Dara Thai Lao Cuisine

Yum yum yum. I definitely overate, but the soupy noodles I got very positively addictive. I think I found my new comfort food place.

Love their specials. The stuffed sea bass and coconut fish is very yummy! Their tofu curry is very good, too! Tofu itself has lots of flavor.

LOVE THAI FOOD! This place was horrible. Thought it’d be fun to sit outside on a warm evening with some buddies & enjoy a variety of appetizers/​main dishes. Absent of tasty flavors, strange smelling meat, very very slow service (with an almost empty restaurant during peak hours), quite a few items not available on menu, items on order never received and no effort from staff to remove unreceived items on bill, no questioning of dish we sent back as to why we sent back, way to much useless garnishing. The Cheese Board across the street would have been faster with its line halfway down the block! Stomach spent next day trying to reconcile with my poor restaurant decision.

I am a pretty big fan of this place even though I have only gotten to-​go twice. Both times I ordered the Pad See Ew with Chicken and it is on point! The flavors are there, the chicken is there, and it is 100% delicious! What really makes this place stand out though is the service. They are really friendly and will offer you water while you wait for your food (even if you don’t ask for it). They will even keep checking on you to make sure your water is full! I really like this place and will definitely be back in the near future!

We had dinner here last night for the second time, it was delicious. The lettuce wrap appetizer was amazing. I love the pineapple fried rice too. My friend ordered the spice duck, I was surprised at how good it was, definitely will have that again.
The family that runs it is so sweet. Service is great. Parking is pretty good for Berkeley because the restaurant is just past the busy downtown area.

I’ve been a fan of Dara for many years, so was surprised during a recent visit to discover that the restaurant was remodeled and they now seem to have a paired down menu. A couple of my favorite dishes were no longer on the menu, but I inquired and they were still able to make the yum muker (luckily!) — a delicious eggplant salad with lots of spices, fresh herbs and fish sauce. However, I was disappointed they no longer offer the coconut crab fried rice — another favorite. Hopefully it’ll make its way back on the menu or at least as on occasional special. We also noticed the restaurant is unfortunately much louder after the remodel. Maybe if they add back some of the window curtains and other furnishings, it’ll help absorb some of the sounds.
Overall, excellent food… just please bring back the coconut crab fried rice!

My roommates and I always get take out from this spot. It’s usually a 15 – 20 minute wait and always delicious.
My favorite dish is the laap salad (that fish sauce, so aromatic – still good as leftovers the next day too!) which is as good if not better than what I had in Thailand.
I’ve tasted other things here and there – all good. After spending 4 months in Thailand I feel semi qualified to answer the following question which seems to be an important one for foodies.
Is the food authentic?
Some dishes yes (like the laap) and others no (the massamun curry is TOO sweet). But you’re really not going to get «authentic» thai food anywhere. Trust me, if you ate authentic Thai food you would know because your mouth would be on FIRE. FIRE.
Bottom line: go to Dara or do takeout to enjoy some authentic-​as-​it-​gets-​without-​burning-​your-​tongue-​off thai/​laos food.

We were told «a two hour wait» at Chez Panisse down the block, so being hungry we came here instead, lured by the delicious smells perfuming the cold night air.
Kitsch is what greets you when you walk up the stairs — bric-​à-​brac affiliated with Thai and Laotian culture to create a tropical escape from the Northern California environs. Inside, the décor was a little faded, even more kitschy and worse for wear. The food, was both incredibly good and incredibly meh depending on the dish. Their salads — spot on. Fresh, herbaceous, sour, salty, spicy — delicious. Their Tom Ka soup — delicious and so pretty to look at. Everything else — meh. Curries standard fare and noodles curiously under seasoned.
It was a solid meal, but not a memorable one.

Tried them for the first time via OrderAhead, because I’ve been home sick with a cold and I was sick of chicken soup and crackers.
The food was delivered on time, which is more praise for OA, but at least the kitchen runs in a timely way. The food on the other hand however was not too great.
I literally phoned in this order, but sadly, the chef seems to have phoned in this dish. I ordered pad see ew and some fresh rolls. I found the pad see ew to be bland, unmixed and underseasoned. The rice noodles were all clumped in one portion of the dish, the scrambled eggs sitting in a mass on the other side of the dish, and the sauce was scant, as was the broccoli (there were only four or five small florets).
The mystery of the under-​seasoning was soon solved, when I got to the middle of the noodle mass, and found the entire dish’s worth of black ground pepper clumped into one ball. It was an overpowering surprise and certainly cleared my sinuses, but I really would have preferred that this dish be properly made.
The fresh rolls were average, a little strong with the pepper too. Overall, not impressed, and will go back to my regular place.

I can’t get enough of this authentic food. Not one dish yet has disappointed my tastebuds.

This place is the closest I have come to Laos food since I left there over a year ago! The décor is pretty spot on as well. Most people order the Thai but I suggest you go out on a limb and try the Laos food, you won’t be disappointed. Most people think of Thai or Vietnamese when they think of Southeast Asia but Laos has a lot to bring to the table.

Dara’s is fantastic. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. I’ve been here at least half a dozen times and always have had fantastic service and food.
I don’t usually review, but I read negative comments about bullshit like «there’s spiderwebs outside» and «why does the staff wear branded tshirts in the gourmet ghetto» and «pad see ew doesn’t have the same flavor as My favorite Thai restaurant» and I had to say something.
First off, you’re paying for the Laos food. That means:
1) who cares what they wear, or if there’s a spiderweb in the (frankly amazing) outdoor garden patio. It’s about the food.
2) the Thai food you’ve been eating at «takeout chain xyz» is about as Thai as chop suey is Chinese.
Maybe if you spend as much time and money traveling as you do writing bitchy reviews of food you take terrible photos of to impress your shitty friends, you might appreciate the fact that we in the Bay Area are blessed to have restaurants like this that offer AUTHENTIC flavors only otherwise found half a world away.
Get the Hal Mok Pla (snapper steamed in its own juices, in a coconut over a grill, and scoop out the coconut), the Duck Laap with sticky rice, the Som Tum papaya salad, and ask for the catfish soup, and make it spicy!
If you’re the unadventurous type, stick to the same stuff you can get at any Thai take out place, but keep your boring, lame ass opinions to yourself.
«ugh, They wear tee shirts, ugh», gimme a break, you snobby, self-​important douchbags!
Also, order the Laos Beer. It gud fer you.

I must say the staff were great. Kind and attentive and patient with our party who stayed around long after we ate!
But looking beyond staff, this place is a «1 star.»
Walking in my wife and I both said, «it smells like cat urine.» No joke. There were large hanging spiderwebs and fake flowers coated in dirt and grime. There was a fish tank that grew algae more than anything else. I just don’t know what to say.
I’ve never written a negative review before.

This place looks beautiful and the ambiance is lovely, but I will unfortunately not be returning due to the food. I ordered the chicken Pad Sea Ew, which is what I most often order at Thai places, and it was just not good. The meat used seemed to come from the leftovers/​refuse of the bird carcass. The texture of the entire dish was slimy, almost as if the egg had been mixed into the noodles and then (not fully) cooked, rather than scrambled on the side and added at the end. I couldn’t finish my entrée, and my stomach felt a little funny for the next couple hours.
Also, if your restaurant is in the Gourmet Ghetto, please have your servers wear something nicer than a t-​shirt.

I don’t understand how they even were able to get decent reviews. My experience and food was absolutely terrible.
Walked in, greeted and told to grab which ever table I pleased. Then brought water then everyone disappeared for the next 20 minutes. I wanted to put in my appetizer order. Finally, someone came out to bring an order out, so that person took my appetizer order (fried shrimp roll). Then no one came out again until they were bringing us our appetizer. We order kao soi and kao phoon. Both came out within 15 minutes. Then no one again for a really long time. We had no more water, we needed condiments, lime, soup spoon and more napkins. But no one came out at all. It was 1pm and there wasn’t a lunch rush. Terrible service.
Shrimp roll: 5 medium shrimps singly wrapped and fried served with sweet and spicy sauce. They make the rolls all long so it looks big, but inside the shrimp is like half the size of the roll. Not worth $ 7. Could make this crap at home.
Kao soi: was really sweet and tasted like tomatoes. Kao soi is suppose to be hearty and a bit fermented because they use fermented bean curd. Tried very hard to finish it.
Kao phoon: didn’t have any coconut taste and it was very salty.
This was the worst thai/​lai food experience I’ve ever had. Everything was terrible. I definitely will not be returning. What a waste of $ 33 for bad food.

Simply THE BEST. Period. Full Stop! The green curry was light, yes you read that right, light and delicious! Every veggie was succulent, tasteful and the sauce was to-​die for. Ditto for the grilled egg plant, the Laab tofu salad was specially made for us (vegan), and the fresh spring rolls.
Exceptional service even though there were only two servers and every table had guests.

Been here two times and have been happy with each visit. Delicious, authentic food at reasonable prices. It looks really nice inside and has a great outdoor patio space as well.
The second time we came with a fairly large group and no reservations. They seated us rather quickly and we had great service. At first, the waiter was upset because we wanted our check divided. It was our fault because we hadn’t told them in advanced. He ended up working it out for us. Will definitely be back, especially for the soup!

The owner was really nice. She has some pretty good carving skills. She carved a flower out of a watermelon. She did this for our graduation dinner.
The food was great. One of my favorites is the fried fish salad. That was awesome! The stuffed chicken was also quite good. Not only was the food amazing but the way the food was displayed was very pleasing to the eye. All the flavors were well balanced. Mmmm so good!
I will definitely return here. Can’t wait to come back for Berkeley.

Service was solid. They asked if we wanted to eat outside or inside. It was a beautiful early summer evening, and there are so many unique spots to sit outside. Outside should be the first choice if the weather is nice.
Overall the food was pretty good: the sticky rice and peanut sauce (both side dishes) were so yummy! The soup we ordered had solid flavor, but the pad see-​ew was a little too greasy… I have had better, but it wasn’t terrible… it definitely didn’t lack flavor either. That was really the only dish that wasn’t good. Other than that I loved the atmosphere and my water was never empty!
I would go back for the environment. It’s definitely a fun place to take a date who wants Thai food!

They gave our half-​eaten food to another table!!! Seriously! Awful!!! Horrible experience!!! Even WORSE service!!! Had to repost this review since it somehow didn’t post the first time. I actually loved this place years ago (probably under different management), but it has fallen apart due to insultingly bad customer service.
The waiter did NOT write down our order (always makes me nervous when they refuse to write it down), so I had him repeat the order TWICE to make certain he had it, then we all waited. And waited. During our FIRST hour of waiting, every time we asked a server about our food, they said, «Oh, it’s coming, not too much longer.» or some other placating lie like that.
After a full hour and 10 minutes, I finally walked to the counter and asked to speak to the manager, who assured me it was being brought out as we spoke. I sat back down… and sure enough the food miraculously came instantly, but it was NOT what we ordered. No big surprise there by a server who’d rather play memory games with himself than be responsible or accountable enough to simply write down our order.
Worse, the waiter falsely assured us that it WAS in fact our order, he was absolutely CERTAIN. Fine, no tip. We were still annoyed at the massive delay, but after waiting SO long we all dug in, (using our own utensils at this point since they forgot to bring us any serving utensils and we weren’t waiting longer. Really, what’s the big deal about sharing a few germs and saliva on two platters among family members? We’re easy going. But the wrong order they gave us was really bad, and wasn’t even CLOSE to our order, –chicken instead of beef, and some other shrimp entrée which was sour instead of sweet.
After finally getting the waiter back who still kept INSISTING that WE were all confused, and that for the first time in our lives we inexplicably skipped our normal beef order for ‘random chicken noodles’, then ordered some equally random shrimp thing instead of our standard order at Thai restaurants forever. NO.
The waiter kept repeatedly insisting WE (all SIX of us) were just confused about the order we’d put in 75 minutes earlier, but he finally shook his head like he still didn’t believe us then took it back… then promptly SERVED IT TO ANOTHER TABLE!!!
I thought I must’ve seen it wrong, –and I selfishly didn’t want the cooks spitting in our food or using the now-​needed replacement of the other table’s partially eaten (by us) entrée to slow down our food even more at this point. My family was far too hungry to just leave to start all over at another place at that point, and I wasn’t yet 100% certain that he really had given our partially group-​eaten food to another table, (I mean, gross, right?!?), so I regretfully bit my tongue and waited.
15 minutes later our REAL order finally came, and I asked to speak to the manager again, to report the server’s rudeness, lack of accountability for HIS clear mistakes, and what appeared to be a nasty violation of the health code, –by giving our partially eaten and completely saliva-​contaminated food to another table, but I wanted to ask the manager to be sure he gave it to them before accusing. Before I could say anything, the manager approached and said, «Sorry, HE was confused. Because it took so long, he accidentally served you another table’s food.»
When I said, «Oh, well I hope you didn’t give those entrees to another table, we had all been eating off them before he finally took it back…», the manager turned WHITE and looked squeamish. I continued, «Yeah, we’d waited so long and he insisted it was our order, so of course we all ate off both plates before he took them back… apparently to that table right over there.» I pointed.
The manager didn’t offer a reduced bill, and we had our food finally, so I did the right thing and approached the other table. «Really sorry to disturb your meal, but is that a chicken noodle dish and some sour shrimp thing?»
«Yes.»
“I’m SO sorry, but I think they wrongly gave it to us first, we ate some then sent it back. I think I saw him give our old stuff to you.”
«They seemed like small portions for platters, and there were only 3 – 4 shrimp in that whole dish. –I wondered about that! Yuck.»
A few minutes later I saw them arguing with the manager, but he never acknowledged us again. Busted! We paid our FULL bill, (no discount, even after waiting nearly 90 minutes and repeatedly being told we all were confused but the waiter (who wouldn’t write it down) was right and knew our order better than we did.
Do NOT risk your health, stranger’s germs, or a long, ruined afternoon going here. There are plenty of other Thai Food places who actually start cooking the food when you order it, (not more than 75 minutes later), not lying repeatedly to cover up their mistakes, and who politely respect their customers, and won’t serve you half-​eaten food from another table. Yuck! YUCK!

Hairy, dirty, buggy, and salty… SO salty! Ugh. OK service though…
I really wish I could give this place more than one star. I love Thai food and this place seems like a quaint family business with beautiful décor. I went on a date there last night around 6:30, and a closer look at this place made everything pretty disgusting.
There were dark, dirty smudges all over the bathroom doors and equipment in the places where people usually touch them. I’m not even close to being a germaphobe, but this kind of creeped me out. When we sat down, I couldn’t help but notice dirty foods smudges all over the menus.
White sugar in savory dishes is repulsive, unhealthy, and an unnecessary cheap trick in cooking anything that’s not a dessert; and I can usually taste the bleach in the white sugar. Our server was very nice and told us they made everything from scratch… while I didn’t taste any sugar, it was as if they replaced whatever sugar would have been in the dish with salt –so much salt!
Both of us really wanted to taste something more than just salt but couldn’t. However, my friend did find a hair that was not either of ours in the curry, and I found a lovely fruit fly sample in my water glass, but only after I had drank two glasses worth.
From a distance, this place looks fabulous, and so does the food. Better to keep your distance.

I work down the street from this place and I was in here for the first time ever. Oh boy was I missing out!
The atmosphere of this place really got my attention. This is a very pleasant place with great outdoor seating, although the outdoor seating might not accommodate a big crowd.
The waiter was wonderful and made me feel welcomed. I love that!!! Thanks waiter!
The food was great! Nice fresh ingredients. I ordered the vegetable satay and it was to die for, the peanut sauce was great too. I asked for hot sauce and the nice waiter took the time to explain to me what was in each sauce and the level of spiciness, I don’t think anybody has ever done that for me before! My vegetables were cooked just right, they were nice and crunchy. I will definitely come back here!

Food is average. However, best outdoor seating I’ve found in Berkeley thus far! And I am total outdoor seating connoisseur if that is even a thing. The large patio is full of diverse plants, two water gardens with fish, and is very spacious. This garden will most likely catch your eye as you drive down Shattuck past Cedar.
Our server was really friendly but unfortunately the food was not up to par. As Dara is in Gourmet Ghetto, the overall food quality is higher than some of the Thai restaurants in UC Berkeley campus vicinity. Regardless, I actually think those student-​centric places (i.e. Racha Thai) may have better-​tasting food than here.
Our Pad Thai was drowning in sauce to the point the noodles seemed boiled. The Seafood stir-​fry had almost an unbearable amount of salt. We did not really enjoy the food at all.
In retrospect, the only reason I had a pleasant experience was because of the heavenly garden environment, sunny weather, and good company.

When eating in this part of Berkeley it really isn’t hard to find good food. This
Place was no exception!
Went here around 6pm on Sunday night and it was only us and two other tables! Our food came out quick and the service was impeccable!
We ordered the pad se ew with tofu and the red curry with chicken which had pumpkin in it! So flavorful and not too spicy! For the two dishes it
Came out to about $ 22. Not bad for two people sharing.

Amidst our adventurous eatings in The City, one day, a local friend made the move over to Berkeley. So, being the by-​foot pedestrians we are, it became a BART field trip, and we stopped for Laotian lunch here enroute to the housewarming party.
Dara appeared rather tropical and culturally decorative on the outside, complete with plenty of vegetation and mini statues of the Buddha. Once entering, a peaceful zenlike music hummed quietly, usually songs from my partner’s parents’ generation.
As for the food, we tried to keep our dishes not so spicy, for sake of enjoying all of a party on public display soon after. We ordered their Laap Catfish — Fried mince catfish, crispy rice & fresh herbs tossed in a spicy citrus dressing. Also, their Kang Jeud Soup w Chicken. We did order a sautéed pork dish — likely their Prik King Sautée with Pork — Chili ginger paste, green beans, bell pepper, yellow onions & basil. Each got a Jackfruit Chiller to drink.
Favorite dish was definitely the catfish, but I was surprised at how similar in texture and creation it was to our pork because it ultimately was all still intertwined over rice. Soup was good. Jackfruit could use a pick-​me-​up.
Although we were the only ones there, it may have just been the hour we arrived, around 1-​ish pm??? Do know the zone it’s located within is referred to as «Ghetto Gourmet,» if that has anything to do with it. Regardless, it was rather pleasant eating away from home.

Dara Thai Lao Cuisine is a little oasis of calm in the heart of the Gourmet Ghetto. The people are incredibly personable and fun to talk to. I felt like I was in an authentic Laotian/​Thai eatery because of the plants and décor that surround the interior of the restaurant.
My friend and I never felt rushed and we took our time enjoying our meals. When ordering, be aware that their spicy levels are skewed toward the hotter end of the spectrum. My medium-​spicy soup (Kao poun) with chunks of white catfish was quite hot, but very delicious! The fresh greens, bean sprouts, and mint plate that accompanied my soup helped balance the fire of the soup. Our waiter kindly refilled my water about five times because I needed it! :P
Another cool thing about Dara — there is a sizable garden and water feature with fishes outside the restaurant. You wouldn’t expect such an oasis right off of Shattuck, but it’s here! Next time you’re around the Gourmet Ghetto, I’d recommend taking a stroll up the stairs to Dara Thai!