Basil Court Restaurant — Restaurant in Ontario

Went for dinner with a friend recently after hopping the border from Detroit to enjoy tooling around Windsor for the day. She chose this establishment based on the stellar reviews. We descended the stairs to this basement establishment to find the place completely empty at 6:30pm—it was a red flag for me and I wanted to walk out, but my friend insisted we stay and give it a chance. The VERY kind (Chinese, not Thai) hostess/waitress welcomed us in and showed us to a table, explaining that post-COVID, their dine-in business has yet to rebound and they mostly do take away. It was telling that the phone didn’t ring once while we were there. The spring rolls we ordered were very good. I ordered a green curry with chicken and eggplant with medium spice and a the spicy noodles with beef and chicken, intending to take leftovers home for my partner. My friend had the chicken and shrimp pad Thai. The food was very unusual, in my opinion, but I chalked it up to Canadian tastes being different than what we expect in the U.S. My green curry was barely spicy and THICK with coconut milk. It wasn’t what I’m used to, but it was tasty. My friend’s pad Thai was RED. When I tasted it, I was amazed. “KETCHUP!!” I blurted out. As soon as I said this, my friend’s face fell. “That’s it.” She said. When my noodles arrived, I took a taste. Pure Maggi Sauce. Way too much. That was it. So, we had ketchup noodles and Maggi noodles. Thank God for the curry. I gladly shared with my friend. We left the noodles virtually untouched. We declined when the very nice woman helping us offered to pack up our noodles to go. When she asked if we didn’t like them, I was prepared to gently let her know that no, we did not, but my friend beat me to the punch and said something to the effect of, “Oh no, they were lovely. We just ordered too much and we’re traveling, so we won’t be able to take them with us.” Maybe our experience was just due to a difference in international tastes, but I’m dubious. The curry wasn’t bad, but I’d recommend any fan of pad Thai or Thai noodles in general steer clear… No bueno. A new chef may be in order. I did notice that there was a lack of any particularly Thai decoration in the space. Not even a photo of the King… just an embroidered wall hanging in Chinese characters. I will say however, that the service was most kind and friendly. My friend didn’t want to hurt our hostess’ feelings by making negative remarks on the quality of the food, but I think such a kind person as she deserves to hear an honest, yet gentle review such that she can suggest tweaking the recipes in an effort to improve her business. Maybe I’m way off base and people in Windsor really like their ketchup noodles, but it wasn’t for us. I hope the best for...

Avoid at all costs — unless you're into flavorless food and surprise stomach symphonies.

Basil Court somehow pulled off the impossible: serving Thai food that tastes like nothing and still manages to ruin your evening.

We ordered the Pineapple Fried Rice (featuring 2.5 depressed pineapple bits), Spicy Thai Noodles (no spice, no soul), and Lemon Pad (a dry, identity-crisis on a plate). Every dish tasted like it was made by someone who’s only ever heard of Thai cuisine in a dream.

And then came the real encore: about 30 minutes after the meal, both me and my wife started hearing strange noises from our stomachs — a symphony of regret, confusion, and gastrointestinal betrayal. If Basil Court was trying to create an immersive “post-apocalyptic digestion” experience, they nailed it.

The Pineapple Fried Rice deserves a special mention for being the biggest scam on the menu. Two pineapple chunks. Two. And they still had the guts to name the dish after it. Vang’s Thai doesn’t even call theirs “pineapple” and it’s bursting with actual flavor and fruit — imagine that!

Honestly, it’s almost offensive how bad this place is. Whoever’s in the kitchen should step away from the stove and do some deep soul-searching. Or take a flavor sensitivity test. Or both.

Do not waste your appetite, your money, or your peace of mind here. I wouldn’t wish this meal...

It was a cold and stormy night, and this warmed my belly just right.

I went out 2023-10-29 and it was cool and drizzly and I decided that I'd finally check out this cornerstone of Windsor food at everyone's recommendation.

I love the inside - it's clean, it's roomy, and has a great 90s vibe. Could be from not wasting money on making it look like some modern money grab - but that's fine. I enjoy that I'm not paying for the fanciest atmosphere, just amazing food.

The food was lovely. Had the #37 with chicken hot, jasmine rice, and veggie spring rolls. Plenty of flavour, great consistency, a very accurate level of spice, and served piping hot. I look forward to trying more of their curries, for sure, and the spring rolls again. I feel like the balance between price and what you get was very fair, a growing rarity these days. It's got chicken there, not just potatoes. The value is great. My meal was plenty enough for a hungry dinner.

Service, best for last. Everyone was friendly, spoke genuinely, and seemed honest in caring about whether I had a good place to eat, what to expect from the flavor, how things were going. I feel like in the whole 5 minutes, I was treated like family or an old friend, even though it's my first time.

It will...