Jasmine Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in Town of Rotterdam

What a wonderful place. Jasmine Thai crafts a warm and thoughtful experience with delicious food. The staff is friendly and very polite. The atmosphere is warm, although the restaurant is a bit old. It's very clean and decorated with Thai images and other family memorabilia. If there's one thing that stands out besides the delicious food, it's how calm, cool, and collected the staff always is. They make great recommendations on dishes, spice level, and one waitress will even remember what I ordered two visits before. I've been there when it was insanely busy and the staff never feels stressed. The food always comes out at a reasonable pace, and always with a friendly smile. The mark of a well-oiled machine!

Now let's talk food... Everyone I've taken here either loves everything, or at least has a couple favorite dishes. And if you have a vegan in your life, Jasmine Thai is the perfect place for a date night (especially if they're also gluten free). You no longer have to sweat or secretly roll your eyes whenever they want to go out. Plus, the staff is well-versed in vegan and gluten-free choices, and will happily make alterations for them.

That said, for MY appetizers I always go with the Crab Rangoons, Tom Kha Soup, and the Thai Fresh Rolls. The Crab Rangoons sit in a bed of tangy dipping sauce. Perfectly fried, not too-crabby, with the perfect amount of cream cheese flavor. The Tom Kha has that Thai sweet and sour vibe, with a perfect balance of lime, lemongrass, and coconut milk (also available in a noodle soup entree if you ask). Finally are the Thai Fresh Rolls. Often miss-named as the deep fried Thai Spring Rolls (also amazing), the Fresh Roll is a gluten-free vegan wrap, that combines rice noodles, carrots, cucumber, and basil. It sits atop a tangy-sweet dressing that makes my taste buds sing! Plus it's very filling, so you're welcome to share.

As for entrees, I have a few favorites. First is the Tom Kha Noodle Soup. The menu lists the spicier Tom Yum variant, so I asked and they made Kha version that I love so dearly. Next is the Jasmine Pineapple Fried Rice, which I almost always order. It comes with a light yellow curry flavor, with big chunks of pineapple that I like to chop up, egg, veggies, and roasted cashews. Every bite of the yellow curry rice, the juicy pineapple, and the cashew crunch create a symphony of flavor that keeps me coming back for more.

I could comment on other dishes that I enjoy, but I find myself being a creator of habit, usually ordering one of the two entrees I listed above. Don't get me wrong, I'll still eye everyone else's dish, and will try to sneak a taste when they're not looking, but my favorites are those listed in this review. I assume there might be some people who've had a mediocre experience, but I can honestly say its always been fantastic for me. If nothing else, Jasmine Thai is worth checking out to see why the locals all...

Caught them on a bad day.

I was dazzled by past reviews, and planned my day around visiting this proposed gem in the city of my birth.

I hope my experience was a single anomaly because if not, this place does not deserve the glow that it holds by its patrons.

I dined alone at Jasmine, and by alone I don't just mean my immediate company I meant the entire restaurant was empty.

I ordered two curries I'm particularly familiar with from my years of Thai paletting. After about 15 minutes, I started to notice a slew of non-restaurant employees in dirty garb coming from a side room in the restaurant. Figuring this might just be a group of construction workers fixing or updating some aspect of the building I looked the other way on its obscurity and alarming nature.

Within a few mins, these men, untooled and clearly not "on the clock" started to hover near the kitchen. Then one by one they started going in and out of the active kitchen in mud, plaster, and old dirt cluttered clothing.

I told myself that the management must have this under control and they wouldn't just let any person into an in service kitchen.

My food came a few minutes later, and to my dismay there were hairs on the plate I was being handed.

I did not accept the plate and pointed out the hair, the server said "oh" brought it to the kitchen and then returned within 45 seconds with the same food newly plated.

I was not given a formal apology nor was I comp'd or couponed anything for the nauseating hair raising experience.

Once in a lifetime experience or only experience...

This is our favorite Thai restaurant in the capital region!

We like it so much so we drive 30+ minutes to get to it despite there being 15+ other Thai places closer than that. The prices are fantastic and the staff has been nothing but sweet to us.

If you look at the pictures you'll see that many of the dishes are vibrant and they put more effort into their plating than many much more expensive Thai places. The salads and appetizers average about 10 dollars!

If they were in a in a better location they could easily charge 50-100% more.

Our favorite dishes:

Salads: Crispy duck, Papaya, Beef are all fantastic. The Papaya is heavy on the fish sauce so skip that if you don't like it.

The Jasmine Fresh Rolls are the neat looking ones from the photos with the lattice sauce drizzle.

Drunken Noodles: We searched long and hard for ones as good as we had in NC. These are the closest we've found and they are excellent!

Pad Jung-Koh: I still have no idea what dish this is supposed to be but it's my favorite! Give it a try.

For those who care; things that are labeled as mildly spicy are a bit spicy. I don't have an amazing spice tolerance but I do enjoy hot sauce on burritos and such and the spice level is perfect for me. If you like things more spicy you are more than welcome to ask for it!

If you find yourself in the area, you definitely need to give this...