• 5
• Real Gem! Fabulous food, great service & ambiance

This is a new place and I went there with a group of friends for the first time. We were a rather large group of 15. The restaurant does not have large family tables per say, however they were able to set up an entire row nicely. All in the group are vegetarians - that means no eggs! We normally avoid places that are heavy on the fake meat. Good thing at Mint n Basil is that the names of the items are not a turn off with meat sounding names. However the description of lot of them contain meat or beef or fish etc. We explained to the server that we get turned off by food that is made to look like, smell like and taste like meat. Defeats the whole purpose of being a Vegetarian in my opinion. He said, no problem - There are some items not suitable for us, which are made to look and taste like dead animals, other than that most items would be fine for us and they shall replace the fake meat with Tofu. We ordered variety of things, spring roll wraps, hot pot, pad thai, spicy noodles and I forget what else. The food was all great. Wonderful flavors in everything. They do not skim on quantity. The hot pot is nice with loads of fresh veggies. They do not skim on quantity here and that is good. The food still had some fake meat, they actually make vegetable protein to look like sea critters, with crittery texture and all, which was a bit of a turn off, but was not so overwhelming that it would ruin the dining experience. I did not detect any meat like flavor, thankfully! The food is delicious and flavorful. The owner is also a talented entertainer and we were treated to a completely surprise and unexpected show - balloon character making. The kids in our group were extremely unreasonable with their requests - asking for minion even! The fantastic balloon creatures just kept coming, to the delight of kids and awe of the adults. Overall, had the balloons not been there, the food, dining experience and ambiance overall was still awesome. With the balloons it was just over the top! I believe they have items on the menu designed for carnivores. The restaurant does not advertise itself as a Vegetarian or Vegan restaurant, but it is. They serve everyone and aspire to have everyone leave satisfied with the delicious and filling food. Not the place you go for cheap bite, but great choice for a sit-in dining experience. Items are Vietnamese, Malaysian, Chinese fusion. Definitely two thumbs up recommendation for this restaurant.