Stopping in on a Saturday afternoon for a late lunch. Limited seating in restaurant. Party of 3 at a 4top, along with a couple dining opposite side of room. Very friendly service, attentive staff. We ordered panang curry noodle, cucumber salad, chicken rice soup & pad kee mao. All beautifully presented, deliciously prepared. Panang curry ordered 3/5 spicy, definitely mild. If you like spicy I'd go 4 or 5 next time. Complimentary piping hot green tea served in tea cups without handles. Took awhile for tea to cool down enough to pick up tea cup. To go orders picked up steadily while we were in the restaurant. Overall A rating, get in here. Looking forward to returning. read more

See all

This place is amazing! Great fried rice and pad Thai. Super fresh!!! Really nice staff too. Highly recommend! Oh also love all of the vegan options! read more

Well in regards to the ambience since I came from the Morton arboretum I didn't want to go all the way to Oak Park and was craving for Thai food I look this up on Google. Service was okay and friendlier as most Thai restaurants are but this is not a real formal or not even a big place to dine in. they do a lot of carryout or delivery however they have like four tables with two chairs on each one of the table. I would not suggest having a party here. The fish cake as an appetizer was irresistibly delicious and fresh. The traditional tom kha was also phenomenally delicious but my only question is I don't remember onions and any ingredient Thai cuisine? We did get it right with the baseline the mushrooms and all the other ingredients as well as lemongrass. Not too spicy. My favorite was the Thai iced tea as usual whenever I go to a Thai restaurant. And instead of getting my traditional red or Penang Curry I went for the chicken spicy basil it was surprisingly delicious and to me it was enough to satisfy me for dinner. Again they put onions which I do question if that's A native ingredient in Thailand versus scallions. Anyways if you're just coming alone or just coming on a date this would be the place although don't expect it to be very big and formal if you plan to come as a family or a big party it's not a big thai restaurant. I guess the only cater for small guests and the majority of the customers are just carry out or delivery read more

See all

I've ordered from there once or twice before when visiting my daughter in Downers Grove. They have a fairly robust menu with food that you don't find in other locations. Food will not disappoint. We order for 6 and try varied dishes. Spring rolls are average. I'd pass on those as an appetizer. This evening they couldn't take our order over the phone because their credit card system was down and restaurant demanded cash payment before processing our order. Restaurant a couple of blocks away so that inconvenience just added to our wait time. No apologies extended. Service/management tend to be a little gruff. This is pretty much a take out venue. No place to stay and eat nor will there be a server or customer service. Review is based on quality and taste of food. read more

The last time I came here was over 4 years ago and I thought it filled the Thai food itch but wasn't something to be excited about. Just ordered it again today and I'm not sure if they changed owners but the food was excellent! Better than many of the places in the city and we've been trying to explore for good Thai food. This place is way way way way nicer inside too. Got the red curry, larb Kai, pad see ew, Thai fried rice, mango sticky rice and they were all great. All the spicy dishes were mildly spicy so I may ask for some extra heat next time. Will try this place again soon and hopefully goes on our monthly rotation. read more

Expensive $$$ for super small place it sure charges big time prices. Have ordered from Thai cafe over a dozen times, it use to be sooo good portion size and the quality was excellent. Not anymore the prices are outrageous now...rice egg rolls and soup for4 almost $100.00 dollars. Make matters worse they charge you additional charge to use a credit card. My barbecue pork was two small pieces of Pork in a large size order. Time to skip this place and look for better quality and a not so ridiculously priced entree. read more

Excellent restaurant! Excellent service!! Excellent Food! So good makes you want to lick the bowl.

Everything was delicious per usual :) Friendly staff, great little spot for anyone wanting to try Thai! I love the new front of house vibe too! read more

The food and service were amazing ! Chanya was so attentive and courteous and our food was fantastic. We ordered Panang Curry and Pad Thai, both were delicious! read more

Thai Cafe - Pad Thai - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

See all

This was the first time trying this place to eat take out. My husband and I will order again the food was delicious and the lady's that work there were very nice and friendly read more

Authentic Thai, very fresh. The service was also authentic -- and very attentive. And although it's a small place with only a few tables, the decor is artful. read more

Food is great! Love their Thai fried rice and ginger eggplant. Their curry is pretty good too!

Ordered the Panang Curry and Veggie Eggrolls to go. Just got home and ate dinner and everything was delicious. I haven't had Thai food in a while and the curry was absolutely delicious and satisfying. I'll definitely be back. A friend recommended this place to me a while ago and I'll definitely stop again when in the Downers Grove area. read more

The sauces on our dishes were tasty but there was very little meat or veggies. Red curry with chicken didn't live up to its description at all. The pepper steak was bland and flails have much more meat for the price. Was disappointed in the quality. read more

On this day, I am sick. I have a cold. I don't feel well. I need something to help me feel better. Something hot and delicious. I know just the thing. Soup. And the soup from here does the trick indeed. Chicken Rice Soup. It has everything I need in a soup: Thai jasmine rice, minced chicken, green onion, cilantro, ginger and mixed vegetables in chicken broth. Now before you go crazy, I am in no way saying this soup gets rid of a cold. But it is a good start. I know you are asking if you have a cold, then why did you get the veggie spring rolls? I'm greedy. read more

Thai Cafe - Veggie spring rolls. Good stuff! - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

See all

Overly salted Thai food that was too expensive and lack luster in flavor. Would not recommend and quite confused about the good reviews.

My girlfriend and I have been coming to Thai Cafe for over 10 years. I had not eaten Thai food until she introduced me to it. We also make it a point to try out other Thai restaurants when we are in other Chicago metro suburbs, or other states. We have not yet found a Thai restaurant that comes close to quality and flavor of Thai Cafe. Full stop! Even though it is a small location in a strip mall with only 3 tables if you want to dine in we have no problem driving the 7 miles from our house to eat here regularly. Please don't judge negatively based on the restaurant's small size, since it is the food that is a SHINING STAR! Another point of note is that we had a Thai restaurant open 2 blocks from our house about 7 years ago, and we have only been there once (and said maybe it was a fluke), and then twice and said "never again" (that says something). Thai Cafe has a way with flavors that make it such that we leave there 100% satisfied, and not stuffed. Their menu flavor palate is such that it meets all of your flavor needs (including sweet). We always say that their entrees are better than any dessert. Our go to entrees are Panang Curry with chicken (medium spice), and Pad See Ew with beef, but their menu has a lot to offer. Thai Cafe is a family owned restaurant with very friendly owners. We always tip nicely, not only because the food is sooooo good, but also because we want to do our small part to ensure they stay in business. After eating there today, the owner/chef brought us out a new dessert that they just added to their menu. It was like a flambéed banana in fine spring roll dough with hazelnut crème drizzled on top. Delicious! Very much worth the drive if looking for EXCELLENT Thai food. read more

Good drunken noodles and basil chicken. Flat noodles were nice and spicy, wish it had more veggies though.

We ordered take out and was ready after 15min for pick up. They don't take American Express. Got our order wrong. We ordered tofu pad Thai and clearly it was stated on the receipt itself but what we got was chicken pad Thai. Noodles were all sticking together and the taste was pretty bland. I added the lime which helped a little bit as I wanted to just try it. We also ordered vegetable massaman curry which we usually like and this one as no different. I loved the taste of the peanut. Curry was not spicy enough though in my opinion and the coconut and creaminess was okay. Still a little bit watery. As for the vegetables, or included broccoli, bokchoy, green beans, cucumber (which I thought didn't really fit as well as the other vegetables) because it was pretty soggy and not good to eat. And of course the potatoes was nice and soft. read more

Thai Cafe - Chicken Pad Thai - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

See all

We thought the food was just ok. I order pad kee mao every time I try a new Thai restaurant, and their iteration was easily in the bottom 3rd for me. Pad see ew was more flavorful than the pad kee mao, but still not great. There was a pool of grease at the bottom of my take-out container when I was done. Likely will not return. read more

There isn't a lot of Thai restaurants in Downers Grove and on top of that, most of them are kinda gross with the exception of this place. It is not the best, but it's decent. My friends and I usually come here for the Panang Curry and the Pad Thai. $12 bucks for the curry and $10 for the Pad Thai with the exception of lunch specials where the Panang Curry is only $9 bucks and on the curry also comes with 2 mini egg rolls. As for the location of the restaurant, right before the train track, next to the mini market. Plenty of parking, however, this cafe only has 2 tables and some bar spaces. Most of the time, I tend to get my orders on the go (often take 10-15 minutes). As a result, I would recommend calling in ahead of time. They accept credit cards, no checks tho and close on Tuesday. Overall, decent food, helpful staffs and friendly environment. read more

Thai Cafe - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

A delicious Thai lunch I enjoyed indeed! Thai cafe is one of those glorious local businesses that reminds me why Yelp is so awesome (as if I needed reminding). It's a very unassuming little restaurant from the outside and I probably would have never considered walking in if it wasn't for Yelp pulling it up under nearby places - not to mention all the stellar reviews! Nicole W. and I dined in, but it's to he noted that this is more of a carry out place. Keep in mind they use Yelp Eat24 which is super convenient! We sat in the only table they had although there is additional bar stool seating along the window. I ordered the spicy duck basil and confirmed with the guy behind the counter that it would not be ridiculously spicy. He informed me that I can keep it regular, add more spice, or have no spice at all. I stuck with the original version and was glad I did. This dish had he perfect amount of heat for me! It wasn't until the very end where my nose started running ;) The spicy duck basil is a really beautiful and colorful dish. The duck was delicious and the veggies and sauce that accompanied were spot on. The meal came with white rice, but I skipped out on that. I was full enough from eating what I had so no need for a filler! Our meals also came out with 2 little complimentary egg rolls which were the perfect treat. Now I know that Thai Cafe is here, I can definitely see myself picking up food on my way home from a suburban adventure! read more

Thai Cafe - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

Talk about a hidden gem! I drove past this teeny little cafe and if I didn't read the stellar Yelp reviews I probably wouldn't have given it a second look. So glad Jacqueline B and I popped in here for lunch! Thai Cafe is mainly a take-out and pick up spot, but if you find yourself in need of a seated meal, there are two or three tables and a short high seated bar to eat in house. You don't go here for the ambiance! The menu is classic and they do have a nice selection of lunch specials. I went with the Tom Kha Gai soup and the green curry. My soup came out first and I inhaled the coconutty, chicken and veggie filled goodness. The soup was spot-on and incredibly flavorful. My green curry was also tasty but by the time I got to that dish I was fairly full. The lunch sized portion was appropriate and I still had plenty to take home (mostly due to the aforementioned soup). With friendly, helpful counter staff and bright, fresh flavors, Thai Cafe is a solid choice in DG! read more

Thai Cafe - Tom Kha Gai Soup - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

The spring rolls alone are enough to go in for...be sure to get the chicken + rice soup, pad see eu (sp?) and pad Thai too!

The best Thai food around ! Fresh authentic Thai Restaurant located on small strip shopping center 2 blocks from train station. Great prices, too. read more

This is a pretty solid place for Thai food in the burbs. I love that you can place your order on Yelp and go pick it up in about 10-15 minutes. Easy and hassle free! The panang curry here is BOMB.COM. It comes with Jasmine rice that is perfectly cooked and it is a huge portion for about $13. Their pad thai ($9) was decent but it didn't come with a lot of bean sprouts like I am used to seeing with other Thai restaurants. But it was still good, try it with tofu if you're looking for a healthy option. Only problem with this place is that it is small so I usually just pick up food and bring it home to eat. read more

Thai Cafe - Panang curry and pad Thai with tofu - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

See all

Placed an order on Yelp for delivery on one Saturday a few weeks ago. The estimated time was 45 min. but I got my food a little bit faster. Cool! Tom Kha Kai is my favorite soup and I enjoyed this one. Also, shrimp cigars were good as usual, shrimp shumai - airy and tasty. For an entree I got unfortunate idea to order noodle dish, Panang noodle. Why unfortunate? Rice noodles aren't the best choice for delivery/carry out order. If they were packed in a separate container maybe I could enjoy it but they've been cozy warm with the sauce and other ingredients and became a mush. Not good but a good lesson for future ordering. read more

Thai Cafe - Shrimp shumai, tasty. - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

See all

The couple of noodle dishes I've tried were all good, but the stand out was the Rama Noodle Delight. The peanut sauce is so aromatic. The steamed vegetables are a great complement to the sauce and stir fried noodles. I look for this dish in other Thai restaurants, and I don't think it's as common as other more ubiquitous noodles. read more

This place is a gem! So let's start with the most important thing.... The Food: Based on the food alone this place would be a 5. Had the Red Curry, Basil Fried Rice and Pad Thai...all were excellent and very good portions. I asked for the Curry extra spicy and they did not disappoint. Everything was fresh and well prepared....can't wait to try more The Staff: There was not a ton of interaction as this was a take out order, but pleasant and on time can't ask for much more The Place: its a tiny store front in an unassuming mini mall, if you are not looking for it you will drive right past. A couple of tables do exist for dinning in but it's totally no frills. If this place had a dine in option I would of easily gave it a 5... This is a must try! read more

This is primarily a take out or delivery restaurant. We were looking for dine-in place. There are few tables and they were nice to let us dine-in. We started with chicken satay and shrimp cigars, and they were yummylicious. For the entree, we went with BBQ Pork fried rice and Spicy Chicken Szechuan, and as a good measure, we ordered Pad Thai to go - for the lunch next day. Everything we tried was simply delicious. I was on the main the next day and almost stopped by for lunch. We already know we will be here often. read more

I would give Thai Cafe 6 Stars if I could. I've written over 100 reviews and find this place better than all. The food is excellent, of course, and reasonably priced. But it is all of the other things they do that separates them from everyone else. We called in an order from a downtown Downers Grove business and Thai Cafe delivered at no-charge and were absolutely delighted to do so. I stopped in last night to place an order after a long drive back from Wisconsin. They brought me a complimentary soup while I was waiting. I asked to use their restroom - it's not a public restroom - and had to walk through the kitchen, the place was immaculate. The bathroom was pristine as were the food prep area and where they do the dishes. I was very impressed as these are not areas open to the public and it speaks volumes about how they run their business. This is one of those places that you find yourself really rooting for. I'm glad Yelp gives me the forum to do so. The Basil dishes are fantastic! read more

See all

Ordered carry out on Thursday before the holiday weekend to host house guests. The best Shrimp tomyom soup, chicken Red curry passed my test with flying colors and of course the family regular favorites veggie spring rolls and padthai were yummy. So glad to have my husband work in the suburb ;) read more

Thai Cafe - This is how we stock up when under the weather. Chicken tomyom soup and chicken skewers - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

Thai Cafe was our second choice for Thai food last night (see Siam Kitchen review), but it's definitely #1 now! The place is TINY and clearly does mostly a carryout business; there are two tables and a bar with a few stools for eat-in, but they were doing a brisk business of take-away on Friday night. We did eat in, but because they're used to timing orders to go, everything in the meal came at once (i.e. entrees only seconds on the heels of the appetizers). Everything was great, though! We tried the unusual shrimp cigars: shrimp wrapped in a wonton with a basil leaf and fried; unusual and tasty! The perfume of sweet basil permeated nearly everything that we ate, which was a good thing. Crab rangoon here was realized in the form of little purses, heavy on the cream cheese, with a slight bite of chive. My dining companion and I each kept stealing off each other's plates, meaning that we both liked everthing! He had the Pad Khee Mao wide noodles, and I had beef panang curry, both excellent interpretations of these standards. Service was friendly and fast, and the people getting their to-gos were treated in an efficient and timely manner as well. I would definitely come back. In the summer it would be nice to pick up takeout and walk down to the fountain area downtown to eat. :) read more

Good pad thai and curry friend rice. We love it! Better than most Thai around here!!!

First bite of my pad see ewe and I approved. Halfway through, it started getting salty. I'm a salt person and it was salty. Hopefully this was a one-off and not the norm. Otherwise the pad see ewe is pretty darn near perfect. Lunch comes with a side of 2 vegetarian egg rolls. It was 90 degrees outside today and AC was not on in there. I prbly should have carried out rather than dined in. read more

Thai Cafe - Pad see ewe lunch special - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

I was trying to think of something different for lunch today and stopped in at the Thai Cafe. I've seen a fair number of folks come and go from here around lunchtime, today there were two people dining inside. I grabbed a menu and located the lunch specials. I went with the Thai Pepper Steak to go. It comes with two spring rolls, rice and all for only $7.58 including tax. That's a darn good price for a hot meal for lunch. At my office, I opened up the meal and it looked pretty appetizing. I started with the spring rolls which had a nice little crunch and good flavor. As I dug into the Pepper Steak I was quite pleased with the flavors bursting in my mouth. Ok, bursting may be an overstatement although the pepper steak does have hot peppers which did take me by surprise. I cut the peppers up a bit so the flavor would be more consistent throughout and I finished every bite with a smile on my face. The only negative was that inside the restaurant a prior diner had splashed soup on the table and it looked like the splatterings had been there long enough to mostly have dried which was kinda gross. I'll be back for sure and may stick with the to-go order as there is limited seating. read more

It was date night for the boyfriend and I. We both have a favorite Thai place in Milwaukee, WI and it has been super hard to find a place in IL that comes close but this one is it! He ordered pad Thai and I had the basil fried rice and wow wow wow!! I had left overs and even warmed up the next day, it tasted amazing!! So happy we tried this place. Just wish it was a bit more spacious to dine in! read more

Warm, soft, and filling There's something about a container of noodles that makes me all hot and bothered... Yep I'm talking about noodles. Absolutely love the pad see ewe here--great consistency, goor ratio of noodles to vegetables to meat and eggs---not too much or too little of anything-- I have been here a few times for carry out since we moved into the hood. Small place primarily take out but they have a few seats available if you want to linger for a few. We've had the shrimp cigars, chicken satay, lad nar, and basil fried rice.....and all have been very good. The lunch specials are a good portion size and definitely leave you satisfied. Only thing is delivery doesn't start til after 4pm----womp womp Yummo! read more

I loved their dishes especially the Red Curry one! The owner was super friendly too. I am taking way one star since there was no seats to dine in. The owner had turned a party of four away as there was only one table with two chairs available when other two chairs were occupied. So pretty much this is a carry out place. We ordered the Shrimp Cigar which was big hit among us. The tender shrimp wrapped with Wonton skin which was fried to being crisp and crunch. The sauce with it was perfectly made as well. The Tom Yum soup had a nice balance with the sweetness and sourness which basically woke up all my taste buds. You have to try it out. The Red Curry with Duck had very tasty sauce. I probably had too much rice with it. The Pad Khee Mao was pretty good as well. However, the Basil with mixed vegetables didn't turned out as I expected. That was a bit dry and not spicy at all which I did ask when I ordered. We will be back to have more curry dishes from here. read more

This Thai place is a 3: good but not remarkable. It's located in downtown Downers in the small strip mall by the nail place and the Downers Grove Food Market. They are a kitchen only, so carry out is your only option. The food is pretty good, but not excellent. I got Thai red curry and the bf got pad thai. When I placed the order and asked for extra vegetables in my curry, they said it would be a $2 charge! I feel like I was nickel-and-dimed for that, but got it anyway. When we placed our order, we didn't specify the spicy level, but they also didn't ask. This resulted in a dinner that had Thai flavor, but was bland with the spicy level. We were dumping red pepper all over our food at home to kick it up a notch! I will say I liked the variety of veggies they put in my curry: green beans, carrots, onions, red pepper. And they cooked the tofu well too. But the curry itself was a little watery like most Thai restaurants around here. I have yet to find a Thai place that knocks my socks off. read more

Thai Cafe - Tofu red curry with extra vegetables! - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

See all