Panoy Bistro — Restaurant in Grass Valley

We will not go back to Panoy. Many years ago this was a good place but it has seriously gone downhill. There were only 2 other customers in the place but it took the waitress a long time to come to our table. She poured warm water in our glasses that was right out of the faucet with no ice. When my husband ask for ice, she brought him about 1/3 of a cup which melted immediately when he put it in the water. She didn’t bring me ice or even ask if I wanted any. She never asked if we wanted anything besides water. The other couple that was there had to go to the bar to get their beer and she never ask them if they wanted another one so they had to go back to the bar. While we waited for our food we looked around at stuff piled in the corners, curtains that were just cut raw-edged fabric and not long enough to reach the dirty windowsill or keep the sun out. My meal arrived first and its a good thing that we had planned to share because we had finished mine before his even came. If he hadn’t shared mine, he would have been eating his alone when his came. The food was “ok” but not large servings. We ordered the lettuce wrap for a starter and we had to wrap it ourselves. They put everything on a plate with a couple of lettuce leaves and it was messy to have to wrap it. We aren’t big eaters so we have leftovers from most places we go. There was a very dirty, very large man who came out from behind the counter, or maybe the kitchen, a couple of times blowing his nose. Our first instinct was to leave before we even ordered but we didn’t, however, we won’t go back. For the $50 that we spent, we could have gone to any nice place in Grass Valley!! I give it one star for the taste and because you can’t leave a review without at...

🛑 Liar liar pants on fire! If you want to go to a place that respects you, doesn't lie to you, and cares about more than taking your money?

DON'T GO THERE!!!🛑

We used to go there a lot for years. It's a family owned place so the young waitress who seems to always be there was always our waitress.

She told us all the food is vegetarian, and that she used to be vegetarian herself so she knows all about it.

One day our friend went there and had a different waitress. She told her NOTHING is vegetarian as everything has fish sauce.

We were shocked and were sure this is a mistake. After all our waitress was always nice and we came there a lot.

Well... She lied. And she knew she was lying. When I went there again, she admitted that everything has fish sauce.

When i asked her shy she said everything is vegetarian, she started making up excuses: "I was confused that one time", she said. So I reminded her we came there many times and she was always our waitress.

Then she said "Ah, it's hard to read the ingredients". Really fishing for excuses (pun intended).

The apparent truth is that she just lied to us, knowingly. Notice also that with her excuses, she never denied that she told us everything was vegetarian.

Now, you might not be vegetarian, but if you want to go to a place that respects you, doesn't lie to you, and cares about more than taking your...

I accidentally went here when searching for Thai food options in the area. It is not Thai food. It is Lao food.

Boy what a fortuitous mistake on my part! This is the best Lao food I have had and I have travelled in SE Asia. This is not just "on par" with the rare Lao food restaurant in the SF Bay Area, LA, or the Pacific Northwest. This is arguably better than most of those!

Here' a tip: If you want one of the noodle dishes, I suggest you "dine in" rather than get takeout. We have now tried it both ways, and the noodles are definitely best when fresh off the cooking heat, rather than after they have cooled a bit during a car ride. Still good both ways but it's just better when piping hot fresh.

Lots of excellent vegetarian options.

The Drunkend Noodles are very good. Our favorite are the Crying Tiger Noodles.

The Ginger Curry is awesome. If Panning is more your thing, we can vouch for that too.

I am so glad we tried the Lahp salad. It just seemed like it would be a little odd, but boy, now that we have, we get it every time.

Word to the wise: If you want "fried rice" skip the Panoy version and the Pineapple Fried Rice. It is a step or three more interesting.

The parking lot can occasionally get full during the most busy times, and it is a tight lot, but there is plenty of street parking with one...