Sabai Sabai Lao & Thai Cuisine — Restaurant in Mill Creek

Sabai Sabai Lao & Thai Cuisine in Lynnwood is phenomenal. The burst of flavors from every dish we ordered was a pleasant surprise.

My brother took my family and I here back in May 2023. I had to be careful with my new allergies and alerted the kitchen staff to separate the nuts out on some dishes.

Here are some of the dishes we ordered:

NAM KHAO - Toasted pieces of rice with a bit of heat (sans peanuts for me). It was so flavorful and even more delicious with the crunchy green lettuce, and topped with their lime fish sauce.

CRAB FRIED RICE - My family enjoyed this without me but I know it looked delicious! Darn these new seafood allergies!

PAPAYA SALAD - Sweet, sour, tangy, refreshing papaya salad. This was very flavorful and we enjoyed it with the other dishes.

SAI OOUA - Simply presented, this Lao Sausage was unexpectedly delicious. Add some lettuce and sliced carrots for added texture and crunch!

KHAO PIA SEN - A comforting and delicious Lao chicken noodle soup made with handmade noodles!

EGG ROLLS - Crunchy appetizer that we all enjoyed.

STICKY RICE - This came with one of the dishes and it was great. I loved the little container it came in.

PA LAD PRIK - This was my favorite dish here. The fried fish was covered in a flavorful thin gravy and crunchy veggies. I loved this dish!

We had other dishes that were all delicious.

The ambiance was nice during the time we dined here. I liked the simple decor of the wooden Thai statues at the front. The servers were all friendly and they accommodated our special dietary needs.

There were plenty of parking spaces when we came. I had a large rental SUV and some spaces were pretty tight. Just be careful if in case you drive a larger vehicle.

Overall, we loved the delicious food and the welcoming staff, and the comfy ambiance. Highly recommend this place for anyone with an adventurous palate or just want to try...

I’ve had good food and experiences here in the past. Still haven’t ordered enough off of their menu to know what I think about it.

We ordered 2 dishes that are go-tos and one off the Lao authentic menu.

Before we did, I asked the server if it was good. No explanation of the dish, but she did say that it was popular, so we decided to give it a try.

She dropped the food off but never came by to ask how it was.

The dish wasn’t what I imagined from the explanation, the tapioca balls were extremely hot & sticky with flavorless, dry meat inside and then you just wrap a piece of plain lettuce around the hot sticky ball. No accompaniments, sauce, etc.

Anyway, we went to let her know up at the counter that we didn’t like it. She didn’t respond, ask any questions or drop by the table, she kept her head down.

When it was time to pay, she gave us a total for the charge without the receipt.

I asked to see a receipt, to which she was offended. She asked why I wanted a receipt (which should come with any purchase standard). I told her I wanted to know if she charged us for the dish that we didn’t like or eat (neither here nor there, I just wanted to know). She said we never told her to take it off the bill and then proceeded to ask if we took a bite. We told her we had (which is generally what people do to determine if food is good) and then she said well if we tried it she can’t refund it.

Again, beside the point, no need for a refund - just asking for transparency so I can decide how much to tip from there.

All in all, the food is alright and the service...

Food was great. This was a recommendation from several friends to try for good authentic Lao food.

Service was bad... We needed a large table to accommodate 11 people, there were none so we took 2 booths. Then an opening for a large table came up before the dishes were out and when I asked the server they replied: we never said no. Then I overheard them bickering to each other with half English half their native language, I can put the pieces together and understood is as they were upset that we caused them trouble and won't move any tables together (those were said in English). There were only our group and another one in the restaurant, it was a quiet Saturday dinner time.

Overall, the food was good, the service was really slow, and they were trying to be smiley in front of our faces but I can hear them being upset behind the counter, probably about our request for tables for a large group.

So.. if you are okay with rudeness but want good food, this is a good...