Vientiane Café — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Having lived in both Laos and Thailand for years, I can say that I know the genuine cuisines of those countries and hold little tolerance for establishments which cut corners or pass bogus dishes off as the real deal. Whenever I encounter a "Lao" restaurant in a foreign city, my first reaction is one of skepticism. Some of the critical reviews of Vientiane Cafe made me pause before deciding to give it a try. And I'm glad I did.

My family members and I ordered only Lao dishes, so I can't comment on the quality of their Thai offerings. The Lao staple dish is laab - delicately spiced ground meat served with sticky rice. My pork laab was excellent. I savored every bite. I therefore highly recommended it. My wife's aw lao - a kind of stew with veggies and meat or tofu - was also authentically spiced and delicious. Our daughter ordered King soup - a coconut milk-based noodle soup. It was exquisite. As a side dish, we had the papaya salad (Thai style), which also did not disappoint. Finally, for dessert, we had sticky rice with mango topped with coconut creme - it was to die for!

Contrary to some reviews, we found the service to be quick and friendly. The owner, a gracious elderly woman, spent time chatting with us and wanting to know how we found the food. Portions were ample and attractively displayed. I realize that restaurants occasionally slip on food quality and service due to the usual chef being absent, or a shortage of serving staff, which can account for some customers dissatisfaction. This certainly was not the case for us.

I therefore wholeheartedly endorse the food and service at Vientiane Cafe. I wouldn't...

What a surprise!

We ordered take out through UberEATS and it was definitely a good choice!

I hadn't ever tried Laotian cuisine before so I was on the fence about ordering in for my first experience. I usually like to go and do a sit down meal when trying new cuisines so I have a chance to ask questions before making a decision.

In any case, I threw caution to the wind (I know - really wild over here) and ordered away and it was definitely worth the risk! I got the Vegetarian Nam Salad consisting of marinated rice, coconut flakes, mint, scallions, parsley, lime leaves, and chili - served with lettuce wraps! My friend ordered the King's soup - vermicelli noodles with bean sprouts, shredded lettuce, carrots, mint, cilantro, scallions in a red curry coconut broth. Both were delicious and very flavorful! The dishes weren't overly spicy but they definitely had a kick (which I enjoyed). I enjoyed the different taste profiles, especially the coconut in the salad - sweet but not too sweet!

The servings were ample, and I'm glad we were able to share and taste each other's meals - able to understand the menu a bit better this way. I also appreciated that the menu has a lot vegetarian friendly options (which is a always a hit or miss with Asian restaurants) so I'm looking forward in trying other dishes in the future.

Pricing was also fair, and I think overall we made out like bandits - paying less than what I think the food probably deserves given how well everything was prepared!

Definitely...

I wasn't sure what to expect walking in and was met with a super long menu of options. It is broken down a bit into Laos/Thai and then appetizers, but we weren't so sure where to start. We asked for help and were given a ton of suggestions we probably would never have chosen ourselves.

We started with the Tom Saap. I found this flavoring to be pretty pleasant and fragrant. The structure of the dish is a little hard to eat but the soup floats around a flame with meat cooking all the time. This didn't come with rice so we ordered on the side (it feels a bit egregious not to offer rice with this). Then went with the mok casserole with salmon. The salmon here was good but felt like salmon I could have cooked at home and the casserole itself was...meh. For the price of the salmon upcharge this was not worth it.

Not sure if we just tried the wrong dishes or if this is reflective of the place at large. Would consider trying other dishes from here? But I'm certainly not rushing to come back here.

BYOB. Service was okay. When we walked in we made eye contact with essentially everyone in the kitchen, none of whom seemed interested in offering us a table. Once we got the food, we didn't really see our server (the only server it seemed, despite us being 1/2 tables) until it was time for a to go box...