Hot Basil Thai Cuisine

I really like this place. Sampler plates have nice variety. All the main dishes I have had can alter their spice level. If you like spicy, Tai hot is delicious but everyone I come here with enjoys the food (travel for business groups).
Note: not a large place, so it can be a bit limited if more than 8 people unless you book ahead.
Wait staff is friendly and meals are pretty fairly quick to arrive.

Hot Basil is THE best Thai food I’ve ever had in Kansas City. I work in NKC and live in Southern KC, so I’ve ventured to many different Thai places. This is the best by far. Service is great, lots of food options, and the meals always come out hot and delicious. Prices are extremely reasonable as well. It has a nice atmosphere too – a great place to enjoy a quiet meal with friends and family.

Excellent Thai food and service! Also, good selection of wine. Decent table setting, nice decoration!

so good. homemade Rangoon, best hot and sour soy I’ve ever eaten, plentiful and flavorful basil fried rice and perfect phad kee mow. our new go-​to Thai.

I’ve been hearing great things about Hot Basil since I moved to KC so I was excited to try it out! When we first arrived, I noticed how clean and well decorated the restaurant was. We were seated promptly, but it took a couple of minutes to get water (not by our server) and even longer before our server finally came to take our order.
We ordered the seafood tom yum soup, an order of laab, and the catfish with red curry. The tom yum was good, though a bit on the sour side for my liking. The flavor on the laab was perfect, but the texture wasn’t right so I won’t be ordering again. To date, my favorite laab is from Thai Orchid in Mission. The catfish with red curry however was delicious. Flavor was fantastic, atop fresh mixed vegetables. I will definitely come back for this and to try more of the food.

Really tasty noodles just be sure when you ask for medium spice it’s still pretty spicy. The food was really good and fresh, lots of flavored overall.
The staff was helpful gave good recommendations on what to try. The prices were reasonable for the portions and well worth stopping by for a meal. Don’t be intimidated that it’s in a strip mall, it’s nice inside and the food is great.

Update: happy to say they’re now able to modify menu items to make them without gluten. Hope they consider creating a GF menu.

This is solid Thai food. The «mild» is just a bit hot while the «medium» will blister your lips. I can only imagine that if you order your food «Thai hot», your face will in fact melt off into the table.
This restaurant is clean although oddly lit for the intimate space. It’s bright. It seems like it should be more fine dining as there are white table cloths and ornately folded napkins. The prices and lighting are more «Chinese takeout» which makes it incredibly affordable.
Great for a fast lunch without getting fast food. Even better with a lover on a Saturday night!

We ordered takeout on Sunday ¹¹⁄₁₀ and it was delicious! First time we have eaten here and we were not disappointed. We both got the pad Thai, it was so good ! we got it with mild spice, and it was just the right amount of spice! We also ordered the crab Rangoon and it was very tasty! We will def be eating here again! It’s nice that it’s so close to our apartment, we usually go to lulus downtown but it’s so far, we are happy to have found something closer!

Ok so me and the boyfriend went for the second time. The first time we were both very intoxicated but it was so good I had dreams about it! It was 3 weeks ago, not only did the server remember us, even after I went from blonde to red head, but she remembered what wine I ordered.
The second time it was good but not as good. We both went for the same dish that we had the first time plus a few extras. First the Rangoon. Actually pretty awesome I will say there is no seafood in them, but that’s ok bc he is allergic. Then the thom yum soup seriously go for the bowl size unless you plan on feeding the worlds hungry… We both had 2 cups with some leftover. We went with medium bc well we like heat I will order mild next time. Holy cow it was warm but great flavor just a tad heavy on the salt. Next I ordered the hot basil with chicken, MEDIUM. The man candy next to me ordered basil fried rice, medium. Mine was literally too hot for me to eat; I eat jalapeños straight out the jar. So we swapped, the fried rice was delish, even my man said mine was insanely hot but bomb ass flavor! We ended our meal with then chocolate mousse rangoons for that I say don’t waste your time he kind of liked them, I however hated them. I will say don’t expect a full bar but they have a decent wine selection with average pricing they had 2 Thai beers he like the second one better than the Chang… Over all good food, good atmosphere, good service, and of course the company didn’t hurt

My wife found this place with some girlfriends about three years ago. She loved it so much that she talked me into trying it with her later on. It has been, hands-​down, our favorite Thai restaurant since then. Truly, it has become our favorite restaurant of ANY cuisine to eat at in Kay-​Cee over the past couple years.
Over that time, we’ve tried a great deal of the menu. All of the curries are incredible, but the Red Curry and Panang Curry are Last-​Meal-​On-​Earth good. Other favorites are Phad Sea Eaw, Thai Fried Rice, Gapow, Hot Basil Wings, and the egg rolls.
The dining room is clean, pressed white linens are on the table (although I would say the place is casual), service is always down the center, and you MUST try Thai Iced Tea if you don’t know what it is.
My normal ratings categories are below. I usually average them out for the overall rating. However, since, as previously mentioned, this is one of our top restaurants in town due to the extraordinarily high quality of the food, within category and also outside, Hot Basil gets all five stars from this Unilocalmeister.
Food = ⁵⁄₅
Facility = ³⁄₅
Service = ³⁄₅
Ambiance = ³⁄₅
Value = ³⁄₅

Only gave it one star because I have to. Started out good. They got us a table, water and a bowl of rice for our baby real quick. Then we waited 10 minutes to order. We got spring rolls, pineapple fried rice and pad Thai. Spring rolls were made with brown lettuce. Pad Thai tasted just wrong. My husband called it dog food. Pineapple fried rice was edible at least. Never once did anyone check on us. No water refils. No checking to see how we liked it. We waited about 15 minutes after we were done eating what we could manage to make ourselves eat, still no one checking on us. Finally, when the baby decided she wasn’t willing to sit there anymore, I got up in search of our waitress. Found the whole staff sitting down to lunch together. Our waitress reluctantly got up and gave us our check. PLEASE!!! DONT WASTE YOUR TIME OR MONEY!!!

Consistently good Pad Thai… better than Pad-​Thai restaurant on 143^rd.
Pineapple Fried Rice is my go to dish. Best fried rice.
Go mild or go to the hospital…

Showed up with a friend who wanted to have dinner. I just had thai iced tea and it was marvelous. My friend ordered the massaman curry as mild as possible and still found it had more kick than she was wanting… but liked it anyway.
We came around 6:30 and got carried away having a truly wonderful visit with each other and sat there until 9:30pm. There’s a lot to be said when you find a place that is comfortable and where you feel you can stay for a while. It’s not a terribly big place and we were keeping an eye out in case the table was needed but it seemed to me like the place does a large amount of take out and not so much dine-​in business.
Can’t wait to come back and try some pad thai!

Went I’m for a take out order after this place was recommend from my coworkers. I’m new to town and its close to my work. I love Thai food, fresh chili peppers, and basil. I ordered, Thursday evening, had a 25 min wait? Ok. That was a minus in my book. So then the prices are steep also in my opinion. My entrée, Pork Gapow, $ 14.95, plus tax was close to $ 17.00 bucks. Yikes. Strike two. This place is in a strip mall??? Really? Yes, they serve wine on the menu. But come on, its not on the plaza. Anyway, food was good, hot, and I think I did wind up waiting like 30 minutes when it was all said and done.
So I suggest you call ahead if you are picking up to go, and this will be just a treat place for me unfortunately, as I can’t afford their steep prices… but food was pretty good and fresh. I can say though I’ve had just as good back home in Wichita for a forth less money. Just saying…

Perfect amount of heat in my curry and at a great price!

It’s the last day of a 5 week project here in KC and it was time to TREAT Ma’SELF! Enter self selected tasting menu at lower midrange spot.
I have a soft spot in my heart for chilis: small ones, big ones, dry ones, fresh ones, pickled ones. And Thai food often comes with an assortment of these little fire crackers, and if you’re lucky raw garlic and fresh herbs.
Right off the bat, I could not give this spot a 5 star: No papaya salad. In fact not even a mimic of it by way of cabbage. It’s possible I missed it on the menu in my post 5 week project delirium, but whatever the case: Sad days for me.
On ward, I ordered an array of items. Service from entry was friendly, fast, and very attentive. I appreciated my server’s patience as I sat solo and ordered enough food for party of five (the cast, #90sTVreference).
Tiger Cry Beef: No tears shed here, this dish was solid and I would absolutely order again. Thinly sliced beef, seared quickly to be perfectly tender, flavorful, juicy. Dipping sauce was fish sauce and sliced Thai chili peppers, which give it an extra savory kick. Props for using real fish sauce.
Thom Yum Seafood: I wanted to like this dish so much, but I was left disappointed. So many times before this soup was my cure for any threat of a cold. It was my cure for a bad mood. It was a cure for a shitty boss. But today, the soup base was tepid, flat in flavor. The seafood was poor quality, with that old seafood taste. The fresh tomatoes had that slight funk flavor of having been sitting in food prep for too long and a frugal sous chef optimistic heat would clean away any taint, used it in this concoction that sank the review by another star.
Beef Gapow: to the rescue! By the time I got to this dish, I was about ready to pay up and get out. But wait, aromatic and well seasoned ground beef meets sizzling fresh basil leaves, over steamed white rice. A soy based sauce and two perfectly fried eggs yolks the consistency of thick honey tied the dish together. If I lived here, I would order take out and order this dish on the regular.
Pad Thai — Chicken: Standard, if a little too sweet. But, the frying pan/​wok was hot and the dish was cooked well. The flavor of hot oil almost burned in a often used wok was familiar and gave the dish an almost pad sew flavor. I would have liked a little more vegetables and less sugar, but tasty enough I would remember to order this when I needed a hangover cure.
Chilis: fresh chilis in fish sauce, jalapeños in vinegar, dried red chili pepper, ground red chili pepper in vinegar. This set secured the 3 stars from slipping to 2.
Overall, this spot is trying to be two things at once: a white linen in house dining meets take-​out neighborhood Thai spot. The price point is a little too high to be take out, but the quality is good enough that it could be an amazing go-​to local Thai spot. Either get rid of the white linen and go full force take out/​comfort dine-​in, or let go of the fear that white people won’t like the fermented fish dishes and go gangster thai with some papaya salad, and (wishful thinking) nam prik.
As is, I would order from them as take out and rent a movie.

Super yummy Thai food! For me, best Thai food south of midtown. I came here on a recommendation from a coworker when I had a serious hankering for Thai.
This place is super clean and the food is excellent. My assessment on the spice is that it’s a notch up from what I’m used to. I like medium, so I request mild and it’s perfect.
I’ve visited mostly for lunch during their rush, but they get me in and out in no time! Take-​out is super fast. The one time I came for dinner the hostess was applying full make-​up behind the little bar. Odd, but entertaining.
My usual order: shrimp Phad Thai mild and soft spring rolls. Makes me a happy girl!

Firmly placed as best Thai in the city. I try other places but Hot Basil reigns supreme.
Also I really appreciate the fact that they helped out my sister-in-law’s parents who don’t speak English. They actually had someone on staff who spoke Mandarin and they were able to order exactly what they wanted (which was really spicy too).
I would come here all the time if I could!

I think the people here really know how to develop flavor, and the food comes fast once you order. I had super-​high hopes for this little strip mall find. You never know what you’re going to get and the kind of storefront, dining room and the area of town is no indication of if the guy or gal in the kitchen has it going.
Pork Gapow ordered hot, and it was. But not the sort of «lets bring the dude to his knees kind of hot,» but proper. I eat authentic Thai in Queens and NYC *alot* where native Thai friends dine ( Unilocalers I’m friends with) so I know how it’s supposed to be.
Came with a nice runny egg on top which is completely to my liking. The meat was tender, moist and bursting with flavor, bits of random heat in red peppers and Thai Basil leaves departing wonderful flavor. Could have been a 5-​star plate but the kitchen – almost… almost… but the kitchen got way, way, way carried away with the salt. Did I use «way» enough times to indicate how salty? To the point it seriously detracted from the dish. As in, unhappy. I’ll mention I’m not shy with the salt at home. I cook, alot, and had I been serving this to my family I would have either been apologizing or digging one of my daughter’s awful box pizzas out of the freezer.
Pleasant wait staff, attentive, clean room, OK atmosphere, quick service. Everything to hit 4 or 5 stars. Giving them 1 or 2 stars wouldn’t really be fair but could be justified. I’ll give them one more shot if in this area of town again (I rarely am). Too bad for today. What could have been a home run turned into an ugly blooper for a single.