LAN Palong Thai BBQ restaurant — Restaurant in Melbourne

The food was okay. We ordered the crab roe, som tum plara salmon, three BBQ meats, fried squid, and rice. First of all, we waited 45 minutes to get the food served to our table, and then our BBQ gas ran out. It was so hard to reach or ask for help from a waitress, it seemed like they were all very busy serving other tables but ours. Once I got help, the waitress changed the gas but just left the empty gas canister at our table, which was weird. We didn't get our rice for almost an hour until I asked for it.

The other weird thing was that people around us were getting their food quicker. We came first and ordered first, and yet people that arrived later got their food first, even though we ordered the same items. In total, we spent 2.5 hours in waiting and eating. we also tried to be nice by kept saying thank you every time they served us, and they just completely didn't say anything every time and left quickly which I don't mind but something that they could improve on as well.

The food tasted good, especially the crab roe and fried squid. However, the som tum plara salmon could have been better, they only gave four thin slices of salmon, which was not worth it at all. Even the food is good, and I have been to a lot of Thai restaurants and would say that there are a lot of better ones. Even though they definitely have a great selling point with that crab roe dish that it's hard to get anywhere else, they really need to improve their services, either by adding more staff or just being more aware of...

ORDERED (OCT 2024): 🍜 Chicken pad thai ($13.18) 🥭 Mango sticky rice ($16.25)

REVIEW: The chicken pad thai was great. Still a great lunch time spot for the reasons I've listed below. It was also nice to see that the chicken wasn't dry so I would recommend!

Mango sticky rice was a great way to finish off our dinner. Splitting it with a friend make it manageable. With mangos coming in season, this is the perfect finisher! ORDERED (JUNE 2024): 🍜 Vegetarian pad thai ($14.90)

I paid $15.23 here which included the card surcharge.

REVIEW: Wanted to try LAN Palong Thai BBQ during lunch break. The food came out within 20 minutes.

🔥 Sitting near the kitchen, I was soothed by the consistent sound of the wok moving and hitting against the stove. Food being tossed around, it was amazing to have the flames kiss my pad thai as well. ❤ It was a cohesive dish that had that smokiness and the veggies (although no tofu) kept it light. There's nuts and chilli on the side to add to your liking. The chilli powder was a great addition that I really enjoyed adding to my dish. Bean sprouts were snappy and fresh. I would've liked the wonton-type crisps to have their own flavour as well. I'd order Pad Thai again! 👍

Service was friendly. Although I ordered vegetarian (I don't have any dietaries), the waitress came over to double check I was aware and comfortable that the dish still had egg. A subtle gesture which shows that LAN Palong is well aware of the complex dietaries of some...

My family and I had a deeply frustrating bad experience today at this restaurant LAN PALONG on 3/11/25. We arrived at 5:20 PM and were told the wait time would be about an hour, which we accepted to wait outside.

However, the situation quickly revealed poor management. Throughout our wait, we observed 3-4 empty tables that remained unseated for over an hour. A long line of 20-25 other customers was also waiting outside. Despite speaking to the staffs of this clear demand, the staff made no effort to seat anyone at these available tables.

The most baffling part was watching numerous customers give up and leave. It was clear the restaurant was losing significant business, yet the staff seemed completely indifferent , no care whatsoever. We saw no sense of urgency or concern for the waiting customers.

A simple solution was ignored when a 6 PM reservation didn't show up, that table should have been immediately offered to walk-in customers who had already been waiting for so long. This is basic restaurant management.

We ultimately left after waiting for over an hour, having witnessed the restaurant turn away dozens of potential patrons through sheer incompetence and a refusal to adapt.

We cannot recommend this place to anyone based on this complete lack of operational common sense and customer care from the front...