Holy Basil

7.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  6      Value  8     

Great food and atmosphere. Service was average. Fried icecream was ridiculously nice! Overall a great place!

May 17, 2012 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  9     

One of my favourite places to eat. The food is just soo good! I have been there a couple of times and on those occasions I have ordered panang curry, pad see ew, satay chicken, bbq chicken and spring rolls. I can not make a complaint about the taste or quality of the food, it is just superb. The proportions were big enough for me to take my leftovers home.

The fruit cocktails are a must, the price is reasonable but good value for the quality of the food. The only thing you may want to be aware of is that they do not take bookings and on a weekend night there can be a bit of a wait getting in.

May 12, 2012 

8.5 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  7      Service  9      Value  9     

Award winning restaurant and for a good reason; great tasting authentic Laos food (very close to Thai food)... all 6 dishes we sampled were delightful... highly recommend the Laos Sausage side dish.

Nice Ambience with Wooden Tables and authentic decor from that part of the world; the only downer is the Toilet.

Service: very quick and effective; for once the waiters keep looking around and it's easy to get their attention... food took 10min to come out which is quick.

Value: most mains are under $15

Apr 22, 2012 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  9      Value  6     

2nd visit 2 weeks ago, 1st visit was about a year ago, had Friday lunch, it was about 20% full but quickly filled to about 75% full.

Service was attentive and not slow, ordered Red curry, divine, hubby ordered the Penang curry, as he did on his first visit but was disappointed this time, don't know if there's been a recipe/chef change or if hubby has forgotten what it tasted like the first time, son had the same as hubby and hated it, he prefers it at another two local thai restaurants where it's not as peanuty and rich.

Had the fried ice cream for the 1st time and it lives up to all the reviews I've read, and then some, exquisite! One downer on the day was the cockroach up the wall right next to me, which when I pointed out, I was told that they fumigated the day before, luckily it didn't end up in our food or drinks. Drinks are overcharged, a small coke bottle of about 250ml is about $4.50, when you consider that most dishes are spicy/hot, you end up spending heaps on drinks, they do have iced tap water - free.

Dishes can be a little more expensive than at other local asian restaurants, but would definitely go back to have more ice cream if not anything else, definitely!

Apr 01, 2012 

8.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  8      Service  8      Value  8     

Click my blog link below for my review and photos for this Restaurant!

This is for the one at Shark Hotel on Liverpool st. in the city.

Read more on my blog

Mar 25, 2012 

6.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  6     

Decided to dine at the Shark Hotel venue mainly to try the famous fried ice cream but also had a meal before. Had the soft shell crab and the thai beef salad with a pineapple shake. The shake was amazing, soft shell crab very tasty but a small serving and the thai beef salad was very hot. A friend ate the tiger beef salad and was practically inedible because it was so hot.

Fried ice cream was worth the wait. Flaky pastry, great toasted coconut accompaniment. Really worth trying it out. I was only disappointed at the price for such small servings. Dishes can't be shared with more than two people. Will come back again.

Mar 20, 2012 

7.3 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  10      Service  8      Value  3     

Went with a friend in the holidays as a get together as we hadn't seen each other in ages. We were both craving thai and she wanted the fried ice cream. For my first time there, I didn't think it was that great despite the fact my family raves on about it and the food was over priced at over $100 for just 2 people and we only ordered 4 dishes.

Mar 14, 2012 

6.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  5      Value  5     

The food at the (upmarket) Holy Basil is great, however, I've scored it down because the size of serves for many of the dishes is very small. Sharing a dish between two is easy, but if there are more people in your group and you want to share a dish you'll need to order multiples thereof.

The size of the dishes make it no better than average for value. Service adequate, nothing more. If you don't like chilli don't go. The papaya salad was the most chilli-loaded dish we had - 10+. The deep fried king prawns was the largest dish served, the most expensive we had and my favourite of the night.

All in all - nice ambience, great flavours, and small serves. Value could be improved by increasing the size of dishes or knocking a few dollars off the price.

Mar 07, 2012 

6 Average

Food  8      Ambience  6      Service  3      Value  7     

Living locally, I have eaten at Holy Basil many a times. The food has always been amazing (the Laos sausage and Penang curry being definite stand outs on the menu), but my boyfriend and I have watched this place go downhill of late. Service is slow and sometimes rude; something you wouldn't expect to be on the receiving end of, especially if you're a regular! Portion sizes have dramatically shrunken also, and the past few times I've been I have had to send at least one dish back (not properly cooked, not what we ordered etc etc), to be met with no apologies or any form of understanding. Another thing... their deep fried ice cream is absolutely divine... when they actually have it available. The past few times we have been they have been "sold out". I understand the demand must be overwhelming, but surely if these guys know it's a popular dish, they should be able to meet it... Great place but it's just disappointing to watch their level of service dwindle.

Mar 01, 2012 

6.3 Average

Food  8      Ambience  8      Service  3      Value  6     

11 of us ate at the Holy Basil last night. They would not seat us until everyone arrived but we got served yummy lychee and watermelon shake while we waited.

Very noisy once in side but of course every single seat inside was taken. We ordered promptly and food came out 20 minutes later, starters and mains together. Or some mains came out first and starters a bit later. When asked the waitress said no one said to bring out starters first followed by mains! Sorry we just assumed!

Tip - tell staff to bring out starters first followed by mains 10 minutes later, otherwise, your mains will go cold sitting on the table. Food of course is great. Shakes are yumm and fried ice-cream..mmmmm

Feb 10, 2012