I have been looking for a nice thai place for a while now and I think THAI FIRST is the perfect spot! The portions are big enough to last me two lunches and if you want it spicy IT IS GENUINELY SPICY (a hard thing for me to find). I always get the panang curry with tofu, which comes with a side of rice, and honestly it's so good it's hard to bring myself to try anything else! Every time I go to the restaurant it has people in there (very) happily enjoying their beautifully presented meals. read more

We love everything here! The service is awesome and the food is delish. We always get the egg rolls or fried spring rolls. We love the Penang Curry with shrimp, Drunken Noodles, and shrimp friend rice. Every time we try something new, we enjoy it. Give them a try you won't be disappointed. read more

Delicious, fresh and generous quantity of food. Modified spice level graciously. Very nice people, too. Highly recommend!

Have visited twice. Found the staff exceptionally friendly and accommodating and the food excellent. Interior is elegant for a strip mall restaurant. Crab Rangoon is more flavorful than any I've had. Tom Kah soup really hits the spot. Cashew dishes, Mongolian beef, and Sweet and Sour chicken are loaded with fresh vegetables (and not just the bland ones like bamboo shoots and water chestnuts) and they had plenty of meat as well. Further, each has uniquely different tastes. Egg rolls are ok, only because I prefer cabbage filler over glass noodles, but that's just me. Prices for dishes are a buck or two more than other places, but nearly every restaurant has some price increases due to covid and shipping issues. Worth it for quality food. In short, I'm very pleased to have found this place and will definitely be back. read more

I stumbled across this find to try the green papaya salad. I tried the combo appetizer platter to start off. Absolutley wonderful. Then came the papays salad and it was fabulous. Great food and atmosphere. Found my new favorite restarant.l read more

Thai First - Fabulous combo app platter - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

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Just had lunch here with friends for the first time. This place is outstanding. Everything is very fresh and flavorful. Not greasy. Fresh ingredients. We thoroughly ugly enjoyed everything in particular the crab Rangoon (ordered two) and I had the Panang noodles. A generous portion with an intense balanced sauce and fresh vegetables. Oustanding. The owner is on site and she is also delightful and helpful. A true delight. read more

Literally the best Thai Restaurant in the area. Their food is absolutely amazing and so rich and flavorful. Many Thai restaurants are overly americanized but this one isn't. Their recipes definitely stick to their roots. Not only is the food amazing, the service there is wonderful. My food always gets out at a reasonable time and the workers are so friendly. And sometimes the owner even throws in free appetizers to try which is SO nice. I'm moving to a different state but when I visit, I'm definitely coming back read more

After reading some of the reviews, I decided to stop in for lunch, and I was very pleased. Pleasant surroundings and awesome food, plus fast and courteous service. Did I mention the fair prices? I tried the basil fried rice. Plenty and very flavorful. Definitely put this on your short list. read more

Just had the Cashew Chicken with their Malbec. So fresh and delicious. I can't believe I can have such great food and service at a reasonable price. That's probably why I keep coming back. read more

Ordered takeout for first time from here. Pros -The interior is very nice -Food had great flavor -When I arrived my food wasn't ready yet. But the woman at the counter was very friendly and offered me a water while I waited. Cons - My one dish of Panang Noodle with Shrimp was $17.50...the shrimp were an additional $4 (remember this was for carry out! So no delivery charge was included in that price.) - There were just 4 shrimp in the dish. So that equates to $1 per shrimp and 2 of them were tiny! - Not at all worth the money Was really excited to find a thai place near me as its one of my favorite types of food but sadly think I need to keep looking. read more

Decided to give another try since my first visit last time was not the great. We ordered crab Rangoon and it was too salty. Also ordered Pad Thai and if you want additional shrimp, it's $4. When we got the food, there's only 4 pieces of shrimp! That's a total rip off! I can eat in a fancier Asian restaurant for $15 pad that and it will be plenty of shrimp. Service was poor too. They favor more Caucasian costumers. What a shame! Will not recommend to anybody. read more

This was a first time dining at this restaurant. The food was flavorful. The chicken satay didn't look like one of the featured pictures which was a bit of a disappointment, but it was good! It was a Friday night, so it was busy...the food took a little longer than I had hoped. Overall food was great. I would go back! read more

This was our first time in this restaurant. The ambiance is good and it looks great on the inside. I ordered the cashew shrimp fried rice and my husband ordered the Thai curry. The rice was so delicious I could eat it all day. A little bit on the sweet side but I loved it. Heir spring rolls are totally different from anything that I have had before. They have this different wrapping that is slightly thicker than the rice wraps that I have had before. It was different and delicious. I would definitely come back and try some of the other dishes in the menu. read more

From talking with the owner Linda, I heard her passion to serve the freshest vegetables, and I used my rogue food detective skills to discover that the noodles served at Thai First are handmade from scratch each day and delivered to the restaurant daily. Right away, I realized that Thai First is set apart from other Thai restaurants that use store-bought noodles in their dishes. Thai First is also healthy Thai food in that the restaurant uses less oil in the dishes compared to other Thai restaurants. My lunch consisted of a simple, yet tasty, rice & ginger porridge reminiscent of a bowl of congee (Chinese version) or jook (Korean version). The crab rangoons that accompanied my lunch were solid. The basil dynamite with chicken was also solid. In closing, for the Downers Grove area, Thai First is one of the best, if not the best, Thai restaurants in the area. Whenever I'm in the Downers Grove area next and I want Thai food, Thai First will be FIRST on my list. For Linda and her genuine desire to serve the freshest and best Thai food to her customers, I will be sure to dine here again soon. read more

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I am so disappointed. I wanted to like this place-- I really did. I ordered 3 items for takeout: -Eggrolls -Seafood delight (the menu touts a medley of imitation crab, shrimp, mussels, and scallops) -Red Salmon Curry The entrees were $17 each. Now, I get it. You're paying for seafood. But how incredibly misleading of this establishment to call the seafood delight a "medley" of the aforementioned seafood, when in reality my dish was a pathetic slop of 3 shrimp, ONE scallop, 5 mussels, and about 5 pieces of imitation crab. You know what there was a LOT of? PINEAPPLE and an overpowering sweet sauce. Really? $17 for that mess? I find this so misleading and downright dishonest. After reading previous reviews, it seems like this is a common issue with this restaurant. Management- COME ON. It's not right when restaurants load dishes down with a disproportionate amount of vegetables to meat. It's just cheap and not a good look. 1 star is for the eggrolls which were fine and the Red Salmon Curry. The salmon was entirely overcooked (dry, tough) but the curry sauce itself was fine. The most frustrating thing is that I contemplated calling to give the restaurant my feedback - instead of going to yelp- but I just can't bear to call because it was very apparent they were understaffed at the register. Bless the woman working the front desk- she was trying her hardest. read more

Thai First has been getting some love here, so I wanted to check it out. It's located in a strip mall right next door to one of my favorite Mexican spots - Los Dos. The interior is comfortable, but not fancy. Our hostess/server asked whether we would like a table or a booth. We opted for a booth. Oddly, the booths consist of banquette style seating with small partitions to delineate the tables. To enter the banquette, one must pull the table out. It's a little quirky, but more charming than off-putting. My companion got the Tom Kha soup and I had the Panang Curry. Her soup's broth had a really nice flavor. It was a relatively light, and perfect for the chilly evening. My Panang curry was excellent, with a nice richness from the coconut milk. I ordered it at a medium spice level, and it was a bit tame for my taste. Next time I'll try to better convey my heat needs. All in all - a fine option for Downers Grove and surrounding areas. read more

I love Thai food. In my previous life, I travelled extensively in S.E.Asia and had developed a fondness for the various cuisines and Thai being one of my favorites. Hence, I am always on the look out for a good spot and utilize Yelp whenever I can to help find them. This place has good reviews so here we are. A nicely decorated small spot which only had a few other diners when we came in. We ordered the Thai sampler appetizer plate to share. Which had satay, dumplings, rolls, etc. This was ok, nothing really special. Also ordered Tom Yum soup with Tofu. Green Curry, Panang Curry, and Lad Nar. The Tom Yum was only ok. Not the best version I've had it was lacking in the spice department. All of the other dishes were very good. I had the green curry and I requested spicy which indeed it was. It kind of crept up on me when I noticed the back of my head beginning to sweat. I love that. This place is clean and nicely decorated. A nice neighborhood spot but I would not call it a destination spot. However, If I find myself around, I would not hesitate to return. Cheers to all read more

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Good food. Nice little hidden place. We will be back to try other dishes. Everything we had had good flavor.

I come here quite often. The food and service is great! I've been happy with crab Rangoon, pad ki Mao, pad Thai, Tom yum soup etc. I wish they were more generous with the shrimp and have more fish options like a curry. read more

I've been looking for a go-to Thai restaurant in the neighborhood. I was hoping this was it. I was so disappointed. 1 pro: dishes were flavorful. Cons: veggies to meat ratio was 5-1. Made the dishes look big. But you had to hunt for the meat. Thai iced tea - $3.50 for a glass filled with ice. If you take out the ice, I would be surprised if the thai tea even made it halfway. We were give two tiny bowls of rice. We asked for another as there were 3 of us. Got charged an extra $1.50 for a tiny scoop of rice. Any suggestions of an authentic Thai restaurant in the Woodridge/Downer's Grove Area? read more

Egg rolls and mix veggie delight shrimp Very fresh and flavorful Lovely! First time carrying out here and satisfied read more

Thai First - Egg rolls and mix veggie delight - Thai Near Me - Downers Grove, Illinois

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Stay away from this place if you're thinking about dining-in on a busy Friday night. Sitting here 45 minutes without water after ordering twice. Looks like I need to order carry out from my table to get anything from this place. Hope I get served before they close tonight. Update: Finally received food...best tasting Thai food but didn't get drinks until almost finished with meal. Summary: Order take out, it's great food but service is not good when they are busy. read more

First time to the restaurant - very disappointed. Came in hungry, and did not receive a menu until 10 minutes after. Ordered Panang curry with chicken. The sauce was spicy, but the chicken was dry and flavorless - it tasted cheap frozen chicken meat. All vegetables were undercooked - terrible. Wanted to pay the check - the waitress was distracted again. Had to walk over and pay at the register. Unattentive service and low quality food is a bad combination, in my opinion. read more

Outstanding date night! Beautiful, quiet, intimate, peaceful. And the food! Fresh as can be, expertly prepared, served in a timely manner. They even honored a special allergy-driven request with grace. 10 out of 10, would go again! read more

Service was great for a work lunch. They come in generous proportions and the quantity seems great! I will definitely be back for more!

Crab rangoons amazing better than anywhere seriously amazing... Great crab to cream cheese ratio unlike the Chinese crab rangoons. Get the crab rangoons!! Would recommend the cashew dish (love pineapples and cashews and Chile great combination) Everything tasted very fresh and healthy veggies crunchy they take pride in their cooking. Really unique restaurant. Small but had a lot of quality. Seemed like they had a small kitchen. If you come in when they're busy get appetizers ( held us over for the wait) Service was 4\5 kudos to the waitress running around doing the best she can as she was the only waitress besides the owner. But other than that me and my boyfriend really enjoyed our food...he got the Thai fried rice with chicken. Boring in my opinion but not greasy at All seemed very healthy and didn't taste like a wok like other places. We love this place and will be back read more

Intimate atmosphere, interesting menu and fresh ingredients. Worth a visit if you need a Thai fix!

We went in a group for dinner on a Friday night. Food was really good. I had panang curry and it was out of the world. Would definitely come here again. read more

First Thai restaurant in years that I seen as nice as this one. The owner is friendly and welcoming. I prefer the traditional spring roll, I do not like it sliced up. Oh the food and service was excellent. To bad it 45 minutes away. read more

It's been several years since I ate at Thai First on Maple in Downers Grove. Tonite I ordered for takeout the Eggplant Deluxe and the spring rolls, both of which we're disappointingly bland. The eggplant dish looked appetizing but lacked any spiciness and also had very little sauce to moisten the jasmine rice-perhaps a tablespoon of sauce. Also I ordered the dish with shrimp which cost me $4 extra. I got 4 shrimp. I would have appreciated if the menu had been upfront and said the shrimp were $1 each - I might have asked for 6 - or I might have ordered from elsewhere. read more

I love Thai food! crab Rangoon, check! Pad see ew, check! Chicken Curry, check! Singha, Doublecheck!! New dessert I've never had before though: Thai custard, check! Funny color, but ignore that. Service, check, check, check. So yes, the best in town. Hurry over. Gotta go. Check just arrived! read more

I am not very familiar with Thai food, but this little restaurant is a true gem! Its ambiance is cheerful with peach-colored walls, soft Asian music, and Buddha statues. Their food is excellent! It had an amazing blend of herbs and spices to truly tease the palate. Their ice coffee was delicious, but I had to add a bit of cream to make it less strong. The family who runs this are so polite and pleasant, and we met the chef, a sweet lady who's mother taught her to cook and taught her well. The food is fresh, hot, and with the perfect blending of flavors. It is so hard to find really well prepared "home-made" meals and I will definitely be returning very soon. I'm just concerned they will need to get a bigger restaurant when everyone finds out how amazing their meals are. read more

If I could give this place 10 stars I would! After returning from 3 weeks in Thailand last year, I have been on a mission to find delicious and authentic Thai food in the Chicago area. I finally found it at Thai First! The food is fresh and amazing! We tried the chicken panang curry (best I've ever had), chicken pad thai (amazing), shrimp fried rice (out of this world), basil fried rice, pad se ew, crab rangoons, papaya salad (took me back to Thailand!), and the mango sticky rice (better than Thailand). I'm pretty sure I embarrassed my family because I was making so many noises while eating this food and couldn't stop raving about it throughout the meal. It's the only Thai place in the area opened on Monday and we were fortunate to find it while searching for dinner options on Yelp. Service was also fantastic! The owner is the sweetest and she served us. She was so passionate about using fresh, high quality ingredients to make delicious and healthy food. She asked for feedback and we told her not to change anything! It was probably one of the best meals I've had this year. I liked it so much, I almost came back the next day after finishing my leftovers. If you love Thai food, make the trip out here to Thai First and you'll be blown away by fresh, delicious, and authentic food! read more

Had to go on the hunt after Thai O'Cha closed in Darien. This place was a great find though! The owner was so sweet and very nice when serving us and they have CURRY NOODLES. Curry noodles are the best thing ever, and they did it in panang curry too! FANTASTIC. Also, the dining room is very cute. read more

The waitress failed to bring me a napkin when I asked and had to be reminded... and we were the only customers in the restaurant. Also the pad Thai was the worst I've ever had, though by virtue of it being a pad Thai it was still edible. It seems this place has given up. read more

First things first-- that hostess is gorgeousssss. Sharp as a tack, too. Hard time concentrating on my food. Which brings me to my next point: The food is superb. I devoured my red curry twice in a row, and on my third run I went with the pad Thai. Both dishes were awesome. Great environment, too. Even if the Buddha was presumably against statues of himself (which one can read into should one read the Dhammapada), it gives off a nice feel of ambience in the low-lit room. So they're three for three in my book. Foods awesome. Good atmosphere. Super attractive hostess. Soldddddd. I'll have to come back when I get back from Colorado. Until then, thanks for the food. read more

Very good! First time in and I enjoyed the food and sauces very much. Their egg rolls are more like traditional deep fried spring rolls but they were the best I've ever tasted! Only 3 smaller rolls in the order so get 2 orders if you're sharing! My daughter loved them too! The spring rolls are fresh, with tofu and cucumber and the sauce it comes with is amazing. Our entrees were delicious with good sized portions and the steamed rice was some of the best I've had. Friendly woman taking phone orders, acting as the waitress for dine in and doing take out. They could definitely use more staff and we waited about 30 minutes longer than the take out time had said it would take (I'm glad we didn't get there right at the expected time so didn't have to wait in the restaurant as long) but I understand that things are busy and the food was piping hot and fresh when we got home. Dine in looks nice and the place is very clean. We'll be back for sure! read more

First let me say the food was good but not spectacular by any means. I went in looking for a lunch special. Walking in there was a sign that said lunch special $8.95 and includes a salad and appetizers. I went in and I asked if it was still time for the lunch special? I was told Yes and given the menu along with the lunch special menu. On the lunch special menu they had chicken basil so I asked if I would be able to substitute the chicken for beef. Again I was told Yes. I stated if there was a difference for the substitution I would pay it.I never received soup or appetizer to which I didn't say much. The food came out it wasn't a lot of food but I figured it's probably because it's a lunch special. I finished eating and I received a bill for $11.95. I was charged for regular dinner which again it didn't seem like a regular dinner amount of food and I specifically asked twice about the lunch special. Like I said the food was good but I felt like I got bait and switched. I paid it left the waitress two dollars $2.50 tip that brought (I viewed it as my parting gift to them) my total to $14.45 and left. It's a shame that on this day the Thai Café was closed. I should've went to subway or Los Dos Mexican Cuisine both of which are next-door. For $14.45 I could've definitely had more enjoyable lunch. Oh well live and learn. read more

Great food, ambiance, and service in this tiny strip-mall gem. One caveat though, is that they use too much salt. I thought the first time was a fluke, but it seems to be their norm. I need to try asking if they can tone it down some the next time. Fantastic Thai ice coffee as well (and no salt in that)! read more

Amazingly friendly and Great food. I travel frequently and when back in town, this is my go to.