Top Burmese Bistro Royale — Restaurant in Beaverton

I have dined here a few times for friend's birthdays, and it's always been okay - however, this last summer we went there and I'm still mad about what happened.

So, to start off, once we were seated, our server was NOWHERE to be found. For a long time, probably 20 minutes at least. Now, if it was packed with people, I would completely understand. But this was a Sunday evening, and there were maybe four tables inside seated, and maybe two outside. Nowhere near what any rational person would describe as busy.

So, our server finally comes, after ages, and takes our drink orders and appetizer orders. They come out after a while, but our appetizers come out with the robot (which is a cool gimmick, I admit), but they aren't labelled, and some of us got veggie versions of dishes that also have omnivore options that we also ordered so it was really confusing. Fine. So - our server is once again absent for a LONG TIME. Like, really long time. We didn't even see him to flag him down. So, my little family (3 of us out of a 7 top) decide to order via the QR online option (the QR code is on a placard on the table) because we are tired of waiting and we have a six year old with us. The other four people in the group decide to wait for the server to come back. So, we order via QR option, and maybe five minutes after we do this the server FINALLY comes around to take the other four people's main course order. During that interaction, I check with the server no less than THREE times to confirm that the kitchen did indeed get our QR/online order as well. He confirmed that they did get the order and our food would come out together.

A while goes by, the four people who ordered with the server all get their main course. Once again, the dishes weren't labelled (they came out on the robot), and one person in the group almost started eating someone else's dish before they figured out it belonged to another person. My little family of 3's food is nowhere to be found. Neither is the server. For a LONG TIME - trust, we were looking. So now, at this point, the four people who ordered with the server have completely FINISHED their meals. And us three, who ordered via QR code, who's meal orders were confirmed THREE TIMES with the server, are nowhere to be seen. Server FINALLY comes around, and we inquire about where TF our food is. He's like, "oh weird, I'll check". Like, dude, if you had paid ANY attention to our table at all, you would have noticed that nearly half of us have no main courses in front of us. After several minutes, he comes back and gives come excuse about how it didn't come through right - I'm like, dude, we confirmed it with you 45 minutes ago when you took our orders. So finally, many, many more minutes go by, the rest of us get our food. At the end of everything, dude gave us 15% off for our trouble. Fifteen percent. Like, really? Not even comp'd our diet cokes for our trouble?

Honestly, I will never go back here. I love the ambiance, it's a good place for vegetarians, and the robots are cute, but really, the robots are just an excuse for the servers to pay less attention to you, or at least that was my experience. And at this price point, I expect semi-decent service. In retrospect, I should have asked to speak to a manager, because this server was either very new, or literally...

I’ve been here multiple times, and have had good experiences. Last night was a bad experience, specifically with the lack of hospitality from the hostesses.

I came here for dinner last night with my Burmese family who’s visiting from out of town. I was so excited to bring them here, because they love Burmese food. Upon checking in with the hostess for our reservation, we were taken to one of the tall tables with barstools. My mother-in-law is 4’ 10”, has vertigo, and had a really difficult time trying to get up onto the barstool, despite assistance from two other people. She became dizzy, almost fell off the barstool due to its height and how much the stool moved around on the slick tile floor, and ultimately told us she could not sit there. So, I went to the hostess and told her that we couldn’t sit there because it was unsafe for my MIL, and asked to please sit at a shorter table. We were told our only option was for a table out on the patio, but it was chilly and my in-laws get cold very easily, so that was not a good option. I pointed to an empty, short table indoors, directly behind me, that would work perfectly, and asked to sit there, but was told that the table was reserved for a party of five (we were a party of 4). I then asked if the party of five had specifically requested that table, and was told no, they hadn’t, but we still couldn’t sit there because they had already added an additional chair to the table to accommodate the fifth person. Mind you, there were four hightop tables available that they could have easily added a fifth barstool to. After a little nonsensical back and forth with the hostesses, and them being rude and less than understanding to my MIL’s health concerns, they rolled their eyes and sat us at the short table I had requested. Cool, thanks for doing the bare minimum of your job, and being bitchy the whole time…WTF?

Our server was decent, nothing spectacular, and was the only server for the entire restaurant.

Our food and drinks were a little pricey for the portion size, (our bill was $200) but they arrived in a timely manner, and were yummy.

I probably won’t be back to this restaurant. Yes, the food is good, but it doesn’t outshine the bad vibes and rudeness of the hostesses. There are plenty of restaurants in PDX that have better food and superior service, so I’ll take my money there.

Oh, and the party of five that the table was reserved for never even showed! LOL all that fuss from the hostesses...

[aug 6 2022] Minus one star. Ended up tipping over 50% on accident because we weren't warned about the gratuity that was added automatically and then we were prompted again. Felt quite deceptive.

[sept 15 2024] minus another star. Our dishes weren't clean. The glasses had lipstick stains on it. We had to get up to ask for things because we couldn't get the servers attention frequently enough despite it being only a couple of people in the restaurant ( 2 parties )

--- food --- Garden Quail eggs ⭐⭐⭐ never had quail eggs before, was good but didn't blow my mind

Green tea leaf salad ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ really good size fresh loved all the peanuts

Eggplant curry ⭐⭐⭐ good but didn't blow my mind was a little bland, I think this is personal taste for me, I think this felt like more of a stew to me

Okra curry ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ actually a tinge spicy

Pumpkin curry ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ sweet and spicy

Nangyi tofu noodle salad ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ so soft prefer the kaho soi tho

❤️Khao Soi ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ super soft not super spicy very coconut forward

All star okra curry ⭐⭐⭐✨ really good, had great vegetables

❤️Beef Paratha ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ loved the paratha the beef was incredible

❤️Chicken Samosas ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ perfectly crispy absolutely loved it the inside is soft

Mango wings ⭐⭐⭐✨ not overly sweet needed more flavor in my opinion, just was all sweet

Tamarind ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ superior to the mango wings perfect flavor

Sweet pumpkin curry ⭐⭐⭐⭐ really good if you like pumpkin needed the paratha is what you'd expect, not overly sweet got it without being mushy

Shan noodles ⭐⭐⭐✨ good but didn't blow me away I loved the peanuts and bok choy had a good mix of vegetables

Samosa soup ⭐⭐⭐ just ok it isn't really a soup, it's more of ingredients and a gravy, you're given a bunch of samosas and chickpeas and onions etc and you pour the gravey on this is fine, but it isn't like incorporated - the chickpeas don't have much time to soak in the broth and the onions are just raw. Would be better if everything was together except the samosas so it doesn't get soggy

--- drinks ---

Burmese style lemonade ⭐⭐⭐⭐ not overly sweet the brown sugar makes it have a different after taste I think!

Burmese tea ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨ a really interesting milk tea

Rose cardamom ⭐⭐ didn't like as much...