Thai Red Chili’s

Everything was fresh and very tasty. Service was great. Tofu Curry was incredible. Food was sincere.

This is really good Thai food. I had the pad Thai, and it was yum! I also tried the Mango sticky rice and this was the most authentic out of the two dishes– two thumbs up! The Sevice was cordial and very casual. The food served on a timely manner. Not easy to find an amazing Thai restaurant in the valley but this is by far the best in the area.

Amazing service.
Food is delicious too!

Cozy, family owned, and made applicable to the western pallet. Great food was matched with even better service. Give it a go if you are over the fence.

For those of you living here in the Valley, you have no idea how fortunate we are to have some decent Thai food in McAllen. I’ve eaten at many a Thai restaurant, worked at my fair share, lived in the homeland (Lampang) and one abiding truth exists: not all Thai food is equal. This is not standardized chain fare. Every recipe is subject to the region from which its (preferably) Thai owners derive and from their conception of what Americans desire. That said, fundamental elements of good Thai cooking – in the U. S or in Thailand – can be detected in select dishes. For many folks, the go-​to dish for such a test is pad-​Thai. And certainly the pad-​Thai here is decent. However, a much more accurate test of fundamentals is better found in a dish with less acidity, one that is not subject to the spell that tamarind sauce has on fans of pad Thai. That dish, pad see ew, which also lacks the punch of intense spices that other stir-​fry dishes and curries have, is perfectly exhibited at Thai Red Chili’s. The flavor of the wok or pan in which it is cooked comes through as smokey, rich, and sweet, resulting in an overall savoriness that, at this restaurant, pervades every noodles and every dish. Sure, not all that glitters is gold and not every shimmering review means that you personally will like the food. Nor should you. However, when the fundamentals are sound, the chances of your enjoyment are increased. Give it a try or say goodbye, this ain’t your grandma’s apple pie.

The only place in the Valley and the food is terrible. Being from California of course we have high standards, but come on the food needs to at least taste like Thai food. I had a very very sad face the entire time I was there. Not having decent Asian food is one of the hardest things about moving out to the Valley. Extra star for the good service, but I’ll be making Thai food at home now…

I visited on a Thursday night. The place is very clean with a nice, relaxing atmosphere. My dinner consisted of the A12 soft rolls and the green curry with chicken. The soft rolls were sort of cooked, with a mild curry sauce poured like gravy. It was OK, i probably won’t order again. The Curry consisted of typical green curry sauce, and had peas and jalapenos as the primary vegetables. There were probably 2 whole jalapenos cut up and cooked, but seeds were not removed. I ordered a 3 of 4 spicy, it was. The jalapenos really limited the Curry spice, too bad, because it could have been better without them, and with more traditional Thai ingredients. It was Thursday night after 8 (they close at 9), and I think that the rice had been cooked quite a while. It was WAY overcooked, almost pasty. All that said, it was OK, and I might be back if I’m starving for Thai. The waitress was very sweet, and her service was top notch.

I’ve enjoyed the food every time, so far. The various curry plates are good. I like trying different dishes each visit to add to the experience. One of my fave meals is Pad Peow Warn with a ¼ tbs spicy *

Food was terrible, not fresh and they seem to LOVE salt! Ordered Pad Key Mao and Pad Num Mun Hoy on recommendation by the waitress. Was extremely disappointed. The Pad Num Mun Hoy was dried out (tasted old) meat that was cooked with a few chunks of tomatoes and mushrooms. The Pad Key Mao was reconstituted rice noodles with very little veggies. All I tasted was salt, some basil, and noodles. Very disappointed and sent it back. They remade the dish with some more veggies but it was still extremely salty. The only good thing about that dish was the few pieces of chicken.
Overall, I was extremely disappointed and did not get the complexity of flavors I would expect from Thai food. I just do not understand why they were so heavy handed with salt and extremely light on the veggies. I have never had thai food like this!

Excellent Pad Thai needed a bit more spice. Also the fried spring rolls were amazing! Great service would totally go back.

This place needs more attention and well deserved 5 had the parang and pad Thai …

Pad Thai is my comfort food, and I ordered this to go many times while staying in the valley to care for a sick relative. I judge a Thai place on their pad thai, as I think it’s the most basic dish in the Thai food arsenal, and it’s pretty great here. Just enough oil and peanuts, tons of sprouts and spice.

Apparently this is the only Thai place in the area so I stopped for lunch yesterday. I ordered Tom Kai soup ($ 4) and it was good, no complaints. I had the Pad Thai lunch special with the soup and a fried ‘spring roll’, ($ 9). The noodles were a tad mushy but over all it was good. The service was standard at first but when a few more customers (6) came in, the wait staff became quickly overwhelmed. I will try it again due to lack of supply, but I was not blown away or anything with this 1^st experience.

If you are a fan of thai food then this place might disappoint you a bit. It is the only thai place in the valley, I believe, so to many is great option from your typical chinese buffets and fast food chains. The thai fried rice was bland and meat we picked was dry. The pad thai had no bean sprouts!!! How can pad thai be pad thai without bean sprouts? The pad see ew noodles were also a bit hard, should be more soft base on my other visits on other thai places. However the panang curry and tom yum soup was okay. Soup would of been better with a white fish type rather than salmon. Service was good and owners were nice.
Will i be coming back? Most likely for curry and maybe to try dessert.

My wife and I have made Thai Red Chili’s a regular among the restaurants we visit. I’ve eaten at many Thai restaurants all over the U.S. and when I first visited this place years ago it was ok. Today I noticed that it has matured in its presentation of the food and in the depth of flavor of its dishes. It is a very good restaurant, with good service, a quiet venue and tasteful decorations. My wife and I tend to stick to the Pad Thai but their curry dishes are good as well as their Kad Kring and Tom Yom Gung. The menu is varied and they do a good job in all their dishes.
My wife is a fan of their desserts and has a Thai Iced Tea everytime she goes, both of which are delicious. We both give them two thumbs up!

Love me some Thai Red Chili’s!
Their presentation of the dishes is always superb and service was great on the evening that we dined there. For a large group of about 20+ people, they accommodated us very well and even took photos of our group before we left. Can you say casting party, wooo! :) I love that they brought us a wine chiller to stick our bottle of wine in, a very classy touch.
I had the cashew chicken and have been experiencing extreme cravings for that super delicious dish! It had a very nice smoky flavor to it that was just divine! The pad Thai was pretty authentic looking, swimming in bean sprouts and crushed peanuts. Their massaman curry dish with chicken was also pretty tasty. I was able to try some of their pad key mao off of a friends plate and that dish was very good also. You could just taste the robust flavor of the basil, it was great! I love that their menu has pictures, I can definitely see this helping the first-​time Thai restaurant-​goer.
Prices are your usual Thai restaurant prices, but if you are on a flexible budget then you may want to check out their lower-​priced lunch specials. All in all, I can tell you that I definitely look forward to coming back next time we are in the McAllen area!

Good food (beef salad with sticky rice is spot on), good service, clean restaurant, and something that’s not Mexican food! Four stars from me!
Prices are alright too (around $ 10-​$ 15 for entrees).

Dayyyyyyum McAllen. A thai place too? Sign me up!
I wont bore you with the details so here’s the quick and dirty: The Tom Yum is tangy and delicious, the soft rolls are a solid choice, our pad ra na was great with shrimp if a little soup-​y and the beef pad kre mow was our favorite dish. The fried bananas? Get two orders.
Solid flavors, okay service and reasonable prices. Definitely a spot where you can share lots of items and try some new ones.

I was disappointed in this restaurant, though since it is pretty much the only thai option, I give it 2 stars instead of 1. In a larger city with more thai options this would undoubtedly be a lower rating from me. First, I went for lunch and had a simple curry, so perhaps they excel at other dishes, but this was very mediocre. I had the panang curry, which came with a bland egg roll with a very bad sweet dipping sauce. The curry itself was fine and I ate it, but I would not return to this restaurant to eat this dish. Just boring.
The soup. Oh my god, what the heck is up with the soup they serve before the meal? It is a tomato-​based canned vegetable soup with some chicken and cilantro thrown in. This was so far from authentic thai cuisine it was crazy.

March 2012 Update:
I have returned twice since the first time i dined at this restaurant, and i have upped my rating to 5 stars — because the food is consistently delicious! I brought a customer here for dinner, who is a vegetarian, and he was extremely pleased with the restaurant choice, and absolutely loved his dinner. Well done, Thai Red Chili!
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I love love LOVE delicious, authentic, spicy Asian food, and absolutely never expected to find a gem like this in the dusty valley in Texas. The locals could not recommend anything; so a little digging on line, and voila — we’re at the Thai Chili Pepper.
The environment is a bit 80s (the furniture could use an update — but I did not come here for the furniture), but the smells were so inviting. There were 6 of us, hungry after a long day’s work… some never tasted Thai, yet all of us were ready for a delicious dinner.
After a round of cold beers, we started with an appetizer sampler and a large lemongrass shrimp soup for all. Both were very delicious. we followed by numerous individual orders: pad Thai, vegan curry, and various beef and seafood dishes. I will vouch that everything I tasted was drenched with favor, enhanced with rich spices, perfectly prepared, with a lovely presentation. Even though there was only one server and a number of Parties seated, the service was not delayed and was friendly.
The prices are quite reasonable My colleagues who returned to the Valley already came back here for dinner. I can’t wait to make my way back there, too.