Holy Basil

I was disappointed to discover that Holy Basil closed. While I didn’t always patronize Holy Basil during my trips to New York, largely because of the ubiquity of Thai food in general, I always found the food to be good and vegetarian accommodating. I also liked that the kitchen stayed open later, until 11:30 or midnight most nights. In a world of truly mediocre Thai food that woefully underrepresents, Holy Basil was a cut or two above.
RIP, HB.

Cool, dark atmosphere. Pretty good Thai food. Ginger chicken entrée could have had more flavor in the sauce. The curry dish was excellent though.
Papaya salad– good but not great.
Like Unilocal says above, it’s A-​OK. But wouldn’t go back.

Holy Basil is such a hidden Thai restaurant in East Village! If you don’t look up, you won’t notice it!
I have been here once before when I first moved to the city and remember the food was really good. I revisited again last night with my husband and I was not as thrilled as I was the first time.
I got the pad kee mao, my favorite dish of all. It has spicy chicken and shrimp with basil sauteed with rice noodles. I was pretty happy with the portion but it was a little too salty. My husband got the yellow curry with chicken and it was pretty good but not great.
The atmosphere here however was worth applauded. It was dark and romantic; the cocktails here are delicious. I felt like dining in some old estate apt in New York. I prob won’t return for their food again since it is just about average but definitely for the drinks!

I’ve eaten here several times. Good food at a decent price. The best part is that no matter what time or day of the week i go i’ve never had to wait for a table.
Excellent presentation, but more importantly the food is impressive. My favorite has to be Yum Nuer starter. Rare beef in a lime juice, fish sauce with onions, cucumbers and tomato. Fantastic. Another notable item is the Thai iced tea, cheap and tasty and isn’t even sugary.
I didn’t really care much for the deserts but other than that the food, décor and overall relaxed feeling of the restaurant make it a great place to eat.

The service was sloooow. As in, the waiter was moved slowly. He poured the beers so slowly I had to stare at the table to keep from laughing because of the awkwardness. He just stood at the edge of our table of 5, slowly pouring 3 beers one by one into a glass, setting them down one by one. it was a joke.
I ordered the pad thai with shrimp, also a joke. There were two pieces of good tiger shrimp and the rest were cheap small shrimp that tasted like chlorine. I can’t believe they skimped out on my shrimp like that! As if I wouldn’t notice the small cheap shrimp amongst the good quality shrimp!
It’s a cute place, I like the servers’ striped uniforms, but I wouldn’t go back here. The sangria was a waste of 11 bucks. There are better Thai places in EV.

I am not a picky eater, so I worry my food reviews will be sub par. That said, I enjoyed this place. I went with a group of friends on a night that included a lot of bar hopping in the East Village. Perhaps that made it more enjoyable, I can’t be sure. Either way, it was some of the better Thai food I have had in the city.
The restaurant is dark, and has a lot of curtains and music is playing that you probably know all the words to. I think this would be a good place to take a date.
We were a group of 8, and they easily sat us. I had cashew chicken (no one needed to take anything home, I think everyone at the table finished the meal) and 2 cocktails.

Came with a few people and were pleasant surprised that the happy hour included food AND drinks. Bill for 4 including 2 entrees, 3 apps, and 1 glass of wine = $ 63 (tax & tip included). That’s what I call cheap eats!
Food was otherwise pretty tasty. Spare ribs were a little over salted but liked that the meat was so tender it fell off the bone. Not to crazy about the mango salad w/​the crispy chicken. Pad thai didn’t have that many ingredients (happy hr item) but I liked the consistency of the noodles.

First step in: «I’m in Hollister: The Restaurant!»
Why wouldn’t I think that? Dark ambience with minimal lighting, young guys, tacky music, but a mixture of young and middle-​aged people.
In all honesty, I am not a fan of Thai food or any kind of food that mostly consists of curry and spice. I try though. A friend actually dragged me here, so of course, I couldn’t say no.
It took me 20 minutes after the menu was handed to me to finally make a decision — Pad Kratiem. It took more than 30 minutes to get our food, and we all got them one by one, not together.
I thought mine was salty-​only to be eaten with rice. My friend’s Pad Kratiem tasted good, like Chinese Ho Fun, but the curry was alright. Not a huge fan of curry. Overall, the service was nice, but not pleasant. It shouldn’t take more than 30 minutes for the food to come, especially when it’s not crowded.

I always walk by this place and am wary about walking up the steps into what looks like an apartment building, but low and behold its basically your own private tree house resting above the street. Classy fresh flowers near many of the tables, cute lamps hanging, and special seating towards the street with sunlight streaming through the windows overlooking 2^nd Ave. Service was excellent. Constantly refilling my water, checking on my dish happiness, and bringing me plenty of extra spice options.
Best thai happy hour ever (till 7PM.) For $ 7 you get an entrée, salad, spring roll AND drink. My huge thai ice tea came out first and was delicious. I ordered the chicken pad thai — large proportion better than average. My tom yum soup came with a teaspoon with spice on the end to stir in depending if I wanted more heat or not, nice touch. For a $ 6-​$ 7 soup I was expecting lots of contents, but only got 2 shrimp and a bunch of mushrooms. Overall very good food, bargain happy hour prices, and nice atmosphere but it got very dark once the sun went down.

I’d heard a lot about this place and finally had a chance to go with a group of friends over the weekend. I was really impressed with the wine list. It was extensive and had some great choices, like the sparkling Australian Shiraz we ended up having. I was so happy when I saw it on the list, since I’d first had it in Melbourne a few years back and the only other place I found it was at Momofuku.
The service is friendly, although it can seem a bit rushed if only because apparently it’s a busy place.
It’s a bit loud and bustling on a weekend night, of course, but the restaurant itself is beautiful and has a lovely, intimate ambiance.
Now about the food… We shared duck spring rolls and beef salad. Both were surprisingly light and the beef salad was excellent, with mixed greens a delicious light dressing.
However, the bump in the road came with the entrees. I was surprised to read another review raving about the massamun curry, because me and another person had that and we commented about how the sauce tasted very sweet. I’ve had massamun curry many times before in various (good) Thai restaurants, and I’ve never once had it taste sweet. Something else that I found odd was that the chicken pieces were very large, about half the size of a typical chicken breast, and we weren’t given knives to cut them with. They were provided right away when we asked though.
I might go back again and try a different entrée. The other people in the group seemed to like their food very much and the starters were excellent. But overall it’s not a place I’d go out of my way to return to.

I used to live across the street from this place and I got takeout at least once a week. It’s probably the best Thai food I’ve ever had. The massamun curry is absolutely perfect. They also have some amazing appetizers such as the satay chicken skewers (best peanut sauce I’ve ever had although it’s a very big portion so maybe order it to share) and the spare ribs (which are kind of sweet if that’s your thing).
It’s an incredibly consistent restaurant and I’ve never had a bad meal there. As I said, the best Thai food I’ve ever had. Try and get a table by the window as there’s a great view of second avenue. Can’t recommend this place enough. Also, I feel like it’s pretty reasonably priced for the quality of the food and the size of the portions. You really can’t go wrong with this place.

Holy Basil has a dark, speakeasy feel but serves a notch-​above Thai food. The presentation is pretty, and the drinks are expensive. The décor is classy but kind of makes you feel like you’re eating in someone’s transformed living room.
I got the Jub Chai, which included vegetables, glass noodles, and tofu in an anise sauce. It was… weird. It wasn’t heavy, which was good, but my friends’ red thai curry and penang curry were much better.
Our waitress was kind of abrupt, leaving me feeling like I did something wrong.
Given all the Thai food options out there, I do not hesitate to try some place else next time. It just wasn’t particularly memorable — except for the somewhat strange ambiance.

want the best tasting frozen mango margarita ever? come here.
dont have anything fabolous to say about my meal except the stuffed squid tastes very OFF and too much like a dumpling…
wont be back here.

I recently made my first visit to Holy Basil, and HOLY BASIL am I glad I did! OK, maybe not that glad, but it was good.
Luckily I had checked out some of the reviews of the place before I showed up. Otherwise, the odd entrance — which is basically off to the side in some old looking walk-​up apartment building — totally would have thrown me off. I grabbed a seat at the bar with my friend while we waited for two other people to show up. They’re very strict about not seating you until the whole party is there. Which was fine with me, since they had Abita beer and salted peanuts at the bar. Abita is not a Thai beer, but is instead from Louisiana. Like me! And the peanuts were delicious, as peanuts usually are.
When the rest of our party showed up we made our way past the bar to our table, which was nice a large, leaving us all plenty of room for plates, drinks, glasses of water, etc. Don’t you hate when the table’s too small to hold everything? Our group of four started with some chicken satay and fried spring rolls. The spring rolls were nice and crisp, while the satay was tender. A nice combination.
I usually get pad Thai or chicken cashew nut when I eat Thai food, but I wanted to branch out. I tried something new — Pad Khing with chicken, which includes ginger, scallions, mushrooms, onions, and some kind of pickled beans. Yum. I really enjoyed it, and my plate was clean in a matter of minutes. The only problem was that I was still hungry. I definitely could have eaten at least twice as much as I was served. Maybe that’s because I’m a gluttonous American, but I’m pretty average sized.
As for the décor, I thought it was quite nice. One friend kept commenting on how much she loved the stained glass on the ceiling, and the high curtains gave the whole place a bit of a secretive or exclusive feeling. The service was fine, though all the waiters looked like they had skirts on because of their strange little aprons. Even the male servers had tights on under them, which was interesting. And the price was quite reasonable. The whole meal for four came in at around $ 150 (or $ 37.50/person).
Holy Basil didn’t wow me, but it didn’t disappoint either.

I thought we went to the wrong place when we got there, lol. It was just up the stairs from the street. They were very nice in accommodating us when we asked for a table out in that balcony even after they told us the tables were meant for 2. It was so dark inside, didn’t think we would be able to see our menus. The music was entertaining, in all the languages it came in, lol.
The duck spring rolls were very good. The mussels were great and flavorful, best part was it wasn’t over cooked or chewy, my husband thought it was wonderful he didn’t want to waste the broth that was left over.
P. S. they don’t have bread for dipping when there’s extra sauce left over, only rice, lol.
P.P.S Hubby says bring your own loaf of bread, extra crusty would be nice for this type of mussel dish. I pointed to the grocery store across the street. LOL!
The soft shell crab mango salad was not bad. I thought the sauce was a bit tangy and hubby thought crab was fishy. Hubby’s advise: ask the chef when the crab was bought to determine freshness.
The duck with pineapple and lychee in curry was delicious. the duck was really crispy and crunchy. I had to have the curry with the rice, yum! Hubby says: «That’s a Goooooood duck and i really don’t like duck that often.»
Last the Pad See-​Ew was very tasty, slightly sweeter than i expected, but that could have easily been due to eating salty stuff first. It was a bit pricey for the quantity that was served. I was like «where’s the rest of it?» lol.
There was only a wine/​alcohol menu, where’s the rest of the nonalcoholic beverages? It’d be nice to know what nonalcoholic beverages they had to drink besides thai iced tea and H2O.
Our friend asked if they could give us some extra of the taro stix that came with the duck rolls, extra pay, no problem, but they didn’t even come back with it at all or mentioned if they didn’t have extra or whatever the case was. When my friend said she didn’t want it anymore, the guy just smiled and nodded. Don’t think he knew what she was talking about or remembered. What ever happened to little note pads that waiters write all orders on so they won’t forget?
But none the less I would go back for the tasty thai food. Too bad they don’t deliver to the UES.

I went to this place last Sunday, great service, cool atmosphere, great food in good portions.
I love the darkness of the place!

This place has such a build you up then tear you down effect.
Upon entering some front resiential building, there is no front door so everything looks sort of sketchy… walking through some apartment building to my restaurant does not scream“hidden gem” to me.
We get to the main entrance and step into a cool Thai restaurant. The chill relaxed ambiance surprises me, building up the expectations.
Then I see the menu, which is your typical Thai fare but pricier than your usual Thai restaurant. I can’t really justify the 8 dollar plate of dumplings.
I order the Basil noodles and friend orders the Massaman Curry, while it was good, it wasn’t really worth the money we paid for and portions were super small.
Overall, I think there are enough places in the area to compete with the Holy Basil. I will cast a vote for Thai Terminal on 12^th and 1^st. Small, sleek décor with excellent Thai food without the hefty price tag.

What stands out most about Holy Basil is the atmosphere. There is lots of space with high ceilings and the lights are dim. The décor is different and is a nice date location and not good for a group gathering.
The Thai food here is good. However, it isn’t much different from any other Thai restaurant. There are vegetarian options along with the typical Thai dishes that you normally enjoy.

Came here with four people and each of us liked it a lot. We shared:
* Duck spring rolls (appetizer)
* Chicken pad thai
* Chicken massamun
* One of the crispy duck curries (can’t recall the name)
* The halibut entrée (can’t recall its name either)
All was excellent. The service was good. The place itself is attractive, its style some kind of cross of restaurant and trendy lounge. The room was a bit loud and could have been a few lumens brighter, but those are small complaints.
I’d definitely come again and try the other dishes.

Conveniently located in the EV and designed like a railroad apt, Holy Basil is a wonderful restaurant –lounge combo that doesn’t make you feel cramped or suffocating. Reservations are highly recommended as the wait for walk-​in dining can be more than 30 mins. We were lucky to get seats next to the window peering onto 2^nd avenue. However, despite the great décor, the quality of the food was mixed.
We ordered the shrimp cakes (3 pieces for $ 10) appetizer, which was quite good. Both of my friends ordered the Tofu and Vegetable Avocado Curry, which came with a very small amount curry. A few scoops of rice sufficiently absorbed all of the curry, so it became flavorless rather quickly. They were also quite stingy with the avocado as well. On the bright side, the Pla Laad Preeg (crispy striped bass in red chili sauce) was fresh and chewy. The chili sauce had a good kick yet wasn’t overwhelming. Yet, I am not sure why the dish was labeled «whole fish» when you don’t get the head.
3.5 Stars! This would have been a 4-​star experience if not for the higher prices compared to other Thai restaurants like Spice and Pongsri. The portion of curry was disappointingly small for a vegetarian option. The striped bass ($ 19) was excellent and better than what I have experienced at other Thai franchises in the city. I would make a return visit just for that and to try the crispy duck.