Best Pad Thai in Boston/Somerville/Cambridge

December 1, 2014 1:55 PM

I've had a lot of pad thai around here, and pretty much all of it has been mediocre - kind of bland and flavorless. In comparison, I've had mind-meltingly delicious pad thai in Thailand (Chiang Mai and Koh Tao) that was bursting with sweet and sour and salty flavors all at once. I particularly remember the sweet cane sugar mixing with the sour tamarind in an intense, lovely way. Where can I get really really good, authentic pad thai in the Boston area? Ideally that would deliver to Davis Square.

Places I've tried that were mediocre: Sugar & Spice (Cambridge), Rod Dee (Cambridge), Lemon Thai (Somerville), Palm Sugar (Somerville), Sweet Ginger (Somerville).

Places that have been excellent, but somewhat far away: Tom Yum Koong (Medford), Treetop (Waltham). These still don't have quite the intensity of flavor that I'm looking for, but they're a lot more flavorful than the above restaurants.

posted by danceswithlight to Food & Drink (12 answers total)

Make it yourself. The secret is Tamarind paste.

Here's the recipe that I use, it's AMAZE-BALLS!

There's an H-Mart in Cambridge, you should go there for your ingredients.

581 Massachusetts Ave
Cambridge, MA

It's dead simple to put together and you'll never want delivery again!
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 2:07 PM on December 1, 2014

Pepper Sky's Thai Sensation in Central Square was all my friends' go-to Thai delivery place when we lived in Cambridge. I like the pad thai, but I can't compare to your list of underwhelming dishes so take that with a grain of salt.
posted by telegraph at 2:44 PM on December 1, 2014

I don't know about authentic and I have only tried one of the places on your list, but I like the pad thai at Spice and Nine Tastes in Harvard Square very much. They're definitely better than Sugar & Spice.
posted by karbonokapi at 4:45 PM on December 1, 2014

Maybe try Lemon Thai's "country style" pad thai if you had the regular kind. I had Lemon Thai multiple times and thought it was spectacular and wayyyy better than Sweet Ginger.

You may want to try asking this question on Yelp or Chowhound or whatever local foodie websites people use. (As a side note, I recommend using Foodler to order all your food in Boston because you earn credit toward free food, which is amazing/bad for you.)
posted by AppleTurnover at 5:39 PM on December 1, 2014

No delivery to Davis Square, but it's worth the trip across the river to Brown Sugar Cafe.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 6:15 PM on December 1, 2014

Countering the recommendation for Spice and 9 Tastes (they're owned by the same people.) The pad Thai is tasty, but I wouldn't characterize it as intensely flavorful.
posted by estlin at 9:00 PM on December 1, 2014

I really love the basil pad thai at Thaitation in the Fenway. I ask for it "five stars" and it's usually nice and spicy.

Our go-to Thai place has always been Amarin, with locations in Newton Corner and Wellesley, though that might be too far from you.
posted by bondcliff at 6:04 AM on December 2, 2014

Dok Bua Thai Kitchen in Brookline is a good option, and is consistently filled with Thai students and other Thai folks. The pad thai isn't knock-your-socks-off-amazing but it's pretty good. Their drunken noodle dish is delicious though.
posted by barnone at 6:43 AM on December 2, 2014

Is Brown Sugar Café on Comm. Ave. in Allston/Brighton still open? Granted, I haven't lived in the Boston area in over 5 years, but every time I ate there it was amazing (I usually ordered specialty dishes and not pad thai though).

It's a little far from Davis Square, so I don't think they'd deliver there.
posted by tckma at 6:47 AM on December 2, 2014

It's been several years and I'm not actually sure whether I've had the Pad Thai from Penang (alas, in Chinatown so probably no Davis sq. delivery) but I know that everything I've eaten there has been amazing, so I'm fairly confident in recommending them even though their menu is mostly Malaysian.
posted by usonian at 7:21 AM on December 2, 2014

I used to live in Thailand so I know exactly what you're talking about. I also used to live in Cambridge and Somerville. There's a lot of Thai there but I agree that most of the pickings are not great. The aforementioned Dok Bua in Brookline is indeed amazing, and absolutely the best Thai food I've had in the Boston area, especially but not only the pad thai.

I really disliked Brown Sugar's pad thai. Way too sweet. If you ever happen to be in Plymouth, go to Star of Siam. Best pad thai I've had in the US, no joke.
posted by lunasol at 5:05 PM on December 2, 2014

I've had a similar experience, I've had some pretty amazing Thai food on the west coast and haven't found anything especially close here in Boston. That said, I liked Thai Place in Allston best, and apparently S&I Thai, a few doors down, is mentioned a lot more as a good place, so I'm planning on trying it soon.
posted by A dead Quaker at 2:45 PM on October 20, 2015