Great service. Great ambiance. Average Thai dishes. I ordered the beef larb and beef Thai noodle stir fry. The larb leaned more sweet and lacked spice, and there were way more cabbage leaves than crumbles, which was a bit disappointing. The noodle stir fry was flavorful and plentiful but also lacked spice even though the menu indicated the dish was spicy. Sauce also wasn't reduced well enough, so noodles felt soupy. Tried the chef's special duck, and the skin was tasty with a crunch but the meat was overcooked. I would classify these dishes more as Americanized Thai (less herbaceous, less spicy, and more mainstream). read more

We've been to Basil thrice by now, and have been pleased each time. I ordered the Massaman curry at every visit and found it to be consistently delicious.The waitstaff and hostesses are always friendly and accommodating, always willing to let us choose a table that suits us. Despite always dining on a weekend evening, we've never experienced a wait, even when the restaurant has been fairly full. The other diners have always been respectful-- diners dress respectably and they keep their children quiet and/or entertained. If you pack a portion of your order to go, the server will include a box of fresh rice with your leftovers. We've tried massaman curry at three different Thai restaurants in Columbia, and this is by far the best. It is hands down, the creamiest and most flavorful. read more

Best Birthday dinner ever! Decided to stay the night at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina after visiting Myrtle Beach and the hotel manager recommended Basil as a wonderful place to have a celebration dinner. She was so right! We got there shortly before closing but the staff was so welcoming. I forgot our server/bartender's name but he was absolutely fantastic. We ordered: Basil Duck-boneless duck fried and topped with vegetables and the most amazing basil sauce. You should put that shh...I mean sauce on everything. Shrimp with Barramundi-lightly floured Asian sea bass with shrimp and veggies in a ginger sauce. OMG! That fish was quite delightful Mango Martinis-just the right amount of everything To say we were pleased would be an understatement. Basil was the best way to end an extended weekend/holiday birthday celebration. read more

Basil Thai Cuisine - Shrimp with barramundi. So delightful - Thai Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

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I had the pad prik with chicken and it was very tasty. The service was great, but there was no drink menu which was odd. Nevertheless, I would definitely come here again. read more

Basil Thai Cuisine - Pad Prik - Thai Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Very cute interior, drinks were good, and food was great! This was my first visit and I will definitely be going back!

Basil's satay is chewy which makes great texture but the rice is bland.It has good music.I love that you can see them cooking also I'm a ten years old so kid approved!!!! read more

Best Pad Thai EVER. We've been coming for years and the food and service is always fantastic. Highly recommend this restaurant!We had Fresh Basil Rolls and Pad Thai. read more

Phenomenal experience! Exceeded expectations! The food was perfectly flavoured and satisfying. The server, Brian, was attentive and had a great sense of humour. I used to live in NY. If this place were in Park Slope, Brooklyn there'd be a line around the block waiting to get in. Columbia, SC has no idea what a gem it has in Basil Thai Cuisine! read more

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My first visit was shortly after they opened. I loved the decor, music and ambiance of the place. I ordered the Crispy Red Curry Duck and I wasn't impressed... I've eaten duck many times and love it (I've always had it baked or rotisserie style), so when I read the menu description (deep fried to perfection and spicy), I just knew I'd enjoy it... unfortunately that wasn't the case, the skin was wobbly and fatty (yes, I know duck is fatty, but I wasn't expecting the squishy texture when it's described as "crispy"). I'd never had red curry before either and haven't had it since. The presentation of the dish was beautiful, the taste just wasn't to my liking. My friend ordered the Beef Pad See Eu, I tasted a bite (and wished I'd ordered that instead). I went again a few weeks later and met a friend at the bar, we just had drinks and were able to chat with one of the owners for a bit (he made drink suggestions and chatted about favorite hangouts in Charlotte), very friendly! The drinks were good. My boyfriend and I went again on a whim, we were in the area and it was a little after 9:30... Basil was open until 11pm. We sat outside, the temperature was perfect. We ordered the fried wontons (so freakin yummy) as our starter. We split the Beef Pad See Eu (playing it safe), and Basil Chicken... I loved the Pad See-Eu, perfect blend of sweet and salty, the beef was tender and paired well with the noodles, broccoli and egg. My boyfriend loved the Basil Chicken, it too was very tender. For dessert we got the fried bananas and the strawberry shortcake cheesecake (which is also sold next door at Whole Foods - lol). Both were delicious!!!! Since I've stopped eating meat, I've been back and ordered a shrimp dish (can't remember the name) and tofu pad see-eu, which is no where near as good as the beef! :( Service has always been great... we'll be back! read more

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If I loved the atmosphere here more, then I could have given more stars. But considering they just built this place from the ground up, you would think that they would have put more thought into the design. They do not take reservations so we showed up at 6:45 on a Friday and were told it would be about 45 minutes for a table for 5. There is a large communal table in front of the bar and they let us know we can drink there but not eat. (Odd, but ok?) We sit at the table thinking they had a cocktail server or something for it, but no, you must go to bar, order, and they will bring it to you. Which would be fine, however this bar is TINY and they have HUGE chairs with tall backs on them blocking every access to the bar. So we yelled over a poor couple to try and get drinks while we waited. One hour and 15 min later they get us a table. We are sitting there and have ordered our drinks from the server, when the owner comes over and wants to know what our last name is because they think they sat the wrong table. Ummm what? We told him our last name and he said "Ahhh, ok I will take care of this". He didn't ask us to get up but what an odd thing to tell your table - you texted us to let us know that our table was ready so how did everything get so confusing? I will say that the food was very good - everyone loved their meals. It did take alot longer than expected for the food to come out, especially since by this point they were not that busy anymore. Highly recommend the duck salad - similar to a lettuce wrap and very good! Also the wontons were delicious! We will most likely come back and hope they have more kinks worked out! read more

Basil Thai Cuisine - Basil spring rolls - Thai Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

It's hit or miss. My husband orders chicken fried rice EXTRA spicy. He is not yet once gotten it with the slightest bit of heat. I like the pad Thai, but they often 'forget' to even put on any sauce and it's completely dry and flavorless. Coconut curry soup is amazing! read more

While there food here is good, I can't justify the price for it. I feel that I am paying for a high rent and interior designer. The service was the most on point part of the meal, VERY attentive. For this place to be a bit more successful, just come down on prices a bit, and see why the Greek place across the parking lot stays busy. I know apples to oranges, but my point is still valid. read more

Wonderful Thai lunch at Basil today I tell ya ! Seated quickly and then the crispy wings with dipping sauce came out in a flash. But the real reason why my lunch was so great was the red beef curry with bamboo shoots and rice, spot on. I sampled other dishes and they were delicious too. Can't wait to try more dishes next month. read more

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Each time I come here I have a wonderful experience. We also sit at the bar and the bartenders are very friendly with impeccable service. We have received great service from 3 different bartenders. The food is very good and the taste is fresh. I highly recommend and will definitely be back. read more

Basil Thai Cuisine - Thai Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

pretty good food and good service. Recommend the coconut hotpot and the tofu noodle. Don't forget to order mango sticky rice as the dessert

I was invited here for my sister birthday party none of us ever been. I had the wontons for a appetizer which by the way were the best wontons i ever had they are shrimp and chicken wontons, also the red curry duck as a entree and a few sake peach blossom martini's. It was extremely delicious I even took my leftovers to work and shared with them and they loved it. The pricing is actually bad at all considering the amount of food you get with the dinner portion. The service was great and we all really enjoyed are selves. I defiantly will return. Thank you for the great experience. read more

Basil Thai Cuisine - Red curry duck and a Sake Peach blossom martini - Thai Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

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The atmosphere is very nice. The place is beautiful! The Pad Thai has a very peanuty taste compared to other places I've tried but it is still pretty good. Fried wontons were delicious. And they had a coconut, chicken, mushroom soup that was different but very good. read more

Basil Thai Cuisine - Pad Thai with Beef - Thai Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Took our kids for something different. We sat outside which was nice and casual. Not many kids eating here definitely more adult environment but we were welcomed regardless. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed their meals. Or kids enjoy trying new things. Didn't notice the typical kid friendly menu but mine weren't interested. The coconut chicken soup was sampled by all 5 of us. Meals ranged from pad Thai, to green curry, mixed seafood, beef noodle stir fry and green papaya salad. Even had sticky rice and mango for dessert (one of my favorite desserts). Highly recommended! read more

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Been here twice. The food is actually decent, but the spice level is severely lacking. They have all the usual thai dishes. What was disappointing was the service the second time around. We got seated by the hostess, but never got anything after that. No water, not even a hello from a server. After almost 10 min and what seemed to be the server in our section pass us by several times, my wife and i just left. Oh well, there isn't really reason for me to return anyway. read more

The customer service was excellent .And the basil duck was on another level!!! I will definitely be visiting this restaurant again in the NEAR future. read more

Food is okay. I've been to many Thai food places and this place was not terrible but not worth 18 dollars a plate and with its portion sizes. Spend your money at a mom and pop Thai food shop instead of coming here. read more

Basil Thai Cuisine - pad see ew - Thai Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

My first time ever eating Thai food, it was absolutely amazing. Me & my wife enjoy our time while we was there the staff was very friendly & the place was very clean. read more

Definitely not good traditional Thai food. The soup is sweet, the curry bland. Priced high for classic Thai, but not as good. read more

I have been here twice. It's cute and REALLY TALL, which I like. It's always VERY clean and pretty yummy. I had the fried rice the first time, which was absolutely wonderful and this last time I had pad-see-eu. I definitely favored the fried rice over the pad-see-eu even though the latter is my favorite Thai dish. The service the first time was well below par. I felt like the guy flat out ignored us, but in our most recent visit everything was superb. read more

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Basil Thai what can I say, another good replica Thai style but definitely not authentic. You can usually judge a place that calls themselves Thai by how good their pad Thai is. Well when you use a noodle that meant to make pho and make pad Thai with it usually it's not really authentic. But I do admit the flavors were close to what you find in a box of pad Thai mix you find at the grocery store a good try at replicating but not authentic but given we are in South Carolina. Their inspiration for the food and their attempt is duly noted. read more

Basil is amazing. The food is delicious and the atmosphere is fantastic. My server, Aaron Goff was so attentive, helpful and so knowledgeable about the menu and wine list. I will be back and will ask for Aaron again. also the northerner manager has quite the personality!! read more

The food was great...the service was awful. We were told there was a 30-minute wait for a booth for four people. After 45 minutes we were seated at a high-top table. We started by ordering a pot of tea. A reasonable time later, the waiter took our order...but without writing it down. That always worries me, but some waiters are better than others. We ordered an appetizer which came out promptly, but still no tea although we reminded the waiter (1st reminder). Next came the entries except that one of them was WRONG. They took it back and said it would just be a few minutes (well, make that ten minutes). We asked about the rice and the tea (2nd reminder) and about five minutes later the rice arrived with the plates that were supposed to be used for dinner (we had already eaten most of our dinners off of the serving plates...except the one that was wrong which finally arrived. Next came (finally) the tea...with two cups instead of four. A few minutes later, the other two cups arrived after summoning the waiter and asking for them. When the bill arrived, I noticed that my dinner was billed at $23 instead of the $20 on the menu. I asked the waiter, and he said I was wrong. I told him to get a menu and I show him that my meal was $20. He had the manager come over and he also told me that I was wrong. The menu said $20 for the Vegetable Delight with a choice of meat. The bill had $23. Now $3 isn't going to break me but after the terrible service, I was just ornery. The manager ARGUED with me and then said he hoped we would have a better experience the NEXT time we came in. No offer to adjust the bill for my "misunderstanding" or for the screwup in one of the orders. "The next time we come in..." is not going to happen. There are other Thai restaurants in town that are just as good. Perhaps the 10% tip (the cook and the two people who delivered our food did a good job) will get someone's attention. I've owned a small business for 35+ years and learned the ropes about customer retention. They did everything possible to prevent me from returning. read more

Hidden in the corner of a shopping center;you'll miss it if you don't look closely. The restaurant has contemporary decor and was clean and well kept. We were a party of 4 and had a variety of dishes. They have the usual noodle, curry, fried rice, and beef dishes that you would expect. The food was made fresh and well above average. It is a bit pricey at an average of $16 a dish. Our server was very nice and gave us a free green tea fried ice cream for dessert because it was our first time at the restaurant. Overall, a good experience and we would definitely return. read more

Basil Thai Cuisine - Fresh spring rolls - Thai Near Me - Columbia, South Carolina

Service is phenomenal!!! HOWEVER, the food was not what I expected. I do not recommend this place to anyone who loves authentic Thai food. There's nothing authentic about their food. Food was either too sweet or little to no taste. I'm Laos so I've had plenty of experiences with eating Thai food and THIS IS NOT IT. Great service overall, I'll give that five stars. read more

I called to see if the food is prepared with no MSG. he said all the food has traces of MSG, which we know is a neurotoxin. Since I don't want headaches, dementia, racing heartbeat, swelling or hives I decided to not eat there. I really love Thai food, but I truly appreciate the employee's honesty. read more

Definitely overpriced. I guess people go for the atmosphere. It seems like a nice Italian place or steakhouse by the decor. Menu is disappointing, nothing really stands out. I got the fresh spring rolls, fried rice, and the basil chicken. Fresh springs rolls were pretty nasty. I mean the whole roll was mostly rice noodles. (That should only make up like 25 percent) there was a sliver of shrimp (barely could taste it), no lettuce (?!!!??), and just a 90 percent noodles. I've honestly never been disappointed in fresh spring rolls in any Thai restaurant. (It's really hard to get it wrong) plus for $5+ it's basically a major rip off. Only reason this place even gets stars is because the fried rice was at least tasty. The basil chicken was just okay, nothing great. I know this place is next to Whole Foods and all, but I really think it's overpriced for what you get. So to sum it all up, do not order the fresh spring rolls. read more

I love basil! The food is amazing and the staff is even better. Ask for Madeline when you come in!! She's the best! And Aaron is so cool

I have been to Basil in Charlotte as well as Charleston and had fabulous experiences. The location in Columbia has great food, but not all together service. My first experience here I made a reservation for my birthday for a large group, and when we arrived we were accommodated poorly with a section not large enough and ultimately had to wait for a bigger table. They are also not kid friendly. The seating we were given was bar chairs, no booster seats, and no kids menu. Our server made a suggestion of a chicken dish and rice without any seasoning for the kids and when he asked management he came back to tell us he would have to charge for adult entrees. My second time, my mother ordered pad Thai with all shrimp. We were all eating when another server came over and said he'd brought my mom another tables pad Thai. She'd already been eating it and said she would keep it. Then, the manager I presume, brought what was supposed to be her pad thai and again said a mistake was made and they wanted her to have the correct one. We told the manager she'd already been eating it, but it was my mom's first experience having the dish and didn't realize the one she'd been eating was a special order without some of the toppings. The manager began to take the plate away and we asked what she was going to do with the dish my mom had already been biting into and she replied that unfortunately it would just go in the trash. We asked if we could just keep it since it was a server error so it wouldn't be thrown in the trash and she said that if she let us keep it she would have to charge us for two meals. I've worked in the restaurant industry many years and this is poor logic on managements part. Why waste food? And why be snide about it. When we left, the manager stood at the door in deep conversation with her staff too busy to even stop to say "thank you, come again." I won't be back to this location. read more

Wow. I am still sitting here listening to my waitress and the manager discuss how I didn't ordered what I definitely ordered. The professionalism here is non existent. I ordered the only item on the menu with "stir fry" in the title, yet I should have known everything in the "noodle" section was stir fried. I'm extremely upset with their customer service and I will definitely never come back. read more

I ordered the pad see eu and the fried wontons. The wontons were pretty good but the pad see eu was the blandest dish. Like actually no flavor. I was very disappointed because I've been dying to try this place. read more

I think that the food is okay, the rating is based on awful service. I would say that this is a fine place to go if it is not busy, but when it is things seem to fall apart. The GM spoke to both couples sitting next to me and did not even notice that I did not get my food. Not sure if I would go again but pretty sure they do not care based on today. read more

This restaurant totally screwed up our order for Birthday Party and surely made the Hosts look bad. The order was for Masaman curry, They gave the Masaman curry with only potatoes in it and some onions. They never gave rice with it and the guests had to eat without rice...! mostly it was all gravy. Go to other restaurants where they serve Masaman with Tofu and Rice. It was very awkward situation these people made out. These people could not be trusted for take out orders or catering. Be aware...! read more

Worst service I have ever had. Waiter over looked us for 20 minutes. Asked for a wine list never saw the waiter again. Waited for 40 minutes and finally left asked for the check and they tried to bill me for the entire order read more

I went to dinner here last night with my mom. Atmosphere- it's more upscale than most Thai restaurants. It reminds me of some of the Thai restaurants I've visited in DC or Atlanta. It's sleek and modern, and my only complaint is that the tables are kind of close together. I could easily overhear what the table behind us was talking about throughout the meal. Service- Our server was aloof. She dropped the food off and then didn't come back. Fortunately, another server refilled our drinks and took our dishes away to pack up the leftovers. Price- For two entrees it was close to $40. Food- I ordered the green curry with chicken. It was really good with delightful chunks of eggplant mixed in and the seasoning was great with just enough heat that didn't overpower the flavors of the curry. My mom ordered the sweet and sour chicken dish and really enjoyed it as well. Cleanliness- I don't usually include this in reviews, but this place was extremely clean. I ran to the bathrooms and was impressed that it was spotless and everything (even the garbage can) is hands-free. Extra star just for the above-average cleanliness. read more

I am not typically underwhelmed by a restaurant. I might love the nice restaurants in Columbia like Terra and Mr. Friendly's, but sometimes I also enjoy Burger King and Taco Bell -- so it's not hard to please me. I was very disappointed when I went to Basil and didn't enjoy the food. First, there were bell peppers in nearly everything, and I don't particularly enjoy bell pepper in Asian cuisine and can usually find plenty of options without it. I requested the Pad Prik, but instead of bell peppers I wanted green beans. The owner actually came to my table to ask "You ordered the Pad Prik? What are you trying to do here?" I explained and he said, "But that's the Prik King." Well, according to the menu, the Pad Prik also includes basil and onion so that's what I wanted, just without bell pepper. He said, "OK" and walked away annoyed. I got my order the way I wanted it, but the chicken was dry. The owner proceeded to walk to nearly every table in the restaurant asking people how they liked their food or refilling their wine glasses, but he never once came to our table again. This was all on top of the fatty duck my boyfriend was served, extremely loud music that made everyone shout and our awkward seating next to the kitchen door at a large table that made shouting even more of a necessity. We're not going back. I can get better Thai food with friendlier service at Mai Thai Cuisine, Bangkok Restaurant or Baan Sawan. Don't waste your money on Basil's notoriously pretentious service and less-than-stellar Thai food. read more