Boualouang Laos & Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Edmonton

UPDATED REVIEW: I have ordered lunch from here 6 times now in the last 2 months and their consistency is top notch. Their individual lunch combos are of incredible value. Their red curry is SOO good. Just as amazing as their green curry is. Their spring rolls are delicious as well and it seems that the money bags I had on my first visit were unusually unfilled as every single time I have ordered delivery from them since, they have been filled and have more cream cheese in them. Their coconut rice is absolutely top notch, too. I absolutely love the food at this restaurant (though I am still wary to try their pad thai again as I really didn't like it the one time I ordered it). Even though their pad thai was bland, I would still give this restaurant 5 stars as everything else is always incredibly tasty. They also ALWAYS listen to the delivery order notes and have superb customer service in that regard. Honestly, they are now my favourite Thai restaurant in town (downtown) and even surpass Viphalay. I 100% would recommend anyone to visit this restaurant as they not only have excellent consistency and incredible flavour, but superb customer relations skills as well. It is rare to find a China Town restaurant with such attentiveness to order requests. I love this restaurant. 😝💓 Do not hesitate to visit it! It is a GEM and I crave it every single week. 🫶

INITIAL REVIEW: I don't know if they were having a bad day or something, but the pad thai here is, in my opinion, one of the worst I've had in-town. It was very bland, dry, and lacking in umami and that hint of sweetness one expects of pad thai. Having been around Thailand, I can say that their green curry is exquisite, though. It has a mild spice and is beautifully made (I personally order it with beef). We ordered the money bags when we dined in and while they were very tasty, do not expect them to be filled with cream cheese. They have a hint of it in the mix, but it is not a dominant flavour like how they usually are at other restaurants I've been to. Both my friend and I were surprised by this. Naturally, their vietnamese iced coffee was...

My 2nd time here. I came back because the food was excellent the 1st time. However, this experience was so bad. I called at 4:30 for pickup and was told it would be ready at 5:30. Upon arrival the only thing that was ready were 2 appetizers. I ended up waiting until 6:30. I checked my order before the server packed it and 2 of the dishes were wrong. Then an argument ensued where I was told I had ordered red curry. I ordered Matsuman, etc. Finally, the server realized she was wrong and had to go back to the kitchen and re-order, thus more waiting. By the time I got the Massaman curry, everything else was ice cold. And then when we started eating, not only was everything cold, all of it was disgusting. Overcooked/ mushy, bland, oily and 1 order was still wrong. Plus, I paid extra for 2 coconut rice and got 2 steamed rice. Fried eggs mysteriously appeared on the #18 Pad-ka-pow; shrimp stir fry. What a fiasco. Doubt I will be returning. My observations while waiting were that the restaurant is lacking proper management, the kitchen is understaffed, the existing staff/ servers/ etc, are not trained, thus there is extremely poor efficiency. Please see food photos: 1: I'm not sure what this was supposed to be? It was overcooked shrimp & chicken floating in oil. 2: steamed rice. 3: Menu item #9: Yum; glass noodle salad with shrimp (it had no onions or shrimp or dressing, or peanut sauce dressing that is supposed to come with it) 4: oily spring rolls. 5: menu item #18; Pad Ka Pow. Overcooked, mushy and bland. 6: Matsuman Curry (this was good). This cost me $100, plus I left a 20% tip. Very...

We had dined here on September 4 and I have never been so disrespected at a restaurant my whole life. We drove all the way to Edmonton as we heard this was a gem within Chinatown.

The moment we arrived, we were met by a grumpy-looking waiter who must have been the owner. He almost threw the menu at the table. We had asked for several things on the menu but kept getting told the items were not available. No big deal, we knew this was the case due to the pandemic.

We ended up ordering a tom yum soup and a thai salad. We could not think of anything else to eat as 1, we had eaten breakfast and 2, a lot of the things we wanted were not available.

When the grumpy man came back to ask if we wanted to order more, we said no, and he went on to say that we "didn't know how to eat" as we were only ordering soup and salad and that we were "going to ruin or stomach".

First of all, it's ok to show concern if you think that we would actually "ruin our stomach" but to say it so rudely as if we were such an inconvenience to the restaurant is appalling. I understand the restaurant is going through hardships and short staffing due to the pandemic but this is not the right way to lure your customers back in.

My advice to the grumpy man, if you are the owner, do not talk to your customers. You do not know customer service at all, you will end up ruining your entire business. If you're not the owner, please don't work there. You do not belong in the hospitality industry.

Lastly, the food was mediocre. I'll...