Green Papaya — Restaurant in Stockton

I'm so happy that Green Papaya had a permanent location now. My first encounter with them was completely by chance 3 years ago, and I was pleasantly surprised by how authentic the food was.

Recommendations: Spicy Laotian sausage (5 stars) - $8. If you enjoy the flavors of South East Asian food in one bite, you must must must try this sausage. The flavors include the perfect balance of savory and spiciness, chili, lemongrass, basil and more. I get craving of these sausage for realz!

Papaya salad Laotian style (5 stars, it had shrimp paste so an unique taste, medium was already very spicy, just FYI)

Mango sticky rice (5 stars) -$5, this is a seasonal dessert. The mango was perfectly ripe and the wild rice gave this dish an interesting twist)

Pad See Ew (4 stars) - this noodle dish is my go-to and what I use to judge a restaurant. The version here is not the best I've had in the US but still good, nice amount of soy sauce and vegetables, though not enough wok flavor.

All the main entrees (except noodle dishes) come with white or sticky rice. The price is not cheap but the taste and the ingredients are legit. Give this place a try if you are in the Stockton area and craving for Thai/Laotian food.

Tip:

1. You can eat at the restaurant (it's a small space) or call ahead to order take-out.
2. They close somewhat early (8:30PM) and is...

Been here a handful of times and had high hopes... but was a huge let-down. Their in-service is much better than take-out. Plates seem to have more food. I also love the flavor of the food. However, they consistently take forever to serve you. Food is cold sometimes. This most recent time I called in advanced to place a take-out order. I was told the wait would be about 15mins and was told there was no line of people ordering food.

I arrived 15mins later to pick up my food. One person in front of placed their order in line. Upon my turn, the waitress said it'll be more wait time. Another 10mins pass and I ask again. The same waitress goes to the kitchen and returns after a few minutes to serve the person that was in front of me. She proceeds to tell me to continue to wait. (At this point I'm convinced they had never started to cook my order when I placed it over the phone.) After a total of close to 40 mins since I called initially to place my order, I finally receive my food.

While checking my order, I see it's in small plates/containers..... Wonderful. I'm paying for over-priced food, lousy service, and small portions.

As much as I love the flavor, I will be eating elsewhere until service...

So very disappointed! If I could, I'd give zero stars! My son loves the Lao sausage here, so he went out of his way to drop by on his way home. He bought some papaya and chow fun for me on the way home.

The papaya is stale and tasteless! It's so bad, I am just so upset that this place, which receives good ratings, produces such poor quality food. Stale taste tastes like it's been made for at least 3-4 days. The papaya was soft and not crunchy at all. Doesn't taste good at all! I poured it out from the plastic bag and put it in a container, excited to eat it.... only to taste it and shocked at the bad taste! This is the worst papaya I've ever tasted!!!

The chow fun didn't taste good at all either. I didn't even eat it. No one likes the papaya so it's just going to end up tossed. Waste of money!

You can tell the papaya looks stale from the photo. I told my son to not go there again!!!

Please do better! Do not give customers old and stale food that you couldn't sell from...