Lao-Thai Kitchen

When you crave real flavor.
This is our go-​to spot for take-​out.
Dining in is fine, but it’s pretty empty.
Top dishes are larb, kao soy, stuff eggplant, and some other noodle dishes that my wife who’s Thai said it’s pretty close to the original flavor in LA.

We tried this place for lunch once just to broaden our scope relative to Da Nang, our go-​to. Not sure if we just picked the wrong dishes but they were very bland and nothing special – there was just no contest.

Just had the lunch special papaya salad. The menus stated that it comes with a vegetable soup, sticky rice and fried tofu. I ordered hot tea to drink. The tea took 15 minutes to come out and came out with the food. I was never served the soup that was promised on the menu and the BBQ chicken was twice cooked, was warned in a yellow sauce that was very runny. The salad was not traditional with over ripe tomatoes that should not be in there to be gone with. The papaya was not freshly grated either as it had no bite to it. Definitely not deserving the 4 stars it currently has.

I haven’t been here in a couple of years because the last time I went I found a long black hair in my Pad Se Ew. But that can happen anywhere, so I think I’ll give them another chance and maybe another star. There are lots of thai restaurants on Solano Ave. Definitely some of them have more upscale, pristine presentation of the food and are very delicious, but Lao-​Thai also offers very tasty food, in good-​sized portions at probably the best prices in the area. I’ve never had a complaint about the service, maybe not overly friendly but nothing to complain about.
I think it’s kind of amusing that the restaurant is owned by a Laotian woman and her Afro-​American husband, and as a result you can also get ribs with cornbread and greens here (I’ve never ordered that, but what a great option for an asian joint!) If you’re hungry for southeast asian food and don’t want to pay the premium prices of the other places, check this out.

I had the Nam Khao. Entirely too much ginger. Overpowered the whole dish. It’s all I taste and smell. Service was fast & friendly.

Choo-​Chee salmon and emerald salmon noodles are the Bomb! Friendly staff, seems family owned. Beautiful wooden interior, but I think it’s a little old and thus slightly odorous. We always get takeout. Highly highly recommended, super delicious.

It’s more like 2.5 stars because the food was pretty good.
The reason I gave such low scores is because as soon as you come into the restaurant you feel sad.
It looks like time stopped at the eighthes.
The décor is so old and sad and the most horrible thing was the old smell that hits you as soon as you get in. Smell of old place.
I really wanted to leave but my husband didn’t feel comfortable. Also I read the good reviews and I said to my self I should give it a try.
Unfortunately the good food does not make up on the bad smell that is still linger in my brain.
There are other great restaurants in the area that make the same exactly food with a much pleasant environment.

Best Thai-​Laotian food around. Absolutely love this place for take out. Tofu wings… fantastic. Papaya salad… righteous. Panang curry… without equal.

Very small restaurant that doesn’t shy away from flavor…
I am a huge fan of Laos and Thai food, so I was excited, and the excitement lived up to expectations.
Our group ordered a number of dishes to share family-​style. That’s the way you have to go with Southeast Asian restaurants. Food sharing is the way.
We had:
+++Papaya Salad+++
We asked for mild because my friends are scared of a little heat. Heat or no heat, the dish was fragrant, the good kind of salty, and very good.
+++Laab Gai (Chicken Salad)+++
Loved the mint in the dish!
+++Pumpkin Curry+++
Tender cubes of pumpkin paired with chunks of chicken is a win-​win.
+++Basil Fried Rice+++
Needed a little more soy or fish sauce, but nonetheless tasty.
+++Stuffed Eggplants+++
I was looking most forward to this dish because I rarely see this dish on menus nowadays. The eggplant was super tender. I found the meat filling to be too sweet.
+++Service+++
Only one server. He did a good job. Nothing special.
Overall, a good experience to warrant another visit in the near future.

This is a tiny Thai restaurant on Solano – about 10 tables in it. I went on a Monday night and no one else was there at all, which made it a little awkward/quiet…but we got good food. Fresh spring rolls – as expected. I got salmon with green beans in a coconut curry, and it was delicious. The salmon was done properly (not overcooked). My friend got Chicken Panang Curry, and it was very spicy. The brown rice was appropriately done. The place seems to be a traditional Thai restaurant in the states, meaning it hasn’t decided it needs to be fancy and California-​styled. Our dinner of one ap and two meals cost $ 33.

It was cold and I needed eat something because I had to meet up with someone in the next 45 minutes so I went into this place and sat down. It was a little cold coming through the front door at the front area doesn’t seem to be heated that much but I was probably waited on by a gentleman in the front. He gave me my menu and I sort of had an idea of what I wanted. So he went in the back ordered my meal brought it out. I would say that the service was average I was kind of the only person in there so I’m a little surprised at the lack of urgency to attend to me but aside from that it’s a small place and I’m sure it’s run as a mom and pop operation. What saved this review? The food. They serve me a beautiful presentation of fresh food that tasted like I got to Thailand and order the dish there. I looked at the menu and if everything else and what I did see them serve other customers that they arrived after I did I have no doubt that the quality is outstanding. I recommend this place for the meal that I ate. I ordered the kee mao chicken. The produce on the plate was fresh bright and cooked the exact right Christina and texture. I can’t make them be truthful and greet a customer and warm the place up but I can be satisfied with the food that I ate. And everyone that came in and picked up take out which were quite a few people all were very happy that the order was there so I have no doubt that the food is of a high quality in the eyes of others.

I didn’t have time to pack my lunch today so during lunch time, I gave in and went to Solano to get some food. I usually always get House of Curries or Bowl’d, etc. (my usuals) but I wanted to try something new. I was driving up Solano searching for a place to try and stumbled upon Lao Thai Kitchen. Luckily I got parking right in front of the restaurant.
(It’s pouring outside and I’m trying to avoid getting soaking wet), I get to the door and the door was way too hard to open. It was super heavy! And I’m very physically active so that should not have been a problem. Even two of their employees came about two minutes later banging on the door because they couldn’t tell if it was unlocked or not. Anyway, the second I got in there, the employees were just lounging around and staring at me like some weird foreigner. The man with the glasses who seems to be in charge came off super rude. The whole place was empty but he seemed like he was bothered for having a customer? One of my pet peeves are restaurants that have minimum payments to use credit cards. If I pay for a whole meal and it doesn’t reach your limit, that’s your fault on your menu price or your minimum requirement rule! I had to buy tea which I didn’t really want to because I have tea at home. But I didn’t mind because I only had a card/​no cash and I was sick anyway. This man gave me tea in a soda cup. without a cozy. what has the world of tea become to? (Lol a little over-​exaggerated but whatever.)
When I finally got out of there, I was so relieved to have left that environment of negative vibes. When it comes down to their actual food, I ordered Pad Thai; it was very mediocre. I think being Thai has an effect on why I was so picky with the details of the dish. Either way, I think the restaurant is more Lao-​based, it just has Thai food items on their menu.

MY FAVORITE THAI RESTAURANT EVER!
Thei curries are incredible, rice is perfection and noodles are sooooo good!
The family that is running the place is so kind and sweet! Always super polite and helpful!
I love going here!
Thank you for your amazing food!

Start off my vegetarian week, I decided to eat here while I do my laundry next door.
I ordered fresh spring roll w/​o shrimp and Thai Ice tea.
The spring rolls were delicious and full of flavor. I was really impressed. The peanut sauce was not spice and not watery with amazing flavor.
Thai ice tea was good. About halfway through, I poured water to fill it up and it still tasted great.
The ambiance of this place is nice. It feels intimate.
Service was fast and food was good.
Parking does suck, but can be found not to far.

I walked in and it was quite empty. Nobody really greeted me or smiled. The male server at first was not very friendly and came across rude. I don’t know if this is a culture thing or a language thing. I am indifferent at this point just wanting to eat food.
The food was actually tasteful and I enjoyed it. When I was 5 min into my eating, I found a piece of clear frail fiber which had a black fiber attached to it. It’s a little unpleasant. The black part looked very much like someone’s hair, but also could have come from a black sweater. I paused a min, fished it out of there and laid it on the glass table. I decided to ignore that and kept eating. The portion of the food was generous. When I ate about 60% of it, and before the server asked if I wanted to take the rest of the food home, I found another black hair/​fiber looking thing in my soup. I don’t know if it came off someone’s head, or someone’s clothing, but at that point, I decided that I should not be expected to ignore these things especially if it’s happening multiple times.
I lost my appetite, and I told the server about the first piece that I fished out of there that was on the table, then I fished the 2^nd piece out of the soup in front of him. I have to acknowledge that he was apologetic from that point. He said that the fibers possibly came from a cleaning tool that was used to clean the pots.
This is a very difficult topic for restaurants. I completely get that it is impossible to keep hairs fall off people’s head or to keep fiber come off of a sweater or towel rags. I am not upset for finding them in my food.
What was unpleasant and kept me from giving this place three or more stars was the fact that they still wanted me to pay for the whole thing. The restaurants are always afraid that people will try to eat their food for free by claiming problems. Well, in this case, the server saw what I fished out of there. If I were the manager, I wouldn’t have asked the customer to pay, or I would have asked to see if he/​she wanted to take another dish to go.

My coworker was the one that introduced us to this place. We all came in for lunch and ordered several items to share. We had the angel wings, papaya salad, beef larb, pineapple fried rice, red curry, drunken noodles, and green beans with chicken. We all loved the beef larb. I would go back for that alone. It was flavorful with a kick. The angel wings were crispy. The red curry was thick and milky (coconut milk). It went a long way with rice. The only dish that didn’t do it for us were the drunken noodles. My friends said it was the soy sauce they used. Can’t wait to come back! I want to try one of their noodle soups next time, along with larb of course!

As an Albany resident, I’ve passed Lao Thai Kitchen innumerable times walking on Solano and I was happy to give it a try. I ordered the green curry with chicken. I like spicy food and usually have low expectations when I see the chili pepper symbol on menus, but they served up a reasonably spicy meal. They give a lot of meat for my taste, and that’s what I had mostly leftover of at the end of the meal. Decent Asian food, and it’s never crowded.

Could this have been another Seinfeld episode? PLEASE stay away! My initial vibe when I entered was to leave, but I didn’t. The waiter proceeded to talk to a party for about 5 minutes, ignoring us.
The other person in my party ordered a curry dish lunch special. On the menu it says «comes with soup.» «What soup does it come with?» I asked. «Oh, no soup today,» he answered. «But it says soup.» «Yes, but today we have salad.» «But then why does it say soup on the menu?» «Sometimes we have soup but sometimes we don’t» «But it doesn’t say what days you do or you don’t have the soup, so why not today if it’s on the menu? At this point the waiter stood there stone faced, and realizing this nonsensical battle was futile, I said, «OK, she’ll have the salad.»
I asked him what dish had a lot of vegetables. He immediately pointed to the pad thai. I usually avoid that dish, as it’s a tricky on to get right. But thought I’d take a chance.
The other person in my party got a mini bowl filled with those baby corn, a couple of sad mushrooms, and some tough cabbage and overcooked tofu. The sauce was gritty and barely warm. the «salad» looked like a few pieces of the inner core of an iceberg lettuce.
Now to my Pad Thai. I have never seen this dish so swimming in a mass or oily, sticky goo. There were three small pieces of broccoli, two green beans and a bitter piece of cabbage that constituted the «vegetables.» No tofu was found It was the most unpleasant sensation of greasy, slimy, overly-​sweetened rice noodles I’d ever had. I also ordered a Thai iced tea — that was overly sweetened too.
23 dollars later we were ready to go. «Let me know after you pay if you want any of these boxed up.» Again, that just sounded weird. The whole place felt weird. Time to cross this one of my list.

I went for lunch on a weekday. I was the only one there. They were located on lower Solano Ave in Albany, CA. They have a $ 10 minimum for use of Visa or MasterCard. There were 7 items on their lunch menu.
I ordered a Thai Iced Tea and the Shrimp Salad. It took over 15 minutes for my salad to come out. I heard a lot of chopping and frying and women’s voices in the kitchen. The server wore a 49ers stocking cap and a down vest.
The salad had about a dozen medium sized shrimp with the tails on. They were still grey. I think they were marinated in lemon juice, but were not put on any heated element. Kind of like a ceviche. The shrimp were on a large piece of bib lettuce with cut romaine on the side. The dressing was good. I ordered the salad Thai Hot and it had a little kick to it, but not much.
I would go back and try other items on the menu.

We ate here for the 3^rd or 4^th time this year. They’ve remodeled —-they got rid of the
steps and level on the left side of the restaurant, redid the floors and added more tables. There is now space for 30 – 40 people.
The décor is simple. I do like the Thai/​Laotian figures and the other decorations.
After eating at 8 – 10 other local Thai places Lao Thai offers fresh, tasty food—
large portions at reasonable prices. Most entrée dishes are $ 7-​$ 10 with rice plates (with smaller portions) for $ 1 less.
We’ve noticed that some of the other Thai eateries (i.e. Bangkok Jam) offer tasty food but the portions are small and the prices are high.
Tonight we two (son of Rinky and I) had:
Chicken Satay — Four sticks with a generous serving of grilled to perfection chicken
served with way above average peanut sauce and a generous (½ cup) of cucumber
red onion in vinegar dressing. Other Thai places serve a teeny cucumber salad
(1/​8^th to ¼th cup). Very tasty
Fried Vegetable spring rolls – 5 rolls (cut in ½) filled with lots of veggies.
A crunchy delight served with sweet vinegary sauce with peanuts.
Yellow curry with tofu. Large serving. Creamy, smooth, tasty.
Full of tofu, broccoli, onions, carrots and potatoes.
Brown Rice
We were really hungry when we came in. We actually had leftovers of the
spring rolls, curry and rice.
Total with tax and 20% tip – $ 32.
Service was friendly and attentive.
This is a very sweet family-​run restaurant.
They also have lunch specials.
We’ll be back… soon!