Thai Sweet Basil — Restaurant in Andover

Sweet Basil WAS the go-to for my wife and I when we felt the need for a night off from the kitchen and still maintain a quality meal. Unfortunately, this will no longer be an establishment that will receive my family’s patronage. We ordered simple this evening, our meals consisting of a couple soups and a pineapple fried rice dish; as always substituting the shrimp with additional portion of chicken due to my shellfish allergy. Ordering via an app the experience was as to be expected…. Once I went to the restaurant my usual excellent experience in customer service and culinary flavor was ruined by a single employee (truly hope not anyone in management or ownership). Due to a mistake in preparation the last time we ordered I checked the meals prior to leaving the establishment. The hostess having no idea that there were special requests for my main meal made me question if I had received the food as requested and paid for in advance. Typically the pineapple fried rice comes with both chicken and shrimp with a healthy helping of mixed vegetables and chunks of delicious pineapples; I requested they replace my shrimp portion with chicken and I added a beef portion as well- making my single portion of a fried rice dish approximately $20. I have every right to inspect my food at any restaurant at any time, especially when a prior ingredient could send me to the hospital fighting to breathe and for my life. I could immediately tell the front desk girl didn’t see the situation from my perspective… she emphatically told me there was a double portion of chicken- she was 110% sure, no reason to go through my food. Seeing the restaurant had a total of two guests and one other bag of takeout prepared I informed her I would be checking all the dishes because how was she sure there was double chicken if she only a second ago had no clue about the shellfish allergy and substitution…. UGLINESS ENSUED. The angry and scorned hostess tried to literally stop me from checking twice as I calmly explained the basis for my mistrust in her; all the while her attitude was expressed through eye rolls and Snydeunder her breathe comments in a foreign language. ALL THIS OVER A SINGLE PORTION OF MISSING CHICKEN… or so I thought. The rice dish had a healthy helping of both veggies, pineapple, and beef ($4 add on)… BUT IT HAD LITERALLY 1.5 to 1.75 pieces of shredded looking white chicken meat. According to the hostess this was guaranteed checked and verified double portion. I proceeded to show the hostess her mistake and the kitchen graciously admitted and made additional chicken. For one last spiteful deed the hostess removed portions of the beef into the trash to make room for the chicken. This representative of the restaurant failed as a human being, she should be embarrassed of herself as she turned her nose up and basically threw the dish back at me in a to-go container and scurried into the back of the establishment.

Shame on you. You ruined an event my wife and I enjoyed over less than a dollar of chicken and massively...

The food is fantastic and has been for years. They have a large menu with options that will satisfy anyone's Thai desires. I tend to get the massaman curry, beef macadamia, or Rama duck, all of which are excellent.

The reason I did not give five stars has to do with the inconvenience of their location (which isn't really their fault) and their take-out service. The nice thing about their takeout service is that they offer online ordering, which is very convenient, however it seems that the system is less streamlined on their end, so they have only one person acting as hostess, and she also answers the phone, and she also has to relay the online orders to the kitchen I would guess. So on busy nights there's a massive bottleneck at the door. It is totally inefficient. So while someone stands at the counter yelling at the host for their food not being ready, my food which I ordered is sitting there getting cold while the phone is ringing off the hook and there's a line out of the door. Most times it's not that bad but the fact that that has happened more than once is really not good for business. In regards to parking, Shawsheen plaza, where the restaurant is located has far too little parking for the types of businesses renting there. It used to be primarily shops so spaces would turn over more quickly but in the age of Amazon eetail space use changed and the plaza now has many restaurants as well as a massive Planet Fitness, meaning that spaces are used for longer and it can be almost impossible to find a space anywhere near the restaurant.

That said, the service in the restaurant's dine-in area is totally adequate and I was given a free Thai iced tea for an inconvenience on...

The only thing I'll take away from this place is the fact everytime I come here during the week they only have 1 server (who's very sweet and polite by the way) but when it gets crowded, the wait to be seated or served can be a bit much. I'll also add that this place isn't cheap, but its also not super expensive either. Unless if your ordering from the lunch menu, the prices can be a bit steep. And I never have enough for leftovers (I have an average appetite).

Other than that, they have excellent food. I've tried so far the soups green curry, red curry, grilled salmon salad, Bangkok fried rice, thai red tea, and house fried rice. Everything has been delicious! Again, just the portions were small. The fried rice to go is basically a single serving meal for like $16. The curry soup the portion is perfect; not too big not too small. The salmon salad barely had any salmon, zero seasoning, and over cooked and dry. The dressing was gross. Too sweet, not much acid, and i had to ask for some lemon to try to cover up the STRONG fishy taste from the dressing. Very disappointed. Thai tea is the best I always get iced it's delicious.

If you like spicy food, or even if you dont, you have to ask for it. Some foods already come with a teeeeeeeeny tiny "kick" and the menu will tell you so make sure you look at that if you dont like heat. They have 7 stars of spice, I like mine a level 3 so far from what I've tried (I like average spicy, a little under what a typical Asian person eats.)

I'll be coming back soon to try...