I hate how long it took me to find Thai food. I know that there are numerous thai restaurants in Chicago, but I had been limited to the suburbs and DeKalb, until finding Thara in Champaign. I love Thai food, i.e. grownup chinese food. It tastes better and fresher in my opinion. At Thara Thai, you will not be disappointed by anything.
I arrived here with my brother after he had been raving about this place. The best Thai I had ever had was Thai Pavillion, located in DeKalb, Illinois. Sorry TP, you have been bumped!
We got here around 7:50 on a Saturday night. The restaurant is located right off of 74, and could be easily missed. It's surrounded by McDonalds and gas stations. The exterior is not great, but the interior is calm and inviting. After being seated, it took a while to get our drinks, but after that, the service was smooth sailing. My brother ordered the Seafood pad thai. I decided on the See Eiw pad thai, which was a special. Basically, it is your standard pad thai, but instead of thin rice noodles, it came with wide rice noodles, which I prefer. We also decided to split the basil stir fried vegetable dish.
Our food was promptly delivered in 12 minutes, which was a surprise because my brother had said on his previous visits that the service was a bit slow, but the food was very good. In my case, both were amazing!
The basil vegetables were excellent. I was debating on whether to get Kee Mao as my main course, but by splitting this dish, all my taste buds were satisfied (Kee Mao is cooked in a basil garlic sauce, just like the vegetable dish we split). As for my Chicken See Eiw pad thai... simple amazing. The noodles were stirfried along with the veggies, and all were very fresh. I ordered my dish mild, because I'm just not a spicy guy. I would have preferred more chicken, but I would have received less noodles, so I was fine with it. My bro gave me a piece of his shrimp, and it was awesome as well (this coming from a guy who hates seafood, and I'm just trying to get over my fear of eating it).
I will say that I was disappointed that my dish was not garnished with lime, carrots, or cabbage, which is usually a staple of the pad thai dish. But that's definitely not enough to take off a star.
Our total was 44 and change. My bro went with a very expensive dish (10.99 + 5 for seafood). I had the 12.99 special, and we split a 9.99 entree. Not bad, but a little pricey for a budget. The lunch special looks like a good deal, and apparently it is the same size as dinner, so I would do that to be more friendly to my wallet!
My new favorite thai place. Too bad it's 2 hours away! that won't stop me... As Arnold said... I'LL BE BACK.