Bua Thai Kitchen — Restaurant in Darien

I pull up in front of the restaurant about 10 mins before closing to grab my to-go order as I had a very later shift at work this day. I was in the mood for my favorite Thai restaurant out of the many others in the area, as I love Thai food..

A group of 3, presumably Thai women (given the circumstance), are standing about a foot away from the door to the restaurant, in front of a black BMW, literally next to my car... Mid conversation, all of them stop to awkwardly look at me, which I'm a person of color with locs (a notoriously racially profiled subset), one of them proceeds to audaciously lock the black BMW.

I would have left right then if I didn't already pay. Did she think I randomly parked my car next to hers so I could quickly hot wire hers, or was she just.... prejudiced?

I run in regardless to grab my food then return to my car to start my GPS. While I'm sitting there, I see the women looking into the window of Bua Thai as though they were waiting for someone inside, meaning they were undoubtedly related to the business whether they were employees or the owner's themselves, and as they say, birds of a feather flock together.

Suffice all of that to say, I will by no means ever return to a restaurant that does not sincerely welcome people who look like me or associates with the like, let alone feel comfortable stepping in such a place - they'll happily take my money then blatantly lock their cars in my face.. What else?

Tell me how you...

I found this little gem when searching for Thai food in the area. I can tell you right now that the prices are more than reasonable for the ample portions they have. If you think Bua is even remotely expensive then you should try White Crane in Naperville. That place is way overpriced for the same food. Bua is tucked away in a small strip. Not a lot of traffic. We didn’t need any reservations when we walked in after 7:40 pm. We were seated right away. The owner is very friendly and attentive. Food came out fast and fresh. We ordered Thai ice tea, beef pad si-ew, tofu pad thai, massaman curry, and mango sticky rice.

-Thai ice tea 5 - very refreshing. I like the glass it came in. -beef pad si-ew 4 - beef was tough and chewy. Not sure if it’s because we came in closer to closing time. The sauce and noodles were good. Noodles are a little chew. -tofu pad thai 5 - noodles are chewy and sauce isn’t bland. Good amount of tofu pieces. Colorful dish with the sufficient amount of veggies. -beef massaman curry 4 - not spicy. Very creamy. Could use a bit more flavor. Good amount of meat but beef was overcooked. A bit chewy and tough. -mango sticky rice 5 - big pieces of mango. Sticky rice was a little sweet. Seasonal...

First things first, I am Thai, and tried this place for the first time today and was very impressed, had the Papaya salad, sticky rice, basil chicken, Pad Thai and Pad Kee Mow. Seeing ground chicken used in the basil chicken made me smile (how it is made traditionally in Thailand, I can’t stand it when places use sliced chicken), however, thought it was a bit heavy on the onions which made for a little more liquid sauce than I prefer it to have. Everything else was also excellent, but the sticky rice was a bit overdone and too chewy, but just some small nit picky qualms coming from someone who has had a lot of Thai food in his life. Definitely will be our go to Thai restaurant in the suburbs moving forward if quality stays consistent or improves over time, and look forward to trying some of their...