Duang Tawan

Not much to write home about here — the service was good and friendly, and the red curry noodles is the hottest dish I’ve ever eaten (I ordered medium; can’t imagine how hot «Thai hot» would be).
The Thai dumplings were not good. The filling was a meatball that tasted like boiled hamburger with no seasoning. But the dipping sauce was good.
Spicy basil noodles were okay, tasted like peanutty pad thai. The red curry noodles were too hot to have any real flavor, but had the look and feel of everyday stir-​fry with noodles, except they were swimming in red curry sauce.
Like I said, the service was good. Appeared to be a family operation where they understand their livelihood depends on good service. When it’s my turn to choose a place for lunch, I probably would not choose this place, but if someone wants to take me out or the group chooses this, I’d go again.
If you know what «Thai hot» means, and you like fire-​in-​the-​hole chicken wings, then go for it. Otherwise, order mild and enjoy the flavors.

This place is AWESOME! My go to is: chicken red curry or the chicken pad Thai! Along with some Thai tea of course. On point!

Went to this place with friends, his mom and dad etc,
Thought it would be a more refined place. But they complained of the smell inside the restaurant.
The sitting was arranged as best as they can and since it was at night the patio was closed. I felt their service was okay. Nothing out of the ordinary to mention specially.
* food — we ordered chicken fingers. Not good. People might say that’s how Thai chicken nuggets taste. Well then I say they don’t taste good
* Thai green and red curry (chicken) at hot level of spice — I didn’t feel the spice as much but that might be because I eat spicy. But in general, even the curries are not amazing like I have had good Thai (Thai curry was better) and their green curry has a bit more personality.
* we also ordered the pad Thai which was better than the other items we ordered.
* the size of the spring rolls was amazingly small
* the dumplings were soggy from outside and not adequately spiced from inside.
* I would still go and try another version of the pad Thai but apart from that it’s merely a ³⁄₅

This place is really delicious, and we’ll definitely be coming back. The young woman helping us made sure the kitchen would be able to make our meal vegan and was really thorough about it, letting us know the modifications they did to certain dishes. The woman in the kitchen was our waiter’s grandmother and she made vegan alterations to dishes with ease when they were necessary. Vegan-​friendliness aside, the food was super good. The vegetable dumplings are about the freshest I’ve ever tasted.

I travel all over North America and dine out a great deal. This is some of the best Thai food I’ve had in all of my travels. So far I’ve had Basil Tofu, Panang Chicken, and last night I had the Red Curry Chicken. All of them have been excellent. Flavour balance is perfect, and it is great to find a restaurant that will give truly spicy food when you ask for it. It’s a bit of a drive from where I work when I’m in the area but I try to make it a few times a week when I’m down here.

This is a place that if you blink you’ll miss it! But what a surprise, it looks kind of old from the outside but it’s very homey on the inside. Clean and well decorated with really authentic decorations! They have lunch specials with great portion and great prices! The pineapple duck curry was awesome! I wasn’t a huge fan of the spicy basil noodles, noodles were a little undercooked and hard. But lunch comes with either soup or salad, the soup was delicious and it came with a small spring roll. I can’t wait to come back and try other things on the menu!

Me oh my, I love me some Thai. I intend to write a review for every Thai place in Baton Rouge, so I’m going to break these reviews down in a way that’ll be easy to compare.
Duang Tawan is owned by a Thai family that are incredibly hard workers and sweet as can be. Once a year, they close the whole restaurant to go back home to Thailand and visit with family.
Atmosphere: casual, very home-​like and warm. the occasional quirky oddities and old faded décor that you’d expect to see out of a local, family-​run business. Bring your partner on a dinner date, but don’t expect to dress up or have any foreign brews with your meal. Heck, they don’t even have a soda machine. Ask for a coke, you literally get a can of coke.
The Pros:
1) Portion — whatever you order, expect it to be enough for two meals.
2) Variety — it’ll take you a good while to make it through the entire menu. They even offer frog legs and octopus. it doesn’t really get any more authentic than that
3) Lunch Menu — the lunch menu is cheap, and if you’re dining in, you get the option of a soup or salad AND a little eggroll before your main course. The soup is typically Tom Yum, and it is exceptional. I could live off of that alone. The salad is your typical iceburg with tomato, cucumber and peanut ginger dressing.
4) Price — all of the above mentioned comes in around $ 10 or $ 11. Definitely beats the prices or Thai Kitchen and Rama.
The Cons:
1) Consistency — I find the biggest lack of consistency is with the chef’s hand in terms of spices. One day your order of medium hot is mild, the next day your order of medium hot comes out like lava. I find it best to just order mild, and ask for chili peppers on the side so you can make it to your liking.
2) Consistency (again) — another area of inconsistency is in the dishes themselves. I normally go for pad thai, because that’s something I just haven’t been able to master at home. please note that the pad thai is ALWAYS amazing, it’s just that some days it’s less «saucy» than others. I once ordered veggie red curry, and boy did it hit the spot. So, next week I ordered the same, and it came out bland and flavorless. I sent it back, and shared my friend’s pad thai with him.
3) Proteins options: Okay, so when your order a basic dish like «basil leaves» or curry, you get to pick from a short list of protein options: pork, chicken, steak, shrimp, tofu, etc. What I have deduced is that the meats are cooked ahead of time, and thrown in a pan with whatever you order. Same with the veggies & tofu, only those are kept uncooked until you place your order. That being said, you’ll find all of the proteins to be rather bland. However, the shrimp seems to quickly soak up any flavors, so I suggest that no matter what dish you get, you order it with shrimp. That’s why when I get pad thai, I order just the noodles. If you really like your veggies (like I do!) I suggest that when you order, you ask for them to be cooked in your dish a little longer.
4) Hours — Their posted hours are 11 – 2, and 5 – 9. This sucks if you’re like me, sleeping in on the weekends and only getting really hungry around 2 or 3. It seems that every time my hankering for tom yum has become unmanagebale, they’re closed. sad face.
5) To Go — their turnaround time for togo orders is always really quick (like 15 minutes) but sadly, if you order a lunch special, you don’t get the option of soup or salad. :(you have to have a salad, and if you reaaaaally want the soup you have to order and pay for a separate portion.
6) Larb — this one dish in particular stole my heart a few years back when I had it at thai kitchen for the first time. At Duang Tawan however, theirs isn’t quite as flavorful, and they serve it over a bed of iceburg (wtf??) as opposed to with cabbage leaves. I’d stay away from this dish at Duang Tawan, if I were you.
Anyhoots, I hope I’ve summed up all my observations accordingly. Enjoy!

Yum yum yum! They have dishes loaded with quite a bit of flavor. The tom yum soup was a hit. I ordered my food Thai spicy and they came through in that department. I enjoyed the décor which has a lot of wood carved items, including the tables. I love that this area has a place like this. Go try the pad Thai or the massamon curry.

I’ve been waiting for a long time to try this place and am happy to report it was well worth the wait. This is definitely authentic, delicious Thai food and to top it off, it was reasonably priced. Friends and I went to lunch and the selection was extensive in regards to meat choices and sauce options. I went with the Spicy Basil Beef Noodles… I’m a sucker for a bean sprout! They will ask you how spicy you’d like your food and I went with medium heat. It was spicy but definitely not too bad at all (I could go HOT next time but I’m also scared). Now, I know lots of people who judge a book by the cover and this place definitely would throw some off from the outside but I really like that. The inside is similar to other Asian restaurants and the service is nice. Don’t sit on the sidelines… get in there and eat some Thai food!

We decided to eat here after many years because is close to our house. Honestly, we didn’t know if they were still open. I’m going to get straight to the point, the food has always been good, but when we entered the building, the smell of moth balls was so strong that our appetite was effected. We ordered the duck pineapple curry as suggested and the chicken wings and chicken larb. We had to ask the server for lettuce for the larb. Everything did taste good but the atmosphere did turn us off. We’ll keep to Thai kitchen.

Currently my favorite restaurant. I like all the curry dishes but my favorite dish is the chicken satay appetizer.

Living nearby we decided to try the Thai food. Overall we were unimpressed — spring rolls tasted like they were from the freezer (and a very small portion) and served with honey. Curry was ok but nothing special and Pad Thai was passable. Portions were very small. Not sure we will return.

First time here. The atmosphere is very authentic with Thai influences through out the restaurant. Some what dark on the lighting but enough to see the menu. For an appetizer we tried the chicken satay. The chicken was dry and not as moist as most other Thai chicken satays I’ve tasted but decent nonetheless. For my entrée I ordered the cashew beef and it was AWESOME. The plating was nice, food comes out fresh and piping hot, and the flavors of cashew and spice blended well with the celery and green onion. My wife ordered the Spicy Basil Noodle and added shrimp. I was also impressed with the balance of flavors with this dish as well as the amount in one order. Service was good the ladies there were very attentive and made sure our water glasses were full. Decent price for all the food. Over all the food was prepared fresh and full of flavor, service was on point, and the check was decent. This is a good alternative restaurant choice for Thai in BR!

Service is great. Very friendly but the food wasn’t very good. The best plate I had was the red curry. The ingredients weren’t fresh. When they ask what level of spiciness you should have medium to high level of it. If not then your food will come out bland. Overall it is a pretty good dinner. Don’t come in with high expectations but if it is your first time having Thai food then this is pretty good.

Located in Avery friendly environment! The lunch specials are cheap and filling. Caution! I know this is South Louisiana and we like our food spicy. When you order any dish «spicy» from here it’s really spicy. Great place for a date and two people can definitely eat for $ 20. Decent liquor selection…

«Consistency meets authenticity for Thai food in Baton Rouge». I can go on and on of how much I love this place! Let me start by saying that it is a very homey feeling, like I was at my grandmother’s house in the Philippines. To me, that is a great thing! Oh and the food; it’s definitely made-​to-​order because it comes out fresh and piping hot each time! Because of this, there is a bit of a wait for the food. For Appetizers: I insist on the Thai Wings, probably the best wings I have had in Baton Rouge. You can never go wrong with any of their House Specialties, but to keep the flow of the un-​boring, go with the Duck Pineapple Curry or any of the frog leg dishes. If you don’t like spicy, make sure you ask what items carry even a hint of spice. Even though it does not have the chili pepper icon next to it, some dishes still pack a bit of heat. For vegetarians and vegans, you have options here and you will not be disappointed. The vegetables used in all their dishes are fresh and have that crrrrruunch that I love, when eating veggies.
Do not walk in here expecting elegance because it’s not. I love that this family-​run business has kept true to their roots and kept the décor the way that it is. Come here expecting authentic Thai cuisine and you will experience it!

Pretty great place for thai food! Had the chicken curry and tom yam soup with rice and it was filling, tasty and decently affordable. I also got the thai tea which is always tasty! They have a great system for spicyness. The mild medium and hot are exactly that. Many other thai restaurants will ask you if you want mild medium or hot and just do whatever anyways. At least thats the way it seems. Great service and very clean! Peace!

Food is excellent. we got thai tea, chicken satay, tom yam soup, pad see ew and basil frog legs in spicy sauce. so good! a must try place!

The Duck Pineapple Curry is my favorite Thai dish in Baton Rouge! It’s really wonderful! The spring rolls are good, not great. The dumplings are yummy. My husband gets the pad thai which is good but not the best in town. But the star entrée is definitely the duck pineapple curry. The Duck is crisp and plentiful and the curry is so flavorful. It comes with a ton of veggies which makes me feel a little better about eating my entire plate! Be warned though that if you eat it all you may not be able to walk out the door, it’s a ton of food. I’ve also had the peanut curry which is also delightful.
The décor isn’t as flashy as Thai Kitchen but the prices are much better. The duck is on the high side but it’s SO worth it. The staff is very attentive and kind. We had an issue with a take out order once and they were extremely apologetic and made it right. They’re just a great establishment. I’ve eaten here almost weekly for the last year and I don’t see that stopping anytime soon!

This is a nice locale… very friendly service and many of the herbs and spices that they use in the meals is grown by them on the restaurant property… I had never tried Thai food so wasn’t really sure what to expect…
The restaurant is smallish with about 14 4 top tables… the menu seemed rather overwhelming to me but eventually I settled on Beef in Chili Paste… not really sure what my sister, my niece or her boyfriend ordered… The menu listed spiciness of meals as a 1 to 5 and then stated you could also go beyond to «Thai hot»…We ordered a Tiger Tears salad at a level 3 for the table to share and it was sparky and delicious… next time in I’m gonna make that my entrée… because of that sparkiness as a level 3 I chose that level for my entrée but was disappointed when it was more sweet than spark…
The meal itself was delicious and well prepared and I’m glad I stopped in and tried Thai food for the first time and will definitely give this place another try in the future but will go level 4 next time!