I enjoyed my experience here. Prices were as expected. Open on a Sunday night. Easily got a table at 6:30pm .... but the restaurant had a wait by 7:30pm. Good for them! I dug the authentic experience... rice already on the table, along with cucumber, fried pork rinds, and a hot paste. The sticky rice was really sticky, warm, and we enjoyed the authentic presentation. The entrees: The grilled Chilean sea bass with dill and other herbs in a banana leaf was excellent. Lots of dill gave the fish lots of great flavor. I'd love this every week. The curry / soup we ordered was good, with a flavorful broth and good portion. I think it was oddly soupy for what we thought was supposed to be a curry. Staff: The wait staff was nice... as he said yes to everything. Pro and con. My friend and I can handle spice, but the papaya salad was borderline inedible. I detest wasting food, but we couldn't finish it. read more

I have only been here once -- but expect to return in the near future. For the most part I thought the food was wonderful. Highlights: Naem Khao, Duck Laab and Yum Woon Sen. Yum Woon Sen was only available at the bar for happy hour for the crazy low price of $5. I would gladly pay $12 and have it as an appetizer on the regular menu. Goat stew was also very good, though some pieces of goat were a little tough. The Tofu Mieng Muang Luang was a little disappointing and the only item I would not order again. Good service. Staff were all very nice and welcoming. Fun atmosphere and an outstanding value. A few more return visits with a similar experience would easily put this on my top 20 favorites restaurants in DC. Will return! read more

Thip Khoa was AMAZING!!! We went in at about 9:00 on Saturday night and were seated right away. The service was good and as we had never been to a Laotian restaurant before our server explained everything. The food was melt in your mouth good!! I had the lettuce wraps with salmon. The price was so reasonable $18 for a huge piece of salmon and all the salad wrap ingredients I don't think I've had better salmon. It was cooked to perfection and the flavors burst in your mouth, in the best way!! I would highly recommend this place! Especially if you area little more adventurous with your food! read more

Food was delicious! Loved the pig ears, salad with pork belly, steamed catfish, and red coconut curry noodles. Mango sticky rice was just ok. Thought it was small for the price. Will definitely be back. read more

We've been a regular at Bangkok Golden at Sevens Corner for a few years now. We first learned about Thip Khao one time at BKK Golden, when they were passing around some flyers that the proprietors would be opening a sister restaurant, to be named Thip Khao, in DC at some point in the future. Fast forward a year or so, we were visiting some friends in the neighbourhood and it was getting close to dinner time when we were leaving, so I looked up Yelp for something close by. Well, well, look what showed up -- Thip Khao! It has only been opened less than 2 mos and the few reviews so far have been pretty stellar. We got there 15 mins before opening, but since it was so cold out a waitress called us in early. (Thank you!!) We ordered all the usual we usually order at BKK Golden -- Naem Khao (Crispy Rice Salad), Tam Som (Papaya salad; Thai style), Laab Gai Tok (this one is new to us though but sooooo good!), and Moo Ping (grilled pork) for the kids. Plenty of sticky rice kept my kids happy. They served young fresh coconut which was a big win with my 10 yr old. Bua Loy to round off the meal. So, here's my beef. I have not been as satisfied with BKK Golden of late as I felt the dishes are not as good as they use to be. I had a sneaky suspicion that the main chef who use to be at BKK Golden (Chef Seng) had moved over to Thip Khao; which is part of the reason why I wanted to check out if my suspicions were true. Sure enough!! The first few bites I took of all the dishes we ordered took me back to my first time at BKK Golden. The spiciness was intense enough I started to sweat and reaching for my cold Singha beer. The Som Tum (or Tam Som) was a little on the sweet side, but on the whole everything was very well balanced. Now I gotta trek it all the way into DC to get my Isaan/Lao food fix??!! *Sob* Also, Thip Khao is definitely in a higher price bracket than BKK Golden. Going to BKK Golden is a much more affordable meal. This place is quite a slurge. A family of 4 ordering 4 dishes, 4 drinks, and 1 dessert put us in the $90+. read more

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The word that comes to mind is: Yes! Yes to the flavour exploding food. Yes to the laid back vibe. And yes to the great drink options and prices during happy hour. I've been to Washington twice now, and if there's one thing I've leaned, is that you need to choose restaurants wisely, and base your choice on locals' suggestions. There are a lot of top tier restaurants, but there are also some major rip offs and tourist traps. So when a highly trusted source (you know who you are) suggested Thip Khao we decided to try it. This decision totally paid off! The experience here really centres on the Laotian food. The flavours were complex and unique, filled with interesting and unexpected pairings. Some of the major wins included: the crispy rice salad (even for a health nut, this was phenomenal), the dried beef and the curry stew. Honestly, all three were stellar. I can't wait to return and try more! read more

I really appreciate when a business reaches out. Thip Khao reached out to me after my last visit requesting more information about my experience and offered to make it up for me. I brought another new-to-Lao good friend with me and Thip Khao really went above and beyond to make sure our visit was different than my last. I also had two new to me dishes that I would totally recommend: the grilled beef tongue on the jungle menu and the thomp sua soup. Both were really delicious and the soup in particular was perfect for the cold weather. read more

I can't speak to the setting of the place, as I ordered to go, but my to-go experience will definitely bring me back for a sit down meal. As soon as I walked in and told the hostess I wanted to order to-go, she took my order and sent it to the kitchen. 15 minutes later I was on my way home with dinner. I've never had Laotian food, so you will have to rely on other reviews for how legit it is. However, the food was very tasty! I ordered the tofu, the coconut rice with pork, and the chicken red curry. I have no complaints. The coconut rice with pork was probably my favorite dish and what I will order when I come back! read more

Great place. I got the beef jerky appetizer, the laab (minced alligator) plate and the fried tofu curry bowl. Everything was so delicious! Oh, and I had the green mango cocktail too. Definitely going back! read more

Thip Khao - LAAB E'KAE -G- minced alligator meat Siin / Muu Haeng - beef jerky - Laotian Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

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This is absolutely the best-tasting food I've had in D.C. where I've lived for 4 years. The goat dish from the "jungle menu" was amazing, and the other dishes (fish in banana leaves and meat skewers) were also very very good. I can't wait to go back and try more (despite the lackluster service, which is really an afterthought when the food is *that* good). I've never had a conversation after leaving a restaurant about how we should have been charged more based on how good the food was. read more

Kindly do yourself a favour and ORDER FROM THE JUNGLE MENU. Otherwise, why bother looking for an authentic place like thip kao? Tam Muk Houng (papaya salad): A+ Laab Beef: A Ping Hua Jai Kai (chicken liver): A- Pad Thai (blame my dinner partner) -- B+/A- (unless it's made on the streets of thailand, pad thai is always eh for me) Also the tonics basically "medicinal" shots - hilarious tl;dr: Food: A || Service: A || Price: A Good humoured wait-staff and bursting flavours make this a must-try in DC! &when you ask for extra spicy -- they give it to you! My mouth left happily on fire. read more

First time having Laotian food and it did not disappoint. We had the yellow curry potato puffs, alligator laab, poached shrimp, and my favorite the beef crispy sesame jerky. Everything tasted great and I'll definitely be back. Note: the place gets really busy so I'd suggest making reservations. read more

One of my favorite meals in DC! I've been wanting to try this restaurant for a while now, and finally went with my boyfriend for date night. The food exceeded our expectations. In our opinion, the must order dishes are NAEM KHAO THADEAU (crispy rice and pork salad) and SIIN/MUU HAENG (sweet sesame beef). They were both amazing. We also had the tofu app which was crispy and delicious. read more

Thip Khao - NAEM KHAO THADEAU (crispy rice and pork salad) and CHUENH TAOHU (crispy tofu) - both amazing, highly recommend - Laotian Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

I'm only writing this review for the food. Put very simply: The food at Thip Khao is OK. In order to appeal to the American market, they've over-seasoned it with spices and ingredients, herbs and flavorings so that it masks the cheap proteins each food is actually made with. We tried Laab with Chicken (was extremely spicy), Awk with Pork, Mieng ViengChangh (with Salmon), Siin Heng (Appetizer), Sakoo Yadsai (great soup but the beef was of the poorest quality), Tam Som (which we asked to prepare without the shrimp paste and they thankfully did, however it lacked any substantial amount of papaya), tam muk hoong, Khao Poon chicken, Moak with Sea Bass, and Gang Dang Beef. Don't expect anything organic or local here. All the food was OK and some, like the Gang Dang were great, however, we found that the food was not easy on the stomach, even for us who eat Asian food regularly. We found the food to be incredibly over-spiced with the goal of having a big flavor, basically the whole kitchen sink thrown into each recipe, and the proteins of the lowest qualities. Sure, the food tastes good, but is it healthy over time? Me thinks not. read more

Amazing laos food. Upscale in feeling, but still authentic in presentation. They offer these cucumber slices with this fishy red sauce (sambal?) that were good, but they weren't anything to rave about. I ordered chicken heart skewers as an appetizers. Boy oh boy were they delicious. Soft, tender, crispy burnt edges, and not gamely at all!! It basically tasted like meat candy. I could have eaten a dozen skewers! I then ordered the papaya salad with shrimp paste. Such a good salad! Everything harmoniously resonated agains my tongue like a 7 piece orchestra of the senses. It was equally sweet, spicy, fruity, shrimpy, crunchy, wet, and nutty all at once. The shrimp paste wasn't overpowering, which is always a concern for my white boy palate. The cashew were probably the freshest I've had in a restaurant. And then the main course: Lon Padaek. The best way for me to describe it is a Korean dolsot in my opinion. That dish was so good. I could have ate a whole other serving of it! Bold, mildly spicy, and fishy all at once. I was grinning from ear to ear once I finished that meal. I feel like I could have ordered anything and it would have been good. Do yourself a favor and try this place. read more

This is the closest thing to home I have found anywhere outside of my mother's kitchen. I am beyond ecstatic that Laotian food is becoming more mainstream and the American palette is allowing it to flourish, because I can't wait to see more food like this become popular. As a Laotian, I give this all the stars it deserves. Is it as good as my mothers? No, but it comes close Food: Wide variety of dishes. For beginners to Laotian cuisine, I would recommend Som tum/tam ma hoong otherwise known as papaya salad and pork laarb. It's all served with sticky rice, and pro tip, USE YOUR HANDS. The menu has some rotating items, so that is always a plus. Only downside is the very small bar and weak beer selection, but you can't fit everything in a restaurant I suppose. Atmosphere: Definitely on the trendier side of things. The decor is fine. But the clientele are the young and adventurous. Typically you should get a reservation because it is so damn popular, but the times I have went, they had available seating. Service: Okay as far it goes, nothing extraordinary. Friendly, but not overly accommodating. Receptive to your refills. This is one restaurant everyone in DC should come to! read more

I've only been here once after wanting to try it for years, but feel compelled to write a review partially because my fellow Yelpers were so helpful to me when I was trying to decide what to order! We ended up going with the Tam Som (papaya salad), Kua Mee with chicken (noodles with fish sauce), and Khao Siin Haeng (beef "jerky" with sesame, served with amazing coconut rice); there were three of us, and it ended up being plenty to go around. While all three dishes were delicious, the siin haeng was an absolute standout; it was caramelized to perfection and the rice complemented it really nicely. And the Kua Mee honestly puts pad Thai to shame. Added bonus: our server was friendly and efficient. I'm looking forward to hopefully coming back here soon and trying some of the other dishes on the menu! read more

Best lao food period. The tofu larb is the best. The grouse black lao whiskey soda matches perfectly. Eat the larb with your hands for the ultimate experience ! read more

The fried rice was really good. Really really really good. Yum yum yum in the tummy. Tried a bunch of stuff but the fried rice was good. The rest was all right. read more

Thip Khao - Laotian Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

First experience with Laotian food... and I can confidently say it will not be my last! Went with a friend and we ordered several things to share, including the potato curry puffs, the crispy rice salad, a sausage appetizer, and the Laab with Chicken as our main course. The salad was probably my favorite... super flavorful and very different from anything else I've ever had. The Laab was probably my least favorite, but nothing we had was bad. Only problem we ran into is that we ran out of room before we could get to dessert. Warning: most of the dishes tend to have a good amount of spice... even if there is no designation on the menu. read more

Last night was my second time visiting here and it is quickly becoming one of my favorite restaurants in DC. The variety is amazing (most dishes can be made meat-free or gluten-free, and they are very open to customization.) Service is fast and attentive, if a bit lacking in warmth - who cares since the food is good? The "jungle" menu has quite the number of "adventurous" options for meat-lovers if you want to be all Bourdain-ish, but one dish I did order was the "jungle" papaya salad. Our waitress did a double-take and confirmed that it was "extremely spicy" (no worries, there is an non-spicy version on the regular menu - the only difference is that it doesn't have crab paste). I was all "Lady, please...you think your food is spicy? You merely adopted the spice...I was born in the masalas, molded by it...I didn't taste jalapeno until I was a man, and by then, it was nothing to me but blanding." I didn't really say that though, because I suspect she wouldn't have gotten the Bane reference. Oh well. Without a doubt, this was the single most spiciest dish I ever ate (and i routinely douse ghost pepper sauce on everything). Starting with even small bites, the heat starts building up QUICK (it won't scald your tongue, like most Asian spices, but starts raising your internal temperature). By the fourth bite, I was sweating buckets...by the eight bite, pretty sure portions of my brain were pouring out of my ears. Two glasses of the excellent green soy milk did not help much (but you should get the soy milk drink because it is awesome). It began monsoon'ing outside at the same time and I was sorely tempted to go for a walk to take a shower. Surprisingly, however, my taste buds remained intact enough for me to enjoy the other dishes (protip: eat the papaya salad last (unlike me) so that you can fully enjoy all of your other food). We also got the crispy rice salad (called "Naem Khao," which in Bengali, roughly translates to "Naeem, eat," so of course I ate), the honey crispy tofu (probably the best dish for this meal that we ordered), and a dish of tofu, eggplant, and rice noodles which came with lettuce wraps that one can make lettuce tacos out of. Everything came with sticky rice in those small wicker basket-type things - the rice was tougher to cut than flatiron steak, but was worth it. All was good. My only regret was that I did not take the remaining papaya salad home (1/3 of it was consumed) because I began craving it a an hour later (or 65 minutes after I swore I'd never eat it again). I suspect the papaya salad and I will meet again... read more

Delicious. Delicious. Delicious. I've never had Laotian food before, but if it's like this in Laos, I'm ready to book a flight! Everything we had was well seasoned. We tried the local catfish which they serve to help reduce the population of this invasive species. The fried tofu appetizer was equally delicious. Service was attentive and the setting is nice - with views onto the hustle bustle of 14th Street. Yes! read more

Let me first off state the obvious: this food is different. VERY different. As to the earlier review by a person of Lao heritage, Washington Post recently had an article about Thip Khao's owner in which she traveled back to Laos and found the food to have been watered down to meet Western tastes, much to its apparent detriment. So don't necessarily come expecting this to match your preexisting notions of "authenticity." This is more like historically Lao food, from the loving memory of a chef who associates it with happier memories of home. It might best be thought of as "dream Thai." The second thing I'll say with concern to the spice level: fellow white people, DON'T BE A HERO. More on this later. Now, on to the actual food... I met my best friend up here on a business trip to the DC area. My goal was to try a cuisine I had never had before, and once I settled on Lao, we found that this was, well, the only place specifically advertised as Lao. We arrived at 7 P.M. on a Friday and were greeted with only a 45-minute wait. Pretty good for DC on a Friday with no reservation. We passed the time at a cafe just a few doors away (BTW, what's with DC's current obsession with macarons? Those things are EVERYWHERE up there) and received a text when our table was available. Maybe that's par for the course in DC, but I found it impressive, since it allowed us the luxury of escaping the packed, loud bar area of the restaurant. I had done a little research and already planned to seek out the two Lao staples on the Jungle Menu, Tam Mak Huong Phet Phet, a "very spicy" papaya salad (more on that later) and Laab E'kae, or alligator laab, a minced alligator salad. My friend decided to do a variety of small plates, so we each got a full experience of the menu (well, relatively full--I imagine this is one of the deeper menus you'll find because of its novelty). First up was one of the seasonal special, Kai Naloke, a deviled egg dish topped with a chili sauce. Right away we both knew we were in for something very different. Let me be clear that I don't generally like deviled eggs, but something about this complex, pungent topping really complemented the egg. Next came Hu Muu Todd, fried pigs' ears with a Jaew bong-sriracha sauce. Being from the South, I'm no stranger to pig's ears, and I have to say the flavor reminded me of something my grandmother might have made back in the rural mountains of Tennessee (that's saying something--people I've only just met still rave about her food nearly two decades after she passed). I would never have guessed the sauce contained sriracha because of its sweetness. It paired beautiful with the ears. Third came Sai Oua Luad, described as a spicy pork blood sausage. I'll say this is the least exotic thing we ate, but I mean that in the most positive way: to both myself (of Irish descent) and my friend (native Puerto Rican), this was just plain good blood sausage. Rich, tender, certainly not "spicy" as sausage goes (several heat levels below authentic Andouille, for instance). It's interesting what foods translate across cultures. Then my food started coming...and things took a bit of a turn. I ordered the Tam Mak Huong Phet Phet. The menu and the staff gives you plenty of warning that it's "extremely spicy." But I am a person who walks into Thai restaurants and orders maximum/authentic spice levels, is liberal with the chili garlic paste in my pho, and generally enjoy a meal that drains my sinuses and leaves the wait staff worried about my safety. I told the server I did not want "spicy for spicy's sake," but I wanted an authentic experience. This dish, though, was the first restaurant dish that made me tap. The heck. OUT. The first few bites were a wonderful, fresh, crunchy delight with fantastic flavor. But as I kept eating, the heat kept building. And building. And building. And building. No relief in sight. I ordered a Thai iced tea and the waitress kept my water flowing, but it was still brutal. I very much hope to go back and try the tamer version of the dish, because before the hallucinations started it was wonderful. My main entree was the aforementioned Laab E'Kae. This dish was nicely spicy, although I couldn't tell where the spice was coming from by the time it arrived (found out when I ate my leftovers). The flavors here complemented the spice well, with the freshness of the "green" elements. I wish I could have enjoyed more of it fresh, but midway through the Tam Mak Huong had me out of commission. Then came the relief, finally. I didn't catch the name, but it was a dessert soup made from pumpkin and coconut. It was the PERFECT ending because the coconut milk cut straight through the spice and brought me back down to earth. Again, I would have loved to have this to cleanse the palate after the nicely-spicy Laab, but it was still very welcome relief from the Tam Mak Huong. Overall this was a well-deserved five stars. read more

This was my first experience w Laos cuisine and it did not disappoint. The dishes are exceptionally flavorful and fresh. I can't wait for my next trip to DC. read more

Got the Name Khnao rice salad and fried pig ears . They are so flavourful and the pig ears are perfect for beer snack !!!

This is probably one of the best restaurants in DC. The food is a little spicy for my taste buds but it's good none the less. Their food is only only good in flavor but also comes in different textures and uses fresh ingredients so it's a different type of food experience. I highly recommend this for people who want to try something different. Make sure to make reservations as the wait can be very long for walk-ins. read more

Thip Khao was great! We got the KHAONOM MUN FALANG (yellow curry potato puffs)- I didn't like these that much and wouldn't recommend. TAM SOM salad, GAENG PHET soup (comes w white rice), and KUA KHAO JAEW BONG (fermented chili fried rice and we added shrimp) for the main. The main dish (ferm. Chili rice) was our favorite thing we ordered and we got medium level spicy for both that and the tam som salad which was the perfect amount. Unfortunately we didn't try anything off the jungle menu but I would recommend trying this place out! The soup was also delicious and my second favorite! read more

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Had a very nice dinner for 8 here last Saturday. Service was nice. I liked the large-format beers on their menu! Prices were reasonable, overall, I thought. The food was quite good; very different flavors from the more 'standard' Thai dishes you find (actually, more like northern Thai food -- like Little Serow). Decor is nice. Would definitely recommend this place as a 'hot' new place in Columbia Heights. read more

Can not rave enough about this place. The food was simply amazing with so many flavors! Our waitress was super welcoming and just seemed happy to serve us delicious food, patiently describing items and making great recommendations. When you sit, the waitress brings out complimentary purple sticky rice with chili paste to help cleanse your palate between dishes. We ordered the sun dried beef appetizer, blue catfish in banana leaf, fried snakehead with mango salsa, fried tofu with lettuce wrap, and Laotian papaya salad (spicy!). Loved all of it except the tofu. Just a bit on the bland side. And then we had to make room for mango sticky rice, which was so good we ordered seconds. A bit different from Thai style in that the mango is baked with the rice and served inside a hallowed mango. Beautiful presentation and taste. During the meal, my friends and I decided that we need to plan a trip to Laos soon! read more

Thip Khao - Sticky rice, papaya salad, beef app, mango sticky rice, fried snakehead (clockwise from upper left) - Laotian Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

Great authentic food!! Was recommended by a local DC chef and it did not disappoint. Had the jerky and the Me Kathi. Left me wanting more!!

The food here is impressive and I have an inkling that this place is going to become super popular, super quickly. The last time I was impressed with a DC restaurant was when I dined at Rose's Luxury when they first opened...until Thip Khao. Since I'm not too familiar with Laotian food I asked our waiter for his recommendations on dishes that would represent the country and he suggested Naem Khao, Knap Pah, Sai Oua for two people. The Naem khao (appetizer) is a crispy rice salad with the texture reminding me of the crispy rice that forms at the bottom of your rice cooker when making rice--(Korean ppl know what I'm referring to) that has a harmony of coconut milk, lime juice, sausage, and chopped peanuts that comes with a basket of lettuce leaves to wrap it in. Highly addictive and a burst of wonderful flavors. The Knap pah is a grilled fish (we ordered the sea bass) flavored with ginger, dill, and herbs, wrapped in banana leaves. Oh my yum. It was warm, perfectly cooked, delicate, with subtle herby flavors. The Sai Oua is a pork sausage (appetizer) that was also perfectly balanced with hints of lemongrass and ginger but it seemed a bit overcooked. I'm not sure if that's just the way it's supposed to be prepared but it balances well with the sticky rice your meal comes with. The only negative things I would have to say about this place are the cocktails--(watered down and doesn't deserve high marks) and the service. Fortunately, we had reservations (highly recommend) but even with that, we had to wait about 15 minutes for our table. Our waiter was attentive when he initially took our order and made great suggestions on dishes, but beyond that, he rarely checked on us (had to flag someone to refill my water twice). He was apologetic and seemed stressed because it was such a busy night but honestly, I don't see this restaurant not being busy on a weekend so he might want to prep better for that. First impressions always make a lasting impression on me and the dishes we ordered from that night were all on point--so much so that I ventured out to their sister restaurant in VA recently (Bangkok Golden). Review coming soon. Solid restaurant. Cocktails need improvement but I didn't come here for drinks. Highly recommend. read more

Thip Khao - Knap Pha (Grilled fish wrapped in banana leaves) - Laotian Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

Wow, Thip Khao exceeded my expectations! First of all, the space is warm and inviting. Staff were super attentive, friendly, and on top of things! The restaurant was busy on a Friday night around 7pm, but we got a table right away. Upon being seated, the server brought out a plate with cucumber, pork rines, and chili paste. The chili paste was amazing, delicious on the cucumber and crunchies. We ordered off the gringo menu...they do have a menu that included interesting meat options (think tongue, intestine, etc). We started with the papaya salad, TAM SOM, super fresh tasting, crunchy veggies, nice balance of fish sauce and spiciness. I didn't really taste papaya or anything sweet, but it was delicious nonetheless! This was my favorite dish of them all. I could have just eaten this and have been happy =) We next had the sour soup with seafood, KAING SOM. The seafood was the perfect protein for this soup, packed full of shrimp, octopus, and other creatures of the sea. The sour broth was not too sour but just enough to give it a nice tang. Third dish was a vermicelli noodle dish with chicken, KUA MEE, which resembled a pad thai. It was delicious and just what you would expect of a typical pad thai, with peanuts, bean sprouts, and lime on the side. Final dish (yes, we were stuffed!!!) was a tofu curry dish, AWK, which wasn't as flavorful as I anticipated. It was a milder curry, and the sticky rice didn't really soak up the broth. For both of us, this was one of the best meals we've had in a while. next time, I'll try the pig ear =) read more

Tapioca balls. Is that what your girlfriend calls you? No? Oh then it must be a delicious appetizer here. If you like to eat clean, this place has an amazing grilled beef tongue dish with chili sauce. Done to perfection. As others noted, you get red sticky rice in its own bamboo container. Very cute. In an area kind of devoid of decent restaurants, this place is a standout. read more

A friend from home recommended Thip Khao, saying that it was in his top three for best places in DC to get food. My friend and I squeaked in just before closing at the tail end of lunch. While things are maybe a tad pricey, they make up for it in insane flavour! This place is amazing! They have an invasive species menu (there's one way to cull the population), some interesting main options, house made noodles, and serious spice! I ordered entirely off the daily special menu and I have no regrets, it was amazing! Seriously, you should eat here! read more

Thip Khao - Sticky rice balls with garlic and sweet and spicy chili sauce! - Laotian Near Me - Washington, DC, District of Columbia

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Thip Khao is SO MUCH FUN. It's not often that you get to engage in such an intriguing and multi-faceted menu like this. I dined at Thip Khao with a couple of friends last week and we couldn't get enough. First and foremost, I recommend going right for the "Let's Go To The Jungle!!!" part of the menu. You're here to try some different, exciting food right? You should be. We ordered the following, and loved each and every dish: Tam Muk Hoong Phet E'Loor: spicy papaya salad Sai Qua Luad: spicy pig's blood sausage Pin Leen: grilled beef tongue Naem Khao Hu Muu: crispry rice with steamed pig ear Muu Som: braised rice cured pork belly I was blown away by the flavors which were at times both delicate and bold, and were exquisitely layered. This was truly an adventure, and we had a great time trying new things. All of these dishes, of course, are served with sticky rice, which was an excellent complement to some of the spicier dishes. The one area for improvement here is service. We were eager to learn more about the different dishes and the menu overall, and our server didn't seem to want to talk to us about any of it. Additionally, whenever dishes were put down, the server just left them on the table without telling us what it was. This would have been okay except that we were totally new to the cuisine and had ordered a whole bunch of items we weren't totally familiar with. Other than that, though, this was a great experience! I can't wait to go back to the jungle! read more

Really nice food, somewhat like Thai. Really nice place for authentic tastes

I'm a super picky eater and was I met a friend for his birthday here I was expecting to only nibble on something then go somewhere else to eat. I was completely wrong. I went on a limb and got the pork neck and I fell in love to the point that now a week later I am writing this review while waiting in the restaurant. read more

I like Chef Seng. Food is good... I definitely had no clue what I was ordering and I enjoyed it. So to tell you what to get... definitely get the sampler platter if you dont know what to get. There is actually plenty of food and you will walk away feeling full. Second get this awesome desert. Its like a pancake with condensed milk and topped with fruit. Its awesome and really good way to finish your meal. We also ordered the chicken. No joke... it was a boiled chicken. We thought there was going to be more. But it was just a boiled chicken. So... I am a fan of Seng other location but the food here is enjoyable and novel. Definitely will be back. read more

This place is great. The only Laotian restaurant I know of in DC, the food is similar to Northern Thai food, but also has hints of Vietnamese -- understandably, based on the geography of Laos. The closest type of food that I've had in the DC area is at Little Serow. The food at Little Serow seems to be generally a bit hotter/spicier, but it's a different format -- fix price and more expensive. This place is cheaper, has larger, family style plates. I had a couple specials they had, and a couple regular dishes as well. From the regular menu, we had the pork neck...it was basically like a grilled lemongrass hinted pork, very similar to something you'd get on a Vietnamese vermicelli noodle dish. It was tasty, but nothing too different or unusual. We also had the grilled chicken hearts. I was reluctant about this one, because if not done right, these are really chewy. Fortunately, they were done right and were not very sinewy or chewy, and had about 5 little hearts per skewer. Seasoned well, similar to the pork dish noted above. From the rotating specials, we had a variation of their Naem Khao (lettuce wraps) which also had some pork sausage and sauteed pig ear. Again, I was a bit reluctant because sauteed pig ear (as opposed to fried) sounded less than edible. Fortunately, they did it just right...little marinated strips cut thin so that they almost blended in like noodles that added just a little bit of snap. The dish was reminiscent of something like a larb gai, but with different enough flavors to merit getting. It was very good. We also had a blue catfish curry. The fish is an invasive species to the Chesapeake area, so I always try to eat those little bastards. Anyway, this was a surprise. It was nothing like a curry I've ever had before. It was actually more of a soup, but literally, not just a creamy curry like normal, but actually soup. As in you couldn't even really put it on rice, you had to eat/drink it out of the bowl. The flavors reminded me immediately of Eastern European soups (e.g. borsch or matzoh ball soup) because of the amount of dill. But it also tasted like it had some lemongrass, galangal and some other flavors. A very interesting fusion. It was very good. Anyway, I'd definitely go back. Great food, good price point, nice service. read more

I only ordered one dish here, but boy was it good. I was on a major restaurant blitz over the course of a weekend in DC, and this made my list. Good Laotian is hard to find. I was really torn between the goat stew and the the pork belly. I'm a sucker for goat, so my heart was telling me that, but everybody around me was getting the pork belly and raving about it, and I just had goat the night before, so I went with the pork belly. Wow. First of all, it was unusually lean for pork belly. I sometimes describe something as lean as a subtle insult, but not this time! It was like the cleanest, most tender white meat pork ever. It was so smooth and had an awesome sour tang to it from the lime and curing process. I loved it. There were probably about 20 things on the menu that really spoke to me. One day I will return and try them all. DC is such an underrated food city. Seriously. I have more consistently good and interesting meals here than I do San Francisco. read more