Ban | Thai Restaurant — Restaurant in White Bear Lake

We were greeted by the sweet little daughter and the first thing she asked us was, "Do you mind a 35 min wait for your food?" We looked around and there were 4 other tables with people sitting at them. We couldn't tell if she was just joking so we re-phrased the question. She let us know she was serious. We asked if we could order and then just take a walk around the neighborhood while we waited.

My wife wanted a window table (there are 2). There was one available but it was full of dirty dishes. There was a bus boy on duty but he was moving at a snails pace. (Mind you, there were only 4 tables of patrons and 2 un-bussed tables.) I went over and started to clear off the table myself and bring the dishes to the bus bin. I made 3 trips without anyone intervening. Finally the bus boy said to my wife, "Boy, you really wanted that window seat, huh?" NO, WHAT WE REALLY WANTED WAS YOUR HELP AFTER YOU WATCHED ME BRING THE FIRST SET OF DIRTY DISHES TO THE TUB.

My hands had someone else's food on them so I asked where the wash closet was to clean up. They told me down the hall to the left then right. The rest room, I found out, is out of the restaurant, down the hall and somewhere half way across the strip mall. In order to get there, you have to by pass a bunch of junk the restaurant has strewn throughout their hallway that doubles as a storage locker.

I came back and my wife and I told the girl/waitress that we would take a walk around the neighborhood to kill some time. We walked for 1/2 hour (I'm not exaggerating). We came back and waited an additional 10 min. (note: they brought food out to the table next to ours and there was no one at the table. They went for a walk too.)

Finally we were served. My wife had the Pad Thai which was bland. It lacked the famous combination of sweet and tangy. I had the Pad See Yew. The flavor was delicious. Instead of using Chinese Broccoli (which is found at every Asian store in the twin cities), they use American Broccoli florets (yuk). The food has some authentic flavor but they use cheap American Vegetables that they think might be more palatable for suburban Americans (shame)

If it weren't for the good flavor of my Pad See Yew and me trying my best to be objective, I would have given this place a 0 stars. We will not be recommending this place, nor will we...

If I could give Ban Thai 10 Stars I would. If you are reading this the first thing I would say is ignore all reviews written by the uptight complainers (it's white bear lake we got a few of those). Or the people writing fake reviews that haven't even been here. And let me also say, If you are going out to dinner to have people kiss your ass, and scurry around like little robot ants abiding your every little command then don't eat here. Anyone that knows anything about eating out knows that one of the first rules of thumb is the best restaurants are the ones that have character, the ones that have real people living real lives running them. Nothing better than a greasy spoon cafe for breakfast with a crabby waitress or a dirty little hole in the wall BBQ joint with a stack of dirty dishes in the corner. So for all the complainers writing reviews do us a favor and stick to the "It's Asian Month, at Perkins" and stop slandering the best Thai place around. The family that run's it, are wonderful, they are sweet and really care about the food they are serving and about the clientele, they are real folks serving awesome food. Most of the time the food comes out very quickly, there has been on occasion where the wait has been a little longer than expected but big deal food is ALWAYS worth it. Ask for "Bob's favorite" I never even look at the menu don't even know the name of it, but it is unbelievable. The egg rolls and spring rolls are great. I love my Thai spicy but be warned this little lady from Thailand does not mess around so if you order 3 or higher have your big boy pants on. Finally thanks to the owners, you are doing a wonderful job, your Thai food is the best I have had, and I am picky, almost never satisfied when I leave a restaurant, almost always muttering to myself "I could have made it better". The only words that come out of my mouth when I leave Ban Thai, is "Man that is good, how stoked are we that we have the best Thai place around 5 minutes...

First time ordering from Ban Thai Restaurant. We did take-out and took them about 30-40 mins to get our food ready.

Customer service - my husband went in to order and he felt the service was not the greatest, but it is what it is.

I am always searching for the best drunken noodles or better known as Pad Kee Mao. When I saw that Ban Thai make Pad Kee Mao, I had to give them a try. So far it’s good. The flavor is different from others that I’ve had. Their seasonings is their own. But I enjoyed it. The noodles were soft, just how I like them. The only downfall is their pork was a little bit on the drier side. I rate it 4/5 stars. Wouldn’t mind ordering it again tho.

Their Bangkok Spring Rolls were okay. I order it with pork. Maybe next time I’ll do their shrimp instead. The sauce was okay too. I had to make my own for me to enjoy it more. They really fill it up with veggies and herbs. I love that it was packed with veggies haha. I rate it 3/5.

Beef fried rice was bomb!! My husband thought it had too much black pepper, but once I mixed up the fried rice, you can barely taste just the black pepper. I love that they cut up the beef in thick slices. It’s soft and flavorful. Not too salty. It’s perfect. I rate it 5/5.

The cream cheese wonton was not a hit for my little family. My kids love cream cheese wonton, but this wasn’t it for them. It had a good amount of cream cheese filling. But the wrap was more on the soggy soft side. Usually the cream cheese wontons are crunchy. But if you like your wraps soft then maybe this is for you. I rate it 2/5

Chicken wings were also not a big hit for us. It’s your typical basic oven baked seasoned with salt n black pepper chicken wings. I mean that’s what I tasted when I took a bite of it. I wanted more flavor to it.

Overall, I wouldn’t mind giving this place a second chance. Maybe dine in next time and try their pad thai, pho, and...