Vientiane Bistro — Restaurant in Philadelphia

I was seated at a table with my friend and the server approached us with an ill-fitting mask. She had been too lazy to open the fan section if it and employ the nose wire. She then pulled her mask OFF and leaned into us very closely and said “I need to see your vaccine cards”. I pulled mine out to show it and she had walked away! Very rude. When she returned, I showed my vaccine card but she didn’t bother to verify it against my photo identification. Weird. I then told her that her mask is on incorrectly and her pathetic excuse was that she can’t breathe . I told her that I too work in food service and I never complain about that because I wear my mask correctly, hence, I can breathe. She refused to wear her mask in a safe manner and kept touching it. Then she brought our tea by touching the mouthpieces of the tea cups. That was when we knew we were not safe eating there. It’s too bad because I had eaten there before and the other server was safe and professional. Anyhow, we went to eat across the street instead and the server wore his mask correctly and was very professional. Food was...

I have eaten almost everywhere & almost everything...and Lao cuisine is EASILY one of the BEST in the world. Hence...one would think that with a decent size Lao community in Philly, we would have a decent number of some of the best Lao restaurants in the country (like Thip Khao in DC, Charming Elephant in Baltimore, or Sticky Rice Cafe in Knoxville). Not so much. When Vientiane Bistro is hitting, the food is very good. But every other visit, it seems like the kitchen loses its way (e.g. Sai oua comes out burned or falling apart; Duck Laab comes out without cilantro or chilies). Every Lao restaurant in the Philly area (and there are only 4) has some version of the same issue: 50% of the menu is good 50% of the time. Worth the gamble. But prepare yourself if it...

Stopped in for some takeout. Ordered a papaya salad, pad thai with shrimp and a thai tea. Papaya salad was good, but the portion was very small for $14. The pad thai with shrimp was a bigger portion than the papaya salad. But, it had zero pad thai flavor! It was a bunch of stir fried shrimp, broccoli, carrot and noodles. It tasted more like a Chinese than Thai. The pad thai was extremely expensive at $24 and definitely did not taste authentic. Regular size thai tea (12 oz.) was pricey at $6. Total cost for LUNCH was a wallet buster at $48. It's too bad they're so overpriced. I really wanted to make this restaurant one of my go to spots for Thai but I cannot recommend this place due to their overpricing and...