Penn’s Thai Grille — Restaurant in Bellbrook

I’m always on the lookout for delicious Thai food, so I was intrigued when I learned of Penn’s Thai Grille. Thai food can be a gamble in Dayton, especially if you’ve been lucky enough to try really wonderful, authentic Thai.

That being said, it’s worth noting that this is the first review I’ve ever written, and for a reason. Penn’s is so damn good. I’ve been dreaming about it since we went this past Sunday, and I cannot wait to go back.

To start, they do have a nice selection of beer and wine, but we opted for non-alcoholic beverages. They have five types of Boba tea. I ordered the mango and my wife ordered the green tea. It was served frozen, which was unexpected, and also creamy, so they were a step closer to being milkshakes. I’ve never had frozen Boba tea before, so I was skeptical, but it worked well with the spice levels of the food.

Whenever we go to a new restaurant, my wife and I like to share several items to get a feel for the place - typically one appetizer, then we’ll order a more traditional standby entree along with something out of the ordinary.

We started with the Spicy Thai Wings at spice level 2 (out of 4). There were six to the order, with more of a breaded exterior than your typical wings and a delicious sweet and spicy sauce. They disappeared in minutes.

For the more standard go-to entree, we ordered the Drunken Man Noodles (aka Spicy Fried Noodles, or Pad Kee Mao) at a spice level 2 with beef. This more traditional dish has rice noodles, Thai basil, onions, bell peppers, bamboo, carrots, and egg in a sweet/savory/spicy brown sauce. It had the addition of broccoli, which only made it better because as everyone knows it is nature’s sauce sponge. The spice level was perfect for me, as I typically go for a medium heat. Just the right amount of sauce, beef was very tender, and it was a nice portion for the price. This is one of my favorite Thai dishes, so I’ve had it at every Thai restaurant in the Dayton area. Penn’s is my new favorite.

For our second entree, we decided on the Yellow Curry with Noodles at a level 2 and added duck. (Duck is a protein option for any dish on the menu.) The menu description reads: Thai yellow curry sauce in coconut milk with onions, big bowl of steamed rice noodles with cilantro, scallions, bean sprouts and carrots.

Have you ever had a dish that was so damn good that it made you angry? No? Then order the yellow curry noodles at Penn’s immediately. I’m not sure that I can adequately convey how insanely good this dish was. It was served in a giant bowl as if it were a soup, but the curry is just right - not too thin, not too thick. Curry already has a little heat on its own but the level 2 was perfect. The duck was cooked just right, and all the vegetables and flavors tied together beautifully. It was rich, comforting, and absolutely delicious.

In addition the great experience with the food, our service was top notch as well. Food and refills were served in a timely manner. Our server was attentive, knowledgeable, and had a genuine love for the food he was serving.

We look forward to returning soon and often! Please keep the yellow curry noodles on your menu. I will...

I supported this restaurant during the Pandemic. The gentleman is very courteous. Today I happened to be in the neighborhood and thought of ordering. When I pulled up to the drive through the lady asked me to order over the phone to which I politely pulled over and tried looking up the menu on the phone. Of course to my bad luck the menu did not pull up, so I went back to the driveway and said the menu was not pulling up. The lady asked me to wait so she could check her phone and told me it was pulling up on her phone. I was so sad that she did not believe me so I showed her my phone which clearly showed her the network was down and the menu or the phone number were not pulling up. She did not stop at that she went on to say this is not how we do it and tossed me a menu passed on by the gentleman. I asked her if I should order or not and told her its not so hard to do this; but her rude behavior continued and I was so offended at this point that I lost my appetite and I just returned her menu and left without ordering. I expected better. I will not be ordering...

So disappointed. Seated by a 10-12 year old in a Friday night and there was no one else in the restaurant. That should have been a red flag but we persisted. The waitress was cheery enough at first. My husband ordered crispy tofu. This is not an odd request and when his order came out wrong the waitress said "you don't want me to take it back do you? ". Wow, well when you put it that way we'd be happy to eat and pay for food we don't want. My dish was good. We asked for boxes and she brought out Styrofoam boxes for liquid based dishes. When I asked for spill proof containers the waitress got huffy and said, "I don't know, we've been out for awhile." I then asked her to check again. Lo and behold she brought out the correct containers the second time around. We received nothing off our bill for the incorrect order, no apologies, a lazy snippy waitress, and $50 blown on a crappy meal.

No wonder it was empty on a Friday night. I would stay away. Visit the wine...