Thai Basil — Restaurant in Lake Oswego

Thai Basil - The food is excellent and the whole place is decorated beautifully. About six months ago, I noticed a little area of used boxes was starting to collect directly in front of their back wall under some impressive wall art. Two nights ago, I saw that it had mutated into a mountain of empty boxes resting on bags of rice! After complimenting the woman serving us our dinner on the quality of the food and the beauty of the décor, I asked her why the boxes were there in plain view of all the customers. She said they were used for take-out. When the small number of boxes were ostensibly over-looked by customers, the owner (possibly unconsciously) decided that the main focal wall of his restaurant was the perfect place for all the boxes that were shipped to the restaurant. He stopped seeing them as messy and they were now in a convenient place and a great way to recycle. It was shocking to see as the wall of boxes was at least 4’ high, covering some of the lovely wall art. I'm writing this in the hope that the owner sees this and finds a better place for the boxes and bags of rice - and restores this area back to the beautiful focal point that it was designed to be. Once again - great food...

I asked if a dish was gluten free, because they have no labels on the menu. They said we can make it gluten free. Then it came out and I re-asked if it was made gluten free just to be sure. I waited while the waitress double checked with the cook. She came back and said yes it was made gluten free.

After two bites, I noticed that the fish appeared to be breaded, and I was concerned because a place that doesn’t have GF on their menu seems unlikely to have GF flour on hand, but maybe it was just rice flour...I almost didn’t say anything. But I asked a third time just to be sure.

It was wheat flour. And I have celiac. It’s really serious if I eat wheat. This isn’t an allergy. An autoimmune disease means that when I eat gluten my immune system goes into high alert and literally starts attacking my own body. Eating a bite of gluten for someone with celiac can cause gut pain, fatigue, etc. for days and up to a couple months.

The waitress told me, “Sorry the cook doesn’t know what gluten is.” That’s fine, but if your staff isn’t educated about gluten then just say that at the beginning. I’m not expecting every place or dish to accommodate my health needs.

I’m just asking...

Ordered the salad rolls and pad thai.

Salad rolls: You have to order the peanut sauce separately for the spring rolls which I thought was peculiar for $1 more and it wasn't that great. It had chunks of peanuts in a thin clear sauce. Not the creamy Brown peanut sauce I'm use to.

Pad Thai: Pad thai took 20 minutes to be delivered and I was the only person in the restraunt. The table that came in 5 minutes after me received their dinner before me which was weird because I only ordered 1 dish and they ordered multiple including the same... pad thai. The pad thai didn't come with lemon or lime but instead with an orange slice. I had to ask for lime... and salt which wasn't on the table. The pad thai needed LOTS of salt. Not much flavor.

Thai tea: was delicious but small for the price and in relation to all the ice.

Overall it wasn't bad. Food was good and hot. I was satisfied with my...