Every bite was enjoyable. The ingredients tasted fresh, and the preparation showed a lot of care.

Brown Sugar Cafe on Commonwealth Ave has built a loyal following over the years, and the reputation is largely deserved. We walked into a space with a warmth that you notice immediately, with fish tanks along the walls and butterfly art details that give it a coziness that feels genuine rather than decorated for the sake of it. The lighting is soft and the overall atmosphere made it easy to settle in for a longer meal. The menu is expansive and covers a lot of ground, which works in its favor for groups with different tastes. We ordered the Thai iced tea, one of the better versions we have found in Boston, rich and creamy without being cloyingly sweet, and worth ordering on its own. Beyond that, the menu offers plenty of Thai classics, and the kitchen seems capable of turning out a wide range of dishes. That said, not everything landed equally. The chicken wings were a disappointment, coming out without the crispiness or seasoning that would make them worth ordering when there are stronger options available elsewhere on the menu. The mango sticky rice, despite sounding like a natural finish to the meal, fell short of what it should be, with the rice texture and the balance between the mango and coconut milk not quite coming together the way it does at spots that treat it as a signature. The prices ran a little higher than we expected, which added to the slight disappointment of the uneven dishes. Overall, Brown Sugar Cafe is a nice place with genuine warmth, but our visit left us feeling a bit let down by the food outside of the Thai iced tea. We would have to go back and try more of the menu to see if it was just a one off occurrence or a pattern. For now, we recommend the tea and the atmosphere, but we would choose carefully on the food. read more

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My sis and have been coming to this place for so long it's actually crazy. Since undergrad which feels like a life. The service is good and the food is excellent, the level on consistency is amazing. Started with fresh rolls and beef satay. I've been coming here long enough to remember how much beef satay they used to serve lol. For dinner I hade the duck curry and it was great, others had the beef basil and the drunken noodles which are all considered classic dishes. Every thing was great and everyone enjoyed their dishes. read more

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Very good food, service was attentive and restaurant is spacious. Prices are on the higher side. read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Panang Curry - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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a great spot for thai food in the allston area. Brown sugar cafe has a cozy ambiance and a traditional feel. The menu selection is huge - I'm impressed with the amount of thai dishes offered (not just your classic americanized options). They also offer a full selection of seasonal specials. For the appetizer we had the shrimp tod mann which was good but I wish a bit crispier. We tried one of the seasonal specials, the mango curry. The mango curry was sweet and creamy and a yummy take on the traditional curry dishes. We also had the chicken gra paow, which is uniquely served over wide noodles here. I loved this combo, the dish was saucey, savory, and SPICY (beware). This was probably my favorite dish. Service was very friendly and attentive read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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We walked in just 15 minutes before the restaurant was scheduled to close and I was very grateful. The staff seated us quickly and took our order, and brought out the food even faster! The crab rangoons are A tasty appetizer. The green curry is a classic, and tasted fresh and spicy, though you can adjust the spice level when ordering. The green beans seem like they could have been cooked a little bit longer. You'll have to order rice on the side, as the curry does not come with any. We sat next to the fish tank, small comfortable area. read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Crab rangoon - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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If you're looking for a Thai spot in Boston with a large menu, authentic flavour options, and a good sized portion, Brown Sugar Cafe is a solid pick. But if you're after exceptional value for premium dishes (especially high-priced ones) or a highly curated small menu, you might want to check the dish and price carefully and read recent reviews for the particular item. Great service! read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Chicken Cashew Nuts - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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I've walked by this place a good amount and eventually decided to try it because it looked pretty busy - however, when we walked inside the restaurant I should have had my red flags go up, as most of the restaurant was empty except for all of the tables by the windows. We even witnessed a group of 2 come in wanting to sit at one table but they were told that they couldn't and instead were guided to a two person table by the window area. It seemed very obvious that the goal was to appear busy to people walking by on such a busy street. Even with that red flag, we sat down and decided to order, but when we received the menus, they were enormous. There were so many options and the menu organization felt random, so it was tough to find what we were looking for. We eventually decided to try the satay appetizer and a fried fish that was listed as market value. Satay Chicken ($11.95 on the website, unsure what we actually paid, but I think it was less) - If this dish was in fact almost $12, it is definitely not worth it. It's comprised of 4 slivers of chicken breast on sticks which probably amounts to 1 actual chicken breast cut into 4 pieces. The grill wasn't bad, the meat was juicy, and the satay and fish sauce were decent, but it was a really small amount of for for $11.95 (my note about price is that I THOUGHT it was slightly less, but it was still too expensive for the amount of chicken given). Crispy fried whole fish (Market price - $44) - We were very excited to try this since my partner used to get this at their favorite Thai restaurant back in Chicago, and it honestly wasn't bad. The fish was nice and crispy, and most of the bones had been removed. It was butterflied and fried but not too oily with a sweet and salty sauce and plenty of basil and peppers. The actual amount of fish meat wasn't a whole lot, and though we did end up being full eating it with sides of rice, I don't think I'd order it again for that price. There was a lot of batter without meat and while that tastes great with the sauce, $44 for batter and sauce with some fish meat isn't a great deal. I think I'd have been happy if this was around $26 instead. All in all, the portions for the satay were a bit tiny, and the fish was very expensive for the amount of meat we received, but the taste of the dishes was decent (though probably a little on the sweeter side than I'd have preferred). I probably won't be returning here - 3/5. read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Satay Chicken appetizer - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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Went with a large group and shared multiple dishes - in which my favorites included: 1) Khao Soi, very flavorful soup with the fun textured noodles which you can enjoy with rice as well, 2) Thai Basil Fried Rice was a lot spicier than imagined which was a nice kick. The desserts were also delicious - Mango & Sticky Rice was a classic, with fun treats like Fried Ice Cream. read more

So first off, service was fine, the interior is still beautiful, and this is a spot that has been producing great Thai dishes, reminiscent of Thailand native, for a long time. I've been eating here for 17 years, carrying quality, it's better at night than it is during the day, take out is usually better. I just had one of the worst Thai dishes of my life so maybe they need to do a little internal review. I went for a quick lunch before a medical procedure. I just wanted a meal, not drinks nor apps and the server did offer and seemed disappointed when I said, no. I ordered the tofu masaman curry, pictured here. It was delivered to me in about 4 minutes after placing my order. The curry was watery, most likely from the worn out sponge quality of the old tofu that was probably made days ago. The vegetables on the plate were completely uncooked, about 1 minute away from completely raw. No one wants raw onion in their curry. The potatoes were still ice cold in the center, again, probably made days ago and sitting in a fringe. The orange slice they gave me was filled with seeds. At least the rice was good and the water was fine. It's hard to go someplace that is known for authentic food and see people serve food they clearly have no pride nor passion for. If this was my Italian cooking I would never let Italian food like this hit the table. Someone needs to stop looking at receipts and do a review of what quality food are they putting out. This was an insult to everything Thai food is known for. read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Masaman curry with tofu and rice. - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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. read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Khao Soi - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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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! read more

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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. read more

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I got the appetizer combo where you get a bunch of different ones, and it was quite pleasant. I'd happily order that as a meal itself The soft shell crab pad Thai was good, but I wish they gave more soft shell crab. Not saying it's economical for them, I'm just saying we ate the crab first then we were left with just a (still tasty) pad thai read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Soft Shell Crab Pad Thai - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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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. read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Soft Shell Crab - Poo Pad Pong - garee - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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. read more

Service was wonderful. Food is great ,fresh food. Have only tried a few things but loved them. Had Thai ravioli and fried banana with ice cream ,hot green tea. Very comfortable sitting a little close but common for small city restaurants. read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Fried Banana - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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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. read more

Always happy with the service and food. Same quality, even after Covid. One of the best Thai spots that I've been to . read more

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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!! read more

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Food is delicious. Portions are the right size for their price. The staff are friendly and good hearted people own this place. You can feel good spending your money here. Mom and pop Thai restaurant. They treat their staff very well. Nice spot to bring a date with classy music playing and no tv's. No one's chatting on their phones. They take pride in their food. read more

This place feels super authentic and has efficient and good service!! The food was good I just thought the pad Thai could use more flavor, but I'd definitely recommend the drunken noodles read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Drunken Noodle, Red Curry, Pad Thai - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

Thai food has been there for me when no one has! So when I have Thai food, it's gotta be good. I understand that there are.many different ways to have a specific dish. Different ways to make it.... But why is the padthai so runny!?!!!. And why does the padthai look so bland?? No color!? It's gotta have like a reddish hue to it. I had to throw in a ton of hot sauce for my palette to feel something because it felt so bland. Chicken was dry. And honestly it didn't even feel like it was pan fried. It tasted like they boiled the noodles. Took sauce and threw it on a plate. No pan frying them together. It didn't feel like they blended with each other the way it should. I was sad. Thai fried rice was ok. Tomyum soup was actually pretty good. It doesn't make me want to come back. Sorry. read more

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I made a large order for staff in the hospital. I called Brown Sugar Cafe thinking some items were missing and they were going to give a refund or deliver the items. The employee was so helpful even though I was rude. During the call, when I found the misplaced items, the Cafe was still so kind and respectful. Food is just as great as the customer service! read more

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. read more

I was severely disappointed with this Thai spot after hearing so many good reviews. I got the bamboo chicken and stuffed wings as an appetizer. The stuffing was alright - but was drier than I have had at other places and lacked any outstanding flavor. I was also let down by the bamboo chicken. The mushrooms were cold, the chicken was dry, the gravy sauce was bland. Maybe I will have to come back and try some of the more signature noodle dishes, but after my experience I am not sure I will come back. read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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Always 5 star service and food here. Always! Pineapple fried rice is my favorite. The Crab Rangoon is also delicious. Siamese twins is fire !!! read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

I love this Thai place. The food and the staff are wonderful. When I visit Boston university to visit my son, we go here.

I have been coming here for over 20 years and I am sure there has been many change in staff and management. Today the food tastes different, not bad at all just different than what I am use to and it threw me a bit. You can see from my prior photos the color of the rice has changed. Again the food wasn't bad just doesn't taste the same. I will definitely go back to see if it was a 1 off. read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Thai Fried Rice - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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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. read more

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Tasty Thai food. Service was good, but the restaurant wasn't very busy when we went there. The restaurant has a nice ambiance.

The food was tasty, service was very good; the decor was great. Would definitely recommend!

From the name, I had no idea what to expect. The result was an excellent Thai food experience. The place is located on Commonwealth Ave, very close to Star Market and many other eateries. There seems to be something new there every time I look. It's also right down the street from a host of other restaurants, including Hot Pot, Dumplings, Korean, Chinese, etc. There are so many choices in the area. I'd say Brown Sugar Cafe is a must! The GF took had recommended it, and we decided to go one night. She ordered a crazy flaming dish that they lit up at the table. I'm sure it was mainly for show, but was pretty cool to see. Obviously all eyes were on this who procedure. It was quite cool. PROS: Excellent food. Great interior. I really loved the Country Pad Thai. It was spicy and delicious. We finished the meal with fried ice cream, at my GF's request. It was so tasty. CONS: Parking because of where it's located. OVERALL: loved the Thai food here. We will return. read more

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This is a cute tucked away Thai place. Authentic recipes and good ingredients all around. I had the Tom kha gai soup as an appetizer and a green curry with chicken that i split with my friend - the perfect amount of food. This place is very affordable and the service is great - highly recommend on a chilly Boston day! read more

I love Thai food and Brown Sugar Cafe is a must go to spot! I usually get their Pad Thai and it's so tasty. They have a huge menu to choose from. There's street parking in the front, which can be tricky to find but there's a street in the back behind Star Market where sometimes you can snag a spot and it's like a 5 minute walk to the restaurant. read more

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Beautiful decor nice presentation of dishes but I think the new hole in the wall Thai joints that are becoming the norm one up these more traditional stalwarts in the Boston Thai restaurant scene. The dishes seem a little tamed but still good still nothing made me catch whiplash like wow this is crazy good so maybe they need to update there recipes to make them more Thai so to speak like these new hile in the wall spots. The American palate is more accepting of these trends towards "authentic" ethnic dining. Still a very nice dinner was had. Excellent service and spotless location bathrooms and all. read more

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Sooooo good. We came here on a weekend afternoon. We were seated immediately and quickly had our order taken. The menu is huge, and there were like 2 pages of specials! For appetizers, we ordered the spring rolls. They are open faced spring rolls, which was interesting, and they were super yummy. There were 6 spring rolls included, which I thought was a good amount for the price! For our entrees, we got the panang with chicken and the pad thai with chicken. We asked if we could get additional spices, and they gave us four jars with pickled peppers, jalapaneos, and other spices in addition to the ones already on the table. I highly recommend asking for this because they are all great additions to the already tasty dishes! The food came out relatively fast, and the portions were huge! I wish rice wasn't extra, which was the main downside for me, especially because its a small portion, but because the dishes were so good I don't mind still giving this place 5 stars. read more

Extremely disappointing service. Made a delivery order and on top of the really rude manager on the telephone taking our order, the delivery man was rude too because he was angry we didn't give him a bigger tip. He also wore no gloves or mask during the exchange, which should be mandatory at this time. The food was cold when it was delivered even though we're right down the street from the restaurant. The biggest insult I can't get over is the LARGE Tom Yum soup we ordered. It came in a large container and half full... I've never seen a restaurant casually try to pass this off. When I called in and spoke to the manager again he refused to change the cost of the soup. He said he didn't know how to change the price on the machine (even being a manager) and the best he could do is bring more broth in half an hour. We already were hesitant to order because of COVID-19 concerns as well as how uncomfortable the delivery driver made us we declined so we paid more for less. I love Thai food so we wanted to try something new but after this experience and the restaurant taking no attempts to correct the problem properly I would NOT recommend this place to anyone. The food was not worth the hassle. Very bland! read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - This is what they call a Large soup... - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts

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Their pad Thai is unmatched. So sweet and zesty. Will say other dishes are not super memorable and it's def pricey but comparison to other Thai places around. Will always go back for the pad Thai though!! read more

Siamese Twins was the most talked about dish in this place. It could be little dry if you are more of sauce person. Try the young coconut juice which comes with the coconut meat. Go for the golden triangles, chicken puffs and the amazing stuffed chicken wings read more

Brown Sugar Cafe - Thai Near Me - Boston, Massachusetts