Nava Thai

Amazing food, friendly service, delivery… phenomenal spring rolls, pad Thai, Tom Kha soup, Panang curry, and drunken noodles, but I never ordered anything I didn’t like. Go. You won’t regret it!

This place is SO COLD! Their heat looked like it was set to 84°F, but the restaurant was FREEZING. Do yourself a favor and order take-​out when it’s cold outside.
However, they have the best drunken noodles that I have ever had. Their drunken noodles are quite spicy, so get a deliciously creamy and strong Thai iced tea to go with them.
Their shrimp pineapple curry is also great, but they don’t serve enough rice with it. And they charge you for extra rice, which is not a good move for a Thai restaurant.
Furthermore, the service is always extremely slow. I have had to track down servers for a water refill when the restaurant was mostly empty.
Basically, come here for the delicious food and Thai iced tea – not the service or the ambience. Better yet, order take-​out and enjoy your food in the comfort of your warm home!

I’ve been dying to find a legit Thai noodle spot in the DC metro area. My favorite noodle dish in all of Thai cuisine is Tom Yum Egg Noodles with the broth on the side. I must say that here at Nava Thai, they do an excellent rendition. Don’t forget to ask for extra wontons. I was also impressed with the Grilled Beef Salad, although it could have used a bit more beef. The service staff is well-​trained, attentive but not intrusive. The food comes out quickly. The prices are reasonable. For authentic Thai cuisine, you can’t go wrong with Nava Thai.

Nava Thai was one of our favorite places, until we found a cigarette butt in our drunken noodles we had delivered one night. It was buried halfway down, so my wife ended up eating half of the dish before we saw it. Totally grossed out.
We called to complain, and the manager offered to comp our meal. But THEN the owner (Ladawan) got on the phone and accused my wife of lying, asking for a description of the cigarette, and denying that anyone could have left it there, because none of her employees smoke. Well my wife and I don’t smoke either, so obviously it’s not ours!
We’re contacting the health inspector now, and obviously never eating there again.

Good time for lunch, got seated fairly quickly BUT food takes forever (though they not busy). Ordered SHpadthai, CHfriedrice, FRtofu aptzr, SHtomyum soup and couple others. Tomyum tasted alil salty n don’t see the chicken in the fried rice, it must have melted. Portion small for the price. Better restaurant next time.

The Best panang curry I have had in my entire life! It was absolutely flavorful. Chicken satay was perfectly cooked, tender and juicy!
Wasn’t very happy with the drunken noodles. It was under seasoned and extremely spicy (in spite of getting medium spice level). Quick service as well! Would definitely go there again

Tried the market noodle soup in medium spicy level with beef. Very very delicious. It was almost like Vietnamese phở with more flavor. The broth is brown so it doesn’t look like its spicy but it is. I think I can try the hottest level next time.
Papaya salad was also very delicious. They put some crispy fried rice? Noodle? Anyways, it was flavorful and light.
Had green tea ice cream for dessert. Wouldn’t recommend it. It didn’t have a strong green tea flavor that I usually like.

Food is great. Portions are very small. Prices are slightly expensive. They will not honor any type of substitutions or modifications. Service is just ok. But again, the food is consistently fresh tasting, flavorful and delicious. One of my favorite Thai places actually unfortunately. If you are disappointed with anything, at least it is unlikely to be the meal itself.

This place is great, and it was completely empty when my wife and I had our lunch date there last Friday. Normally, our MO is to split an entrée and an app when we have lunch together, but the temptation of having Drunken Noodles (with pork) and Stir Fried Cashew Nuts (with lightly breaded chicken) was just too great.
The dishes were both excellent, and the oyster sauce on her stir fry was just the right balance of sweet and spicy. Fantastic. I should note, though, that even though I’m the kind of guy who’ll put a habanero in his scrambled eggs, the Drunken Noodle was H-​O-​T hot.
It’s making for fantastic Monday lunch leftovers right now, though.
After dinner, we tried a couple desserts — the Sakoo Sai Kai (which was gelatinous balls of chicken, tapioca pearl, sugar, radish, and peanut) and the Kanom Chan (which was a block of rice flour, coconut milk, and sugar). The Sakoo was … well, not for us. The Kanom was tasty, though. Not too sweet, and an interesting texture.
It won’t be long before we’re back here. Glad to have it in the neighborhood!

Amazing food, and they’ve kicked up their menu a bit. The food presentation is worthy of a five star restaurant.
My only complaint: the depressing guitar player/​singer. While he is talented, there are only so many 1960s war songs one can take in an evening. At least ONE up-​beat song would be nice – leaving depressed, again.
If you see the guitar player, run screaming to another restaurant on the block.

Very cute, quaint Thai restaurant tucked in Wheaton, MD. Service was very attentive and the portions were expected. I got chicken pad see ew (wide noodles) and my girlfriend got the Spicy Seafood Curry. The curry was better than expected with a good amount of seafood and a spicy curry which was saved with the creaminess of the coconut milk and rice. My pad see ew was also on par with expectations and served in a large elaborate bowl. Great Thai Iced Tea AND Coffee, we splurged due to the reasonable prices at Nava Thai :)
We were content with our meal including their Sticky Rice (notice I said sticky rice, not mango sticky rice). The sticky rice was excellent, superb even, and in a mysterious green hue. However, the mangoes were a letdown. Very tough and stringy. But here is where the excellent customer service came in, our waitress acknowledged the mangoes aren’t fresh and are boxed and when the bill came, she took it off the bill! Wow! We didn’t even ask for that and was gonna chalk it up to out-​of-​season mangoes.
Great place, will come back when mangos are fresh to sample their dessert menu further!

Great! I’d like to hang out with my friends there. The food there is a great deal and I really love the decorations and service there.

Food here is consistently good. Some dishes, like drunken noodle and papaya salad are a tad on the spicy side– and that’s coming from someone who likes spicy food. It walks the line of almost being too spicy to enjoy at times. If you don’t like super spicy, make sure you let them know to tone it down a bit (I do that now). Tonight was the first time I came during peak dinner rush– service was extremely slow. We waited 30 minutes for appetizers. I’m not sure if that’s typical during dinner or just a one off. Food is superb though, so it was definitely worth the wait. Staff here is very friendly and accommodating

Love, love, love their floating market soup. I’m a big fan of noodle soups, and this one sure hits the spot. The broth is tangy sweet and most definitely spicy. If you can’t handle the heat, then get level one spicy, but if you like it real spicy then level three would it the spot. I go here mainly for the soup whenever I want to get a good sweat on or to help with a cold. Their other dishes are good as well. Appetizers are small portioned, however, that is typical of most Thai restaurants. Traditional dishes such as drunken noodle and pad thai are all well flavored and also just as tasty. They used to have a Thai iced tea flavored crème brûlée that was simply amazing in every way, however it was seasonal and they never brought it back.
Atmosphere and décor seems to resemble a less modern Thai culture, maybe a more historic look even. On certain nights (Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays I think) there is live music, a sweet musician who sings oldies while playing his guitar. Perfect for a date or even just a nice evening with the family. The servers, though may not speak too much English, but are eager to serve. Definitely recommend to try.

I’ve been to Wheaton for many times and finally found this incredible Thai restaurant.
Price is pricey but never negotiate quality over price.
Starting with appetizers: fried calamari and papaya salad.
The papaya salad is prepared crispy, with sweet and tangy taste, hmmm… ‘I’m in heaven’.
Followed by incredible Tom Yum soup, wow… Not enough for myself!
Continue with main course The Duck Curry that is so amazing, make I never want to stop eating.
I also taste the Pad Thai that just cooked right.
Continue with deep fried Tilapia with sweet chili sauce.
Closing with Mango pudding. It’s a must for dessert.
When you are in Wheaton area, I highly recommend you to try this joint.

I love this place and can’t wait to go back. I’ve lived in the area for decades but always drove by this place and never went in. The other night me and my boyfriend were deciding where to go for dinner and couldn’t figure a place of since we didn’t have a particular taste for anything. He suggested this place and since I never gone we went. Every dish we ordered was delicious. I wanted to try the market noodle soup dish but we already ordered so much so I can’t wait to go back to try this.
UPDATE: i tried the boat market soup. very disappointed. extra spicy but no real taste. lol everything else is still good though so i shall be back!

We came here around 9 PM for a low-​key, birthday dinner for two. The food was above average and the service was attentive, especially for someone who was not quite ready for the full-​fledged Thai spices awaiting in the market soup.
We ordered the sizzling beef appetizer, market soup, and crispy mussels dish.
Sizzling beef: average; the meat was tough and the marinade did not stand out
Market soup: I ordered it Thai-​spicy which was mistake number one. I spent the evening profusely sweating and breathing heavily as I cautiously ate my soup. Careful not to slurp. Unfortunately, it still managed to go down the wrong tube. The waitress was sweet enough to keep filling my glass. Served in a shallow bowl with crispy pork rinds, meatballs, slices of belly. The flavors of the broth were pungent; none of the weak barely flavorful Lesson learned, even if you think you can handle spicy, you can’t.
Crispy mussels: not worth ordering. Bland flavors and mostly just breading.
With just the food alone, I would have given only 3 stars. It’s good, but not the best. The starring part of our evening was the boxes of Thai desserts and delicacies near the cash register. With our leftovers, we also took 2 boxes of dessert home.

Came here on a Sunday afternoon with my girlfriends and this place was a total ghost town with only about 2 – 3 other tables of people dining. Luckily, that meant fast and attentive service for us!
We ordered the floating market noodle soup and their special crispy (?!) papaya salad. Mind you, I had been craving papaya salad all weekend and that just sounded like the best thing in the world!
The crispy papaya salad was interesting and oh sooo flavorful. The lime and fish sauce flavors were so pronounced and it had the perfect amount of spice to it. The sauce paired well with the crispness of the fried papaya. a texture I have never experienced before. It was a HUGE serving– packed with tomatoes, green beans, peanuts, and served on a bed of lettuce and topped with jumbo shrimp. The flavors were so amazing, I couldn’t stop picking at it even after I was starting to feel stuffed!
The floating market soup was also delicious, it had fragrant flavors of basil, lemongrass, and that wonderful fish sauce. I wasn’t particularly fond of the pork balls, but the beef pieces were tender and the noodles were soft. Warning: the spice level of this dish is particularly higher than the average. So if you order it test it out before you add more peppers and chilis that they generously offer on the side.
Overall I had a pleasant experience with great company. The servers were attentive and always refilled our waters, although they sometimes were hard to catch because this place is pretty huge and they were spread out all around for some reason.
They do serve the usual traditional Thai dishes, but come here for their floating market soup and specials!

After my meal here tonight, I will never return.
We ordered the market soup and the crispy duck. The market soup had no real flavor besides spice and sugar… Too much sugar for that matter.
The crispy duck was old, hard, and not very crispy at all. There was no flavor. The duck was hardly distinguishable.
Disappointed because this place has great reviews. But from the dishes I tried tonight, this place is definitely one of the worse Thai restaurants I’ve had the misfortune of dinning at.
Don’t believe the hype.

Not so good. Every time I come things taste different. This place is so inconsistent with their flavors and portions.
My sister and I had dinner here on a Thursday night. We walked in and it was freeZing. Like keep your jacket on freezing. This isn’t the first time it has been freezing at this place. Even the waitresses had jackets on. I don’t get why they don’t turn on the heat! So uncomfortable.
Food. We ordered papaya salad for 7 $. Drunken noodles for 11 $. And green curry with chicken and bamboo for 11 $. THIS TIME the portions seemed bigger. But there was no shrimp or anything in the papaya– most places give you two to four shrimps. That’s just what they do. The drunken noodle didn’t have that much chicken but tasted fine. And the green curry barely had any chicken. Definitely not a portions worth. It legit had four thinnnnnnn slivers of chicken breast, a handful of shredded bamboo and a lot of soup. The flavor of the papaya was good. Like not too Americanized but not too Thai/​Laos like. ** every time I’ve been here the Papaya salad has been different. The drunken noodle was. Okay nothing spectacular. And the green curry didn’t have much flavor. Overall the food was mediocre. I’d rather go to the Thai carry out in calverton, md.
Service. She was strange. She came to us so fast to get our order but then disappeared when we needed more time. Prob made us wait over ten mins before we ordered our food. I asked her for a spice tray– they have them on the table but I was missing the green pickled peppers and the red fish sauce peppers. I asked specifically for the green pickled peppers and she legit went to a table that was occupied by someone and took his pickled pepper. She didn’t ask or anything which was weird. Every table had the tray and I don’t get why she went to a table that was occupied versus an empty table. Anyways.
For some reason they packed everyone in the left dining area versus the right side. I had to use the bathroom but I know there’s this strange smell there so I didn’t wanna go. It was FREEZING a in there. And the food was just okay. Every dish was 11 $ or higher. Pad Thai was 14 $! Which is ridiculous. I do think they did that because it’s a popular dish… I do think they take advantage of their customers. The portions were larger this time but it still wasn’t worth it. Larger as in… Regular size and not dinky like before.
** reminder to self. Don’t come back. No point in paying more for mediocre food, mediocre service, and an unwelcoming atmosphere.