Thai Basil

Address:


2778 West 12600 South #105
Riverton, UT 84065

Price Range:


$5-$15

Website

So my cousins and I decided to give this Thai restaurant a go since it was near where my cousin lived and seemed interesting...we were mistaken.

Menu:

Pot Stickers and Fish Ball: For appetizers we got pot stickers and this dish called fish ball. The pot stickers were like any other pot sticker at an Asian restaurant. The fish ball, however, was something new. I will start out by saying I will never order this appetizer again. It wasn't horrible, it just made me feel uncomfortable. And please, try your hardest not to giggle about the description I'm about to unload, we sure had a hard time being adults when discussing them. When first biting into a ball it resisted giving into my bite and when it did give in it was unusually chewy which was a little unnerving as I knew I was eating fish (usually very tender). It didn't taste like anything so I added a little bit of the chili oil they provided for us, that didn't help much either. So I decided on my next ball I would dissect it. Essentially a fish ball is sort of like fish ham. It seemed to be compressed fish into an odd spherical skin (hence the chewiness). We asked two waiters what fish they use to make them and they both had no idea and never found out. Not my favorite appetizer and honestly, to save you the money, go with another appetizer. I'm sure it'll be better than the fish balls. (Now you may get all the giggles out you want.)

(From Left) Pad Gra Prow, Pad Thai, Tangerine Chicken

Pad Thai (Beef): As I said in my Thai Village post, the mark of a good Thai place is their Pad Thai, so that was a necessity in our order. Unfortunately it was not impressive. The sauce was not the usual Pad Thai sauce that we all know and love. In all honesty it tasted like they made Beef Lo Mein with rice noodles and put some limes next to it to make it look like Pad Thai. The beef was very tender, but had little to no flavor which is always disappointing. In the end, not a good dish unless you've always wanted to try Lo Mein with rice noodles.


Pad Gra Prow (Pork) : This dish was probably the best dish out of the three entrees we ordered. It's main flavor was the Thai Basil they used in the recipe. It was nice and light and actually complimented the pork. It's made with a variety of peppers and was actually a deep flavor which is why it complimented the pork so well. We all know I'm not a fan of pork, but it actually tasted nice. I would say my only gripe would be the pork was surprisingly fatty. I got a big ol' hunk of fat in my couple of bites of pork and it wasn't even the gristle that restaurants sometimes miss. This was a nice dish, but not nice enough to tempt me to come back.


Tangerine Chicken: This I ordered because the waiter suggested it and said it was his favorite. If you have a sweet tooth and like your Chinese food dripping with gooey sweet sauce, this is the dish for you. It was nice and sweet and we all were picking at the plate at the end of the meal, however, I felt it was a very Americanized dish and didn't taste the least bit like tangerines. I would like to note that it was supposed to be spicy...it was not, however. They had some orange peel next to it to signify that it was a citrus dish, however, no tangerine flavor. Again, if you like your dishes dripping in sweet sauce, you should get this dish.


The ambiance and decorations were very tasteful and definitely captivated the feel the restaurant was trying to encompass. They had this delightful elephant shaped chalkboard that had their specials written on it. The waiter was kind and accommodating.

As nice as the ambiance and service was, I will not be returning to this restaurant. If you're looking for good Thai food, look elsewhere, this is a place I would not suggest.