Ban Thai Restaurant

Be careful when ordering through a food delivery app with these people. Ordered thru order up and when delivery driver got there they were closed. This was before their posted hours said they would be closing for the night. Additionally the driver said this wasn’t the first time this happened with this restaurant. I wouldn’t order from this restaurant again. The service inside is subpar and now the delivery issues… forget it.

OMG!!! I’m addicted to the Singapore Mein Fun! I buy a dinner portion to last all weekend but I can’t stop eating it! I put it back in the frig but it’s screaming at me to keep eating! haha. It has the perfect amount of meat, egg, veges, and spicy, but most important, THE NOODLES!!! OMG! I freaking love these tiny noodles! I’ll nibble all weekend then plan a trip back next week to get a large portion to nibble on for days. haha. I’ve had sushi and the summer rolls too, and both were outstanding, but I freaking love the Singapore Mein Fun! Yowza! haha :) Super friendly staff too. This is my new favorite restaurant!

I have fond memories of coming here while being a pharmacy student.
I dunno if they changed chefs, but I remember the pad thai being crazy peanut buttery with mounds of peanuts and peanut butter to the point of overkill… aka just how I like it. So, being in my hometown after a few years, I was very happy that this establishment still existed and touted the famous pad thai I am so fond of.
Well, we shared the baltimore roll… I try to eat crab as much as possible when I’m here so I was very disappointed it was imitation crab meat and not the real deal. It tasted good but of course it could have been much better. AND, they changed up the pad thai. Very sad to report it is not the peanut buttery madness I was used to getting here. Not much on flavor as it was lacking. Not sure I will come back since the pad thai is not the same. Still pleasant service that I remember.

Dismal downward trend for Ban Thai. Walked in to get my carry out and there was literally not a soul in the dining room. I should have just turned around. The server came out 2 minutes later with my food. She was sweet but the good ends there. I’m pretty sure the prices were higher than listed on the website by I didn’t go back to look. I definitely did a double take at the total. $ 32 for one entrée and two apps was surprising to say the least. Acceptable if it were delicious like it was in the old days. But the summer roll was mostly lettuce, the papaya salad wasn’t fresh and was soggy, and the beef in the drunken noodles was awful. And they didn’t use the huge fresh noodles I love. They were just skinny regular pasta. Very sad. Probably the last time we go. :(

Walking around the area and our group wanted Thai. It was weird that we were the only group for about an hour but eventually other customers came in.
I had the pad see ew and it was decent. My friend said her cashew chicken was ok, not exceptional. Each item came with a little salad and some rice which was nice. Service was pretty good and attentive. Prices werent too bad.
Not sure if I’d return. Everything was just too mediocre.

I like chive dumplings in general, so even though the ones here are overly greasy, I still like getting some from their stand at the Sunday morning farmers market under the freeway. Thumbs up also for having Thai tea and mango sticky rice.
As to the actual restaurant, it’s usually quiet when we swing by; yesterday might have been the only time I saw other people come in after us.
I asked to substitute noodles for the rice that came with the duck red curry. My husband kept assuring me that this was a totally Thai thing, but the waitress seemed confused, though after a fashion she agreed.
At one point, the waitress struck up a conversation entirely in Thai with my husband. Personally, I found this kind of rude; wouldn’t you under any other social circumstance where people speak in a language that some in their group don’t understand? It’s not like she didn’t speak English, since I spoke to her earlier. I know you’re happy to see your own people, but, you know, kind of lame for service industry.

I really like this place because it seems to have authentic Thai food and some other great Asian dishes. They do add the heat on some dishes but they are so flavorful! I love this place and the staff has been wonderful!

I usually go to Stang and came here not expecting much. I was blown away! The curries were amazing! The fried tofu appetizer is simply awesome– I don’t even like tofu– total stand out item.’ This place is worth a try if you haven’t been before.

(4÷1÷2015) We stopped by for a kind of late, weekday dinner. Place has been around forever, but looks like they recently changed hands, chefs, menus, décor, etc. It always looks so dead whenever we walk by, it’s unfortunate for them that the bar is in the front window and the diners in the back. We were the only table in there at 8:45 pm on a Wednesday, but there were 2 people waiting for take-​out. Place is «family-​run», so service is not polished or professional, but we found them to be mostly attentive and so very nice. The menu hits the Thai standards, but looks like they added many things that make it more pan-​Asian and less strictly Thai oriented (I suspect that the new people working here are not indigenous Thai, likely Chinese, but they could be ethnic Chinese from Thailand). We didn’t go for the new stuff (I don’t really want sushi when I’ve walked into a Thai place).
My watermark for Thai restaurants is the Pad Kee Mow (Drunken Noodles). These were wide flat rice noodles (ho fun), I got pork (you can get other meats), with basil, red peppers, onion, on a bed of iceberg lettuce: slightly sweet, soy-​flavored, def had some heat, decent specimen. The other benchmark is the Pad Thai. These were medium rice noodles (banh phở), probably soaked too long as they were mostly broken during the stir fry process into 1 – 2 inch pieces and were a touch mushy. Plating was awkward to eat (accompaniments in separate piles rather than mixed in), not as successful, but not terrible. We did start with the Yum Nuer (grilled slices of beef in a salad with grape tomatoes, carrot, iceberg, red onion, cilantro, cucumber), aggressively dressed with a good amount of lime juice, fish sauce, soy — just as it should be, a great savory, pungent starter to kickstart the endorphins from the heat. Thai Curried Fish Cakes were lightly deep-​fried coins of the chewy Asian style cakes (known for a «springiness» rather than crunch), there were plenty of them, very tasty, some heat.
We thought the prices were fine for downtown, it’s the going rate. Service was very nice, like being served by a quiet cousin. Food overall was satisfying and tasty. We’d def come back and recommend if you’re jonesing for Thai and in the area.

Went here for lunch during the workday. The place was empty so we didn’t know what to expect but we’re surprised by good food and service. We both ordered drunken noodles with chicken. The big pieces of iceberg lettuce was not welcome; however overall a good dish. Just the right amount of spice. They also gave a standard Thai salad before the meal that had really good dressing.

If you’re looking for authentic Thai food, this is not the place to go – there are much better Thai food places in Baltimore.
But if you want good Asian food for an ok price, it’s not a bad place to eat.
Everytime I have been here, it’s been mostly empty. The complimentary salad is standard ginger sesame flavored (nothing special), and I’ve had the ginger tilapia and the basil duck here. I think it’s really hit and miss here. I love love love the basil duck, but the portion is small and the meat is really thin on the bones, so if I really want to walk out with a full tummy, I need to shell out the money for the large size. The ginger tilapia is really too gingery/​garlicky (which I never thought possible) but it took away from the flavor of the fish itself.
Appetizers wise, the spring rolls are a fine bet, the chicken satay is fine, the shrimp cake is really just deep fried dough – totally not what a shrimp cake should be like.
Service has been fine everytime I go – they are attentive and efficient, and always willing to split checks for us.
I go when I’m too lazy to go far for good Thai food, and it’s been fine so far. Nothing special, nothing terrible.

My first time here. Late lunch. 100% empty but it’s 3pm on Thursday. I wanted Thai food so needed to try a new spot. I sat down and the lady (not very pleasant) got me water and a free salad. Nice. I ordered a veggie Dumpling (skillet cooked) and it came out DEAD FROZEN in the center. She grabbed the plate when I told her and said she would replace it. Waiting an extra 5 mins… You get two dumplings and they are POTENT in cilantro toppings. I hate cilantro so it was not something I would order again. On top, they were NOT veg dumplings. They were boy full of chives. The lunch dish I got was the beef udon. I went for a Japanese dish b/​c the Thai appetizer was a let down. The broth was ³⁄₅ and not too hot which was disappointing because I like piping hot food, especially if served to me at a restaurant where I am the only patron. The beef udon was NOT udon. It was like a strange Pad Thai Beef/​Teriyaki/​Yakisoba mix.
I would maybe come again and hope this was just a bad day for the front and back of house… Or maybe not.

Very yummy, but it look 40 minutes to get our food! I think that’s a bit unacceptable since the restaurant wasn’t crowded at all. I’ll definitely go back though, and hopefully it will be faster.

The only reasons some people have given this place high ratings is because they haven’t had «Good Thai Food»! Do not waste money eating here!

The place my friends wanted to order from didn’t serve lunch, so I walked to this place and picked up a nice meal: some tom yum soup, some chicken satay, as well as pad see ew and one other dish I didn’t taste.
The soup was tangy and perfectly seasoned and the noodles were also nice, perfectly cooked and chewy, although the tofu was perhaps a bit dry. I didn’t think the chicken was anything special, a bit dry as well, but I really liked the dipping sauces, one cool and one spicy. It was a good lunch.

Came by here on a snow day around 6 pm and the place was empty. It’s along charles street and can be categorized as a combo restaurant with both thai and japanese dishes on the menu.
Pineapple fried rice (~$ 15) — the presentation is interesting with the fried rice served in a hollowed out pineapple. Plenty of rice, shrimp, pineapple, sausage, and I think bbq pork mixed together. However, it was not better than fried rice I’ve had in other places that were a quarter of the cost here. It really should be priced at less than $ 7.
Overall, I’d say the food is decent but its prices are on par with Stang of Siam without the quality.

I went for lunch on Superbowl Sunday, so it wasn’t packed at all. Completely empty. Presumably the wait staff should be even more attentive to make up for the lack of guests in tips, or just because there’s nothing else to do, but that was not the case. In an empty restaurant, I found myself trying to get my waiters attention. Exhausting.
I ordered the spring rolls, beef and chicken meal and chicken fried rice. Everything tasted good, but a little too hot, both in terms of temperature and taste.
A little pricey, but there are specials at certain times.

Popped in for a late lunch around 3PM, place was empty. I wish I could give it a better review, but the shrimp pad Thai didn’t have much shrimp in it and the beef udon was confusingly presented in the menu — our son thought it would be served in soup, but it was on a shallow platter. We were also charged full price for a non-​alcoholic piña colada. I protested and they took a couple of dollars off, but it still came to $ 6, not what I’d call good value. I did like my coconut juice. Oh well.

I picked up chicken sauteed with hot chili and basil leaves and spring rolls for lunch. I enjoyed it so much, I ordered takeout again for dinner. Tonight, I had drunken noodles with sweet sticky rice for dessert.
Both entrees were spicy, but flavorful.

I’m not sure how this place gets strong reviews but maybe they cater mostly to the lunch crowd?
Well anyway, Banthai has it’s strong points.
— large seating area for big groups
— they don’t rush you out
— servings are huge and meant to share
— SPICY PAPAYA SALAD is delicious!
— 66. PAD SEE-​EW $ 12.50, Chicken or beef Thai stir-​fried noodles and broccoli. Has the wok singed flavor. yum!
— MANGO STICKY RICE is the best! I would go just for dessert
— CRISPY SPRING ROLLS are good– nothing outstanding but I enjoyed them
Not so strong points.
— why is the place so empty?
— sometimes you have to waive them down to get the check
— the food is salty (but really tasty)
— don’t order the TOM YUM KAI soup. it’s super boring and the chicken pieces are too big
— some of their other dishes are boring– try them out and find the good stuff!