Bai Bua Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Vancouver

Second time coming here- the first time was amazing, so you would think the second time around would be good? Unfortunately, it was not.

For starters, we did get seated right away (as the restaurant was not super busy)which was nice, however it took almost 15 minutes before someone even got us water or tried to take our initial order.

After this, we got our order placed and we began waiting. After a few minutes I was informed that my initial choice dish (yellow curry) was out of stock and they asked what I would like to order in exchange. I pivoted and ordered a red curry (the same order as my friend at the table). Slightly disappointed, but knew that the food here is usually really good so it wasnt really a deterrent.

After another 15 minutes or so, the food all came in for my friends- my dish was the only outstanding item left. Considering it was less than 5 minutes when I was informed my original order of yellow curry was out and I switched to the same order as my friend who also ordered a red curry, you would assume that the wait time would have been next to none. This was not the case- I waited an extra 25 minutes for my food to come out. Enough time passed that everyone else at our table ate and finished, and the table next to us also ordered AND received their food in full despite ordering after us. The waitress checked in on how the food was prior to me even getting my own food, so I didnt really have a chance to say anything about my food when it did come out later.

Once my food did come out, the curry itself tasted fine, but the beef in the curry was not cooked properly and was clearly made incorrectly in comparison to my friends order. It was overly chewy and fatty, much more than your average cut, and almost felt undercooked for some of it. It essentially ruined my appetite to eat as all of the beef was this way.

I told the waitress about how it was not done correctly and that waiting almost an additional half hour for it was kind of disappointing for my experience, to which she just shrugged off and handed me the bill.

Unfortunately, they did not change the bill at all so I ended up paying full price for some mediocre service and seemingly improperly prepared food. I am rather disappointed as this restaurant was phenomonal the first time around, but just completely dropped the ball the second time here.

This is confusing, as I would like to believe that the second time around was possibly busier than the first but this is simply not true- the first time we came here there were no open tables and a line-up outside. This time around, there were plenty of unseated tables and it was significantly less busy. So why was the service so underwhelming?

Overall, I really hope that something about their customer service and their food prep changes as this place was so good the first time around that this most recent time leaves a bitter taste in my mouth about coming back. 2.5/5...

My daughter and I were on our way to my mom's place and I had promised to stop somewhere and get some takeout food to bring to her place for dinner. I decided to get some Thai food from Bai Bua Thai. I discovered this place earlier this year and it very quickly became one of my favourite Thai restaurants anywhere. In fact, I'll venture to say that it's my number one, absolute favourite. The only thing I don't like about it is how far it is from my house. I wish it were just around the corner so I could walk there and enjoy their food more often! I ordered some Pad Thai noodles, a Tofu Green Curry and a small order of Coconut Rice to go with the Green Curry.

This was my first time ordering takeout from this restaurant. All of the other times I came here, I actually ate inside the restaurant. The photos of green curry in a plastic container and pad thai in a cardboard box are the photos of my most recent visit which was takeout. I'm attaching a few photos from a previous visit as well though, just for a bit more variety and because...well, the photos of my takeout food just don't do justice to the restaurant! My takeout food was delicious, but it doesn't look very appetizing in the photos. Also, whenever I eat in the restaurant I love ordering a cup of their hot Thai tea. They always serve it to me in this massive, jumbo sized cup. As soon as I set my eyes on that cup I feel all warm and fuzzy inside! I just couldn't post this review without including a picture of my favourite cup of hot Thai tea.

Other dishes I've tried in the past include the Pad Kee Mao noodles, and the Pad See Ew noodles. They never fail to impress me. Every single dish I've had at this restaurant has been packed with bold and wonderful flavors. Their noodles have what Chinese people refer to as "Wok Hei". It's a term which is used to describe a taste that you get from foods which are cooked over a very hot wok. I also love how they put lots of veggies into my dish when I order from them. It always makes me happy to see lots of vibrant colours on my plate!

I recommend coming for lunch as they have lunch specials at this restaurant. Every time I've come to eat, I've come for their lunch special! It comes with an appetizer which, if I remember correctly is deep fried wonton if you're a meat eater. I'm Pescatarian so for me it was deep fried tofu. Oh...their spring rolls are great too. They are really crispy! Oh, and I was also impressed when I saw a small reusable silicone lid covering the bottle of water on our table. It's a small detail but I'm always happy to see any kind of effort towards being eco friendly!

Service: Good Parking: Street parking, or you can park for free at the East Village Parking lot which is about one block away, behind London Drugs. Location:...

Bai Bau Thai Cuisine is located on the East Hastings corridor near Nanaimo Street – near my former haunts. There’s nothing like finding a nice new Thai restaurant (well, new to me at least).

We checked this place out in mid-August and started with a Lychee Mint Slushie ($5.90) and Chicken Satay Skewers ($7.90). The mint slushie was a welcome addition given the warm weather we’ve been having this summer and the creamy peanut sauce with the satay skewers was spot on.

Next up was the Pad Thai with Prawns ($13.90). The rice noodles had a nice caramelization which lead to very toothsome carbs to enjoy.

Finally, we ordered the Special Roasted Duck Red Curry ($15.90). I love when this dish is served with lychee as I enjoy the sweetness that the lychee adds to the curry sauce (in addition to the lychee and tomatoes, they also had pineapple slices as well).

Overall thoughts… nice flavours and welcome addition.

Update: Revisited last December and tried the crab and shrimp roll. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting. The roll was very light with a hole-y kind of wrapper (reminded me of the exterior of fried taro puffs). It was very crispy and came with a sweet dipping sauce.

Also got a chance to try their green curry chicken with small eggplants. It was good and paired well with the coconut rice.

Update: Revisited in late March 2024 Ordered a special longan juice (this was really good with tons of longan in the cup) as well as a refreshing Thai ice tea with lemon.

The moo ping had incredibly tender and juicy marinated pork.

The red curry chicken had plenty of bamboo shoots and more of those small eggplants that I liked in their green curry dish.

The pad prig khing was quite spicy. Also got the pad kee mao with thick rice...