Lao'd bar is located next to Sign Bar and, if you come early enough, there is plenty of parking and seating. It's an airy atmosphere, but unfortunately, the flies thought so too. Between the 3 of us, we basically ordered half the menu. Taro frites - Not to sure what to expect, but this was underwhelming. It was so thin and crispy, it almost felt like it should've been a salad topping and not its own dish. This was more like chips with a pretty good dipping sauce. Lahb - Good flavor and portion, but not that memorable on my palate. Crispy fried rice - Arguably the best dish here. There indeed were crispy pieces of rice. It was a good portion, the meat ratio was on par, and the addition of lettuce added a nice freshness. Ribeye skewer - This was also memorable. It was tender and flavorful on its own, but the sauce added another layer of salty and savory. Chili crisp prawns - Good flavor, but pretty small. Fish sauce wings - This had the most flavor, but was a little too salty for me. It went well with the crispy rice though to balance out the bite overall. Mango sticky rice - I love that they used the purple forbidden rice. It was good, but I wish the rice came warm and had more sauce. Otherwise, it hardened pretty quickly. No ceviche when I went, which was a bummer. The drinks were also a bit underwhelming; the liquid jade tasted only of coconut water. Overall experience was fine, but this was a bit of a drive for me. read more

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This place is cute. It's the restaurant in the sign bar area. They have one vegan option that's the fried rive without beef. I wish they had tofu but at least they had something. The line was decently long but the food came out pretty quickly. The staff were friendly and helpful in answering questions. read more

Lao’d Bar - Vegan fried rice. Order without beef to make it vegan - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

The lychee cocktail is very tasty. I love their naked wings. The wing inside is tender while outside is crispy and flavorful. read more

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Amazing food and atmosphere. Loved the sausage and rice dishes. Drinks were also great. Go and thank me later.

The crispy rice...oh the crispy rice...what a treat. Good service and friendly people. Love it. Will have to go back again.

Tried this new place with a friend. Casual vibe, somewhat limited menu, but impressive food. We had escolar ceviche served in a coconut shell, which was on point. The prawns were also spicy and perfectly seasoned. My favorite was the dessert, a mango sticky rice made with dark rice that kept its texture, not too mushy at all. You order at the counter, so if you go, just be aware this is a very casual place. Open air, perfect lunch on a breezy spring day. We'll be back. read more

Lao’d Bar - Forbidden sticky rice with mango - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

Had dinner here shortly after opening. Not crowded but plenty of room. Sat on the porch. We had the smash burger and nam khao. Both were good and had a little kick. Nice staff. Several things I still want to try. We did think that the draft beer was over priced. The IPA was more than the burger. read more

Lao’d Bar - Smash burger - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

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Reminded me of the roadside bars in Vietnam. Super colorful, casual, can watch a game and gather with friends. Cocktails were small and overpriced... but yummy. Most of the items were fried. Had the rice dish with crunchy rice clusters. It was alright, but not as flavorful as I had hoped. read more

The food is amazing but the night we rocked up, they had a problem with their gas burners so food that should have taken 20 minutes to make ended up taking over 90 minutes. Also, they had to severely limit their menu because they couldn't cook certain dishes at all. I asked for a refund because some of the dishes I ordered weren't available and the proprietress copped a bit of an attitude, though she did end up processing my refund once I pushed back and said I wouldn't be paying for food I didn't receive or that was going to take hours to make. Listen, if your kitchen is that badly compromised, call it a night and shut down. Don't keep taking orders and make people wait for over an hour and a half for small bites. I'll try the place again because the few dishes we had were flavorful and delicious. Here's hoping they can sort out their back of house issues. read more

We are at Lao'd bar on Sunday night and it was great! We always love sxse food truck so we ordered a lot of the items we already know to be good but also tried a new item - hot dog and frozen drink! I love the frozen - it's a cucumber margarita and it's so refreshing and delicious!!! We always get the crispy rice (just get it) it's one of the best things on the menu and also the rib eye skewers (GET THESE ALWAYS) they are some of the most flavorful beef skewers ever!! Service is easy - order at bar, get a number and find a table! It's a very cute smaller restaurant with some small outdoor patio space as well - very cute decorations inside!! We always got the mango sticky rice - amazing!! Next door is sign bar as well - super fun place to check out with games and drinks next door. Overall we loved it!! It's in a cool location with parking and more spots to check out. read more

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Great food. Amazing menu and staff. The eclectic setting was great. Their green juices were amazing!

(I posted this exact review on Google Reviews but wanted to share it here because I have more trust in Yelp reviews.) Get to Lao'd Bar as fast as you can if you want to have absolutely incredible food. Not just because Chef-Owner Bob Somsith has won James Beard Awards, the praise of NY Times Best Restaurants List as well as every local publication and has been featured on Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives but because the food is really that good! Every bite and sip we had were amazing and we were welcomed with lovely hospitality. Cannot more highly recommend the Won Ton Chips & Salsa, Pork Bao Bun, Lao'd Smash Burger (a Lao sausage patty), Crispy Fried Rice, Rib Eye Steak Skewer, Sticky Rice and Golden Hour Mango Margarita. Everything, including the Jeow Som Sauce, tastes like it was made expressly to delight your senses. If you're lucky enough and he has some time, you might get to visit with the charming Chef. Go. Seriously! read more

Expectations were high but very disappointed with the food. Ceviche (unimpressive, tiny and impossible to get to the coconut meat shell), wonton chips (oily and falling apart), pork lab (okay not great), crispy rice (wasn't crispy) jasmine rice and some sides of sauce. Uncomfortable environment with very small plastic glasses for self-serve water although you can get a real glass with a $16 beer. Friends at our table gave the shrimp a 2 out of 10. So it was a bust. Servers tried hard with packed house. Check it out, see if you agree with me or maybe you will get truly crispy rice when you're there. read more

Cute little spot but far from me so not sure I'll be back. My order was just ok but pretty sure I ordered the wrong thing. Great service at the bar though! read more

We ordered the pork bao bun, Mee Ka Tee noodles, Lao sausage, wonton chips & salsa, and the Waterfall Ribeye Lahb. Also had the frozen OOO-bae cocktail. The sausage and noodles were the highlights - great flavor (unique and good) and solid value ($8 for the sausage, $15 for a big portion of noodles). The OOO-bae was fun and refreshing. The pork bao was just okay - not bad, but not memorable. The Waterfall Ribeye Lahb came out cold, which was surprising since it's listed under the grilled section. That is how it's supposed to be served, but I think it would be better warm. We didn't end up finishing it. Ambiance was relaxed and welcoming, with good service. Also conveniently located next to a really cool bar. Overall, a mixed experience - some solid dishes, but a few misses. read more

We went to Lao'd Bar for the 1st time this last weekend & we loved it! The food was delicious; the atmosphere was very inviting & the service was great. There were lots of options to choose from. We will be back again. If you want to try something new ...go to Lao'd Bar. read more

Phenomenal food. Our order: - Coconut escolar ceviche - Lahb - Mee ka tee noods - Cjicken skewer - Sticky rice The ceviche was the star of the show. Beautiful presentation, creamy, sweet, tangy. Ate the leftover liquid with some of the sticky rice that soaked it up. Everything has a bit of a kick and the fried chilies add a nice crunch to everything. Will be back! read more

Like what? This food was off the hook. We started with some won-ton chips with a smokey charred salsa thing, which I thought sounded dumb, BUT I WAS WRONG! We asked for more salsa - it was dreamy good. The chicken wings were huge, juicy, and delicious- I am thinking about them right now, a week later... The drinks were creative and kinda fancy BUT also very good - not just hype. We saw the owner of Frankin's BBQ there with a big group so I think this place is kinda inside foodie-ish. Everything was super fresh, and the servers were delightful. Super chill casual vibe. I expect to see Guy Fieri there soon. Check it out. read more

I'mI was very excited to try Lao'd Bar and went there on a Friday evening. It was not as full as I had anticipated which was great. The place looks funky (not air-conditioned though I think) and I liked the openness of it. We got our drinks, the orange blossom & kin ya yen. They were decent albeit a little over priced for a place where you have to fetch your own water and silverware. Anyway, we ordered our food in two rounds (as suggested). 1st we ordered the fried lao sausage, beef skewer, larb and mango sticky rice. It took about 10 minutes for the skewer and sausage to get there. We decided to order more food right away and ordered the garlic chicken wings, pork bao and smash burger. The sausage was just okay, a tad salty. The skewer was tender but again, just okay. As we were waiting for the rest of our order, a server brought forth the mango sticky rice. We were a little confused because we weren't expecting dessert. On inquiring about the rest of our order, she mentioned the kitchen was backed up but they'd be out soon. We decided to just eat our dessert and I am glad we did because that mango sticky rice was the only good thing about that evening. After several minutes waiting, the pork bao arrived. Again, very average and I couldn't find anything remotely Laotian in flavor about it (I've had Laotian food before). We also got the wings. They were quite spicy but lacked flavor. Anyway, in the meantime we see several tables who were seated after us receiving several plates of larb. On asking about our larb, we were still met with non-committal answers. We asked the person who had taken our order to just cancel the order of larb at this point. Note, we were still waiting on the burger . After another 10 minute wait we were too tired to wait around. We asked them if our burger was coming out and got uncertain answers. At this point we asked them to cancel that order too.  A generic sorry and "we'll take the food your tab" (I mean obviously!) was all we got. I understand that they are new. But the service was beyond underwhelming and I could have still made allowances for that had the food been any good. I found the food to be quite average and disappointing and that was a shame. read more

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*Rating this as a restaurant and not a bar. The food's pretty decent and I'd like to come back to check out the drinks. It's also right next to Sign Bar so you can make a fun night with friends or date night out of this spot! Glad I saw the review about the Laoo'd Dog because it really is that good . So def get that. But I echo the review that the crispy fried rice is underwhelming crispy. You also have to swat away flies *constantly, which makes the experience less enjoyable. But if the place improved the customer service and the fly situation, I think it'd be p enjoyable! For a bar, I'd say this rates on the higher scale for food. read more

Lao’d Bar - Nam Khao, Mango Sticky Rice, Laoo'd Dog - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

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DISCLAIMER: this place is still relatively new as of this review and ironing out a lot of the kinks. The Good: :: it's a local business :: lots of parking :: next door to the Sign Bar, which is a great venue you can hit after eating here :: ordering was easy at the bar and you can leave your tab open or close it :: crispy fried rice was good :: lao'd smash burger was tasty--get it single or double patty :: chicken skewers were good :: crispy chili prawn was tasty and well done--you could even eat the head based on how it was fried so well and hot enough to make the head worth eating :: fried chicken wings were good--try the spicy garlic or the fish sauce wings The Bad: :: lao sausage was okay...sausage was a bit mushy inside. the sauce it came with, however, was really flavorful. fermented pickles it came with were also nice and complemented the sausage well :: beef skewers weren't great...meat was a bit chewy for a ribeye vs tender :: now that it's summertime, the place gets very hot as there is no indoor protected seating--it's open garage doors allowing for air flow, and they've got fans and some misters going that give you some relief :: no air conditioning because of the seating arrangement--it's going to be tough when it's 100+ degrees outside unless they consider getting AC units blowing cooler air in there. when the weather is nice, it's a great setup but this is Austin, TX--you have nice weather 4-5 months of the year before it's a billion degrees :) :: cocktails were very weak, tasted watery/watered down, no flavors to them. this is not their strong suit currently. was not a fan. The Ugly: :: the flies...they are really bad. like bad. really really bad. alllllllll over the place, flying around you, landing on you, all over the tables and countertops. they try to give you little fans for the tables to serve as a deterrent but it doesn't help much. it honestly also makes me worry if the fly problem is just as rampant in the kitchen where food is being prepared as it is in the main dining area... Would I go back? Not until they fix some of the things that did not make for a great experience. I had some really high hopes for this place, and I'm a huge fan of Laotian food, but the execution leaves something to be desired. This place is OUT (for now until they make some changes/improvements). read more

We've been loving Chef Bob's delicious food since his SXSE Food Co truck came to our neighborhood. We're thrilled that his restaurant is now open just down the road! The food is consistently good and authentic. The crawfish is to die for. Seriously so good and spicy! A trip to the east side to try his food is a must! read more

Lao’d Bar - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

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Friendly staff, great portions, delicious food. Had the laab with sticky rice and the mango sticky rice and thoroughly enjoyed it. Can't wait to come back and go through the rest of the menu. read more

This place was so fun! Love the colorful and vibrant decor! Reminded me of Asia when I visited. We ordered several dishes to try. The portions were definitely small for the price. One skewer was $7. My favorites were the ribeye skewer (very tender and juicy), the fish sauce fried chicken (although it was very saucy, it paired very well with the crispy fried rice), and the crispy fried rice (very creative concept, there were some crispy bites blended in with your regular fried rice. I would definitely order this again because of the interesting texture). I thought the other dishes were just okay, not bad though. The sticky rice flavor was very good, but the rice had a harder texture than your regular white sticky rice which I wasn't a big fan of. Not a big fan of their frozen drink either, it wasn't flavorful enough for me. Quick service, food came out fast. This is located right next to Sign Bar. read more

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Great food atmosphere and drinks! We went for our first time recently and everything was great! The pork burger was slammin and so was the Lao sausage dog was so flavorful and bursting with epic goodness go check it out! read more

Lao’d Bar - Pork burger - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

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One of my favorite places in Austin, super casual you order at the counter and seat yourself. Everyone is amazing but the burger is one of my favorites. I also like the waterfall ribeye and I order a side of rice. Love the ceviche too. Honestly you can't go wrong, love it all read more

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This place is amazing. Food and drinks were great. There were four of us so we were able to share and try almost everything on the menu - from crudo and papaya salad to Lao sausage and labh. Everything was great - we will go back, and back, and back. read more

They open only dinner time on weekday. They are like a small bar. When you walk in,at first you can get a menu from the bar then they ask you to open the tap and you have to order at the bar after order they will bring food and drink for you at the table. The owner,he is very nice and friendly. He always there to say hi and talk to you like a friend. read more

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The food was incredibly fresh and flavorful - the ceviche and fried rice were standouts. Nice bartender. Good vibes all around.

I just kept ordering food because it was all so good. I tried over half the menu in one visit. Atmosphere is good, sat outside with the dog and enjoyed the evening watching the football game. read more

Lao’d Bar - Spring rolls - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

Great beer, great food and great energy! First time trying Laotian food and beer. Def recommend the smash burger and the crispy spring rolls. Owners are super sweet and accommodating. Try this place asap! Also have TV's with games on. read more

If you like spice? That's your place. Southeast Asia with a little western style. Lao beer is good too

Good authentic taste, a must try. Cool ambiance and great service. We tried the crispy fried rice, lahb, sausage and ceviche.

Hands down 20/10. Amazing food/drinks, service, atmosphere. We ordered the fish sauce wings, lahb, jeow bong sauce, and sticky rice, and coconut ceviche escolar. For drinks we ordered the liquid jade, soop banana, muang royale, and kin ya yen. Everything was incredible. Our favorites were the fish sauce wings and the muang royale but everything was INSANELY good. Our server and Chef Bob are so friendly and attentive. Definitely coming back ASAP. read more

Lao’d Bar - Fish sauce wings - Cocktail Bars Near Me - Austin, Texas

Loved the food and cocktails, service was great! Super fresh and full of flavor! Bright colors and tastes!!

Just recently moved to this part of town. So relieved and grateful there is a spot like this so close to home. The food was amazing. Best meal I've had in a while. The people working were friendly. Seems like they compost, which is cool. Loved the vibes. But the food was really the shining star. Had noodles, had rice, and the prawns. All excellent. The little crunchy chilis were my favorite part. If you're around do check it out. read more

Everything we tried was so good and so full of flavor. Service was friendly and fast. ItWill return and try more.

Disgraceful. All genuine Lao dishes apparently sold out 'cos it's opening weekend' despite the fact they opened midweek and have had plenty of time to order ingredients. Terrible service too-no water at the table, and embarrassing that our server tried to sell us chicken wings when we clearly came for Lao food. Burnt. read more

Cool concept. I'll give ya that. We got there, it's my understanding it's a newer place so likely a lot of your visitors are first timers. No greeting, no eye contact from employees we sorted out we were supposed to seat ourselves, there was no ORDER HERE sign so we waited for a worker to come by. Eventually.. we stood up and made our order at counter only by the help of context clues. There was no service. So no stars on that. The workers seemed involved with themselves. The food. Ribeye skewer was good, ceviche was as good. Prawns were way over cooked. They were that mushy texture over cooked shrimp gets. We got literally raw chicken wings and then the replacement wings came 30 minutes later. No manager came by and I have sneaking suspicion the owner was there as well. read more

Food was lovely! The area is nice too, there's the Sign Bar next door and some newly opened small shops. However, there was next to zero service at this place - you have to get your own water and bus your own table. If you've ordered a lot of dishes, that means your dirty plates will pile up and one of you will have to go back and forth clearing the table while you eat. So, I think with the addition of service this would really amp up the experience overall. To the owners, the food is great, don't let lack of service get in your way! read more