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    Lao Garden

    4.5 (124 reviews)
    Open 11:30 am - 3:00 pm, 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM
    Updated 3 weeks ago

    Order Lao Garden Takeout or Delivery

    Lao Garden Photos

    LAO GARDEN ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Good for groups
    Outdoor seating

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    Recommended Reviews - Lao Garden

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    Nam Khao
    Kyra K.

    I'm a new fan of Lao Garden! One of my friends and I came here on our lunch break. We chose this spot for convenience, and we both couldn't stop saying it'll be on our work lunch rotation! We came on a weekday, and it was super quiet. There weren't many diners, so service was excellent! We were constantly checked on, and everything came out quickly. We both loved the vibes! Super colorful with bright and cute decor. Plus a spacious dining area with ample tables for various party sizes. It's also nicely lit inside. My friend and I shared the Nam Khao and Thu Lith's Famous Saikoo. Oh my gosh, these dishes were phenomenal! I'd never tried either, and I couldn't get over all the flavors. The Nam Khao was tangy and savory, and it was perfect with the lettuce. The Saikoo was so chewy, well-seasoned, and filling! We had leftovers for both, but appreciated how outstanding and fresh everything was. I look forward to coming back to Lao Garden with my friends and family. It's the perfect place for family-style dining in Berkeley. I recommend anyone in the area try it, whether you're familiar with or new to Laotian cuisine. Find them off San Pablo Ave. with metered parking in front and a parking lot in the back.

    Vientiane Crispy Rolls
    Irene C.

    My friend introduced me to this cute spot. The food was great and the staff were friendly. I am fairly new to Lao cuisine. We tried the Vientiane Crispy Rolls, Thu Lith's Famous Saikoo, Thum Lao Lao, Kua Khao, and Mango Sticky Rice. Everything was so flavorful! We had ordered the Thum Lao Lao as medium spicy and that built up fast! I'd be interested in returning to try other dishes. Great neighborhood spot!

    Vientiane Crispy Rolls
    Jane C.

    Came here on a Saturday for lunch around 1pm. No wait for party of 2. The decor inside is super cute and girly. Service was quick. We ordered spring rolls, Vientiane crispy rolls, mok pa, Lao steak and Lao iced tea pandan. The spring roll was very light and fresh, it came with a sweet oyster dipping sauce. You could tell the veggies were fresh and good quality. The Vientiane crispy rolls were also delicious and flavorful. It has a nice balance and very refreshing to eat with the lettuce. The Lao Steak had a good grilled flavor however it didn't have much lemongrass flavor and was very small. The size looked like an appetizer but was $32. The mok pa had great lemongrass and dill flavor. It was wrapped with vegetables outside and the banana leaf. However it came out kind of cold where I had to ask the waitress if the dish was to be served cold. They sent it back and had it steamed longer since it was supposed to come out hot. Once it came out hot it was tasty with the tomato sauce and rice. The iced tea with pandan was great, had good pandan flavor and wasn't overly sweet. Overall would come back, it's a little pricey though.

    Thum Lao Lao
    Rachel T.

    Absolutely delicious food, you can tell there is love and pride in every dish. Perfectly seasoned and flavorful. I had the joy of coming here back in January and couldn't stop talking about the restaurant. The owner personally came and checked in on the table and introduced herself. She is very kind and has created a truly valuable place. Gorgeous plating, ambiance, and decor. You can tell a lot of thought has been put into it. I had to return, especially with how hot it's been there is nothing more refreshing than Lao cuisine

    Khao Poon Gai
    Aly C.

    ===TL;DR=== - Drunken noodle - Khaki poon gai ===TMI=== Beautiful garden interior with a photogenic wall. Lovely staff and good food. Love the flavor profile on the drunken noodle, Those that love their noodles extra thick and wide, look no further. On the other hand, can't go wrong with the classic red coconut curry with noodles and chicken! Creamy but not overly heavy. Both were great individual or sharing portions!

    The image displays a collage of six photos showcasing Laotian cuisine from Lao Garden in Berkeley, CA. The dishes include fried rice with vegetables, a chicken salad with herbs, a noodle salad with vegetables, and a fresh fruit plate with mango and melon. Additionally, there is a tropical drink garnished with a paper umbrella and a cherry. The presentation emphasizes traditional Laotian flavors and ingredients, served in a casual dining setting.
    Jen N.

    We happened to come here for our girlfriend's birthday celebration and it turned out to be a vegetarian day for most of us so this review is based on vegetarian entrees we ordered. One of our girlfriend did order a meat larb which we didn't try and I forgot to take a picture of. Upon entering, the place is decorated with cute fake flowers backdrop. We were the first ones there and got to choose where we wanted to sit indoor which was very nice. They had outdoors seating as well. We ordered as many vegetarian dishes as possible and I made a note on my phone but somehow some of the entrees in my notepad showed up bold and enlarged and some didn't and our waitress only wrote down what was bold and enlarged so we tried less than we wanted to. By the time we wondered where the rest of our food was and found out the reason, we didn't order the rest because it would take longer than the two hours we already put in for meter parking. A few of us ordered Lao tea and some lycee tea. The Lao tea I heard was super sweet so ask for more ice if it's too sweet to your liking. My lycee tea was sweet as well but not overwhelming sweet. We especially enjoyed the vegetarian larb and the vegeterian papaya salad with vermicelli. The pineapple fried rice and jackfruit salad was a little wet to our liking. We ordered two mango sticky rice and one the pandan sticky rice was better and the sticky rice fell apart more. Overall, this place is nice for meeting up with a large group and cute for a girls day out. There's street parking and meter parking and you may need to drive a few rounds around if you're not so lucky. The food was okay but food did take awhile once you order so give yourself time here if you go in a bigger group since it seems like there's one chef and one person running the place herself. But she's a sweetheart doing her best holding down the cute looking restaurant.

    Entrance
    Victor G.

    Lao Garden opened in Paisan's vacated space. Decor and seating totally renovated. Some seating outside. Back area not utilized. Parking available in private lot. Was seated promptly by Gia who was very helpful answering questions re food & how to reheat same. G very knowledgeable for the few years in the industry. Did eat in eateries G worked at but years or decades earlier. *stopped eating Thai food as it was too sweet, too "Americanized". Ordered. Food ready in 15ish minutes. Cooked to order. Offerings (Laotian): wraps, noodles, stew/curry, platter specials, desserts, small plates, chef's specials, fried rice, grills, roasts, soup, salads(yum, Thum, laab) Bites: seen savanh (12) -dehydrated pork pieces, flash fried. No hint of oil.. Very chewy. Frying can be skipped. Probably goes good with beer. (Too early for me.) -flavorful. Takes getting used to. Gang Phet Gai (chicken) 18 -stew like dish a mix of red curry, chicken pieces, green beans. Bamboo shoots, lemongrass & basil. -best eaten with rice but I passed. -nice alternative to classic curry. Slightly spicy, not overly sweet like American curry version. The herbs adds nuanced flavas.. I like.. Thu Lith Saikoo (22) should be shared. -similar principle as Nam Kao. House made steamed tapioca balls with ground pork, roasted peanuts, sweet radishes, shallots within. -place a ball within partial lettuce leaf. add drizzle of chili oil & other leafy herbs. Eat slowly, repeat. Prefer nam kao. Portion too big for me. Carbs an issue. 4.5 stars Worthy! Quality: Ultra. Quantity: reasonable for top quality-YMMV

    Menu
    Young K.

    This is the location of the former Italian restaurant - Paisan - which I'm a little sad of their closing because they had a great budget friendly, delicious ribeye steak. But Lao Garden did a nice job of transforming the space - colorful, vibrant and cozy - which seems to be the trend among Thai/Lao restaurants these days. Not that I'm complaining. This space has a huge back area which they aren't fully utilizing. Perhaps if/when they become more popular, they can have a real "Lao garden" with a fountain and all. Staff is attentive and friendly, deserving of 5 stars. Their dishes were solid and on theme with the interior decor. I had ordered the Thum Lao Lao, which is basically Lao style papaya salad. For those that aren't familiar, basically they use a thicker/cloudier and more pungent fish sauce which they refer to as "funky". For those that are less into funk, they do have the Thai style papaya salad - Thum Tum Ma-Da, which tends to be milder since they use the clear, less "fishy" fish sauce. But to be honest, theirs isn't the funkiest in town, in case you felt adventurous but needed that stepping stone. I also ordered the Khao Poon Gai, which was good. The chicken was tender and moist, and loved the contrast of the fresh veggies and herbs to compliment the hot soup and noodles. But I had to inject some of the funk from the Thum Lao^2 to elevate it to what my taste buds have been calibrated to from eating my Laotian friends' authentic home cooking. Over all, expect a good dining experience keeping in mind that the flavors have been toned down a notch to accommodate Western palates.

    Lunch special- fried chicken wings with papaya salad and sticky rice
    Maria O.

    I don't usually write reviews but I was blown away by the service and amazingly delicious food from this place. The owner, Kanlaya, was so friendly and sweet - you can tell she takes a lot of pride in this place. Highly recommend coming here if you're in the area for lunch or dinner - the quality and ambiance of this restaurant is 10/10 for me. I will definitely be coming back!!

    Nam Khao
    Nina C.

    Great food, warm service, beautiful space. We enjoyed a salad (yum salat Lao), mok catfish, and lettuce wraps with crispy rice balls and pork sausage (nam khao). Bold flavors with nuanced preparation. No wait for weekend lunch.

    Chicken red curry
    Joanne L.

    Came here with my family when they visited! Food: A bit on the pricier side but it was great to try Laotian food. I absolutely loved the catfish! It was so tender and very fragrant. It pairs well with sticky rice. I liked how it came with steamed veggies so the entire plate was well balanced and not overdoing it. The drunken noodles were great- chewy saucy noodles with a spicy kick. The curry (I forget the name of the dish) was also well cooked although the portions for this were small. we tried the famous saikoo. I thought I would be a big fan of it but it lacked flavor and I couldn't taste anything other than the chewy tapioca. We wrapped it in lettuce like we thought it is usually eaten, maybe we ate it in a different way? Regardless I wish we tried the crispy rolls instead. It was still nice to try. You pay extra for sticky rice and jasmine rice on the side. Service: kind waiters and staff all around! Ambiance: this place is well decorated and so pretty! The bar area looks great. If I ever come here again, I'd want to try their mimosas

    Chef's Savory Salmon
    Courtney D.

    Food and service was great! It was our waitress's first day and she did amazing! We ate outside in their garden area and it was really nice to have a refreshing meal on a hot day. The papaya salad was saurrrr good as well as the savory salmon. My only thing was that i wasn't expecting the luang prabang khao soy to be a soup based on the description, but it was still good! I think maybe disclosing that its a soup in the description on the menu would be helpful. Otherwise, great experience, and would come again!

    Yih R.

    My first time at a Lao restaurant. I was suspicious of the difference between Thai and Lao food. I thought it would be similar, but it turned out that they are very different. Lao has more sourness into their sauce and cooking. The people here are very welcoming and nice. They would give you recommendations and joke around you. The place is also cute, when we were here, we felt a different place from the outside world. My favorite was the sausage, and the salad was my least favorite as it is way too sour for me. The fried banana with ice cream is a must try item. You will not regret it.

    Single use bathroom accessible from entering the backyard - The image shows a small bathroom with beige tiled walls and a gray floor. A white toilet is positioned against the wall, with two horizontal metal grab bars on either side. A mirror is mounted above the toilet, and a fluorescent light fixture is visible at the top right. A toilet paper holder and a stand holding extra toilet paper rolls are also present, indicating accessibility features.

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    1 month ago

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    11 days ago

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    Thank you! We look forward to having you back soon.

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    4 days ago

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    Thank you for the nice review. See you again soon.

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    2 months ago

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    Thank you for your kind words. Your love of our food means so much!

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    Thank you for a wonderful feedback!

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    Thank you for dining with us! We hope to see you again soon.

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    We appreciate your positive feedback, Mary! See you again soon.

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    Thank you, May! We look forward to serving you again soon.

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    Page 1 of 4

    Ask the Community - Lao Garden

    Do they accept reservations?

    Yes, for parties of 5 and up. Otherwise, it's a first come, first serve.

    Don’t See Your Question? Ask Away!

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    My friends and I stopped by on a Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. looking for a table for four and the…read morewait was around 45 minutes. Between the four of us, we shared a variety of dishes, including their Champa Wings, Nam Kaow, Lao Sausages, Yum Nom Tok, Champa's Fried Rice and Pad Thai. Of these dishes, my favorite was easily the Nam Kaow. This dish had so many layers of flavors and textures. I could honestly eat a whole plate of this myself and be satisfied. Every grain of crispy rice was fried to perfection and there was a wonderful sour and spicy tang throughout each bite. The other dish I really enjoyed was the Lao sausages. These sausages are packed with so many different herbs and spices. The lemongrass flavor was especially prominent. Like the Nam Kaow, this dish also went really well with the fresh mint and lettuce that's provided on the table. There's a good reason why this unassuming Thai and Lao neighborhood restaurant has a line out the door: the food is absolutely delicious. Definitely one of my favorite meals I've had in 2026 -- I can't wait to stop by again.

    Wow. If you want some good thai food that is good both for takeout and eating in, this is the…read moreplace. Here's everything I've ordered and their rankings. Pad Thai: 8/10 Yellow Curry: 8.5/10 Appetizer Sampler: 9/10 Papaya Salad: 9.5/10 Crab Fried Rice: 10/10 Pad See Ew: 10/10 We love this restaurant so much. They don't skimp out on portions either. We'll be back for sure.

    Lao Thai Kitchen - Eggplant and tofu... not the best

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    Great experience getting takeout from Lao Thai Kitchen! Easy parking along Solano, cute quiet spot…read morefor dinner. There was one person working the counter when I arrived, ordering was super simple and she was able to answer all my questions. Only took about 20 minutes for the food to come out, and she offered me a free dessert while I waited. Upon bringing the food home, the pad see ew especially hit the spot, along with the fried egg rolls (which were huge!). They also packed up a free dessert for me to take home definitely down to come back here again and try dining in!

    Had a great experience dining here! Came on a cold Tuesday evening and it wasn't too crowded around…read more6pm. The restaurant is a decent size, with good lighting, and it's not too loud in there. I noticed that they have several regulars that coming in throughout the night picking up to-go orders. The owner seems very sweet to their customers, knowing everyone by name. I tried the nam khao, chicken satay, yellow curry with tofu, and pad thai. The nam khao with medium spicy is good. It wasn't super spicy to me, I could taste it a little bit. Next time I will probably go up a spice level. It did have more of a citrus/acidic flavor to it than other nam khao I've tried, but it might be my new favorite. The added flavoring made it taste that much better. You can't go wrong with chicken satay, and it was so tender, easily fell off the skewer when it was bitten into. The yellow curry flavoring was delicious as well. I do feel that the veggies ratio outweighed the tofu. But it was still good. The pad thai was delicious! It didn't feel too light or too heavy when eating it and there was a nice refreshing flavor overall.

    The Saap Avenue - Ho Mok Pla (Lao Style Steamed Catfish) ($22) - steamed catfish folded in banana leaves. Great! Very flavorful.

    The Saap Avenue

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    I'm absolutely blown away. I was surprised about how good everything was. Might have been the best…read morefood I've had this year. My family ordered 1 appetizer, 4 entrees, and 2 drinks, all shared, and all 4 of us agreed that EVERY single item was phenomenal. That has absolutely NEVER happened before. At most restaurants, there's always at least one thing that someone doesn't like, and often multiple things that multiple people don't like. Not the case here. The appetizer was the spicy basil wings. Very good to start. But little did I know what was coming my way. The drinks were Thai tea and lychee limeade. The Thai tea was normal. As in good, I liked it. The lychee limeade was amazing, had to order another one. I would like to try the mango next time (there will definitely be a next time). Very sour, which I love. I hate lemonade that's not sour enough. Oh and that too, I usually hate limeade, don't really care for lemonade, and don't drink soda. I usually only drink water, juice, or tea (no coffee, alcohol rarely). So that's saying something. The Laos fried spring roll entree was really good. I always liked fried rolls but something about this tasted better. They were Laotian rolls, so maybe that was part of the difference from the ones you get from Pho restaurants. The duck over rice was amazing. I'm not usually one to pick duck, I don't mind it but I usually don't order it, but this was my mom's choice and it was really good. I like the sauce too. The Panang duck curry was so good. My mom doesn't even like curry and she liked it. And the Chiang Mai soup dish, I've never had anything like it. It was still hot after, I don't know, 20 minutes maybe? At the bottom especially. We all ate this together at the end, while the other dishes were in the order I listed them for myself (mostly, kinda switched around a bit eating family style), and generally the same for everyone else. I tasted a tiny bit of the soup in the beginning and thought it was nothing special, like when my spoon was clean it was the first thing I scooped. Only the soup though, none of the stuff inside. Honestly I didn't read what was in it, some crispy noodle or something. I was not sure if I would like it but my sister said she had it in Thailand and liked it so if I didn't like it she could eat it. That ended up not being a problem. Okay so anyway, we started on the soup at the end. To start, it was pretty good. Somehow, every bite we took tasted better and better, for at least like 5-10 bites maybe. At that point, I was thinking it's the best thing I've ever tasted. (But of course that's probably not actually true, and I'm just falling for the recency bias, kind of like how my favorite song changes all the time.) Never had anything like it. I've been missing out. But wow, I have to come back. And I highly recommend this place. Life changing experience honestly. Like if you asked me right now if I wanted to get Japanese or Korean (my other favorites) food or this, I would go here. I honestly wanted more of every single dish, especially the fried spring rolls, duck over rice, duck curry, and soup. Wait a second... that's all the entrees we ordered! Also the limeade. I need to get that again. But I also want to try other stuff next time so I'm torn. I literally need all 4 of these dishes again so I don't know what to do. I hope these dishes aren't seasonal or otherwise temporary. I noticed the menu had a month and year listed (I think it said April 2026 and it's May 3 2026 today) so I believe they update it frequently. If I lived closer I would come 20 times in a row and try every single thing, but unfortunately I live in San Ramon so it's not like I'm trying to go to Oakland every day. Soon though. My sister lives there, if I were her I would go here every day until I was sick of it, if that could ever be possible. I don't know if I could ever enjoy other food this much again. I was also completely sober so it wasn't like I had munchies or anything (felt I should specify being a young adult who grew up in California). Hmm, that gives me an idea for the future though. Even the pricing is fair (no dishes over $30), and the place is nice. Great service too. The only drawbacks are small tables for parties over 4 people, and it's REALLY loud in the restaurant, but well worth it. If you are sensitive to noise I'd recommend earplugs, earmuffs, earbuds, headphones, or something. The place is also relatively small. I'd recommend making a reservation if you plan to go on a Friday or Saturday night. It got busy, very busy. Well our reservation was at 6 and it wasn't crowded yet, a couple tables open, but by the time our food came out the place was absolutely packed and I think people without reservations had to wait to sit. I'm not sure though, I was too focused on the amazing food to care. Anyway, once again, highly recommend and I will be back.

    Came here on a Sunday night with my family, and we might have a competitor for our favorite Laos…read moreplace. We got the following : Lao Appetizers Plate - Everything had great texture with the sausage standing out the most to me. Very soft and not too salty. Garlic Pork Spare Ribs - Great flavor, but a little on the dry side. Still tender enough to enjoy. Duck Larb Salad - Bright flavors and everything worked really well together. Recommend adding this to any meal balance out the other fried items. Kao Piak - I find that most places over cook their chickens, but the meats here were cooked perfectly. Broth was a bit salty for me, and I usually like the broth thicker, but still good overall. Mango Sticky Rice - I liked the crispy fried rice bits that added a nice crunch. Mango wasn't quite in season right now, but it was still sweet and soft enough. Overall service was great, and there is a lot of parking in the area. Def recommend checking it out.

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    $$

    West Berkeley

    I've driven past this restaurant many times and finally decided to stop in and give it a try…read more First impressions were good. The restaurant has a cute ambiance with all of the string lighting and fun music playing. My only complaint would be how cold it was in the restaurant. It felt like the AC was on, on a cold December night. My partner joked and said "next time we're taking the food to go" lol. Our server was a sweet woman who joked with us because we were indecisive about where we wanted to sit and asked too many questions lol. We really enjoyed her. We ordered the yellow curry roti and two pad Thai, one shrimp and one beef. I really liked the yellow curry but wasn't the biggest fan of how thin and crispy the roti was. It was cut up like tiny tortilla chips. Still very good though, just not quite what I expected. The pad Thai was definitely the star. They were nice sized portions with all the right amount of flavor and sauce to noodle ratio. It was a VERY good pad thai. This will definitely be our new go to for Thai takeout!

    This restaurant has been on my want to go list, so I was excited to try it out!…read more We ordered the Pad Kee Mao (drunken noodles) and the Gang Khew-Wan (Green Curry). The Pad Kee Mao was tasty, the flavor leaned slightly toward to a sweeter, tomato flavor side, but it was still enjoyable. The Green curry came with generous portion and was really flavorful. I especially really liked the eggplants, the texture was great and the seasoning was on spot!

    Champa Garden

    Champa Garden

    (1.1k reviews)

    $$

    Mount Davidson Manor

    Finally got a chance to come back to Champa Garden, and the food is still as good as we remember!…read moreWe stopped by around noon on a Sunday, and there were a few other parties, but plenty of open tables available. We picked out own table and quickly ordered some dishes to split between the four of us. -Thai Tea: it was a sunny warm day, so this thai tea was calling us - this ended up being a great idea because we overestimated our spice tolerance when ordering our papaya salad. Not watered down at all and a great thai tea. -Papaya salad: we got the thai style this time and confidently ordered a 5/10 spice. It was a bit too much for most of us, but still bearable - I'd probably get a 3 spice next time. Super fresh, with a bit of tartness cutting through the spice. -Champa sampler: forgot to get a picture but it looks the same as my previous review - we love the fresh veggies and herbs to go with the crispy rice, sausage and fried rolls. -Tom Kha: creamy, comforting, fragrant and full of mushrooms and our choice of chicken. -Pad kee mao: not too oily, with a generous amount of beef and veggies, this was just what we were looking for. Overall, a solid classic place to get comforting thai and lao food to split with friends. I know we'll be back again!

    George and I ordered the Tom Pad See Ew Noodles ($15) with beef and the Tom Kha Soup ($16) with…read morechicken through Grubhub. The food arrived quickly, which was a great start. The Tom Kha soup was the highlight of the meal. It was rich, creamy, and full of flavor, with a nice balance of coconut, citrus, and herbs. It was so good that George is still finishing the leftovers today. Between the two of us, we got about four servings out of it, which felt like a great value. Unfortunately, the Pad See Ew was a letdown. The dish was greasy, lacked depth of flavor, and had very little beef. I ended up contacting customer support to request a partial refund because the portion of protein was so disappointing. For a dish like Pad See Ew, you expect tender slices of beef, chewy rice noodles, and a balanced savory and slightly sweet soy flavor with a bit of char from the wok, but this version fell short. Overall, the soup was excellent and worth ordering again, but the noodle dish did not meet expectations. I have heard good things about this place and hope this was just an off day.

    Lao Garden - laotian - Updated May 2026

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