Thai Inbox - Wilmette and Glenview

Tonight we had dinner at the Wilmette location of Thai Inbox, which had been recommended on this site by bweiny. It was very good!

Thai Inbox is located in a strip mall on the east side of Skokie Blvd.

The restaurant dining room is pleasant. Seating is ample (six four-tops and six banquette two-tops).

And there's a kitschy sign on the wall.

While we were there, three tables (including ours) were occupied, and 8-9 carryout customers picked up food. Service was friendly and helpful.

When ordering, we did not specify a spice level for any dishes, and were not asked to do so. This worked out fine for us, as noted below.

Although it's not indicated on their website, they do have a limited selection of beer and wine. We started with a nicely strong thai iced tea and a Chang beer.

Next was larb chicken, a cold "salad" dish ("ground chicken mixed with red onions, green onions, carrot, mints, rice powder, hot pepper and lime juice, topped with cilantro"). It was very good, with a very pleasant amount of hot/spice to it (if 1 is totally mild and 10 is extreme heat, I'd call it a 4).

We also had shrimp shu mai ("steamed shrimp dumpling topped with fried garlic and served with sweet soy sauce"). These were good too, albeit slightly gummy.

Next was a large tom kha gai ("fresh chicken breast in our special hot and sour coconut milk soup with mushroom, lemongrass, Kaffir lime leaves, and lime juice, topped with cilantro"). This was excellent, with plenty of sliced chicken in it, and just a bit of hot/spice (3).

Then we had chicken panang curry ("rich Panang curry paste and peanut butter stewed in creamy coconut milk, basil leaf, and bell pepper"). This was outstanding, and quite spicy (7).

We were very happy with our dinner at Thai Inbox, and look forward to returning to try more items! Thanks to bweiny for the rec!

Thai Inbox
143 Skokie Blvd.
Wilmette IL 60091
847-853-9898

I assume the Glenview location of the same name has the same ownership. Here's their info:

Thai Inbox Glenview
1417 Waukegan Rd.
Glenview, IL 60025
(847) 904 -2755

Very happy to hear Thai Inbox came through for you! Based on the dishes you said were your favorite when reporting on a different place (not the most exotic items, ones that are available most places and are conducive to comparison), I knew TI and their straightforward execution was a very good local N Evanston/Wilmette option.

For those contemplating, a few of my favorite dishes:
Tod Mun (fish cake appetizer)
Tom Yum Noodle Soup
Inbox Kee Mao (thin noodles instead of typical chow fun/thick)
Basil Leaves Entree (I usually have pork as the protein)
Pad Prik King Tilapia
- Their Won Ton Soup is an excellent winter option that I often pick up for my mom too.

Thanks for starting the thread!

We've never actually made it to the restaurant (either location) in person, but it (Wilmette outlet, I guess) has been in our rotation for years. Friday in movie night/date night and if there has been one absolute constant, it's been Thai Inbox. Are they the best Thai food I've ever had? No. Are they consistent, a cut above, and dependable? Absolutely.

In our new world of carryout and delivery, the best you can hope for from a restaurant is food that is as good by the time it gets home as it is when dining in the restaurant, and an easy ordering and contactless pickup experience. And tonight Thai Inbox (Wilmette location) NAILED IT.

Ordering from the Thai Inbox website was easy as can be. It's powered by Chownow, which means the restaurant doesn't pay a cut of your bill.

When I arrived at the restaurant, they have clear signage in the front windows, "PLEASE CALL US TO PICK UP YOUR ORDER, LET US KNOW YOU'RE HERE", along with their phone number. There's a table labeled "PICK UP" in front of the restaurant. When I called, they told me how long it would be (I got there earlier than my reserved time), and when it was ready (two minutes before that reserved time), they brought it out, placed it on the table, called out my name (there were two parties waiting for food), and went back inside. Easy peasy.

One caveat: As you can see, according to the writing on the door, the restaurant is closed Sundays. I believe that is correct, since the ordering website won't let you place an order for pickup on a Sunday. Just ignore the restaurant website where it gives Sunday hours.

The food didn't suffer at all from the fifteen-minute drive home, and was all very good indeed. Most of the items were labeled on top, which was helpful:

Chicken Satay - Grilled chicken breast marinated in curry sauce. Served with a peanut sauce and cucumber. This was excellent - plump and moist, better than most.

Shrimp Shu Mai - Steamed or fried shrimp dumpling topped with fried garlic. As noted above, on our previous visit we got this steamed, and the texture was a bit gummy. This time we opted for fried, and it was better.

Baby Egg Rolls - Marinated chicken and shrimp wrapped with spring roll skin. These were very good. They were slightly spicy and the thin vinegary sauce was spicier.

Chicken Larb - Ground chicken mixed with red onions, green onions, carrots, mints, rice powder, hot pepper, and lime juice. Topped with cilantros. This was excellent. There was no specification for level of hot/spice on the website, and this time it was much hotter (7 on my personal scale of 1 not at all hot to 10 incendiary) than last time (4), when we didn't specify a level of hot/spice when dining in. Note, the photo was taken after we had started serving from the container, which started out full.

Shrimp Pad Thai - Fresh thin rice noodle, bean sprout, egg, green onion, and ground peanut with tamarind sauce. This was pretty good, perhaps the least impressive of the dishes we ordered, but the shrimp were nice sized and plump. The ordering website asked for level of hot/spice, which was odd because this dish is not usually served hot/spicy. I specified mild-medium, and that's about how it came (I'd call it 3).

Chicken Panang Curry - Rich Panang curry paste and peanut butter stewed in creamy coconut milk, basil leaf, and bell pepper, with steamed jasmine rice. No photo, just see the photo from our previous visit. We got two orders because we liked them so much. On our previous visit, we didn't specify a level of hot/spice, and they were quite spicy (7). The ordering website asked for level of hot/spice (they don't allow mild on these dishes, so the choices are mild-medium, medium, medium-hot, or hot). We specified medium, and it was even hotter than last time, maybe 8 or even 9 on my personal scale. I like things pretty darn hot, but next time I'm asking for mild-medium.

Thai Custard - This was terrific, full of flavor, including (I believe) some taro-flavored custard mixed in.

Thai Iced Tea - This was unbagged with a lid taped on top, and fit right into the car's cupholder. Excellent.

We were thrilled and delighted with our dinner from Thai Inbox. It was so good, it made us feel like we weren't missing out on anything by getting it to go. Bravo, Thai Inbox!