Thai Pavilion — Restaurant in Bella Villa

Very unusual location: downstairs in the basement beneath a sports bar and grill (Friendly's), with which it shares its outdoor seating. We wanted to sit outside, anyway, so it was sort of fine. We chose our own seats, I got the menus and waited to order.

The tablecloths had not been recently cleaned nor fully laid out. The chairs were wobbly and required us to add our cushions (we are very short). Pleasantly shady and breezy, and a nice day to be out, but this area is practically in the parking lot.

The owner had told us that I had to come get our menus inside, pay inside, and be patient, because only he and the cook were there at that time and he could only come outside when no other customers were inside. Very odd.

My mom uses a walker and cane, so going inside / down many steep, dark stairs, was not feasible for her. Good thing we had just come from a place where she had used the restroom!

The menu is new, he told us, and seemed great, but didn't offer one of the types of dishes she liked. The owner made a suggestion, hearing she wanted something crispy, and she took his advice.

Mom enjoyed the shrimp tempura over Thai fried rice very much. Very large portion of rice and 4 large shrimp, lightly battered, will make two meals for her, with half the rice added to my very large portion of House Special fried rice.

Both fried rice dishes were very un-oily, which we like, and just made, fresh. But, not very flavorful, and more steamed than fried. The only veggies were scallions, broccoli, carrots, white onions. No celery, cabbage, bok choy, sprouts, etc. It was also unexpectedly sweet.

I additionally ordered the Thai Pho soup, which did not automatically come with anything. It had an extremely generous amount of thicker-than-usual, seemingly wheat-based noodles, at least 5 meatballs, and many slices of beef, but not much broth. No sauces were offered. I had to ask for chopsticks. I asked for basil leaves, which came, but we're unsorted; many were rotten and inedible: rinsed, but not looked at by the cook.

The pho broth was different than most Vietnamese phos I have had here and in California and Seattle: sweeter, denser, darker. I missed the fish and chili garlic sauces, but I brought more than half home and will add those for my second meal of it.

Owner knows a lot about Thailand and Thai food, which he shared with us. That was great!

Overall, we liked but didn't love it. May go back, but despite its being easy to find, it's over 20 minutes' drive for us,...

I haven't been to any of the other locations so I can't say anything to them. That being said........this is the worst Thai I've had hands down. The Shumai we're little tiny marble sized dumplings with hardly any taste. The green curry was nothing but boiled chicken, red peppers, and bamboo shoots in the blandest curry ever. The fried rice was little more than white rice with a little soy sauce..... barely fried. This is the first and last time I waste my time and money...... (fifty bucks by the way)......on a new place. The kid who got my order said that the chef cooked more Laotian than Thai and didn't conform to Thai standards. Wow......if you're selling Thai food you might want to. Do yourself a favor.... don't waste your time and money..... drive down to Meremec Bottom Rd. and make a left over to Baumgartner and Lemay Ferry to Drunken Noodles. Get...

We "discovered" this place about 6 weeks ago, and have now ordered 6 times - that alone should tell you something. We should all consider ourselves lucky to have this decent Thai restaurant in our neighborhood! Prices are fair and in-line with expectations. Taste of food is 4/5 stars. I give it 4 because I have eaten the highest quality Thai food in many states and countries, and 4 stars is very solid. Take out service is excellent, food is usually ready within 20 - 30 minutes, Brandon is friendly and very knowledgeable about their options. They take pride in being able to safely prepare food for people with allergies or special considerations, and they are very friendly about substitutions. My wife is gluten free and my son is a vegetarian. We can all get what we like with several options available to each of us. So glad they are here,...