Real Thai Halal — Restaurant in Parsippany-Troy Hills

I would give Real Thai 4.5 stars. The food is very good and the owners Gina and Tony are super nice. This restaurant isn't fancy but it is clean, the food is delicious and the portions are plentiful. The coconut soup is the best I've ever had. We are also big fans of the Yum Nua beef salad I'm not sure if it is on the menu if not just ask for it. As most Americans my first Thai food experience was Pad Thai but I stopped ordering it, as many restaurants make it with a reddish as opposed to a more of a brownish sauce. I was telling Gina about this so she had her husband Tony come out from the kitchen. He explain to me that some restaurants replace tamarind sauce with ketchup to save time and reduce cost. He assured me I would like his pad thai and I did. We also had the steamed dumplings and thai chicken wings for appetizers which were very good. We have tried pad woon sen, pad se ew and pad thai, for main courses all great. I like my thai on the spicy side but my wife likes it more mild. Real Thai's food tends to be on the mild side but they are happy to spice it up for you or if you are sharing as we do, they'll give you some dried ground thai peppers to add. I also tend to like lime with my pad thai and yum nua, just ask and they will bring it for you. The restaurant is on a main street but we have never had any issue parking. If you go for dinner there is a restaurant directly across the street Jeremiah's that has a lot behind it with a few spaces and they are not open at night so you can always find a space there if needed. We are so happy to have this new gem in the area as I'm so tired of...

After all the great reviews we were so looking forward to trying this place but when we did it was disappointing. The food was average at best. The quantities were large as others have said and I agree with the comments about how nice the owners are but the food we had was lacking in flavor. The chicken Pad Thai had hardly any chicken and the pieces that were there were tough and chewy. The dish was so sweet it was almost inedible. The Drunken Noodles with chicken actually had a lot of chicken and it was cooked properly but the spiciness of the dish was so intense that it overwhelmed any flavors the dish may have had. I love a lot of heat but it needs to be a flavorful heat. We also ordered the Real Thai sampler platter so we could try an assortment of their appetizers. The spring rolls were dry, The chicken satay and curry puffs were good, The shrimp wraps were dull and the fried tofu was like chewing gum that lost all its flavor an hour ago. None of the 4 sauces could give that tofu any life. All the appetizers came dumped together in a foil bag. What surprised me though was seeing them using a microwave to cook or heat up these appetizers which were placed into my foil bag. Did not know this was how Real Thai food was prepared. We usually give a restaurant a second try if something was wrong before posting a review but in this case there just wasn't anything right. We so wanted to like this place so we didn't have to drive to Boonton for good Thai...

Update: The restaurant has reopened! I had driven by the place the entire month of March and got worried they had closed the place down permanently. I ordered eagerly but was not expecting the story I got when I went to pick up the food. I usually chat up the owner, ask how they’re doing etc. It turned out that right before they were scheduled to reopen, both the owners (this lovely older Thai couple) got into a very bad car accident and both of them got hurt. The woman said it was fine but now that she’s back in the restaurant, the grind is making her injuries hurt. She also said that not many people have stopped by the restaurant since the reopening. Please, please, please spread the word about this place and support this local business! They said they’re really struggling between the medical leave and this car accident. The food is still top notch and I desperately missed this place while they were closed. So happy that they’re open again!

Original review Absolutely love this place! Consistent awesome food from a local mom and pop...