The best Thai food in the area. Worth the drive from Leesville/Fort Polk to Deridder. Friendly staff. Great atmosphere. They have menu staples (great Pad Thai, delicious pineapple fried rice) as well as specials of the day (pumpkin curry was amazing). I recommend calling before you drive over there, though; the owners regularly close down the business for a few weeks/months when they go out of town.
Review Source:Great find for the Deridder area. We had the Tom Gai soup and Red Curry. The soup does not come in the fire bowl as many Thai restraints serve, but it was still served uniquely in a beautifully simple, white, elongated oval bowl. The soup itself was delicious, a perfect combination of flavors. It could have a few more and variety of vegetables, but we will definitely be back for more either way. The curry was also very good, we got hot and it was very spicy but didn't overwhelm the flavor. My only complaint was again the vegetables, it was full of basically lots of bamboo shoots and chicken. Delicious bamboo shoots and chicken, but I prefer more variety. Thank you for giving Deridder a restaurant to look forward to dining in! Â We will definitely be back for more!
Review Source:I love Thai Basil! My family dined their quite often. The atmosphere is nice, but relaxed. The food is always hot and fresh, and the service is relatively fast. It's a little pricey for DeRidder, but it's not bad. I definitely recommend it if you like fresh, flavorful Thai food with a nice atmosphere. The owner is always there, most of the time waiting, and she's very nice and helpful.
Review Source:Bottom line: the food is fantastic. Every dish is delicious. The ambiance is not great, and I sense that this attribute has diminished Thai Basil's public appeal, although it should NOT. Looking for great food? This place is one of those places, and he compares favorably to top Thai restaurant in large cities.
Review Source:It is quite easy to miss the turn for this restaurant, and that's exactly what happened the first time the husband and I decided to visit. We pulled into the Wal-mart parking lot instead, and decided to just park there and walk to the restaurant; a good alternative especially since the parking lot is a bit on the small side.
On our first visit waitress was busy tending to the guests who were already seated so we had to wait about 2 minutes to get her attention and get a booth, no wait times ever since.
If you're used to Thai food you'll notice that it is more home style than other places, which makes sense since this is a family business. It had been so long since I had a proper Thai Iced Tea [if you've never had one before I urge you to try it, at least once. Diabetics and caffeine sensitive people beware though, this drink can be a bit much.] Thai Basil didn't let me down. Just about every dish we have ordered has been comfortingly delicious, with the exception of the duck, there wasn't enough meat on the bones and the skin wasn't crispy at all.
Friendly service and reasonable prices for delicious Thai food, what more can you ask for? Oh yea, free refills on my Thai Iced Tea, please!
(Originally posted by me on my blog: <a href="/redir?url=http%3A%2F%2Fscooterhawgs.blogspot.com%2F2010%2F01%2Fthai-basil-deridder-la.html&s=7f86b8f6cb6002563f128d8f247c3d62938606ae5a78688f9db53608be701993" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://scooterhawgs.blog…</a>)
It's not often we visit an out-of-town restaurant(?), let alone a distant Thai restaurant (the only one around here is Chaba Thai Cuisine in Beaumont); but when the place comes highly recommended by our good friends Paul and Angela Hauser of DeRidder, La, we must cross the Sabine to check it out.
Thai Basil is a brightly painted restaurant right on the corner of US-171 (or N. Pine St.) and Somerset Dr., adjacent to the Deridder Inn; but unless you know it's there, you just might miss it if you have a heavy throttle-hand. Â Inside the dining area, it is inviting and warmly-lit with incandescent light, not the harsh fluorescent-type. Â The staffs are energetic, helpful and polite. Â I sipped on a glass of surprisingly deep and full-bodied Sweet Tea while waiting patiently for the Seafood Tom Kah Soup to be followed by Pad Thai with Shrimp. (Consider this a light-lunch for me after riding on my scooter for over 113 miles!)
It was well worth the wait. Â The Tom Kah is fresh and spicy, filled with generous cuts of tender and juicy squid, sea scallop, fish and shrimp. Â The broth is rich, yet not overpowered by coconut milk and accented with unmistakable hints of fresh ginger and lemongrass. The simple, yet dramatic presentation, its portioning, even at half-order, gives you a sense of richness and wealth that will sure to make other guests jealous and their mouths water with regret.
Next, Pad Thai was served with crushed roasted peanuts on the side, and what a glorious dish it was to behold. Â Glistening pan-fried rice noodles mildly sauced, with interwoven bean sprouts laced with thin strands of golden fried eggs and highlighted with sliced green scallions. The aroma, the steam rising off this Pad Thai is enough to make a grown man weep (and I am not even Thai)! Â I couldn't help dusting this already superb dish with chili flakes; but that's just me, and for anyone else, optional. Â The deliciousness is just unbelievable!
This is Heaven--nicely tucked away once, but thanks to our friends, is now discovered at this very place in DeRidder! Â So the next time you're in this part of the Gumbo Belt and crave something authentically delicious and exotic (and can't afford to hop on the next jet to Bangkok), all you need to remember are two words, Thai Basil.
(*Four stars just means that I plan to go back for more. Â Thai Basil is excellent, a hidden gem!)
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