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In today’s review… we’ll cover a simple and traditional Laotian restaurant that will satisfy your urge for Laotian cuisine.

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The Ratings

Our simple & honest checklist covers a restaurant’s key ingredients:
Ambiance, Service, and Food.

6.5/10

Standard restaurant look & feel. Upon entering Thip Khao, you won’t be wow-ed or particularly impressed with the esthetic or ambiance. You should expect to walk into a typical looking space: a rectangular shaped seating area with some tables, booths, a bar, and a decently sized outdoor patio. The decor is plain and simple with a Laotian twist. Not too shabby, but also nothing to emphasize.

Note: Thip Khao is located in Columbia Heights — which is not known as the safest neighborhood in D.C. — and with parking not always easy to find, make sure you’re always using your street smarts and staying alert.

7/10

Decent service, but with some hiccups. Upon arriving at the restaurant, we were seated a table situated right under the freezing cold air conditioner. Thankfully, our server was accommodating and reseated us at another table upon our request. Much better. When we asked our server about the menu, he answered our questions, but did so quickly and was fast to leave our table to assist the next customer. During the dinner, our waters were not refilled — a foreshadowing of what was to come later. After ordering desert, we sat there for quite some time… and we watched the restaurant clear… until no kidding, the servers were cleaning up for the night and started blasting what sounded like Spotify’s top pop music charts. That’s when we finally got a hold of a server and asked them about the desert we had ordered since it appeared they had forgotten about us. Granted, we started dinner a little later, so we can’t put the entire blame on the waitstaff. Nonetheless, desert definitely took a while and forgetting about your customers is not ideal… especially if you’re looking for a flawless night to impress business partners or friends from out of town.

7.5/10

Laotian food is hard to come by, so we were eager to try Thip Khao. While the ambiance, service, and even food presentation were OK, the quality and taste of the food itself was pretty good — but we felt like it could have stepped up its game in a few little ways to have a much better result. We started our meal digging into the Kua Mee — a thin rice noodle wok with egg omelet strips, scallions, beansprouts, and cilantro. The part that gives the dish its flavor is the fish sauce caramel — but it’s lacking. Even just looking at the dish itself, it seems like the wok, eggs, and scallions were simply piled on top of one another without mixing, marinating, and seasoning all of the ingredients. Next up was a recommendation from our server as a go-to staple: Piing — pork shoulder. Put simply, this dish is literally a bowl of meat with a side of plain sticky rice and some cucumbers. So, if you’re in the mood for a straightforward meal without any ambiguity, this is your dish. The pork shoulder is absolutely delicious! It was marinated in lemongrass, ginger, and a spicy toasted rice sauce — which truly was spectacular. The only thing missing is something else to accompany the meat and rice. Some lettuce wraps, perhaps some caramelized onions, or chopped carrots would have elevated the dish. Finally, the Khao Niew Met Nga desert was a nice way to end the meal. The coconut black sesame sticky rice and the “White Rabbit” milk candy gelato were a good sweet tooth’s finish. The rice could have been creamier. However, when mixed with the gelato, the dish was reminiscent of a warm rice pudding. Overall, good tasting food that satisfies a foodie’s Laotian itch.

Reservation & Menu: