There aren't a lot of vegan options in Paso Robles, and after reading the reviews here, I was inclined to head for the other Thai restaurant. However, it was Monday and that restaurant was closed so we found ourselves at Basil, where we had a superlative experience.
Not only was the food excellent, but the service was A -- everyone so nice. They were more than accommodating to us as vegans, and said that they could make almost any dish vegan, including curry, so we ordered the yellow curry.
The soup came in an aluminum hot pot with a flame in the middle. I guess this is common in Thailand, but I had not seen it before, and I have been to a dozen or more Thai vegan restaurants in LA. It did not change the taste of the food but it added some drama!
We only spent one night in town and I'm glad we chose Basil!
Updated from previous review on 2025-11-08
Jackie Hamer
Excellent yellow curry tofu and chicken. Our server was delightful and it’s a beautiful atmosphere.. A bit pricey at $24 each
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
TravelingKCVegans
Had takeout delivered and tried the panang curry and spicy fried rice which were both good. Ask for no egg on the rice.
Michael Medina
Panang curry is the best in all of SLO County and service is always great
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
Jamie S
How did you run out of basil and wide noodles at 5:30pm on a Saturday night? Really....
S1057MObriank
I’m not price sensitive, not even a little. I also have dined around the world and don’t like being taken advantage of. Never in my life have I heard of a quart of wonton soup costing $18 at any Asian restaurant in the world. For that price the wontons shouldn’t be doughy and falling apart. Not impressed $38 for a soup for 2 and a quarter an overly sweet papaya salad
Family Account
Nice place, reasonably clean, good service. The food however is not good. Ordered Panang Curry, Yellow Curry, Fresh Spring Rolls and Fried Rice. The fresh rolls were mostly iceberg lettuce, the curry was water consistency, and the fried rice was greasy. The Panang Curry had three pieces of chicken in the whole bowl and the vegetables appeared to be frozen. For the price that was paid it was quite disappointing. I didn't expect Thai food similar to what we eat in Thailand, but the food was not even close to authentic Thai.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 4
SDA2007
Highest price of all Thai restaurants in this SLO county. Ordered pad see yew with no fish nor oyster sauce
Vegetarian options: All curries are not vegetarian as They all have fish and oyster sauce
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
482mels
The atmosphere here is more casual chic than might be expected for an "ethnic" restaurant, and it's not "cheap eats", though reasonable by Paso Robles standards. (My check was about $40). In other words it's a cool place for an evening out. I was by myself, but struck up a conversation with the two military personnel at the next table, and we ended up sharing tastes of our various dishes. They were as thrilled with their food as I was. I had the pineapple-coconut curry with roast duck; outstanding! This being Paso, there was of course a nice selection of wines by the glass; my server recommended a viognier, which went beautifully with my dish.
PS
We got to this place last minute, they were nice to accommodate our big group, the service and attitude of the server was great but the food was very average, it lacked the flavor , the very basic mango salad was made out of literally raw mangoes , with too much cabbage,it was so bad , the rest of the food was the same . Definitely not going back ……
Would be 4 stars but the $19 Salad was very small. Was told that it was large prior to ordering but they seemed very cheap and low quantity of greens or lettuce . Everything else was good but I thought all the portions were small based on what they charged but I guess it’s a fancy wine country town and they feel obligated to do that.
Vegetarian options: Not many
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Spring Roll
Abash Lal
If you want to eat chicken and shrimp in your food inadvertently while you ordered vegan food, then go there. If you want to get reprimanded from the restaurant manager for complaining about the order then go there. Order Pad Thai, no chicken no shrimp no egg being allergic to meat and instead got the food filled with that. The manager shouted on me and didn’t refund. Height of arrogance.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Holy Jolie
First of all, I highly recommend the appetizers. I do not recommend Thai tea or Thai iced coffee. Among the appetizers, we recommend the Shrimp Dumpling (5 pieces) and the Thai Crispy Wings. I regretted the pineapple fried rice because it had a strong, unique smell of spices. The atmosphere was better than other Thai restaurants in Central California. In particular, it felt like a lot of attention was paid to interior accessories. The staff were very friendly. The price seemed just right. To sum up, the appetizer menu was so delicious that I was looking forward to the Entree menu, but I was disappointed!! The pineapple fried rice, Thai tea, and Thai iced tea had nothing special and were ordinary compared to the other items. Next time I'm going to try the Panang Short Rib!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
EugeC
Basil Thai has a convenient location by the main park in Paso Robles. It features a clean seating and attentive service. The beef salad, pine curry, and chili basil were all good. Interestingly, unlike many other Thai restaurants, the servers did not ask for spiciness level of the foods ordered, but it seemed that the foods were set at 'medium spiciness', which was fine for us.
Judy Sage
This place is awesome. Knowledgeable staff helped us choose our meals. Each dish was absolutely delicious. Cute place in the Heart of Paso Robles.We are definitely coming back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Fresh Shrimp Spring Rolls, Seafood
There aren't a lot of vegan options in Paso Robles, and after reading the reviews here, I was inclined to head for the other Thai restaurant. However, it was Monday and that restaurant was closed so we found ourselves at Basil, where we had a superlative experience. Not only was the food excellent, but the service was A -- everyone so nice. They were more than accommodating to us as vegans, and said that they could make almost any dish vegan, including curry, so we ordered the yellow curry. The soup came in an aluminum hot pot with a flame in the middle. I guess this is common in Thailand, but I had not seen it before, and I have been to a dozen or more Thai vegan restaurants in LA. It did not change the taste of the food but it added some drama! We only spent one night in town and I'm glad we chose Basil! Updated from previous review on 2025-11-08
Excellent yellow curry tofu and chicken. Our server was delightful and it’s a beautiful atmosphere.. A bit pricey at $24 each
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Had takeout delivered and tried the panang curry and spicy fried rice which were both good. Ask for no egg on the rice.
Panang curry is the best in all of SLO County and service is always great
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 5
Service: 5
How did you run out of basil and wide noodles at 5:30pm on a Saturday night? Really....
I’m not price sensitive, not even a little. I also have dined around the world and don’t like being taken advantage of. Never in my life have I heard of a quart of wonton soup costing $18 at any Asian restaurant in the world. For that price the wontons shouldn’t be doughy and falling apart. Not impressed $38 for a soup for 2 and a quarter an overly sweet papaya salad
Nice place, reasonably clean, good service. The food however is not good. Ordered Panang Curry, Yellow Curry, Fresh Spring Rolls and Fried Rice. The fresh rolls were mostly iceberg lettuce, the curry was water consistency, and the fried rice was greasy. The Panang Curry had three pieces of chicken in the whole bowl and the vegetables appeared to be frozen. For the price that was paid it was quite disappointing. I didn't expect Thai food similar to what we eat in Thailand, but the food was not even close to authentic Thai.
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 2
Service: 4
Highest price of all Thai restaurants in this SLO county.
Ordered pad see yew with no fish nor oyster sauce
Vegetarian options: All curries are not vegetarian as
They all have fish and oyster sauce
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 4
The atmosphere here is more casual chic than might be expected for an "ethnic" restaurant, and it's not "cheap eats", though reasonable by Paso Robles standards. (My check was about $40). In other words it's a cool place for an evening out. I was by myself, but struck up a conversation with the two military personnel at the next table, and we ended up sharing tastes of our various dishes. They were as thrilled with their food as I was. I had the pineapple-coconut curry with roast duck; outstanding! This being Paso, there was of course a nice selection of wines by the glass; my server recommended a viognier, which went beautifully with my dish.
We got to this place last minute, they were nice to accommodate our big group, the service and attitude of the server was great but the food was very average, it lacked the flavor , the very basic mango salad was made out of literally raw mangoes , with too much cabbage,it was so bad , the rest of the food was the same .
Definitely not going back ……
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 2
Service: 5
Restaurantji Recommends
Would be 4 stars but the $19 Salad was very small. Was told that it was large prior to ordering but they seemed very cheap and low quantity of greens or lettuce . Everything else was good but I thought all the portions were small based on what they charged but I guess it’s a fancy wine country town and they feel obligated to do that.
Vegetarian options: Not many
Atmosphere: 3
Food: 3
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Spring Roll
If you want to eat chicken and shrimp in your food inadvertently while you ordered vegan food, then go there. If you want to get reprimanded from the restaurant manager for complaining about the order then go there. Order Pad Thai, no chicken no shrimp no egg being allergic to meat and instead got the food filled with that. The manager shouted on me and didn’t refund. Height of arrogance.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
First of all, I highly recommend the appetizers. I do not recommend Thai tea or Thai iced coffee. Among the appetizers, we recommend the Shrimp Dumpling (5 pieces) and the Thai Crispy Wings. I regretted the pineapple fried rice because it had a strong, unique smell of spices. The atmosphere was better than other Thai restaurants in Central California. In particular, it felt like a lot of attention was paid to interior accessories. The staff were very friendly. The price seemed just right. To sum up, the appetizer menu was so delicious that I was looking forward to the Entree menu, but I was disappointed!! The pineapple fried rice, Thai tea, and Thai iced tea had nothing special and were ordinary compared to the other items. Next time I'm going to try the Panang Short Rib!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Basil Thai has a convenient location by the main park in Paso Robles. It features a clean seating and attentive service. The beef salad, pine curry, and chili basil were all good. Interestingly, unlike many other Thai restaurants, the servers did not ask for spiciness level of the foods ordered, but it seemed that the foods were set at 'medium spiciness', which was fine for us.
This place is awesome. Knowledgeable staff helped us choose our meals. Each dish was absolutely delicious. Cute place in the Heart of Paso Robles.We are definitely coming back.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Fresh Shrimp Spring Rolls, Seafood
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