We returned to Heng (basement) after about a year after going to a movie nearby on a very cold…read morewinter day. It was busy and noisy as usual with groups of young people. Our server, Jaokhun, was the most cheerful and bouncy and efficient person we have ever had! We ordered a large Mai Thai bowl to share - more than we would normally do. For food we had their signature roasted chicken dish with sticky rice and garlic string beans, which was excellent. Then we added another crispy chicken dish- overkill and took most of it home. It came to $60, to which we added a generous tip. We like the vibe here and resolved to return with a shorter absence.

Heard about this via the Elite grapevine and boy oh boy is this a good one!!! I enjoy traveling…read morethe world of flavor and it had been a bit since I had my Thai buds quenched. Heng Thai has great service and an amazing variety to choose from. Noodles, curries, sushi, soups and plenty of drinks they will not disappoint! I enjoyed a winter cocktail that packed a punch! Snacked on some garlic green beans which were fresh and cooked to perfection, very flavorful. I had the salmon curry which I could not get enough of! Amazing combination of flavors with fresh veggies and salmon prepared well! This is a smaller place that carries a quiet vibe to enjoy by yourself or with a group. Come satisfy your Thai cravings at Heng Thai! I will be back for more!!

Apsara is one of my favorite restaurants in the World. Yes, you read that right--I have been to…read moreevery continent (except for Antarctica) and still write this with great confidence. I have been going to Apsara since the late 1980s, back when it was called "Bayon." It became AMAZING when it was purchased by the Te family, who still own and run Apsara. At its core, Apsara is and always has been loved by the college students in RI, for its kind servers, wonderful and eclectic foods (Cambodian, but also with Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese and Lao dishes, as well), very affordable prices and BYOB. The family has attempted various new ideas over the years, such as having sushi, and Asian shaved ices, and sticky rice desserts, most of which have come and gone, but the core menu is generally unchanged. One can still also try to order "off menu," although it's not as common practice as it had been. Start with the Nime Chow, which is essentially a fresh spring roll but with their delicious fish sauce, with crushed peanuts for dipping. I highly recommend adding a dribble of Sriracha to the sauce. Addictive! The chefs are known for cooking their stocks everyday, from hours before dawn. I find all of their soups to be delicious, with a suggestion to try their Vietnamese Sweet and Sour soup or their Tom Yum when you're battling a Winter cold. The also make Mekong fish cakes as an appetizer (finally now sometimes found at Thai places), as well as Natang, which is a minced pork with coconut cream and curry, and sometimes dried shrimp. You spoon it onto their homemade rice cakes... trust me, you'll never be tempted by Quaker Oats rice cakes ever again! Crispy wings are also solid, and the beef teriyaki is an essential (think Phnom Penh street food). The restaurant is pretty small and bustling, but very warm and "family-like." People there learn your name, as you learn theirs. Entrees are wonderful. The whole fish fried with fresh pineapple, cucumbers and tomatoes is killer! The stir fried chicken with lemongrass is delicious (try the "dry sauce") although they no longer make it with ground chicken and Thai chilis and basil (a shame as it was REALLY awesome!). The bee bongs are essentially a noodle bowl with vegetables and a protein, with fish sauce, chopped nuts and a taro fried spring roll. Other favorites include beef loclac (tender grilled beef cubes with onions and a yummy lime and black pepper dipping sauce) or the stir fried ginger chicken, with aged ginger and fresh mushrooms and onions. On a hot Summer day, the shrimp nyom (a cold shrimp salad) is tough to beat. Or mix it up, such as with Phnom Penh twilight, with calamari, shrimp, scallops and sometimes green NZ mussels. And if anyone is wondering, their white rice and their house tea are very high quality. If you are concerned about the somewhat dicey neighborhood (South Providence) or the small size of Apsara, take comfort in the fact that famous actors, musicians and celebrities have joined their kids to go there when attending the kids' graduations from Brown or RISD or wherever!

Apsara will always be my go-to spot for authentic Cambodian food. I highly recommend it to anyone…read morevisiting from out of town. The food is consistently on point, and they offer a great selection of lunch and dinner specials at a reasonable price. The staff are always patient and friendly, which makes the experience even better. From the outside to the inside, the restaurant beautifully represents Cambodian culture with its paintings and statues , it truly feels like you've stepped into Southeast Asia. It's also BYOB, so you can bring your own drinks to enjoy with your meal. Overall, this small, family owned gem in Providence is definitely worth a visit.

I love this restaurant. The food has always been excellent and the prices are reasonable…read more Five of us went for dinner recently and we got a few items to share, here are my impressions of the experience. - Spring rolls. Crispy and light. Small but packed with flavor, an order had 5 of them. It came with a dipping sauce. - Chicken wings. Not big but well done. They came with a sweet and sour sauce. An order had 6 of them. - Garlic green beans. Delicious. Lots of flavor and nice texture and bite. The favorite of the table that night. - Brussel sprouts. Not a large portion. Lightly fried. - Pad Thai with chicken. Light and well prepared, all sauces and flavors melded together nicely. - Fried rice with pork. Light and delicious. Good portion to share among all of us. The restaurant does not take reservations and because there are less than 10 tables in the entire place, sometimes wait times can be a bit long. Many people do take out or DoorDash. Still, it's worth it. Laotian / Thai food at its best in Providence.

From being on my "must visit" list, to eight months later, finally making my way into the…read morerestaurant. I had done some research and knew it was a small space so I was praying there would be enough open tables. When we talked in, there were about 3 tables open. It took a bit to get seated since the host/ server was busy getting together online orders and bringing out food to other customers. But after a couple minutes, we were allowed to pick our own table. They have 3 two person tables to the left, on an elevated platform. To the far front of the space, there were two booths which could easily fit 4 people each. To the right there were 3 tables for 4-5 people each. We went with the bigger table, but moved after a couple minutes to another table for a more private setting. For an appetizer, we put in an order of crab rangoons. As my entrée, I ordered the Khao Soi with seafood and my friend ordered the beef salad which comes with sticky rice. The crab rangoons came out after about 10 minutes. They looked crispy, and were wrapped in a cute, round way. The filling wasn't as creamy as I wish it would be, but it did taste a bit healthier than regular Chinese take out. The entress came out after about another 10 minutes. My Khao Soi came out with a big bowl, with some lime and peanuts on the side. I asked for more lime and cilantro on the side. The broth was a very vibrant color, creamy, sweet, a little tangy from the lime, and because of the cilantro had a fresh and clean flavor. I loved the combination of all the flavors, and it reminded me of a curry. The noodles were soft, but not falling apart and there was a good amount of it. There was plenty of seafood including calamari, shrimp, and mussels. The calamari was a little tough but the other items were good. I loved the crispy shallots on top as they provided an additional sweet but savory element. I finished the entire thing. My friend's salad was good. It was simple in that it was salads and herbs with minced meat but it tasted good. The sticky rice came in a ball wrapped in aluminum foil, and then put into their authentic little basket so it was full to pull apart. They do have a dessert menu and we were offered some, but I had no space. It seemed like the server was handling a lot at once so kudos to him and the small but mighty team in the back cooking everything up. I would be interested in trying other items on their menu.

Been a long time since I have been here--new owners. Susie is gone!…read more Not a good transition. "Scallion Pancake" (really a chive dumpling -gui chai) are my favorite. Completely undercooked. Drunken Noodle--(pad kee mow)_a Thai staple, --soggy, bland--way too sweet. My friend ordered Orange Chicken--broccoli totally raw, chicken bland. More of a Chinese restaurant than Thai. You need to do better. Won't be back.

Seems like Thai Orchid is under new management/ownership as of February 2025. The food is much…read moredifferent than before and the prices are about 20% higher, too. I got my 'usual' order from when it was the prior ownership/management and have to say I was less than impressed. I ordered spring rolls which have a large portion size (6 large rolls) which are much larger than the prior owners but the taste is just mainly of cabbage and oil. Not much flavor and they seemed to be a little dense/soggy with oil. The crab rangoons were made with imitation crab meat and had curry, not really any crab flavor. They seemed to use a thin premade wrapper. I also got pad thai which was okay. It was a bit on the mushy side. Flavor was okay but it just didn't seem to have the same fresh, clean quality as prior recipe. Tasted similar to a lot of other thai restaurants, which may not be a bad thing I guess. Finally I ordered drunken noodles for lunch the next day. These did not come spicy at all but instead came with a chili sauce on the side. The noodles themselves were really thick and gummy and bunched up (kind of a squareish size) rather than long ribbons. There was just almost no flavor to this dish and the flavor was just fish sauce or something similar. No complexity or layers of flavor. Very one dimensional. Overall, for the higher price it was relatively disappointing.

If you want Thai food, I would easily recommend this place…read more We sat down to eat once and ordered takeout once. Both in-person and to-go/takeout services were good: friendly and pleasant. Ordered the papaya salad, drunken noodles, pad thai, and thai tea (with jelly) for two people. Everything tasted really good. We got the papaya salad spicy, and it was appropriately spicy for a Thai restaurant! The thai tea was sweet (as this drink often is), but had that tinge of bitterness that I like from good thai teas. Everything tasted great: well-seasoned, not too sweet/salty/oily. I would recommend everything we ordered. We had some leftovers to take home. On our takeout order, we got the pad thai, pad see eiw, and Thai fried rice. Everything was packaged nicely and was still hot when we got home. I thought the quality of the pad thai was the same quality as when we sat down to eat. I also like the flavors of it and appreciate that they didn't have a side cup of fish sauce to add. Good! You're the chef, you tell me how it should taste and I can judge afterwards. My judgement: It's really yummy pad thai, probably my favorite. Parking is easy if it's not too crowded; there are spots immediately behind the restaurant. 4 stars because I am very happy to be a repeat customer. This might be an unfair opinion, but I wished the portion size was a bit bigger (although, I would not want the quality to go down as a result).

Service is friendly and attentive. The food comes to you piping hot, obviously freshly made. The…read morechicken fried rice was enough for 3 meals. The vegetables in garlic sauce was really yummy.

The ambiance is calm and peaceful, the staff are attentive and friendly. I went twice this weekend…read moreand most recently with my family including two children. My bother and his children joined us too! We really enjoyed ourselves. It wasn't crowded and we had a lovely private space that allowed the kids to interact without being intrusive to other customers. Now, the food is wonderful! Their chicken dumpling soup is amazing!! I couldn't get enough of it. We also had fresh sashimi and several other appetizers-- their portions are generous. Also, The dinner noodle and rice dishes were large and sharable - enough to feed four adults (and several kids, too). Definitely worth the trip! We will be back soon!

A few days ago we took two friends for dinner to Lims - their first time. It is one of our go-to…read morelocal restaurants; one in which conversation is easy and the tables well-spaced. As per usual we shared the dishes: garlic string beans, scallion pancakes (both delicious), steamed shumai (I think I preferred the fried version), and tiki udon with chicken. We also had the traditional hot sake. The service was very good as per usual. All this made for a convivial evening. Of course we will be back.

My first time here and it will not be my last. Cozy atmosphere and friendly staff. Great price for…read morethe portions! Started with the chicken satay- oh my delicious! Also had the summer roll - you can just taste the freshness of the vegetables- yum! Then the fried dumpling - again the freshness just leaps out at you in flavor! For our meal I ordered cashew nut with shrimp- Amazing flavor and again freshness! Wife got the drunken noodles with chicken- again great flavor! Our daughter ordered Crispy Duck and boy was that tasty! The crispy Kale on top was amazing! Thank you for a great dining experience! We shall be back!

Such great food! When I suggested to my family that we get Asian food- and they said "let's get…read moreBee's but you're picking it up" I couldn't even complain about the 50-minute round trip! Their crab rangoons are some of the best- do not pass them up!! On this most recent visit I got the pineapple fried rice, and this is probably the second time I've had it. I got shrimp in it, and while there were only a few shrimps in it- it was still very tasty! The pineapple and carrots are perfectly cooked- not too hard- and the cashews add a nice crunch. And everything is very flavorful! Dining in? It's a small place and I've seen it get busy, so plan accordingly! There's a lot of windows, it's dim, good for a night out with a friend or with a group. It's on the corner of Ives street so it's street parking, but I'm usually able to find a spot on the side street!

I've been on a hunt to find honey cake ever since I leaned about its existence and had been…read morestruggling to find, and then stumbled upon Jahunger while at a Wickeden Street Market. Was so pleasantly surprised. NGL based on the name I always assumed Jahunger was Jamaican but it is indeed a Uyghur restaurant. I got the Jahunger Noodles with tofu and I really liked it. Good flavors and love that they have tofu / are accessible to other diets. I did think the dish was a little too oily but I still would get it again and have since I first tried. The honey cake is also delicious! They call it "not your average honey cake) but I've not had an average one to compare to, so the hunt continues lol. My only complaint is that all the dishware is plastic. I ordered one of the teas and the entire pot with the boiling water was plastic...not a fan of that.

Yum! Jahunger is always delicious! We miss some of their old menu items, like the chili fried…read morechicken, but some of the classics like the Jahunger Noodles are still delicious! We usually do takeout, and it's always ready quickly! Highly suggest for an easy eat in or takeout stop!

It's really easy to miss this place even when you are looking for it- the first time I tried to eat…read morehere I walked right past it and missed it completely (I didn't have my phone so I walked home and thought I just hadn't made it far enough). It's such a cute small place wedged right between other places, haha. FINALLY made it here! I ordered the regular sandwich (banh mi) and the nim chow (nham / nime chow). The bread for the banh mi was just how I remembered it being when I was in Vietnam 18 years ago- it has this quality that flakes right apart- delicious! Solid nam chow with shrimp as well! I really want to try more on their menu, especially the papaya salad, wings, spring rolls, noodles and soups- SHEESH- too much I want to try! CASH ONLY- pro tip- if you know what you want, call your order in ahead- they were actually fast and my order was ready when I got there!

A must try in Providence to me and my family it's number 1 nothing fancy but that's it charm good…read morefood and what your looking for