Magda C.

Very good food, service was attentive and restaurant is spacious. Prices are on the higher side.

Kylie B.

a great spot for thai food in the allston area. Brown sugar cafe has a cozy ambiance and a traditional feel. The menu selection is huge - I'm impressed with the amount of thai dishes offered (not just your classic americanized options). They also offer a full selection of seasonal specials. For the appetizer we had the shrimp tod mann which was good but I wish a bit crispier. We tried one of the seasonal specials, the mango curry. The mango curry was sweet and creamy and a yummy take on the traditional curry dishes. We also had the chicken gra paow, which is uniquely served over wide noodles here. I loved this combo, the dish was saucey, savory, and SPICY (beware). This was probably my favorite dish. Service was very friendly and attentive

Hussain L.

We walked in just 15 minutes before the restaurant was scheduled to close and I was very grateful. The staff seated us quickly and took our order, and brought out the food even faster! The crab rangoons are A tasty appetizer. The green curry is a classic, and tasted fresh and spicy, though you can adjust the spice level when ordering. The green beans seem like they could have been cooked a little bit longer. You'll have to order rice on the side, as the curry does not come with any. We sat next to the fish tank, small comfortable area.

Hannah C.

If you're looking for a Thai spot in Boston with a large menu, authentic flavour options, and a good sized portion, Brown Sugar Cafe is a solid pick. But if you're after exceptional value for premium dishes (especially high-priced ones) or a highly curated small menu, you might want to check the dish and price carefully and read recent reviews for the particular item. Great service!

Brian W.

I've walked by this place a good amount and eventually decided to try it because it looked pretty busy - however, when we walked inside the restaurant I should have had my red flags go up, as most of the restaurant was empty except for all of the tables by the windows. We even witnessed a group of 2 come in wanting to sit at one table but they were told that they couldn't and instead were guided to a two person table by the window area. It seemed very obvious that the goal was to appear busy to people walking by on such a busy street. Even with that red flag, we sat down and decided to order, but when we received the menus, they were enormous. There were so many options and the menu organization felt random, so it was tough to find what we were looking for. We eventually decided to try the satay appetizer and a fried fish that was listed as market value. Satay Chicken ($11.95 on the website, unsure what we actually paid, but I think it was less) - If this dish was in fact almost $12, it is definitely not worth it. It's comprised of 4 slivers of chicken breast on sticks which probably amounts to 1 actual chicken breast cut into 4 pieces. The grill wasn't bad, the meat was juicy, and the satay and fish sauce were decent, but it was a really small amount of for for $11.95 (my note about price is that I THOUGHT it was slightly less, but it was still too expensive for the amount of chicken given). Crispy fried whole fish (Market price - $44) - We were very excited to try this since my partner used to get this at their favorite Thai restaurant back in Chicago, and it honestly wasn't bad. The fish was nice and crispy, and most of the bones had been removed. It was butterflied and fried but not too oily with a sweet and salty sauce and plenty of basil and peppers. The actual amount of fish meat wasn't a whole lot, and though we did end up being full eating it with sides of rice, I don't think I'd order it again for that price. There was a lot of batter without meat and while that tastes great with the sauce, $44 for batter and sauce with some fish meat isn't a great deal. I think I'd have been happy if this was around $26 instead. All in all, the portions for the satay were a bit tiny, and the fish was very expensive for the amount of meat we received, but the taste of the dishes was decent (though probably a little on the sweeter side than I'd have preferred). I probably won't be returning here - 3/5.

Daryl M.

So first off, service was fine, the interior is still beautiful, and this is a spot that has been producing great Thai dishes, reminiscent of Thailand native, for a long time. I've been eating here for 17 years, carrying quality, it's better at night than it is during the day, take out is usually better. I just had one of the worst Thai dishes of my life so maybe they need to do a little internal review. I went for a quick lunch before a medical procedure. I just wanted a meal, not drinks nor apps and the server did offer and seemed disappointed when I said, no. I ordered the tofu masaman curry, pictured here. It was delivered to me in about 4 minutes after placing my order. The curry was watery, most likely from the worn out sponge quality of the old tofu that was probably made days ago. The vegetables on the plate were completely uncooked, about 1 minute away from completely raw. No one wants raw onion in their curry. The potatoes were still ice cold in the center, again, probably made days ago and sitting in a fringe. The orange slice they gave me was filled with seeds. At least the rice was good and the water was fine. It's hard to go someplace that is known for authentic food and see people serve food they clearly have no pride nor passion for. If this was my Italian cooking I would never let Italian food like this hit the table. Someone needs to stop looking at receipts and do a review of what quality food are they putting out. This was an insult to everything Thai food is known for.

Neha M.

Everyone needs to come here! The staff was extremely accommodating and ensured that my khao soi would be made with tofu. Loved the khao soi and honestly the portions are bigger than almost every Thai place I've been to in Boston. It's such a cute place, right near BUs campus.

Matthew H.

Despite how not-Thai the name sounds (my friend suggested that "Brown Sugar Cafe" sounds much more like a bubble tea store than a restaurant), I was super impressed with how delicious and authentic my meal here was. My friend and I came around 7:30 on a weekday. The (surprisingly spacious, really high-ceilinged) restaurant was pretty empty at the time, and we were seated really quickly. Service was very prompt, and in fact had to circle back a few times because we hadn't decided what to order yet, mostly because their menu is enormous. (Someone described it as the Thai version of the Cheesecake Factory menu, which is definitely very true.) Also, we realised not all the menus were exactly the same - some had extra pages with specials and what not - so do note that when ordering. We started with the Brown Sugar Spareribs - super delicious! The random cherry on the plating led me to slightly lower my expectations (seems like a typical American (TM) thing to do), but thankfully this was totally misguided. The meat was super tender - each bite just falling off the bone - and it was super well cooked, with a light, smokey flavour that really brought out a lot of the savouriness of the ribs themselves. We also had a pad see ew and the khao grapow. Pad see ew was very tasty and served as a great flavour complement to the khao grapow, by which I mean the minced pork was actually SO incredibly spicy that we were basically alternating bites to not burn off our taste buds. (The server did ask if we wanted mild but I said no, which was the right choice. Very authentic!) Really delicious regardless - the pork was super flavourful and fried in a very yummy sauce. Portion size was also really big - we packed up our leftovers and probably still had enough for 1-ish meal each - and definitely worth the price. Also, we did remark that the comforting/relaxing ambience actually did kind of give off café vibes - although it's unclear whether that's related to the name or if they would look very kindly if we just parked ourselves here like doing work at a café. Regardless, though, I am very keen to come back if not just to try some of the million other things on their huge menu. Looking forward to it already!

Kiri C.

I got the appetizer combo where you get a bunch of different ones, and it was quite pleasant. I'd happily order that as a meal itself The soft shell crab pad Thai was good, but I wish they gave more soft shell crab. Not saying it's economical for them, I'm just saying we ate the crab first then we were left with just a (still tasty) pad thai

Jess C.

Can't quite agree with the high reviews. I am a fan of Thai food and have tried many. Here, everything was so salty that it's hard to tell other flavors. The have the creamy Tom yum - granted it's rare to to see and they use jumbo shrimps as it should be, but other than that, again, just salty taste. Also have to comment on their Thai style pad Thai, which feels nothing Thai at all. I wonder how their regular pad thai would taste. Servers are not rude/too bad but definitely not helpful when you try to get advice on what's good. I also don't really enjoy the environment, which is dark and has an old feeling.

Tulsa H.

Their "Tom Yum Goong Yai" (spicy soup with extra large shrimps), I must say, is Brow. sugar Cafe truly special dish. It is the creamy type with coconut milk inside. Definitely what distinguishes this dish from other Thai restaurants in the Boston area is the size of the Shrimps. The jumbo size make them truly special. Beside the comments above, the ingredients seem to be all in there--lemon/lime, coconut milk, condiments, etc. Highly recommended you try this dish. It's the best Tom Yum Shrimp Soup I've had in quite a long time. Soft Shell Crab - Poo Pad Pong Garee (see picture below) is quite decent as well.

Service was wonderful. Food is great ,fresh food. Have only tried a few things but loved them. Had Thai ravioli and fried banana with ice cream ,hot green tea. Very comfortable sitting a little close but common for small city restaurants.

Alice D.

Came here with a reservation on a Saturday night for a birthday and we had no issues getting seated. The space wasn't too busy so we could've done without calling ahead, but better to be safe than sorry! The staff was relatively efficient and good with service so nothing but positive things from that front. They did get one of our orders wrong however, but it wasn't a huge deal. They had a pretty large menu which made it a little difficult to choose what we wanted, but a majority of our table settled on crispy chicken pad Thai. We got two appetizers and drinks along with our main dishes and everything was pretty solid. The tea hit the spot, the scallion pancakes were deliciously crisp, and the crab rangoons were super yummy. I went with the gaprow noodles for my entree and I enjoyed it a lot. I will say that it's extremely spicy (I got the normal spice level) and I had some difficulties eating it because of that, but the Thai tea helped out a lot. Once I ran out of drink though, I decided to bring the rest home since it was a little bit of a struggle. We came for the birthday disco ball they offer and the experience didn't disappoint. The lights dim, music plays loudly, and they bring out a dessert with candles for $15 if we request it. The experience was great and our friend was happily surprised - awesome end to the meal! Overall, our dinner was a lot of fun. The prices are a little steep for Thai food, but things tasted great and we had a nice time. I'd definitely recommend this place for birthdays for the unique disco ball experience!!