Tantra Thai Bistro

Lettuce wraps amazing, sushi very good. Ambience is as good as the food. Prices and portions are good. Recommend.

I stepped in wanting sushi but apparently they don’t offer it anymore. I still stayed to eat not minding trying something new. I had the dim sum appetizer with the sizzling seafood. The dim sum came with 4 rolls. The sizzling seafood was Amazing! I loved it! Although it was $ 15 for the sizzling seafood alone. The service was great the waiter was friendly, the scenery looks great and the food was awesome but the food doesn’t come cheap.

So glad Dubuque finally got a Thai restaurant and it is fantastic. Spicy lettuce cups are amazing. Haven’t had anything that wasn’t good. Sushi selection not as good as taiko.

So much potential! Almost skipped this place due to comments made here. Unfortunately, they were right on. Food is very good. Volcano roll, lettuce wraps, Yum! Noodles slightly over done in pad Thai but ok. Service needs help! Perhaps a new front of house manager and some server training. Lackluster service made this pace very forgettable.

Wonderful décor, music and ambience. Stir fry was super fresh (not a frozen vege in sight). Beef a little on the tough side and lacking a little flavor. Overall however, quite a nice place that ticks all the boxes. Suffers a little by the usual tendency of restaurants to crank up the air conditioning, and as I was sitting under a vent probably caused me to leave a little earlier instead of hanging out for a beverage or two more to enjoy the atmosphere. A lot of places kill their sales doing this I feel. Would be a great place for a date, first or otherwise. They also have private a few spaces away from the main dining area that would suit a noisier party group.

Looking for a trendy laid back atmosphere? Then Tantra Thai Bistro is the place for you. It’s perfect for after work drinks and dinner. The restaurant itself is authentic and cozy. It’s ideal for dates or girls night out. The food is exceptional and the tempura fried green beans and the Grand Canyon rolls are some of my favorites. The sushi chef is an amazing food artist. The martinis are fabulous and there is a wide variety of flavors. Definitely something for everyone!

I didn’t expect any good ethnic food when I moved to Dubuque, but this place scores big time. I love the pad see ew, lettuce cups and sushi. When I worked in Dubuque, my whole office was known to get huge orders from this place and go to town on some delicious Thai food. One of the best restaurants in Dubuque.

My boyfriend and I love the sushi rolls! We get the volcano roll every time we go, it’s a must try! The pad thai tofu is excellent as well, the tofu is cooked PERFECTLY. Between our families we’ve probably tried half the menu – its huge! – and not a single complaint.
We almost always have the same waiter, Todd, and he’s great! He remembers us and always starts our food order with a «Let me guess… a volcano roll, a raw roll, and an a la carte?» He knows us well!

I had the sweet and sour chicken and it was very bitter. The jasmine rice was just plain white rice no flavor. I did a carryout and the service was not welcoming. One good thing was the chicken was tender.

Food was super! Service was okay (and has been getting better in more recent visits).
I highly recommend the hot and sour soup at lunch, as well as the combination seafood, which was one of the best meals I’ve had in Dubuque.

It was ok. The place is gorgeous, GORGEOUS. It reminded me so much of the Asian galleries at the Met in NYC, it’s as if someone stuck tables there. That’s how lovely it is.
I went for lunch with my daughter though, and the food was uninspired, bland, and warm. Not hot, warm. Presentation was nice, though. She had sushi, which was, well, plain. She’s not adventurous so no complaints either way. I had something so unmemorable off the lunch menu, all I could remember was the lump of rice molded into a half sphere on the plate, and the mix of veggies on top. Not seasoned, and warm food just really, really turns me off.
Maybe dinner would be better, but I’m in no rush to find out.

It was great to find a nice Thai restaurant in Dubuque. Service was good and prompt. Food was quickly served. I had the eggplant dish and it was delicious. I would visit again.

We were in town for the weekend and finally got around to giving this place a try.
Unfortunately, I can’t recommend this place.
Poor service and meh food describe our experience. Also it is not very vegetarian friendly, as most of their sauces are pre mixed with fish sauce.
For the price, I expect much better food and service. This place is on the high side price wise when it comes to Thai food. It’s a real let down that this is the best that Dubuque can get.
The specifics in this review may seem a bit nit picky. Maybe it is a bit. A lot of little things added up into a not very good experience.
First, seconds after we sit down we are asked for drink order before even get to open the drink menus. After asking for a couple minutes to pick something out, our beer selection isn’t in stock. Finally after another couple minutes we order something they actually have.
We ordered the vegetable egg rolls as an appetizer. They came without a spoon for the sweet and sour dipping sauce. Since this was family it wasn’t a big deal, but it was an odd lack of attention to detail. They were oddly black pepper spiced. Not bad, but very different.
Black pepper turned out to be this places main «spice.» The extra spicy wasn’t even close. I expect chilies to be the main spice at a Thai place. No spicy aftertaste and hardly touching my drink through a meal to cool my mouth was not even in the «nicely spiced» range. This is Midwest Mild to the extreme, and we _​asked_​for extra spicy.
The waitress didn’t know menu well. All stir fried dishes have fish sauce mixed in and can not get without. We are vegetarians and ordered two dishes to share both with tofu and without fish sauce. Not a problem at most places. Ten minutes later with no menus, we had to try to decide what to do when we couldn’t get a dish we’d ordered or any of the stir fry stuff.
In the end we just ended up with a sad Panang curry split between us. My dining partner commented that she «thought Panang was like a red curry» what we ended up with was a soupy coconut milky thing. Not inedible, but not anything like what we expected.
Finally, the waitress just dropped the bill off without even asking if we wanted anything else. The entire meal just felt rushed and the food was an expensive let down.

One night last month, when my husband was away on a business thing, I decided that cooking for one was boring and decided to try a random new restaurant, and decided that I’d go with Tantra — which I’d passed a few times on Arterial, but had never tried.
I arrived pretty late (at 9:25), and even though they don’t close until 10, the kitchen closes at 9:30. My waiter didn’t rush me to order, and were helpful in telling me about the restaurant’s specialties and what he liked to eat. I ended up getting the spicy chicken lettuce cups (something I’m just generally addicted to no matter the restaurant) and the shrimp drunken noodles. Both were fabulous food. (I haven’t eaten that much Thai food, so I can’t speak about it. The menu was pretty much on part with the Thai I’ve had elsewhere.)
While I was waiting for my food, I got to soak up the ambiance, which is beautiful. The food, too, was delicious. Even though I was literally the last customer of the night, my waiter was attentive and friendly (without getting annoying).
I can’t wait to go back :)

Took my brother here on a whim to introduce him to Thai food. I was impressed with the whole experience! The staff was friendly and attentive and the food was excellent. We had lettuce cups for a starter and then some basil chicken and sweet and sour chicken. We were both very pleased and I will definitely stop back on my next visit to Dubuque.

This restaurant was kind of the end of an adventure for me, because it was the last place I ate with the 4 best boys I’ve ever meet. It was a good choice for a few reasons. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, it was late at night and this might possibly have been the only restaurant open in the area. Furthermore, it was dim and laid back, and they had a nice roomy table for the largish group that we were.
As I sat looking over the menu, I could feel all eyes on me. They may not have been, but I still felt it. At this point I’d been barraged for days by kind people who were worried I wasn’t getting enough Terin friendly food. There were a lot of «can you eat here“s, and «we should eat somewhere else“s. Which is nice, but I hate the attention, and I hate the idea of 20 other people having to eat some place else just because of me. So, here I was — at an asian restaurant where the only completely safe bet was white rice. I couldn’t get white rice, though, because then my table mates would feel as though they’d let me down. I took a deep breath, requested of my companions that I could order first to get the embarrassment out of the way, and then proceeded to ask for the following:
The mango coconut fried rice with no eggs, no onions (allergy), and no fish oil. Which, as we all know, doesn’t really qualify as fried rice anymore. Dan then ordered the same thing, only he ordered his «normal». That got a laugh at the table… and then we were all able to move on.
The dish was interesting. It came topped with shredded coconut and was infiltrated with fist sized cashews. I am a fan of cashews, so this was not an issue. What was a little strange were the bits of warm diced mango. I was mentally prepared for it, of course, since the mango was listed as an ingredient in the menu… but the actual eating of it confused my mouth. Much the same as eating cold rice in vegetarian sushi for the first time did. It wasn’t bad, it was just different. Having sweet bits mixed in to a savory dish was fun, and I found the food to be quite good. Also, so as not to be remiss, Dan liked his normal version of the meal as well.
As for the staff, our server was sweet and light hearted. A bit befuddled, maybe, by my omission requests, but nice nonetheless. Looking back on the experience makes me a little sleepy, so let that speak for the atmosphere. Even though the trauma of ordering like a picky little girl in front of other people is never fun for me, I’d go back.

Overall very good experience here. Came early on a Monday evening, not expecting any other souls in the restaurant. We were the first ones, but a nice crowd had developed by the time we left. The service was attentive, no problems there. We started with a pair of Thai Teas that were delicious, almost too sweet but not quite. These were necessary when the spicy lettuce wraps showed up, which were delicious and very spicy, and quite a bit of food for the price! My entrée, the spicy eggplant, was not that spicy but definitely flavorful, and I got to try some of the mango coconut fried rice, which was also very good. Lots of interesting options on the menu, and I’m excited to try more of them.

Changing my review almost a month after my initial negative review…
This review is mainly food as this visit was takeout.
Fantastic and well packaged togo apps and entrees! Had the (vietnamese –style) summer rolls, the sushi-​sashimi combo «Memories of a Geisha» and the red curry. Rolls and sushi were spectacular! Curry was ordered thai, hot… still not too spicy.
Anyhow, I had originallyhad negative dinein experience but I will definitely come back repeat times to enjoy the food and hope the servers pick up the pace.

I really REALLY want this place to do well. I really do. I’ve missed Thai food since I moved to Iowa from DC. I am not sure that I’m an expert on Thai cuisine, but in general I was disappointed, although not so much so that I won’t give it another try, as I was there during its soft opening.
The service was both very friendly, but very slow. Two entrees showed up ten minutes before the other two, at which point both my girlfriend and I and nearly finished our dinner before the others’ had even arrived.
I’m from AZ, and as a result I like spicy food. Really spicy food. Make my head sweat spicy food. And when I asked for «and make it really hot» for my fried rice dish, I was expecting them to bring some spicy ruckus. Alas, they did not.
Everyone seemed pleased with the mean, but perhaps not elated. I’ll give it another try in a few weeks and hope they’ve worked out some of the hiccups. I really hope this place can have a good run in the greater Dubuque area.

Swanky feel, low lighting, authentic drinks and beer selection, amazing appetizers, standard entrees, and my taste buds can’t wait to try again!
So given my love of Thai /​Vietnamese food I’ve been keeping a close eye on Tantra and awaiting to see the neon «open» sign glow. To my delight, last night after volleyball, we noticed the warm glow of the opened restaurant and although we were dressed in our volleyball sweats at 9pm, we were welcomed in by the hostess who also was our waiter.
I’m usually not one to comment on the décor of a place, given I’m no expert, but they definitely dropped some dough on the décor. It features: a sleek wall waterfall, low warm lighting fixtures, booths with high velour backing, a modern digital tv-​ish thing showcasing a natural look fire, several blocked off /​private seating areas for small groups, and just a general sleek vibe for Dubuque, IA.
This week must have been their soft opening. And one could definitely tell. The service was extremely slow, even though we were one of 3 dining tables at the time. But the wait was worth it. We started our meal with a sweet authentic drink (name escapes me — but named after a Thai beach) made with pineapple juice and rum with raspberry garnish. We then ordered an appetizer ($ 5.00ish dollars) (again the name escapes me) that was a spicy lettuces wrap with cucumbers, basil, cilantro, red onion and chicken bits, and tomatoes– this was hands down both of our favorite part of the meal. A must order!
He ordered the Crying Tiger Beef with Jasmin rice ($ 15.00) — named so because of it’s implied spice level. It was not spicy — but it was tasty! Beers consumed: Singha & Chang.
I ordered the Pad Thai Chicken ($ 12.00), and will not be ordering it again. The sauce was extremely sweet and possessed no heat element as I’ve come to expect with my Pad Thai. The plate presentation was great! Although I wouldn’t suggest the Pad Thai, there were numerous other selections on the menu I hope to try: Spicy Basil Fried Rice, Hot and Sour Soup, the list goes on…
Cute fun tasty coconut flavored fortune cookie at the end.
Our bill with 4 bar drinks, an appetizer, and 2 entrees was around $ 60.
07/​03/​2011 — Went again and had a similar experience to the one listed above:
Pros:
– Appetizer — Spicy Lettuce Wraps, still delicious and a must order
– Spicy Basil Noodles w/​Beef — plenty to eat and just the right amount of Thai basil added. YumMo!
– Service — had increased their speed by 10 fold.
Cons:
– Hot & Sour Soup — Save your dollars on this bland soup folks.
– Had to request more soda after a notable amount of time had surpassed. Twice.
Tip:
Waitstaff will bring out a «heat my meal up tray» to your table upon request to add heat to your meals with a green chili and red pepper paste. (ask for it right away)