly before 6 and already a couple was seated and waiting for their order towards the back of the restaurant. We seated ourselves near the front. Immediately in front of the restaurant was the opening down to the basement, and for one reason or another, someone kept entering and exiting from there; not that the post office was a better view.
We ordered the hoi jor (minced ground crab meat and shrimp in bean curd wrapper, steam then fried) and fried calamari for the appetizers, and the pad thai and curry peanut sauce noodles for entrees. We each had a thai ice tea. The food was served timely, and were all steaming hot, but the taste was lacking. The calamari was fried with too much dough, leaving an oily aftertaste. The pad thai was too wet for my tastes, and consisted of some chicken pieces and egg with some bean sprouts and chopped peanuts on the side. After finishing the thai ice tea half way through the meal, we were not offered water or refills. Customers trickled in while we ate, but the restaurant was still 1/3 empty when the waitress asked if we were ready and packed the leftovers, delivering the check without being asked. As soon as we put the money down on the table, the waitress swooped in for it. It was overall a disappointing visit.
We tried to go to the Sripaphai but there was a line?! It's cold and this place was nearby. This place is unfortunately overshadowed by it's famous neighbor. The dumplings were savory but the curry puffs are only fine (filling was too dense). We had the red snapper and it was fried with the skin just crisp and delicate. Pad thai was good with the right amount of tang and sweetness. We enjoyed the meal and the waitress was super nice and a ball.
