Thai Basil in Chantilly, Virginia, is operated by the acclaimed Chef Nongkran Daks, who became well-known after winning a Pad Thai cook-off against Bobby Flay on Food Network's Throwdown with Bobby Flay. Renowned for authentic Thai dishes made with fresh ingredients and without MSG, I finally visited after hearing many praises. The staff was friendly, and their spice level recommendation was spot-on. The atmosphere was a bit dated but decorated with numerous Thai artifacts, paintings, photographs, and ceramics, creating a warm and inviting setting. The Khanom Jeep, a Thai steamed dumpling, was dry with a thick skin and a somewhat bland flavor, while the Kuay Tiew Moo Toon (stewed pork noodle soup in herb broth) from their Thai Select menu was outstanding. The pork was tender, complemented by meatballs and bean sprouts for added texture, and the black peppers and spices balanced the sweetness perfectly. The menu features many dishes, and I look forward to trying more soon. read more

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TL;DR: 3.8 stars - large portions, noodle dishes were solid Came here for an early dinner on a Friday night and was able to grab a seat before it got much busier. SERVICE: Service was very nice and attentive. Food took a a little while to come out, but wasn't too bad. FOOD: ~Thai Tea (4.25): Definitely one of the better Thai Teas I have had in the area. Good tea flavor, creamy, and not too sweet. ~Pad thai (3.9/5): Decent flavor and the portion was giant. ~Drunken noodle (3.5/5): Was okay, but tasted more like padseew than drunken noodles. Didn't come with peppers/tomatoes like I've normally seen ~Fried whole fish special (2/5): Was very disappointed in this dish. It was very crispy, but the fish meat was overcooked/dry and under seasoned. The garlic sauce that came with it was also just okay. Would come back here for their noodle dishes and maybe try some of their curries. read more

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Dont know why the Reviews are so low. My food was delicious. Spice lvl 1 had a nice kick to it. Id definitely come back read more

Thai Basil - Thai Near Me - Chantilly, Virginia

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Are a quiet lunch on the weekend after finishing a pottery class in the same center. Long time visitors and the food was good. Pad see ew and another dish both came out hot and fresh. Gyoza was crispy and cooked perfectly. Overall nice space and clean which is always a win. Would recommend if in the area! read more

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i've been coming here since i was a kid, so i may have some bias. i visit very often, probably bi-weekly at minimum. my go to dishes are the pad thai, drunken noodles, and khao pad horapa. the portions are huge for the price, compared to other places. with meat the dishes i have listed range anywhere from $13-$16 and leaves me enough for the next meal which is hard to find in this economy! the interior was recently renovated. the family is kind but nothing that stands out about the service. support local businesses! i'd check this place out if you're in the area. read more

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Not bad. Server was slow but very friendly. Hot in restaurant. Got the wrong soup, not bad. Pad Thai was just average. Asked for medium spice and there was none. Nice for lunch but not dinner. read more

You will immediately notice the odor upon entering. The atmosphere is abysmal. The "crispy duck" was not crispy and didn't taste much like duck and the fried rice was average. Look elsewhere read more

Food (4/5): khao soi was good. Not the best I've had but it's hard to get in America. read more

Thai Basil - Khao soi - Thai Near Me - Chantilly, Virginia

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Right away the ambiance of the restaurant caught my eye. The vibe was nice. Waitress was attentive and super friendly. Thai iced tea was good. Chicken sate was a good sized portion. Lots of restaurants don't have big portions but this place did. The drunken beef was exquisite. It was salty but not too much. Like the perfect amount. Would order it again. The noodles were soft too. Great experience. read more

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This restaurant is in the back of a mall on Route 50 so parking is easy. I was seated and served promptly. The pad Thai with shrimp was a good size portion but just ok. If this was the first time I'd ever eaten the dish, I don't know I'd I'd order it again as it was fairly tasteless. It did improve as leftovers - so maybe flavors needed time to blend? The chairs were not in the best shape so maybe they need some refreshing. read more

Thai Basil - Pad Thai shrimp - Thai Near Me - Chantilly, Virginia

I came for lunch in a Friday after not having been back for about 5 years. It was very empty and the dark dining room gave me a sense of foreboding. I checked into Yelp and saw the once famed Bobby Flay throw down restaurant now only had a rating of 3.5. Cue more foreboding. I bravely plowed on, ordering a Thai iced tea and chicken pad ka prow. This is my go to dish and I've been so dissatisfied with how restaurants have been preparing it lately. I was SO pleasantly surprised when my dish arrived and it was perfectly seasoned with the right amount of thin gravy to soak into the jasmine rice. The basil was plentiful and the chicken was not over cooked. I spooned some prik nam pla over the rice and I was in hot heaven! I'll be back again and hope this beloved restaurant is back on track! read more

Thai Basil - 37. Pad Kra Praw Lunch - Mexican hot. So good! - Thai Near Me - Chantilly, Virginia

Have been going here for years. 20+! Chef has beaten Bobby Flay on Pad Thai cooking. Hers is great. The crispy duck is wonderful. Have had it a numerous Thai places but this is the best. Dumpling cups were nice! Tasty! Upon seating you feel like you are in a friend's family room. The friend just happens to be Thai!!! Attentive service. Everything was great. We also get their food delivered. They deliver, not door dash. I live 20 min away. Food is always piping hot! Go here or order delivery! You will not go wrong! read more

We were staying in Chantilly and decided to have dinner at Thai Basil. We were 4 adults and 1 child. We had Pad Thai, Drunken Noodles, Steamed Vegetables, and Po Piah Todd (Spring Rolls). We requested mild and everything was prepared as requested. The restaurant is very attractive and right off the highway. We walked out with left overs and much praise for the restaurant. read more

I ordered through Postmates so this review will be solely based on the food. A good egg roll is a good egg roll if you can eat the egg roll without sauce and it still tastes amazing. Hot and nice (although not as crunchy, which imo is a good thing since it won't be as messy); they provide a sweet and sour sauce which was standard, but the egg rolls taste better without it. The pad khi mao at the American spicy has just a tiny little bit of kick to it; perfect amount for people who are bad at spice. The meat to noodle ratio was a bit low and the meat was a bit tough to eat. I wish there was a bit more basil in it because it was delicious. The broccoli was also well cooked and went well with the noodles. The wide noodles were nice and firm; I was a bit worried they would be soggy, but it ended up being just yummy! The pad thai noodles were a bit one the dry side, unfortunately. However, it again had just the right amount of spice. I feel like the bean sprouts could have been cooked a bit longer; the meat to noodle ratio was much lower for this dish :( the meat was also much tougher to eat. TLDR: get the egg rolls, get the drunken noodles, maybe skip the pad thai. read more

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I ordered takeout. The Pad Thai is okay. It's powerful in spice but missing some flavor. Huge portion which is a plus. I was really disappointed in the green curry. The curry tasted watered down and the beef was dry. When I opened the lid it looked half empty. There was barely any curry sauce and most dry beef piled on top. The spice level was met though. So unfortunately the green curry try basically tasted like spicy water. read more

Thai Basil - Chicken 28. Pad Thai - Thai Near Me - Chantilly, Virginia

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My husband and I enjoyed coming to Thai Basil because of their food. The owner, Nongkran Daks is a famous Thai chef, who was featured on TV in the early 2000's. I even attended her cooking class in 2008. They are still located in Chantilly, Virginia. We had dinner there on January 12, 2024. We were so disappointed that the quality of food has gone down. I ordered Pad Wun Sen and Pad Thai. The meal hardly had any shrimp or chicken. The 2 bowls were just mainly dry noodles. I love noodles, don't get me wrong. But that's about it for our dishes. The Tom Yum Gai soup was also very disappointing. The taste was off. Unfortunately, Nongkran was in Thailand that time so, we were not able to talk to her. We left unsatisfied and terribly disappointed. read more

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I ordered a green curry with shrimp for takeout. It was like I ordered soup. The curry (Mexican heat) was the most watery sauce I've ever had. Very few vegetables, a fair amount of shrimp, and a decent flavor, but the sauce was like a pool of milk in the container. I thought I could help it out with some rice to give it some body, but the teeny tiny container of rice that came with it wasn't even enough for one person or one serving. There were two of us... You would think that a place that brags about having award winning pad Thai, would take more pride in their dishes. This was shameful. Two stars only because there was decent flavor. Maybe they should include a straw in the order to drink the sauce? Try another Thai place. read more

Pretty standard Thai place. The interior is dated, but clean. And the service is always friendly. Food is consistent. Nothing really stands out but nothing has ever disappointed. read more

We've been coming here for a long time, over 20 years. Everything is still really good.

Solid 4 in my book. Spring rolls were good. The pad Thai was good but I felt it was missing something in regards to flavor. Service was fast and friendly and professional. read more

COVID Takeout Review: There is a good amount of parking and the restaurant is located at the end of a shopping center. They offer indoor and outdoor dining. The cashier had a face mask and there was a plastic barrier between the customers and cashier. My order was quick and well packaged. I wanted my parents to try Thai food. Since they enjoy Chinese food, the Pad See Ew was a good introductory Thai dish to order since it's a Chinese influenced dish. Since I had never been here before, I decided to just try out the Beef Pad See Ew. Some of the noodles were stuck together and there was more noodles than beef/broccoli. Also, it either didn't have any egg or hardly any egg at all to notice in it unlike the description and other nearby Thai places. Overall it was decent and my parents enjoyed it. read more

Thai Basil - 31. Pad See Ew Beef - lunch menu - Thai Near Me - Chantilly, Virginia

I was very very disappointed by my last visit- all of the dishes sorely lacked acid- one of the flavors I most value in Thai food. Will not be back again. read more

If you read my previous reviews, you know I am a BIG FAN of ordering thai food to go and eating it while cuddling with a snuggly blanket. As the cold weather continues my urge for blanket cuddles and thai food continues. I found this place on Yelp and decided to try it out. The food did not take look to make which is always good. I got the Pad Thai noodles, Basil Fried Rice, and Mango Sticky Rice. I was surprised by the portion sizes. They were MASSSIVE. Could feed an entire family with one of these entrees honestly. I always love that. That being said, I don't favor quantity if it means there is a reduce value is quality. I really did not like any of this food. The thai basil fried rice was very average. Tasted like food to eat but not much flavor in the food. The chicken was very dry too. The pad thai was some of the worst I have had. The noodles were very dry. Similar to the rice there was limited flavor. I could barely taste the pad thai seasoning with each noodle. The mango sticky rice was sooo hard when I ate it. The rice was basically a thick rock and it was hard to break it up into pieces. The mango tasted very bitter and honestly could not even finish it. I am never coming back here again. The food was all average if not below average. There are so many better thai options in NOVA that I would rather go to. Only reason why I am not giving this place a 1 star is because they actually gave a lot of quantity of food. read more

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Picked up from here for take-out last night. The food was ready within 20 minutes, wasn't too busy on a Wednesday night. I love Thai food and wanted to try this place out as I've heard great things about it in my area. For entrees I decided to order Basil fried rice with chicken and and pad Thai also with chicken. The fried rice was pretty good. I thought the rice was a bit too sticky, but the vegetables and the chicken mixed in were tasty. Chicken lacked flavor but the flavorings in the rice and vegetables made up for it. The pad Thai was very average. I found the chicken too bland and the rest of the dish was also pretty bland so there wasn't any interesting flavors here. I thought the noodles were pretty good but that's all I really enjoyed from this dish. Next time I would ask for more spice. For dessert I got mango sticky rice. I love mangoes but this was was my first time trying this dish and it makes for a great dessert. I can't wait to have this again. Overall service was good and the food was pretty average as to the Thai food in the area. read more

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I have been here before a couple years ago for dine-in, and I remember the food being decent. I walked away happy with my belly full of drunken noodles. I was craving Thai food again a couple weeks ago, and this was one of the closer spots near me. This area has several options for Thai, but this was convenient, and I didn't want anything fancy, just drunken noodles and pad Thai to go. I was really hungry and yet I literally didn't want to eat more than a few bites of either dish. The flavors weren't there...was it bland, was it off? I don't know. This was not just a single opinion, since someone else in my household tried it and agreed with me, having also been here before. The noodles were a bit dry, the spice felt hollow, like no sweetness or umami or acid coming through with it. I won't go here again personally. If you aren't super picky, this could satisfy your craving in a pinch maybe, but like I said, there is other Thai around. read more

I ordered pad thai today as i was craving for it. I ordered with Thai hot. The food comes with very good container, good portion. Pad thai shrimp comes with 5 pcs of shrimp which is reasonable with the price. But the taste is like....Im Thai and i can say it wasnt tasty at all. Not pad Thai taste (i was like...am I having a covid lol that i cant taste of any flavour) Im not sure about their other menu but nahh for Pad Thai. read more

Thai Basil - Thai Near Me - Chantilly, Virginia

Food was great but service was kinda weird. They also questioned whether my wife could use the bathroom since we were getting takeout.

Food is delicious. Staff is very welcoming and friendly. You can always get a table no need to wait. I got a Thai hot dish and it was not hot so keep in mind the preference level. read more

Awesome service during COVID! The person who took my order was kind and delivered just on time! He even called to make sure he was delivering closest to me! I prefer this spot when it's hot and just out of the kitten- ordering takeout is just a little less thrilling. The Vietnamese style rice paper rolls were AWESOME fresh and full of large shrimp and rice noodles. Thai iced tea was refreshing. Thank you Thai Basil for delivering while we are all still cooped inside with cravings read more

We went here last summer after a swim meet. And it was really good. How good? My youngest who is the pickiest da&m eater in the DMV said he LOVED his Thai Red Curry. I almost gasped when he ordered the same thing I did. And darn well almost fell out of my chair when he ate the whole darn thing and said it was awesome. It would almost be worth the schlep back over to Chantilly. The service was good. Restaurant nice and clean. I recommend. read more

I was craving for Thai food during #Quarantine2020 so off I went on my DoorDash app. I was immediately drawn into Thai Basil because they had spice levels for each of their dishes (American Hot, Mexican Hot, Thai Hot, and Laos Hot), which I have rarely seen before at any Thai restaurants. Being half Thai, I absolutely LOVE spice so I was excited to see that option. I ordered papaya salad, tom kha gai (chicken and mushroom curry soup), beef pad Thai, and massamun curry for my husband. The food was delivered to us quickly which was appreciated. However, the taste was bland and there was no spice whatsoever (not even American spice!). I was so disappointed, especially since I was looking forward to it! I ended up adding my own chili flakes to it in order to eat everything. I hope it was a one off, but I'll go back to exploring other Thai restaurants in the area. read more

I used to go here very often. The food quality is definitely not good. Specifically the Pad Thai dish is a 1 star and I do not recommend this dish at all. The taste is not there (having eaten Thai food weekly for years). I love the ambiance and even got to know the owner. I hate to write this review but I believe it is a public service warning on this 1 dish. read more

First time experience- had the chicken pad Thai and green curry. Green curry was mid (didn't get it spicy enough) and pad Thai was a little salty. I remembered this place was on Bobby Flag's old show. It's decent/ good, so if I'm in the area I'll be back but I'd rather go to Thai Kitchen. read more

We ordered from Thai Basil for lunch based on a recommendation from a co-worker. The food was tasteless. I ordered Pad Thai and my friend ordered some rice dish. Neither dish had favor... i won't order from here again. read more

Great food and prices are very reasonable. I recommend this place to try. Great Thai food in Chantilly read more

Excellent food and service. Best Duck Soup . You get to feel you are a guest in the family. Very Nice!!

Ordered from here about a month ago! With everything going on during COVID-19, they had amazing service! Order both chicken and beef pad Thai by phone. Everything was ready within 15 minutes and was in and out in less than 5! Food was amazing! read more

Thai Basil - Beef and chicken pad Thai - Thai Near Me - Chantilly, Virginia

Ordered delivery and got here in less than 30 minutes! Super fast and the food was still very hot. I ordered the Yellow Curry spice level Thai hot and the Drunken noodles Thai hot spice level as well. I am used to Asian hot foods so this was not too hot at all, just right! The noodles were a bit on the greasy side and a bit bland. The Yellow curry's flavor was quite nice, however, the same with the Drunken noodles it was a bit bland. I had to add some of my own sauces and salt to both dishes. The thai tea was very good, not too sweet or grainy from the tea. Probably the best thai tea I've had. read more

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AVOID! I usually don't give bad reviews; but I had to for this place. I went here for lunch to try since I was near by. The restaurant immediately had a strong gross smell. I should have left, but I didn't want to judge just based off a bad order. I ordered the popular pad Thai, as recommended by the server. The pad Thai was so bad. I couldn't even eat half of it. To be polite, I asked for to go container. The container given was dirty and soiled with some oil inside. I immediately threw it away once I got into the office. I didn't take a picture since the pad Thai didn't look that appetizing. read more

We had drunken noodle and pad khing. Both were very salty and no Thai flavor. I don't write review unless it's really very bad experience all around. The food tasted like frozen food hearted up. Service people looked sad about something. The ambience is very old and depressing. I want to forget the time I went there. read more