Ok, I have been all over the world, I've eaten in Bangkok, I've taken Thai cooking classes in Bangkok and here in Minneapolis from a local Thai lady who has her own restaurant. This was the best red curry I've ever had. Life changing. The blend of sweet, sour and spice was perfect. My first time here but I'll be back. Probably tomorrow. read more

Service: bad. Ambiance: bad, Prices: too high for what you get ($12-13 for a medium portion). Food: My Pad See Yew was very tasty but had american broccoli florets in it (yuk). Authentic spicing, not authentic ingredients (veggies). We waited 40 minutes for food and there were only 4 other tables of customers in there, 2 of which were already served! Someone needs to teach the cook what multi-tasking is. BTW: if there are a ton of other people writing the same 3 things (too long of wait, bad service, too pricey) why don't you change those 3 things!!!? Hire another cook or learn to cook faster, have an adult on the floor to govern the front of the restaurant (there was only the young daughter and a young teenage bus boy). And, either increase your portion size by 15% or decrease your price point by 15%. Not rocket sci. read more

First time here, ordered the chicken cooked in oyster sauce heat level 3 of 5. Flavor was good, nothing spectacular nothing memorable. Heat was just right, broke into a small sweat while eating it. Service was "dead turtle slow", one waiter, and entrees came out one at a time. Swear they planted the vegetable seeds for my entree just after we ordered. There were 3 tables of people, one with 8 ladies, one with a couple, and we had 4. It literally took 20 minutes just to order then took another half hour just to get the food. Come here on a Friday or anyday you have nothing else to do for the remainder of the day, cause you if you got places to be you ain't make'n it! Been to a few restaurants around White Bear Lake and this is simply not the place for Asian food. Basically, this is an acceptable selection if you absolutely have no other option, but I wouldn't make the trip if you aren't local. read more

Always amazing, hot and fresh. Best egg rolls and sauce you've ever had. They travel to Thailand every summer to get spices etc. The pad Thai is always excellent as well. One of our favorite places to order from, I'm not sure how in the world they'd be a 3 star, maybe ppl don't know what real Thai food is! read more

I typically have my go to thai places that nothing can come close to. I ordered take out. The chicken pad thai was great! It was a decent size portion to share for two. The egg rolls were very peppery but I was great! Spri read more

The worst service experience we have had here. They refused to seat 6 adults and 3 kids. Just because we did not reserve 24hrs in advance. The lady walked out of the kitchen shouted from one end of the restaurant to us (standing by the door waiting to get in) saying we need to leave because we did not have reservation for 9. I can understand if the restaurant was full, but it was mostly empty. 3 out of 10 tables were full. She could have made arrangements if she was even a bit customer focussed. She created a scene and an embarrassing moment for me and my family. Plus we had all the other folks in the restaurant looking at us while this lady (least courteous) shouted at us. I understand their policy or only one person cooking and serving, but the way she handled the situation was too rude and humiliating to us. Hopefully they correct their service and family business survives. One thing for sure the restaurant lost 9 customers forever! read more

Ban Thai is by far one of our favorite restaurants. The family owned business is always top notch with customer service and thai food they prepare fresh daily. Our entire family has nothing but good to say about this place. We actually crave our favorite dish; the chicken Gang Pa-Nang a family recipe dish. There is not a bad item on their large menu. Guaranteed to be the best you ever had! If you want authentic thai food with amazing flavor and decent pricing and portion sizes then please visit our good friends at the award winning Ban Thai downtown White Bear Lake!!!! read more

Ban Thai - Chicken Gang Pa-Nang - Thai Near Me - White Bear Lake, Minnesota

So sad... used to be one of our favorite spots. Rice was old and gummy, fried wontons were soft and soggy... fried rice was gummy and tasted day old. Soup was okay, but not worth a return trip. I'm so sad. So so sad... read more

For decent Asian food in downtown White Bear, consider coming here for take out. The food is ok and the staff is funny but I think the restaurant itself is a bit darker and dated than I prefer. The curries are where its at here and they are saucy which is good to go with rice. The bad being that they never seem to give enough rice. The pad thai is ok and I have had better at some other places but it does scratch an itch. Be careful on the heat level when ordering though as the heat builds quick! read more

I just got a pad lo mein and along with my mother and mine is super gooey and soggy and my mothers is not gooey at all. I called in and the woman said this is how we make our food, and I asked if I could have a new one and she quickly shot me down. its sad because I usually love their food. Hurts to see this bad food and customer service. read more

I just threw away a full box of pad Thai! It saddens me! I ordered a pad Thai spicy #2 and it was so spicy my lips and ears were burning!! I can handle spice generally but this was out of control. I called to tell her it was unbearable and I hate to throw a full meal away. She told me she would make a new one but I have to pay for it! No customer service. If you try here, easy on the spice. read more

One of the best Thai restaurants in the area hands down. Owners are amazing. I get a huge kick out of the reviews talking about spice levels...yes its spicy, lol...thats the point. I get a 10 pepper so i guess i'm a little biased...but anyway, its one of the few places in the twin cities that will actually produce enough heat to satisfy. Gang Pa-Nang is my fav....and its her family recipe so its the real deal. read more

Best authentic Thai food in the twin cities hands down!! People need to understand that this is a small family run restaurant. At times, they have had to close due to medical issues. You may have wait if Oh is the only one cooking. And yes, they travel on vacation for two weeks every Summer as do most families. We really miss dining in and chatting with their daughter Sammy!! At this time, the restaurant is mostly take out. If you choose to eat there, you basically serve yourself. Only wish they'd find good help so the could reopen as a restaurant using real plates and silverware. Would love to bring my own containers for take out instead of using styrofoam. Is this possible? Mouth is watering for pad Thai with 3 peppers (which IS spicy), but I will have to wait for them to return from vacation in mid July!!! read more

This is a place that you either rave about or you don't like it. We've been there a few times and just couldn't get into the flavor of the food. The ambience is cold and not very friendly. Sorry, but this is not on our hit parade. read more

I wish I had taken a picture of my drab green curry chicken lunch special. The flavor was ok. The plate was mainly a few pieces of thin, over cooked chicken and lots of bamboo pieces and hard green peas. The menu description said sweet peas, these peas were not fresh . They tasted like dried peas not soaked enough and had that color you get from a can, think pea soup not fresh , bright green sweet peas.It was obvious they bulked up the dish with bamboo and cheap peas. My companion had a pad Thai that was sickly sweet. We both decided we would not be coming back. Total disappointment. read more

Best pra ram rong song we've ever had! Also their spring rolls are great! The service is great and the owners are very nice.

The #318 with the #319 yellow curry sauce is absolutely amazing! Small town diner type Thai restaurant. Been here twice and will come back many more times. My wife had the Pad Thai (#505) and really enjoyed it. NOTE: This is authentic Thai, so when they say hot, it's Thai hot, not Minnesota hot. I normally like things very hot and 2/4 was perfect. read more

Tasty authentic Thai food prepared with fresh ingredients. Interesting yet attentive service. I'm definitely coming back.

I am really surprised at the one star reviews of Ban Thai. We have been eating there since they opened a couple of years ago and have never had a bad meal. We usually do take-out, this is a typical thai restaurant, not much decoration, very plain. But the food is to die for! If you ask for Thai Hot, you really get Thai Hot, like your ears are on fire hot! Same goes for mild, if you don't like hot, ask for mild and you will be fine. The Pad Thai, Larb, and especially the Thai omlette, yum! The one lady who serves you as called out in another review, she is the owner, she and her husband run the restaurant and their cute daughter can sometimes be spotted at a table in the back coloring or chatting with her dolls. She is adorable! And come on, a Thai restaurant in White Bear Lake, Minnesota? That's as good as it gets! read more

Ordered at 6pm, was told 30 min for take out. Drove 15 minutes there got there around 6:40. Was told 10-15 more minutes. Sat in car and waited 20 more minutes until receiving a call that the cook had quit and they wouldn't be able to make my food. This is after 1 full hour since I placed my order. I wasn't even offered a free entree for the next time or even an apology. Will never go back. read more

Pad Thai was amazing! Definitely will be back! Lots of spice and amazing flavor! If you like pad Thai you will love this place. Service was very fast and very nice lady! read more

There aren't many options for Asian cuisine in White Bear Lake so we were excited to learn about Ban Thai. The downtown location is convenient and the online reviews were good, so we gave it a try. Big mistake. We ordered the pad thai and spring rolls to pick up on a Friday evening. They told us to come get it in 20-30 minutes. We arrived after 45 minutes to find that our two dishes were still not ready. The owner said they were "backed up" in the kitchen. He told us numerous times that we'd only have to wait 5 more minutes. Nearly 35 minutes after arriving we finally left with our food. No apology. No offer to throw in some extra wontons. We were upset but too hungry to complain. We also hoped that if the food was great, we would be happy we waited. Unfortunately, the food was just OK, and that's being generous. I'd avoid this place. read more

Really impressed with the service I received when I went in for lunch yesterday. I've had Pad Thai at many places, and this is definitely one of the best. I also tried the Pho, and it was incredible. I will now be a regular at Ban. read more

Having seen the sign on the door that Ban Thai is award winning I made a mental note of it and promised myself to stop in. We came in for lunch early Sunday afternoon in June 2015 after shopping at a DIY store. One couple other than us had a table. The surroundings are simple giving the impression of being family owned. Our waitress was a polite young lady possibly a 'tween-ager', also, a server/busser provided our ice water and left a full carafe at our table before returning to chopping vegetables at another dining table. I ordered Fried Rice with Large Shrimp, my dining partner ordered 4-Spring Rolls and Yellow Curry with Chicken. Passing the time with conversation I felt an insect crawling up my right ankle. Turned out to be a wood tick. How unfortunate I thought and quickly removed it and crushed it under my shoe and swept it away with the sole of my shoe. Ninety seconds later, wood tick #2 is crawling on my other ankle and I notice my husband is swatting away a tiny flying insect that lands on his arm with two more landing on his other arm. This makes me wonder if this place is functioning with a wide open door back in the kitchen or if the previous clientele who sat at our table had slept in a ditch. After dealing with the flies and ticks our eyes settled on the four bottles on the table (Hoisin Sauce, ... etc...) which all four were in bad need of a good wiping down and lids tightened. (I wouldn't handle the bottles in the state they were in.) We found ourselves wanting to avoid having to drink from our plastic cups of water having had to deal with bugs and staring at the goopy condiments in front of us. When our food arrived my husband told the server we had no knives at our table - only a fork and spoon each. We were presented with one knife. The Spring Rolls were average; the Yellow Curry with Chicken was average; my Fried Rice with Large Shrimp was acceptable but I was disappointed that all the fried shrimp had tails or were TAILS ONLY in my dish. Rather than complaining to the little girl who asked us if everything was ok we opted to leave half-way through our "dining experience", pay our $40 and go across the street to the Washington Square Grill. You know, when we first at down I thought the sound of our waiter chopping vegetables between dealing with customer was charming. Now it begs the question if food should be prepared out in the public dining area without a hairnet, sneeze guard, CLEAN HANDS after having wiped down a table with a filthy rag (no sink to wash available). If that's the standard of cleanliness in the front it makes one wonder what is going on back in the kitchen? Gross. read more

Bad. So bad. I do not enjoy writing bad reviews. With that said.... I love white bear lake and I love Thai food. I had tried to give this restaurant the benefit of the doubt for so long. In the past I had tried small things there for take out (egg rolls, spring rolls). I never liked them, but tried to look past it. Tonight I was driving any kind of curry or Asian soup. So I got a red curry with tofu to go. Wow. It was soooo bad. The rice was mush. Literally mush. The tofu was just cut into cubes straight from the packet and thrown in the soup. The soup was nastttttttyyyyyyyy. I had two bites and was done. Sorry guys. But it's not good. read more

My wife and I have been stopping in here off and on since moving to WBL in 2007, maybe 2-3 times a year, and have watched the place with wonder... At first, the food was excellent, timely and served up by the friendly family staff. The heat was to be expected and to be treated with care (4 pepper scale goes from 0 *none* to 2 *nice to pretty spicy* to 4 *inedible by 98% of people on earth*). Since the initial impression of this restaurant, we've watched the food and wait times slip horribly. Granted the service has always been friendly if not outright chatty, but after tonight, I very much doubt we will be going back. After placing a take out order, we were told that there would be an hour wait (seriously, "your food will be ready at 6:40", and the order was placed at 5:35). My wife and I shrugged and agreed that we could just have a snack in the meantime. After a couple shows on TV, I drove over to the restaurant and battled for a parking spot - so many great places in WBL nowadays, it's getting hard to find a place to park... I approached the door and found a sign stating "Dining Room Closed Until 7:00 - Takeout Orders Only". Uh oh... I entered and was the only customer in the place. I started up a conversation with the husband (owner) and daughter, paid and then waited another 15 minutes (now 6:55). In conversation, I found that the place is now operated by just the family and 1 other as a dishwasher, the wife cooks and that they recently got rid of the other cooks (too slow). This is the same story I'd heard the last 3 times I'd been in, but the food was good and worth the wait (kind of). During my wait, one other customer entered for pickup (they had difficulty sorting out the order), a party of 5 showed up and was turned away and 2 calls were received and orders were placed for 35-40 minutes out. It's amazing that a place can stay open while only serving 4 orders an hour, especially when the place seats approximately 30. If that's too rushed, perhaps this isn't the right occupation for the family. So, all the build up and now for the finale... I drive the 10 blocks back home with grand smells coming from the bag. Up first, fried egg rolls with peanut fish sauce. Nice! Crispy, nicely filled and seasoned well (This is where they each the 2nd star). Next, cream cheese wontons with sweet and sour sauce. Ok, pretty standard looking but soggy and crazy salty - appears to have been made well in advance, but they're fried so, even cold, I'd have probably eaten them. Time for the main courses... Green curry with mock duck and pad woon sen. The green curry was ordered with 1 pepper and was nearly too hot to eat (and neither of us have MN palets). The mock duck appeared to be an afterthought and tasted like wheat bread, the veggies were mush and the rice had the consistency of mashed potatoes. Needless to say, it wasn't great and oh, that's the better of the two dishes. The pad woon sen was a sloppy nightmare. On top it looked ok-ish but the pork turned out like an old Goodyear tire, just lighter in color (that means tough, if your translator is broken). The noodles were one solid gooey mass that were the same color as an old Goodyear tire but weren't burnt, it was the soy sauce (pretty sure that's it, no other doctoring). The flavor was pretty simple, soy sauce, black pepper and crazy hot (2 peppers was ordered, but they apparently don't have that under control anymore either, I can usually choke down a 3). The dish was completely inedible. This restaurant is now off the menu. Sorry to say it, we will have to seek elsewhere for Thai. So disgusted, I won't even go back for a refund. read more

I am a very happy customer of Ban Thai for years and enjoying their authentic food on a weekly basis. I love the #13 curry chicken made extra spicy and adding mushrooms, it is beyond AMAZING. Great service, wonderful food!!! You continue to have a faithful and loyal customer. read more

For being in White Bear Lake this place is pretty legit. Lots of good curry dishes and soups and the pad Thai is the best around. That being said they are closed a lot when they are supposed to be open and they are super crappy about groups. I like this place but if you're going to go out with a large group go to Lao Thai off of University in St. Paul. The food is better at Lao Thai and they will sit a large group read more

Yellow Curry was good, beef salad was mediocre taste was semi there just needed to sear the beef better not saute it. Service was slow, best off ordering two drinks at once. Not friendly or comptent at taking orders. This is supposed to be the best Thai in White Bear it could be just needs some work. read more

2 stars for service. Over 30 minutes to get jasmine tea. The Gang Panang chicken (319) was fabulous! 1 chile spice was perfect. Good veggie-chicken ratio. Lovely date got Pineapple Fried Rice (503) with shrimp. Good flavor, but nothing too unique. So, food overall earns 3 stars. We will be back! read more

For some reason they are closed thru August. Sheeze - who would close their business for that long and still hope to remain a viable restaurant. read more

Where do I start with my disappointment. I LOVE Thai food but this was absolutely inedible. Literally. I ordered over $100 worth of takeout and threw most of it away. The Laab Nua had a really funky odor, and I gagged when eating it. Thinking maybe I just wasn't familiar with the spices as I'd never ordered that one before, I gave some to a friend who's had it before. She gagged too. We're convinced something was spoiled. The Pad Prik was supposed to be spicy. Not only was it not, it literally had NO FLAVOR AT ALL! I paid $12.95 for a tub of wet, tasteless celery and carrots with a little meat. The veggie egg rolls were greasy and soft. All we ate was the Masman curry, which we liked, and the spring rolls, which were merely OK. I'd visited when they first opened and was disappointed. I had high hopes that they were just having growing pains and decided to give them another go because I live only blocks away and wanted a great local place to go. Strike two and I'm done. I won't be going back. I'll drive to go to Ruam Mit or Kinh Do in the future where the food is spectacular. read more

Let me start off by saying that I have traveled to Thailand numerous times and have spent many years traveling throughout the pacific Asian area as well as living in Japan for two years. I consider myself open to many types of cuisine. I stumbled across Ban Thai about a year ago and found the owners to be wonderful people. Not only to me but to all that come into the restaurant. The food is remarkable and very authentic. The best Thai food outside of Thailand. I am very impressed with the menu, establishment, and owners. We place takeout orders for lunches for our employees often and have staff lunches at Ban Thai. I have not heard a heard of a bad experience in any way from our staff. My entire family loves going there also. Ban Thai is one of my highest recommended places to all who ask about dining places in the twin cities. read more

We have tried to eater three times and they are literally never open! The last visit we checked their online schedule giving them the benefit of the doubt. When we got there, closed! We probably will not try again. read more

I appreciated the clean, quiet atmosphere of this restaurant in a wonderful little downtown White Bear Lake. The staff members were kind and friendly. The food was good - not the best curry I've ever had but decent (the eggrolls, however, were super yummy). read more

We went to this restaurant with a group of 6 adults and 3 kids. They said if we are more than a group of 6 then we have to make a reservation. There were many empty tables. We asked if we split into 2 groups would that be ok. Then they got the owner she came and said we are a small business and can't have a group of more than 6 without a reservation. And she yelled it out in front of all the customers. This could have been handled much better as a business owner. No need to yell your customers away. We will not be going back to this restaurant if that is their attitude towards customers. read more

Former coworker and I just had lunch here. The flavor and quality was very good. We both ordered different style egg rolls due to the fact that we knew upfront splitting an order wasn't going to work! They were excellent. He had pad Thai I think. Extra spice and clearly enjoyed it. I went with a more basic pork fried rice. So good! It was a quieter late lunch crowd. Great for getting caught up. The portions were large. Brought half home for later, but my wife is having it now! read more

Curry very good but a bit salty. Overall very accommodating. Very good appetizers but my wife's entree came with a mysterious fishy jelly sauce on top read more

Food was awesome! Very small place and family owned and operated. I would rate it a 5 but two things bothered me...water pitchers are on each table which does not seem sanitary and there was a dead fly on the window next to my table. read more

I had the yellow curry at their stand front of the restaurant, during market fest. It was delicious! The flavors and balance of the dish were spot on. I will definitely be trying some food off their full menu. read more