Brown Sugar Cafe

My go-​to thai place. I live in Back Bay and there are a few thai places walking distance from me, but I drive here because its so worth it.
I usually get either see ew or pad thai woonsen noodles, which both are amazing. I love their tomkha soup they use really awesome mushrooms, 2 different kinds, and aren’t raw like a lot of thai places. My dad loves the tom yum soup and says its the best he’s ever had.
I’m basically vegetarian and so i always eat tofu. I love the way the fry their tofu here and the big triangles. Its cooked pretty perfectly. Might branch out and try some new things soon here, but I love this place. Service is always good, and the place itself is pretty cozy. Not fast food feeling, but also not overly fancy.
I haven’t tried a whole lot of other thai places mostly because looking at reviews or the energy of the restaurant just seems like it will be a let down compared to this place. If it aint broke…
I also seem to always be able to find a parking spot when I go later at night, so thats always a plus :)
Good job Brown Sugar Café. been a while since i’ve had a thai place that was this solid in all areas

Pretty good food. It is just a bit pricey for my liking. I ordered their Pad Thai as well as their Pineapple Fried Rice. Both were good and their delivery is convenient.

This review is for take out only, which I rarely do because I worry it will not be as good off site but the food was fabulous. I’m glad I do not live near Brown Sugar because I would be ordering from here more often than I needed. I have found my brown sugar tooth to be very strong because typically I do not like Thai food. I find most of the food on the sweet side of life but this could change.
We ordered the drunken noodles, tofu triangles, green beans, rama duck, pad see ew and a chicken dish with mangoes (sorry I forget the name). It was all good. The portions were huge. Even a party of five had more than half of all the containers still filled with food.
I would like to go in, sit and take in the environment but I was not on pick up duty so truly this review is all about the food!

This place was amazing. Plates already on the table was very classy. The food was amazing. I ate the mango chicken curry. The service was impeccable and they even had Frank Sinatra playing. They also had brown rice available which was awesome.

Considering there’s a lot of great Asian cuisine in the area, especially Thai food, I was surprised at the not so great tasting meal. The food was pretty bland (I had pad thai and my friend had curry) and everything in the dinner menu is on the pricier side. The lunch menu might be more affordable. The place is going for a fancy Thai restaurant rather than authentic, but honestly just seemed like food I could get anywhere else in the area. I would say skip this place and walk a few more blocks for Thai food.

Brown Sugar– the name itself sounds too tantalizingly delicious to pass up. My family and I (party of 5) went here for dinner around 9pm. I called a few minutes ahead to make reservations, and a table was ready for us by the time we got there. I’m sure if we had arrived even a few mins earlier, we would’ve had to wait, as both the indoor and small outdoor patio seating were packed.
The high ceilings, dimmed lighting, and tasteful décor make this small, cozy space seem grande and intimate. The space is conducive for families, groups, a meal w fellow professionals, or date-​night.
We ordered the following: lollipop chicken (chicken lacked taste and I wasn’t particularly fond of the batter– there was more more fluff than crunch); Brown Sugar Mango curry w tofu (delightfully flavorful w chunks of fresh mango and capsicum. Loved it!); lobster seafood curry (meh. there was a lot going on w that dish, but not enough curry and flavor); crispy noodle pad Thai w chicken (meh); basil fried rice w chicken (good, not great).
The dishes are perfect for sharing. White rice has to be ordered separately, and it comes in single serving portions.
The hi-​light of the evening, hands down, was the William Hung-​esque rendition of Happy Birthday play to a backdrop of arcade-​like disco lights for a Birthday Date Night Dinner elsewhere in the restaurant.
Take away: Get the Brown Sugar Mango Curry at Brown Sugar on your birthday.
Aside– I feel badly mentioning this, but I can’t not mention it… as we were waiting for the bill, a cockroach crawled on the wall behind me. I had to walk out immediately as to not make a scene with gag-​face. Then again, we were one of the few tables wrapping up to leave. The roaches were prolly singing Closing Time as they crawled out the woodwork at 11pm, like clockwork.

I stopped by the other day for dinner when we were in the mood for Thai food. They have a few tables outside, which were perfect to enjoy the nice weather. The panang curry was tasty and the coconut gave the dish a nice creamy texture. The service was attentive and the food came out quickly.

Went into this lovely restaurant with my sister last Friday night. I was in town visiting and she loves this place.
High ceilings makes the place feel spacious but it was cozy at the same time. We were seated right away (plenty of open tables on a Friday night around 8:30) and the waitstaff was wonderful. We ordered the fresh roll (with shrimp) and spring roll (with veggies or chicken) appetizers and went to town. The appetizers were great, nice presentation and very flavorful.
For my main dish I ordered the drunken noodles. The dish has great flavor but if I’m going to be totally honest, the noodles felt as though they had been cooked much too long. The dish felt more mushy than well executed.
Decent Thai food in the area but didn’t enjoy my main dish as much as I was hoping to.

I came here for my last meal in Boston on a pretty snowy day. The interior is very nice and much larger than what it appears like from the outside. I got the Brown sugar mango fried rice which had pretty good flavor and wasn’t overly salty like what a lot of fried rice can turn out to be. Even though I like ginger, I thought the ginger pieces could’ve been chopped up more finely rather than in long strips. Same with the onions — I would prefer it if the onions could be chopped up more finely too. Otherwise, I got a lot of big mango chunks buried in the rice which I loved eating, especially when warm. I also asked for the shrimp to be cooked separately and served on the side since I don’t eat seafood but wanted to give it to my friend (also a fellow Unilocaler) and they were able to accommodate that easily! She got the Jungle curry which appeared super watery with a soup-​like consistency, probably because it was a coconut-​free curry. It would’ve been much better had they thickened the curry with something else instead of having it be so runny. We also both wanted it to be spicier because it was fairly mild. The curry does have a lot of green vegetables though so it kind of lived up to its Jungle curry name.
For dessert, we got the mango with sticky rice which is my classic go-​to Thai dessert that I always love getting. I thought the mango they used here was quite string-​y and less sweet, perhaps because it was cold in the dessert whereas when it was cooked in my fried rice, it brought out the sweetness and broke down the fibrous tissue of the mango more. The sticky rice was not super sticky :(but I really liked the floral jasmine and coconut flavor infused in it. It was one of the most fragrant sticky rice I’ve had.
Overall, solid Thai food which I would revisit if ever in Boston again. The prices are on the more expensive side for Thai with most entrees starting at $ 12 and running up to $ 20. The menu is quite extensive and it definitely took the two of us awhile to decide on a dish. Service was pretty good too.

Brown Sugar Café is everything you want it to be and more! The menu is filled with a variety of different Thai dishes but it can also be a little overwhelming at the same time. The food is a little more expensive than most Thai restaurants but the quality is superb. I ordered the Drunken Noodles with beef and young coconut juice. No complaints here! Give them a try!

I had the Thai green curry with tofu and my sis had the Brown Sugar Mango curry and we had the Tom Yum Goong to share as our appetizer. We got the lunch combo which was value for money but it definitely isn’t authentic Thai — the food was more sweet than spicy. The spice was practically non-​existent for both the soup and my green curry (which was indicated that it would be spicy per the menu).
I would probably look to other Thai spots if you’re looking for a true Thai experience.

Ordered take out for lunch at Brown Sugar Café. The restaurant itself is absolutely huge an they have gorgeous salt water fish tanks at the entry. The service was very friendly and were pleasant to work with.
The menu itself is absolutely HUGE, I mean you can spend some serious time deciding what to order. And to top it off you can order most dishes «Thai Style» which she explained to me as a simpler version with less variety of vegetable and spicy.
I ordered Duck Drunken Noodle (Flat rice noodles, onions, green beans, basil leaves, and hot peppers)
&
Beef Panang Curry «Thai Style» (Curry paste in coconut milk with peppers, snow peas, green peas, green beans, bamboo strips, sweet basil leaves & topped with chopped kaffir lime leaves.
The drunken noodles were really good. Great flavor and very spicy which I asked for. The basil adds a nice fresh pop of flavor and the rest of the veggies are nice and crisp even for take out. I actually just wished for more noodles in this dish!
The Panang Curry was my favorite of the two! Thai style was the way to go for me since I’m a spice freak! Super spicy with a rich coconut curry and just a touch of sweetness. The kaffir lime leaves add great fragrance and a punch of citrus. The beef is extremely tender and just soaks up that delicious curry! So good you’ll want to drink any leftover curry — or at least order extra rice so you can soak up every last drop.
I’ll definitely be back and am looking forward to trying other dishes at Brown Sugar!

A consistently good place for Thai food. Brought kids here to try Thai food for the first time and they enjoyed it. We went with simple items, pad Thai, Thai fried rice, and pineapple chicken with rice. Everything was prepared well, meats were moist, and rice and noodles were cooked well.

I’ve been craving Thai food for the past few months. I had to work offsite today and took the Green line B train into the office and remembered Brown Sugar was along the route. It was only 8:30 in the morning so I knew they were closed but I was excited because I knew I was finally getting my Thai food. I called to place my take out lunch order around 12:30 and they said it would only take 15 minutes which is not a long time for the busy lunch hour. When I attended NU (Northeastern Univ) we had on close to campus near Fenway Park but it closed and my Thai food cravings now had to travel close to Brighton to this location.
Dishes:
Yellow Curry — I ordered mine with shrimp but you have the option to change your protein. It is served with white or brown rice. The yellow curry is mild in spice and very flavorful with coconut milk, pineapples, yellow squash, peppers and onions. This is one of my favs on the menu, extremely flavorful with the right amount of kick and they aren’t cheap with the shrimp. They give 5 – 6 defeat sized shrimp and a good portion for the lunch plate too. Loved every part of the meal, no complaints.
Thai Fried Rice — it’s basically regular fried rice but more flavorful in my opinion. It has eggs, onion, broccoli, chicken and shrimp. It’s light, not close to heavy even though it’s «fried rice». Very flavorful and a large portion that you can go sh later for dinner.
Ambiance: I did take out so I did not sit to eat but it was around 1pm and it was pretty crowed. It’s not a large restaurant space but very cozy, small tables.

This is the first place I went for my first time visiting Boston. I was really craving Thai food and this place cured my cravings ! We got the chicken satay, coconut soup, red vegetable curry, chicken pad Thai and chicken fried rice. Everything was really good. The chicken satay had four huge pieces of chicken breast on a stick. It came with a deliciously sweet and tangy sauce as well as a classic peanut sauce. The coconut soup was creamy, coconutty, tangy and slightly sweet. The pad Thai was on the sweet side but if you squeeze the lime on it, it tastes amazing. The red curry was delicious. I basically drank the sauce.
All of a sudden the lights went dim and a song started playing. Flashing colorful lights on the walls appeared. It was someone’s birthday. This is the first place I’ve ever been that goes this far for someone’s birthday. Great place for my visit in Boston so far!

I cam here a couple of days ago with my friends and i honestly was not expecting much but let me tel you, it was actually amazing! The resturant itself is very nice and there were nice thai themed decorations on the walls. Food wise it was pretty good. I ended up getting the red chicken curry one of my friends got the yellow curry. Both dishes were pretty great especailly for the price we had to pay. We also got the green soda drinks which was sweet and deliciuous. Over all I loved this resturant. The service was great and the food was amazing. I look forward to coming back again!

Fun restaurant, great birthday celebration with disco lights and flashlights. Pad thai among the best.

Brown Sugar is so bizarre but so great. The space is randomly GIANT — you really can’t tell from outside just how big it is. The decorations are a little all over the place — and kind of lacking to be honest. But they have a great selection of Thai food with some odd «random» items mixed in. The Golden triangles are a great appetizer to start with and I NEVER go here without ordering the scallion pancakes. They are always crispy and delicious.
For entrees, I normally get the Chicken Pad See Ew, which is always a huge portion and really flavorful. I have never been disappointed with this dish here! One time I ventured out and got the chicken with cashew nuts, but if I’m remembering correctly it was served on half a pineapple or something really bizarre but cool like that. Maybe I dreamt that. But I’m pretty sure it happened.
For dessert, I always get the fried ice cream. It’s SO good!
If I remember correctly they don’t have cocktails, just beer and wine, so that’s something to keep in mind. Might be worth calling to double check if that affects you… I may be wrong and/​or that may be subject to change. I am positive that they don’t have a bar that you can really sit at.
BUT, the absolute best part about Brown Sugar is the birthday celebrations. If you don’t get to experience one while you’re there, I recommend telling your waiter it’s your birthday, even if it’s not. I promise, it will be worth it.

Was DYING to try Brown Sugar Café after rave reviews from friends and boy were they right! First off, I’m not a Thai food expert but my palate knows good food.
Ambiance: Cozy, dim, classic Asian décor. Birthdays here are pretty dramatic. «Happy birthday» is blasted on the audio system and the restaurant lights are dimmed to show off a colorful disco ball.
Service: This establishment doesn’t offer reservations – so be prepared to wait on busy weekend nights. Our waitress was pleasant. She took our order promptly, refilled our water glasses, and checked on us several times. Our food came in less than 15 minutes.
Food: The three of us ordered Thai tea (try it – its sooo amazing!!) and I was completely torn between ordering noodles or fried rice. I eventually opted for the Brown Sugar Mango Fried Rice. When the food came, first things I noticed, beautiful plating and HUGE portion sizes! The fried rice I ordered was incredible – nice blend of flavors and textures. The mangos were clearly fresh and just barely cooked. YUM! Everything was delish but I couldn’t eat it all without fall into a never-​to-​awaken-​food coma or just plain exploding.
For dessert, we tried the the coconut fried ice cream. How – ? Yeah, but it was good anyways!
Price: For a party of three, we each paid about $ 25 each.
Parking: The B Line is right across the street. There is street parking but good luck with that.
Will I be back? Most certainly yes! The menu has sooo much variety and there is more to explore.

came here for birthday! The disco ball was simply amazing and food were great!
virgin island –shrimp in coconut shell! Fancy and yum
Pad Thai-​ordered with beef, good too
Pad see ew-​ok
Mongo curry-​ok
Hawaii fried rice-​crab fried rice in pineapple shell! Another dish that looks fancy and taste delicious!
Sweet and sour spareribs-​ribs are good
Brown sugar salad-​the source are amazing, good portion
Thai spring rolls-​good appetizer to start the meal
We had 7 people, but we ordered too much. Serving size are good.

Been hearing great things about Brown Sugar and was excited to see how they compared to my local favorite Thai place.
FOOD:
Golden Triangles — Crispy and packed with flavor. The description of this as a Thai version of a samosa is right on point.
Yellow Curry with chicken and shrimp (extra spicy) — Pretty great dish if your favorite curry happens to be yellow curry. I’ll have to admit that I’m partial to one I ordered that night which is below…
Choo Chee Fisherman (extra spicy) — The Choo Chee curry sauce was an awesome blend of spices! It was fuller in flavor and tasted slightly richer and sweeter than the Yellow Curry. Highly recommended even if you get this sauce with some other protein. Don’t forget to order it extra spicy!

The good: Tom yum, thai iced tea, location off of the T
The soup was tasty and the iced tea was delicious. Directly across the street from the Green Babcock station.
The ok: Spring rolls, fried banana, tom kha
Nothing to write home about, but acceptable.
The bad: Pad thai
Ordered the chicken pad thai. Arguably one of the worst pad thai renditions I’ve had since vacationing in Thailand. Think one of those thai kitchen boxes that you can get at the grocery store and then take a tablespoon of sugar and dump it over the noodles. Where is the tamarind flavor and fish sauce flavor? At least the presentation was correct. Inedible.

Soft-​shell crab pad thai! The menu here is pretty much the same as The Similans over in Cambridge, and for good reason – their menu works!
While I personally find that this place is a tad on the pricey side, it’s slightly fancier than casual and you can expect amazing service. I’m craving thai iced tea now that I’m writing this!

Brown Sugar is sooo good!
It’s a big spot and has a good amount of seating.
The menu is friendly to everyone, including people allergic to gluten.
The thai iced tea is sooooo good, sweet but a great combo and comes in a fancy glass.
My favorite meal from here is the pineapple fried rice. It’s so filling, huge and it’s so healthy-​ish. If you get it during dinner, it comes in a half pineapple!
You gotta try the fried green ice cream, I could be full and still order it.
Finally. I heard they make a big deal about birthdays like drums and everything.

Food was great. Ambience and service is good too.
Had ordered the tofu basil, not too spicy not too mild. The fried banana and fried ice cream were pretty decent. Would definitely go there again.

Let me start by tell you how beautiful this restaurant is. The care and attention to detail of the interior design (and exterior design– I love the colorful floral display outside!) can only be described as impeccably appropriate. Spotless and full of culture, the décor completely encompasses the vibe of food.
My friend (a regular) brought me here, and I’m so glad she did! We had the Chicken Cashew Rice Special and the Pad See Ew (my go-​to). They were both delicious, and although I had my doubts about the cashew dish as I’m not the most enthusiastic about nuts, I couldn’t stop eating it!
We were seated at the window seat with a fantastic view of the floral display out front, and had a great server who was incredibly patient with us (the entire menu looks so good, we couldn’t decide what to get for our second dish!).
5/​5, will definitely keep this place in mind the next time I go to visit my BU friends!

An OK Thai restaurant. My tofu drunken noodle was rather on the greasy side, veggies were barely cut (imagine uncut string beans and chunks of tomatoes). The Thai fried rice wasn’t as well blended either; found some dry, plain, white rice grains in the pile.

Great Thai restaurant and I will tell you why.
I have a soft spot for restaurants with good interior designs. This place has that. It has a mix of industrial design (which was probably left over from a previous Italian restaurant — my guess) and Thai architecture. The walls are covered with huge fabric rugs with sequin details and classic Thai symbols like elephants. The space is much roomier than what it looks like from the outside.
Food is decent. We got tod munm, spicy jamaica, drunken noodle, and brown sugar duck. Loved the tod munn! Loved brown sugar duck too — skin is crispy but meat is still tender.
Someone had a birthday that day and they turned off the light, played a clubbing styled Happy birth day song and turned on disco lightings lolll. Nice touch to the whole dining experience.

It’s hard for me to judge Thai food because I don’t eat it that often. All I can say for Brown Sugar is that it was decent food. The taste overall of the food was pleasant although some dishes were way too spicy for my liking.
We ordered the drunken noodles which in my opinion was the best out of all the dishes (of course it would be the pad Thai) being that it was nicely seasoned and better tasting than all the other ones. Downside was that the noodles were overcooked and one big mush. We had the brown sugar duck I believe but it’s basically one of their more well known dish. I was disappointed when it came out. I mean where was the duck? Instead all I saw was a big plate with veggies and dark dark brown salty chunks. Really not worth the $ 18. Also had the pineapple fried rice and fishermans seafood. Beware of this seafood dish, you’ll be choking and gasping for water.
The ambience itself I guess is representing the culture and puts out more of a less contemporary feel. Overall for a first time experience, there wasn’t anything real negative to say but I don’t think I would necessarily say I’ll be screaming to come back.

I’ve been here multiple times as a college student and decided to stop by again on my short trip to Boston. What I love most about Brown Sugar Café is the interior décor (very ethnic and comfortable) and friendly service. The thai iced tea here is also delicious!
The food is traditional Thai fare, and I’ve mostly enjoyed the dishes I ordered. When I last went, we got the:
Chicken/​Beef satay appetizers: Highly recommend! Both the chicken and beef were grilled to perfection.
Siamese Twins: It was alright, there was only 4 pieces of shrimp and the sauce was really basic. Something I probably could’ve cooked.
Pork Pad See Ew: The sauce was delicious, but the noodles and pork were overcooked. They were also pretty lazy about slicing the pork as they were extremely large pieces of pork about the size of my palm…
All in all, even though the food isn’t life-​changing, I would still recommend Brown Sugar Café to stop by at if you’re craving Thai food. It’s a good experience.

The food isn’t bad, but I would rather eat Thai food as takeout, because the food is just as good, and you get the same amount of it for half the price. I split a Combo Platter and a Rad Na entrée (with chicken) with my boyfriend, and it was so much food that we were really full by the end of the meal. I liked the Combo Platter a lot, because it allows you to sample 8 of the 16 appetizer options on the menu. My favourite appetizers were the Golden Triangles, the Brown Sugar Rolls and the Spare Ribs. The Rad Na was alright overall, but what really stood out to me were the noodles and the «Chef’s Gravy», that they were cooked in. The dish might have been better if I ordered another kind of meat instead of chicken.
Since it was my friend’s birthday, we ordered her a Birthday Special dessert, which consisted of a scoop of fried ice cream and some fried banana bites. The dessert was by far the highlight of the meal — it was delicious and the restaurant put on a fun «birthday show» by dimming the lights of the restaurant, turning on a strobe light and playing happy birthday, while they brought the dessert out. On the other hand, the dessert cost $ 12, which was a huge rip-​off! I’ve had desserts at fancier restaurants for cheaper than that.

Our first meal in Boston for the conference week. This was one of the restaurants recommended by the organizer. All of us were simply hungry and thought that Thai would be a safe option to satisfy our hunger first before exploring.
Overall, their menu looks really interesting. There were quite a few items I wanted to try out of curiosity but decided to just settle for a simple Country Style Pad Thai w/​extra Shrimp. I also got myself a Thai Tea as a treat.
However, there’s a big problem. The Pad Thai came out EXTREMELY sour, and I can’t tell if it was by mistake or by design. I’ve had pad thai in many states before but I’ve never had one that’s cooked with this my vinegar (or any vinegar at all). My friend even choked on his first bite because he wasn’t expecting that much vinegar. The strange thing is that everything else was delicious. The noodles were great, the toppings were great, and the proteins were cooked well. The thai tea was refreshing as well. What a bummer.
I’m just gonna convince myself that it was simply an unfortunate mistake and give them a pass. No one should be eating that much vinegar. It’s like eating a sour patch with every bite… but w/​o the sweet right after.