Kitchen Vibe Bistro Restaurant — Restaurant in Vientiane Capital

I wanted to write a review because this place has so much going for it. The staff are lovely, attentive and they speak good… ‘decent’ English.

The menu was clear, not too big, not too small, prices were on the higher side for Loas but very reasonable for the quality of the produce. Restaurant was clean, nicely air conditioned and quiet.

So I do have a few negatives and I know I may sound picky but this is a fancy restaurant and sometimes it’s the little things that matter.

Cocktails weren’t great, we ordered a passion fruit mojito and a amaretto sour. The mojito had very little, if any rum, the mint was shaken with ice so it had loads of bits of mint running through the drink and far too much soda. The sour my wife ordered so I only had a sip but I would say no egg white as it was extremely thin, not genuine Disaronno and no ice so it went warm really quickly.

We both ordered the pumpkin soup to start which actually tasted nice but was served in a cold bowl or wasn’t heated properly because it was barely warm. No bread was served so I ask for some bread and we got a tiny piece of bread each.

The cauliflower croquettes were really lovely but again cold and on a cold plate which was such a shame.

For my main I ordered the duck which I do like pink but this was extremely rare in the middle and I had to send it back for a few more minutes in the pan. The plate was cold ‘AGAIN’ and I had to rush to eat it otherwise I’d just be eating another cold meal. Such a shame because the flavours worked really well together and the mash was lovely buttery and smooth but again ‘Yep you guessed it’ Cold.

My wife ordered the July pasta (spaghetti, prawns, pancetta and a spicy tomato sauce) I tried it and it was lovely and amazingly this meal was piping hot. My only complaint with this meal was the spaghetti had been broken into smaller pieces so you could twirl it onto your folk, I know I sound picky right now but it meant you had to spoon it into your mouth and I honestly don’t know why any chef would do this.

Okay so the desert, we ordered the Panna Cotta to share, it came with a mountain of chopped watermelon and honeydue melon on top and the Panna Cotta itself was extremely soft to the point it turned to liquid and was like a cup of sweet milk.

All in all I came away quite disappointed. I feel 3 stars is fair as we had some decent food at a reasonable price but...

This was a total disappointment. I had lunch here and when I arrived there were 2 tables inside with 2 guests at each and none of the outside tables were occupied. I placed my order and it took 10 minutes for my bourbon to arrive. In that time another couple arrived and the other 2 couples soon left. My soup arrived about 15 minutes after my drink and was barely warm! While tasty it was only 5 soup spoons of soup!!! That was it. 510 minutes later my burger and fries arrived. The lamb burger was good and it was stuffed with goat cheese that oozed out when cut and topped with fresh rocket. I was served french fries and the table next to me ordered a burger as well and they had hand-cut fried potatoes!?!? I had also ordered a bottle of water and that arrived as I was finishing my burger!! I sent it back. The service was beyond slow and the waitstaff never smiled or made eye-contact with me. The atmosphere was cold and uninviting. I literally had to flag the staff down to get my check. I always check the pricing/exchange it it turns out the the pricing is not true to the menu. The charge a lesser exchange rate than that of the posted rate causing your bill to be slightly higher. Now, US$2.50 is clearly NOT a lot of money, however, if you multiply that amount by per person or a higher bill that is all income for this place. This is an upscale restaurant with an upscale hotel and to take advantage of people because you can is not right - why not reflect the price of meal accurately. My bill showed that the meal was US$ 24 and yet I paid the equivalent of US@ 26.50 for 5 mouthfuls of soup, the cheaper cut of fries, lousy service. Take your business elsewhere. Try 525 around the corner as their food and atmosphere...

I had breakfast there a couple of times while staying at the hotel and I loved the wide variety of choices. However, I usually eat just fresh fruit for breakfast and fruit was really ripe and tasty so I enjoyed it a lot. I also had a dinner there 3 times and all the meals were really tasty. The only disadvantage for me there was the fact that I am vegan (I don't eat any animal products) and they don't really have vegan meal options on their menu so I couldn't choose what to eat and they just made something for me. It was delicious but it's always good to have a choice. There were more vegan options for breakfast but as far as I know, still no hot meal options that you can choose from the breakfast menu. Now it's very easy to make e.g. vegan pancakes/waffles etc without using eggs and cow milk, so it would be great if they could add something like that to their menu. That being said, the quality and the taste of the meals made of fresh ingredients are excellent.

Restaurant staff are really nice and helpful. And the whole bistro and its atmoshpere and music...