Vientian Cafe
Category: Restaurants [Edit]
Neighborhood: East Oakland3801 Allendale Ave
Oakland, CA 94602 (510) 535-2218
- Price Range: $
- Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
- Parking: Street
- Attire: Casual
- Good for Groups: Yes
- Good for Kids: Yes
- Takes Reservations: No
- Delivers: No
- Take-out: Yes
- Waiter Service: Yes
- Wheelchair Accessible: Yes
- Outdoor Seating: No
- Good for: Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol: None
11 reviews
Neighborhood: East Oakland
".....great little neighborhood restaurant. David, the owner and totally attentive waiter, is trying very hard to make this place a…" read more »
45 Reviews for Vientian Cafe
Vientian Cafe is incredible.
It's worth the drive across the bridge to Oakland.
My favorite dish here is the Laotian sausage. That with sticky rice is enough for me to give the place a 5 star rating.
Their other dishes are great too.
Staff is very friendly as well.
It's not in the best neighborhood but there is plenty of street parking and the prices are good.
I use to come here pretty often but stopped after Champa Garden and Green Papaya made some pretty comprable dishes. I always leave my wallet and most of my cash in the car when I come here because it's been robbed 2 or 3 times, can't remember.
My friend and I ordered the Papaya salad, fried quail, nam and chicken larb. We asked that the papaya salad be extra extra spicy and to use less crab paste, deelicious. Worth the time on the toilet later. The bird was tasty, crispy salty skin. The nam with the bits of deep fried rice where nice and crunchy.
I even ordered a frozen sausage to go. I always find it tastes much better bbq'd or broiled in the oven versus deep fried like they do here. I also got some fried pig ears to go with my papaya salad leftover.
I like this spot a lot, maybe a little bit pricier than the other Laos Thai restaurants around though. Dont be afraid to tell them to customize your dishes.
I tried Vientian Cafe after seeing such glowing reviews on Yelp. These four and five star reviews are difficult to justify. Vientian Cafe is simply nothing to write home about. These are not the full-bodied, layered, complexities of traditional Thai or Lao food; they are simple, uni-dimensional, boring. The red curry was among the thinnest flavored curry I've eaten. Did they even use coconut milk? There was no body, no richness, no depth. Almost flavorless. The vegetarian spring rolls were tastier -- better than some, admittedly -- though not enough to influence my views.
It would have been nice to have found a great hole-in-the-wall mom-and-pop restaurant. This isn't it. I appreciated their willingness to accommodate me by not using MSG in their cooking -- and I could taste the difference -- but ironically, it only served to further accentuate the anorexic and bland flavors.
Vientian Cafe reminded me of the perennial Yelp favorite, Champa Garden. Both lean more toward Lao food than Thai, both are relatively inexpensive, and both are terribly overrated. Of the two, I've give Champa Garden the edge.
I won't return.
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They have an extensive menu- 70 items. I ordered the pho #20, the broth was delicious and came alive with different flavors! The meatballs were very tender and tasty, unfortunately my beef or noodles never got cooked enough- but that's probably because I got it for take home. Also it did not come with basil, but I added my own. I can't wait to try more!
Tried this place yesterday after seeing it on yelp and moving to the area. The staff are very polite I ordered the angel wings and the chicken pad thai.
The wings are deep friend and sauced with some type of hoisin sauce-sweet and sticky. (Trust me--it's a bitch finding good chicken wings in Oakland-so speak up if you know where they are)
Good wings but not the stuffed angel wings I am used to with the ground meat, noodles and seasonings.
The pad thai is good (a huge amount-enough for two normal people), but not a lot of spice--I like it to be heavily seasoned for the mouth pleasure-maybe they simply thought a white girl wouldn't appreciate a fishsaucey, tamarindy, palmsugary plate of pad thai--really, I would have!
Will be going back, if only to ask for different items to try. Don't be a chickenshit about the neighborhood-kids riding bikes, whole families inside eating together--if THIS neighborhood scares you, please report to the emergency room for an ortho consult and ask for a spine implant!
A man from Hayward who was visiting got the papaya salad (which looks HUGE-the salad, not the man)--he said the food reminded him of his mom's cooking. THAT'S AN ENDORSEMENT-unless your mom was Joan Crawford or one of the Orange County housewives.
Tucked away in the Brook field and Allendale area of Oakland, there is a little restaurant that has some of the best Laos food I have ever had. And that spot is called Vientian Cafe.
A few of my friends told me about this place awhile back but i never got around to check it out until yesterday. I seen fellow yelpers saying some good things about this place so i had to come and check it out for myself. This place is located in my old neighborhood so i don't think its very ghetto as other people say it is.
We walked in and the waitress lady gave us our menus. There were a few people inside eating and enjoying themselves. I still didn't feel the ghettos that people are talking about. We all ordered a thai tea each and ordered our food.
We had the Papaya salad thai style, it comes with little potent shrimps that's what gives it the great flavor. I believe Laos style doesn't come with the little shrimps. The papaya salad was made almost exactly like how I liked it. Just take out the noodles and cabbage and carrots it would of been almost perfect. Perfect would be Cambodian style papaya salad, that's the best.
We also ordered the pad thai and that was very tasty, just minus the bean sprouts. Its already on the side but a friend mixed it in. My brother had the L4 Red Curry with beef. And wow that was out of this world. It was perfect. It had bamboo shoots and string beans and bell peppers. The flavor was out of this world. If you like curry you have to try this one. Nicely spiced.
Last we had the angel wings, that was pretty good also, i think Third Eye lounge makes better angel wings.
Overall don't be afraid to come try this spot out, its well worth the trip to have some very good Laos food.
5 Stars for Vientian Cafe
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I love this mom and pop Thai restaurant!
Since this place is walking distance from my home, I walk here all the time to eat lunch. My favorite dish is the chicken Pad Thai with Thai tea on the side. Throw in fried bananas with ice cream for dessert, and I'm set for a party in my mouth.
The customer service here is great and the staff will remember your face if you come in often enough. Although the surrounding neighborhood isn't the best Oakland has to offer, don't let that stop you from enjoying a great meal at this homey, welcoming spot.
Simply put, this is the one of the best Thai restaurants in East Oakland.
I totally Fux'n AWSOME....
Mango soup is the shit....
Pad Thai is Great
Pad Sui is yummy.
I enjoyed especially trhe flombay bananas and ice cream. That made my tummy very happy. only thing is that I seen a fat brod showing all her skivveys and shit. thats not kool
You get alot of food, for your money
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Never actually been here, but I always order to go...
Food is always great, support your local businesses.
Oh yeah, they give you Thai Tea's the size of 44 oz. when you get food to go....
And for all of you complaining about the neighborhood?
Gentrifiers Go Home! Get out of Oakland -- you are ruining it!
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Hidden gem in the Town. My friends and I have basically had everything. The must haves are angel wings, tom yum soup, laos style papaya salad and pad thai. I try to not go at night because I know 2 girls that were robbed here and they are still regulars. That's how you know its damn good.
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GG, Ghetto but Good, i ate a lot of things off the menus from fried rice to laos style papaya salad to pad thai to their sweet sticky rice. The price is cheap and all, but damn you will get robbed out of nowhere, one of my friends was robbed while they were eating, someone came in, sat down threatened that they have a gun under the table and demanded to hand all the money over. i give them 3 stars for their food thats it.
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This place is near my house. Found it while strolling through the hood with my wife. It was a great mid day find. It was more like eating at a friends mom's house than eating at a restaurant. The attention to detail was about the same. Not the cleanest place I've ever been, but then again, neither was my friends mom's house - but the food sure was good.
The best lemonade in the world, right in the middle of the Fruitvale valley!
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This is a great place for "down home" Laotion food.
I haven't had anything that wasn't wonderful (except maybe when I asked for the Lao-style papaya salad "spicy", and it nearly killed me)
The curries are wonderful and come in serving bowls twice the size of your standard Thai restaurant. They seem to do mostly take out as there are only six tables and it's in a fairly disreputable neighborhood.
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5 stars for excellent food and great service.
I love their papaya salad, Sausage and Nam Kao Tod (sour pork with crispy rice). I wish my house is near this place, I would love to have great thai-lao food home cooking style everyday.
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I love this place. When I'm in Oakland and hungry, there are usually only two places that pop in my head: Vien Huong or Vientian?
Vientian is an exceptional mom and pop shop. Some must-haves are their Angel Wings and their Kao Piek (soup).
The only problem I have with this place is the area it's in. It's like a diamond in the rough. When I say rough, I mean REAL rough. My friend was in Vientian a couple of months ago while they were getting robbed. The other customer sitting in the table next to her got robbed also.
With that said, be careful when coming to this restaurant. I'm still going to give this place five stars because the food is good and it's a frequent hot spot for Oakland Police Officers to eat at.
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This is straight up a hole in a wall. It's a great place to grab a quick bite. It's on the corner of Allendale & 38th. Easy street parking. Even though there are only 7 or 8 tables, there are rarely any lines. It's a family owned business. They open daily 11-9am. Great Lao, Thai, and Vietnamese food.
Must try their papaya salad, pad thai, mango sweet sticky rice, kao soy, and of course their angel wings. Delicious and affordable. Must try!
Yum-O! Yum-O! I love this place!! I've been here once because I read about it here on YELP. I was kinda terrified to head down to that neck of the woods, cause I didn't wanna be capped by some drive-by shootings! But it was definitely worth it--I had the Laos sausage and the Laos style papaya salad--it was da' bomb! YUM YUM YUM!!
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I was skeptical at first. A friend told me about this place, and so I drove out there one night only to find a creepy looking hole-in the wall place so I got scared and decided not to eat there. Then, months later, someone ordered take out and I tried it - alas! Delicious and authentic! So I braved the harsh ghettos and made my way there.
Didn't order the fancy stuff - it's the homestyle "stuff your mom would make on a wednesday night" type of food that I was craving. Laos baked sausage, roasted/hard steamed eggs, sticky rice, kao lao soup, papaya salad, and grilled shortribs. All were tasty. Laos food is interesting - it doesn't always look good, but believe me it tastes good. I'm going to go back soon and get one of those steamed foil packages with chicken and chicken junk. It's something my gramma used to make and I really like it - especially the chicken junk.
Anyway, I know the place isn't white table cloth, but it's not supposed to be, the prices reflect the kind of place it is. The food is cheap and yummy. So next time you're craving authentic Laos food, strap on that old Kevlar vest and make your way out to Vientian Cafe.
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A little hole in the wall restaurant... with really good food. We had the angel wings, tom yum soup, garlic prawns, noodles, larb, and mango with sweet coconut sticky rice. Everything was delicious and affordable. Would definitely come back again.
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I've read the other reviews and I have to agree.
THIS NEIGHBORHOOD IS SO SCARY AND TREACHEROUS!
I ALWAYS HAVE TO STEP OVER AT LEAST 2 OR 3 DEAD BODIES on my way into Vientian Cafe. It's hard to enjoy a meal in there because of the DEAFENING GUNFIRE outside the restaurant. When I go there you'd best believe I'M PACKING, and sometimes I even WEAR A BULLETPROOF VEST. If I were you I wouldn't even go. If you are so foolish as to attempt a trip into what is so obviously the depths of the Oakland underworld for a taste of the BEST THAI FOOD in the Bay Area, then I suggest you make your papaya salad, pad see yew, green curry, mango with sweet sticky rice, and Thai iced tea to go. There are not a lot of tables in there, and there's usually a line in which YOU WILL PROBABLY GET STABBED waiting, I might add. Yeah, that's right, if you know what's good for you you'll get take out and leave the tables for the seasoned fools like me.
You've been warned.
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I really like several dishes here, especially the mild curry and the angel wings.
a family-run business, easy parking, open much of the time.
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For such a tiny little place, there is ample room for the gorditas. 4 star fat rating. The food is great and the service is great. I really like places like this. In the neighborhood (38th and Allendale), family run,and like sitting in mom's kitchen. Unlike Curry Corner, they actually have a menu and its huge. You could eat here for a long time and not run through the menu. A real treat in the hood!
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We love this place - they serve a lot of good food at a reasonable price. Yeah - we get it to go. But that is because it is comfort food and I want to fall asleep on my couch after stuffing myself on this good food. It is in a bit of a ghetto neighborhood, but no worries for take out! It is the best in the area. Our favorites are the green curry, sweet basil chicken and the egg rolls. The Param and ginger pork are also great too. Oh you must try the sweet rice with mango if it is in season. They are also very nice and quick too.
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I haven't had so many delicious fresh vegetables in such a long time--this is definitely worth going to East Oakland, and yes, the Angel wings are exquisite.
I'm not familiar with the nuances of Laotian food but it's just miles ahead of anything else I've had in the past year (I think I've sampled Laotian restaurant fare in 2 or 3 difference cities).
It's massively crowded Saturday afternoons... come in ahead of time. The service is great, they make you feel welcome, it really is like crashing some family's kitchen.
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I got the inside scoop from this place from some friends that know the owner, so I have a very personal perspective... and I'm Laotian, so even better!!
Yeah, the area is a little shady... but like the other review says... it is a hole-in-the-wall.
Our service was great, as my friends knew the owners and the chefs. So we got the best of the best. The little ladies are so sweet and kind.
We ordered about 6 dishes: shrimp lad na, naam, papaya salad, raw beef laap, Lao sausage, and the fried quail.
And for dessert the fried banana with ice cream.
I have to admit... I haven't had Lao food that tasted like home before! The lad na was done just right! The sauce was the right color and the noodles and broccoli were very tender.
The naam was good too! The rice wasn't over cooked or spiced.
Everything was delicious and it only came out to about $50! For the taste, quality, and price I'd give them 10 stars if I could!
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I give 5 stars for the ANGEL WINGS!!! loveeee it and cant have enough of it.. its the only reason why i go here. Tom Yun soup is pretty good too... but angel wings are the best~!!!!!
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This food is authentic Viet/Lao/Thai food!! Tucked away in a residential part of East Oakland, but still not hard to find. The Thai iced tea is great and you can even opt to get the Large size one for like $3 or so which will be enough for me for the next few days. Oh yeah and try the sticky white rice, which is funner than the steamed rice.
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Everyone seems to think the location is seedy; perhaps I disagree because I love my neighborhood and I think 38th avenue has a rough kind of charm... Admittedly I'd passed by Vientian countless times on my morning walk/runs without it occurring to me to eat there. Recently on an afternoon where I was working at home and feeling sick I wanted some spicy food. I walked the six or so blocks to Vientian, and found that it's actually a real, live restaurant (it's the only one within several blocks, so I was almost surprised to see five or six people eating lunch there).
I ordered the papaya salad and a red veggie curry. Both were decent, but the papaya salad, even sans shrimp, was too fishy for my taste (I'm sure others would enjoy it though), and the red curry had no tofu, which is a mortal sin in my book. All in all, the flavors were good and the portions were big. I spent $14 total, which seemed a bit much for a teeny tiny second rate Thai place.
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Authentic to the MAX!
Walking in I felt right at home like going into my Laotian Community back home. Same style of food, service, and attitude. It's excellent in every way possible! The lady is so nice, she knows my Mother on a first name basis now. My Mom used to come for lunch a bunch when she used to work down the street. That's how my Mom met the lady that works there. The lady now always asks my Mom every time she sees her and asks her to join and come to some Lao functions. Mom doesn't work near there anymore, and we live/work in Hayward. My friend used to live one block from there. We used to take out and grub at her house while catching some TV shows! For every special occasion for birthdays and such Mom asks me where to go, I always say this place. Even thought it's not fancy and the type of restaurant you would think of going to celebrate something special because of the atmosphere, it's the best place really. Because their food is unbelievable and they are seriously so nice and kind there. They're all so welcoming! Look forward to going there next week!
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I like this place for a couple of reasons. The food is good and authentic and it's two blocks from my house.
I only order food to go, though, because, like I said, the place is authentic and that goes right down to the malodorous scent that attacks you when you enter the front door. Stin-keee!
I had a Laotian noodle dish - i forget the name, but it was a fish/coconut curry with rice noodles. VERY GOOD. hard to get to, but worth it and unlike other thai-ish places, i was full afterwards. fish cakes were not that good though for appetizers.
i will go back sometime, and also stop by and buy a pupusa from the lady selling them down the street.
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This is definitely a neighborhood kind of place. The menu options are numerous, and from other people's reviews, I feel a little like I ordered the wrong thing. My beef with broccoli was pretty good, but the broccoli tasted wilty, like it had been cooked from the freezer, rather than the fridge. Other than that, the quality was good and the price was excellent. I'll definitely be back.
I had the Basa lunch special (L14) very spicy! and it was excellent. Nicely browned fish, perfectly spiced, I was sweating by mid-meal, just how I like it. My coworker had the Pad Thai which was very good as well. Very fulfilling, is how he described it. They use fresh ingredients and cook authentic southeast asian dishes.
I like a place that lets you specify the heat and really follows through with it. I also like the fact that it's in a residential neighborhood so parking is easy at lunchtime. Don't be scared by the "shady neighborhood" reviews. If you're from Oakland, you know this neighborhood is far from shady!
Update: I've had the basil chicken and the sauteed seafood combination. Both are excellent. I wasn't too thrilled about the Laotian sausage, kinda dry.
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This place is a bit out of the way in the middle of a low key, slighty seedy, neighborhood on 38th Ave. The atmosphere is pretty down home, but not much to talk about. I'll dine there every once in a while, but most of the time just do take out.
Vientian earns those four stars for their amazing and inexpensive Vietnamise-Lao-Thai dishes. Their noodle dishes are among my favorite, Pad Kee Mao (fried wide rice noodles with chili and basil) and Pad Si-iew (fried wide rice noodles with sweet soy sauce and vegetables). The curries and tofu-gapow are also top-notch.
And if I wasn't a vegetarian, I'd be all over the vietnamese beef rice-noodle soups...
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This restaurant is in the cuts.. but it is pretty tasty. It's family owned and operated and they have some really good dishes and great choices. It's small and not the fanciest restaurant in the world, but it's a good place to grab a good quick bite to eat if you are in the neighborhood!
Authentic Laotian food.
I highly recommend #9 from the appetizer list aka "Nham Kao" and the "Kao Piak" soup. The soup itself will warm your soul but I would ask them to hold the pork blood cake if you're not feeling so adventurous.
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Yes, this food is awesome. Can't believe how I lucked out by moving so close to it. No, the area isn't scary. Two miles downhill on 38th, yes. Or maybe you only consider Montclair or Rockridge safe; in which case sure, stick to those neighborhoods, sure. You're missing a rare treat in Vientian, though: hole-in-the-wall, home-cooked southeast Asian.
Thank goodness for this place!! This is the only place besides my Mom's house that makes authentic Laos/Thai food in the East Bay.
Papaya salad is the bomb and so is the Larb.
The only thing is sometimes when you tell them to make the papaya salad hot, they make it mild, or vice versa. I don't know what the deal is with that but this place is still has the best hole in the wall authentic Las/Thai food.
The only thing I miss about living in Oakland is not being within walking distance of this place. This place is SOOO small that if you blink, you'll miss it. Located on the corner of 38th Ave., this gem offers Lao/Vietnamese/Thai pastries similar to ones I find in Filipino stores, so I was converted early. I did make the mistake of thinking that I had "tastebuds of steel" and ordered an item "spicy". I think I ended up drinking like a gallon of milk after it felt like my tongue was going to explode from all the heat that it tasted. Not too much parking in the area, plus it is in the "shady" part of town. So call your order in, double park, then leave.
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