The few times I've had Laotian food, I have loved it. During a recent visit, I was really excited to discover that Wilmington had a Laotian restaurant, especially one that got such high ratings. Unfortunately, my experience was just the opposite. Slow service, missing ingredients, and just blah flavor. Very disappointing. I recommend skipping this one, there are other delicious Asian options in town.
Arie Gee
I had high expectations of the food based on reviews from friends, but this place blew those expectations out of the water. The appetizer sampler was delicious, as was the shrimp pineapple fried rice, but the real star was the drunken noodles. We couldn't agree on who got to take the leftovers for lunch the next day, so we ordered another one to go.Another reviewer mentioned bringing their own bottle of wine, so we did the same. There's a corkage fee, but it's still cheaper than buying a bottle at most restaurants. Wilmington Wine is half a block away and has an amazing selection.Adding this place to the weekly rotation, for sure!
Monica Pileggi
I wish I could give this 6-7-8 stars! The food was amazing!!Six of us had dinner tonight (16 August 2022). We were the only ones in the little restaurant. We did see four people come in for take-out.It's a little hole-in-the-wall (probably seats a total of 20-22 people), something that I always look for. I don't care what the place looks like, as long as it's clean and that they serve food with quality ingredients with a friendly service. That's what we got tonight.DH and I ordered the spring rolls to start, quantity of four. They came out nice and hot and the wrap was perfectly crispy. I loved the clear glass noodles inside. Two other appetizers were the Lau sausage (OMG, amazing!!) and the shrimp fresh wrap roll.For my entree, I had the drunken noodles with chicken. I asked for a medium heat, a five on a scale of 1 to 10. It could have been a little spicier, but it didn't matter. The flavors were outstanding! There wasn't a whole lot of chicken but it was a nice balance of chicken to veggies and noodles. One friend ordered the same thing and it was gone in minutes.DH had the Khua Mee Lueang, a stir-fry egg noodle with veggies, beef and a fried egg on top. While it had tasted really good, it was a little on the salty side for him (the only negative comment for tonight, but not a huge negative).A friend had the pineapple shrimp fried rice. Another ordered a curry with chicken; and another ordered the larb with chicken.All of us were soooo happy with our food. Everything was great! Everything was made to order. Our dishes came out separately, so a few of us had to wait, but we were fine with that. That just means attention to detail in the kitchen.Our server was wonderful. We had a few questions about the menu and she was happy to help.We were able to BYOB, as they were not serving any alcohol. Our server provided wine glasses.We all stated we would return here soon! Maybe lunch next week!!Do not miss this awesome place!
Reid M
Fantastic! A delicious Laotian dining experience. Try something you've never heard of, it will be great! The laab and the noodle dish were perfect, the papaya salad was a little too fishy for my tastes.
Erica Noles
I’m going out on a limb to say this might be the best Asian food in ILM. We had crispy spring rolls, drunken noodles with shrimp, chicken laab, and pork belly stir fry. My only regret was that I couldn’t eat everything on the menu, but I will be back to start this mission. Service was fast and flawless. Zero complaints! I will be back very soon!
Howard K. Ross
After reading many very positive reviews of Vientiane Kitchen, my family and I were so looking forward to dining there this evening, however, due to a power failure, a very nice lady working there explained that only take out orders would be available. Naturally, we understood completely and had planned to return another night. What changed all of that, was a person who identified himself as the owner, who came forward from a back area of the restaurant to show an uncaring, uncivilized, rude, and arrogant attitude that was completely unnecessary and uncalled for. No matter how good a restaurant is, and no matter how good their food is, one must never lose focus like this restaurant owner did tonight. The owner had a chance to create a positive image of his food and his restaurant, but chose instead to leave as negative impression as one could leave. He lacked two essential "ingredients" for true success in the restaurant business -- treating customers with kindness and with respect. Every great restaurateur knows this.
Eric Kelly
Loved this place. We just moved here and were afraid we would not find good southeast Asian food, but this place is everything we wanted. The ginger tea was delicious, the service was great, and when we got our food we loved everything. We had the shrimp drunken noodles, chicken red curry, Lao sausage fried rice, and a cucumber salad for 3 hungry people and this was the perfect amount.You can choose the level of spice on every dish, we like spicy food and went with 3/5 and found that it was not spicy at all, so if you want it to be spicy go with 4/5 or 5/5 and if you like things mild don’t worry this place will be fine for you.It was very reasonably priced for the complexity and care that went into the food (~$20 / person after tip).
Kyle Mikals
Excellent food!! Today we had the Lao sweet sausage fried rice, drunken basil noodle, and duck larb. It was all amazing. Highly recommend this place.
Thomas Nietman
Have been looking for a good Thai place since we moved here a little over two years ago. As much as we frequent Castle St. I can’t believe we missed this place. It is very small, but exceptionally clean with very friendly service. We got take out and food was hot and packaged well with no mess. The flavor of the food was perfect in my opinion but maybe the kitchen has a slight heavy salt hand but not over bearing. All fresh ingredients it seems which makes them stand out. Will definitely be going back
Sarie Petersen
My new obsession !!! I love this place so much. The food is flavorful and satisfying every time. I would eat the Khua Mee Sen Yai every day if I could!
Fresh ingredients make this excellent tasting and good quality food! Prices though have went up making this choice less appealing
Forrest Singletary
Coming from San Francisco, I’m used to somewhat limited Asian options in Wilmington other than Indochine — until now! So many authentic options & my definite favorite was the drunken Thai basil noodle. Service was quick but the food did take a typical amount — so you know it’s fresh ? Perfect takeout on a rainy day as well!? boba as well with excellent Thai tea! The range of spices here is unlike anywhere else in Wilmington! Definitely check it out.
Laura Hadley
Friendly staff, large portions, and reasonable prices. Will definitely be back!
Douglas Hamerski
Quaint, clean dining area, very friendly staff. Excellent food!!
Emily Russell
This place is amazing! My boyfriend and I get their takeout frequently, and their sausage fried rice and chicken larb are the best in town. I’ve never had anything on the menu that wasn’t absolutely top notch. Please, please eat here. You’ll be doing yourself a favor.
The few times I've had Laotian food, I have loved it. During a recent visit, I was really excited to discover that Wilmington had a Laotian restaurant, especially one that got such high ratings. Unfortunately, my experience was just the opposite. Slow service, missing ingredients, and just blah flavor. Very disappointing. I recommend skipping this one, there are other delicious Asian options in town.
I had high expectations of the food based on reviews from friends, but this place blew those expectations out of the water. The appetizer sampler was delicious, as was the shrimp pineapple fried rice, but the real star was the drunken noodles. We couldn't agree on who got to take the leftovers for lunch the next day, so we ordered another one to go.Another reviewer mentioned bringing their own bottle of wine, so we did the same. There's a corkage fee, but it's still cheaper than buying a bottle at most restaurants. Wilmington Wine is half a block away and has an amazing selection.Adding this place to the weekly rotation, for sure!
I wish I could give this 6-7-8 stars! The food was amazing!!Six of us had dinner tonight (16 August 2022). We were the only ones in the little restaurant. We did see four people come in for take-out.It's a little hole-in-the-wall (probably seats a total of 20-22 people), something that I always look for. I don't care what the place looks like, as long as it's clean and that they serve food with quality ingredients with a friendly service. That's what we got tonight.DH and I ordered the spring rolls to start, quantity of four. They came out nice and hot and the wrap was perfectly crispy. I loved the clear glass noodles inside. Two other appetizers were the Lau sausage (OMG, amazing!!) and the shrimp fresh wrap roll.For my entree, I had the drunken noodles with chicken. I asked for a medium heat, a five on a scale of 1 to 10. It could have been a little spicier, but it didn't matter. The flavors were outstanding! There wasn't a whole lot of chicken but it was a nice balance of chicken to veggies and noodles. One friend ordered the same thing and it was gone in minutes.DH had the Khua Mee Lueang, a stir-fry egg noodle with veggies, beef and a fried egg on top. While it had tasted really good, it was a little on the salty side for him (the only negative comment for tonight, but not a huge negative).A friend had the pineapple shrimp fried rice. Another ordered a curry with chicken; and another ordered the larb with chicken.All of us were soooo happy with our food. Everything was great! Everything was made to order. Our dishes came out separately, so a few of us had to wait, but we were fine with that. That just means attention to detail in the kitchen.Our server was wonderful. We had a few questions about the menu and she was happy to help.We were able to BYOB, as they were not serving any alcohol. Our server provided wine glasses.We all stated we would return here soon! Maybe lunch next week!!Do not miss this awesome place!
Fantastic! A delicious Laotian dining experience. Try something you've never heard of, it will be great! The laab and the noodle dish were perfect, the papaya salad was a little too fishy for my tastes.
I’m going out on a limb to say this might be the best Asian food in ILM. We had crispy spring rolls, drunken noodles with shrimp, chicken laab, and pork belly stir fry. My only regret was that I couldn’t eat everything on the menu, but I will be back to start this mission. Service was fast and flawless. Zero complaints! I will be back very soon!
After reading many very positive reviews of Vientiane Kitchen, my family and I were so looking forward to dining there this evening, however, due to a power failure, a very nice lady working there explained that only take out orders would be available. Naturally, we understood completely and had planned to return another night. What changed all of that, was a person who identified himself as the owner, who came forward from a back area of the restaurant to show an uncaring, uncivilized, rude, and arrogant attitude that was completely unnecessary and uncalled for. No matter how good a restaurant is, and no matter how good their food is, one must never lose focus like this restaurant owner did tonight. The owner had a chance to create a positive image of his food and his restaurant, but chose instead to leave as negative impression as one could leave. He lacked two essential "ingredients" for true success in the restaurant business -- treating customers with kindness and with respect. Every great restaurateur knows this.
Loved this place. We just moved here and were afraid we would not find good southeast Asian food, but this place is everything we wanted. The ginger tea was delicious, the service was great, and when we got our food we loved everything. We had the shrimp drunken noodles, chicken red curry, Lao sausage fried rice, and a cucumber salad for 3 hungry people and this was the perfect amount.You can choose the level of spice on every dish, we like spicy food and went with 3/5 and found that it was not spicy at all, so if you want it to be spicy go with 4/5 or 5/5 and if you like things mild don’t worry this place will be fine for you.It was very reasonably priced for the complexity and care that went into the food (~$20 / person after tip).
Excellent food!! Today we had the Lao sweet sausage fried rice, drunken basil noodle, and duck larb. It was all amazing. Highly recommend this place.
Have been looking for a good Thai place since we moved here a little over two years ago. As much as we frequent Castle St. I can’t believe we missed this place. It is very small, but exceptionally clean with very friendly service. We got take out and food was hot and packaged well with no mess. The flavor of the food was perfect in my opinion but maybe the kitchen has a slight heavy salt hand but not over bearing. All fresh ingredients it seems which makes them stand out. Will definitely be going back
My new obsession !!! I love this place so much. The food is flavorful and satisfying every time. I would eat the Khua Mee Sen Yai every day if I could!
Restaurantji Recommends
Fresh ingredients make this excellent tasting and good quality food! Prices though have went up making this choice less appealing
Coming from San Francisco, I’m used to somewhat limited Asian options in Wilmington other than Indochine — until now! So many authentic options & my definite favorite was the drunken Thai basil noodle. Service was quick but the food did take a typical amount — so you know it’s fresh ? Perfect takeout on a rainy day as well!? boba as well with excellent Thai tea! The range of spices here is unlike anywhere else in Wilmington! Definitely check it out.
Friendly staff, large portions, and reasonable prices. Will definitely be back!
Quaint, clean dining area, very friendly staff. Excellent food!!
This place is amazing! My boyfriend and I get their takeout frequently, and their sausage fried rice and chicken larb are the best in town. I’ve never had anything on the menu that wasn’t absolutely top notch. Please, please eat here. You’ll be doing yourself a favor.
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