Reviews for Lao Laan Xang Restaurant

02/12/2024 - MenuPix User

02/01/2024 - MenuPix User

12/01/2023 - MenuPix User

12/10/2012 - Sarf Ervanz
Best Laotian and Asian food I have EVER HAD, EVER. The food may take a little bit longer than your typical diner, but it's made to order and it tastes heavenly every time. Everyone who has complained about this restaurant obviously needs therapy. Note: beware of the spice! It kicks your butt!

07/01/2011 - Dennis
I have been coming to Lao Laan Xang (both locations) for years and have never been dissatisfied. Best asian food in Madison in my opinion.

05/31/2011 - Maxwell Queen
This review is in response to the previous customer's complaint. I extremely regret the mistake that we made of giving you a *** spicy dish as opposed to the * star dish. As you have probably witnessed we are an extremely popular restaurant, and usually are extremely busy. We understand that mistakes happen and always try to go out of our way to rectify any problems with an order,customer service, or anything that needs to be addressed. I just wanted to inform everyone that when there is an error with a dish, our usual procedure is to offer a credit with the restaurant. This does not mean that we will credit your credit card. It means we will offer you a credit or a double credit for the value of the item for the next time you order from us. This does not mean you will receive 75 dollars back for an item of that costs 12 dollars. We only credit the item that was a mistake, not your whole meal. It is unfortunate that a customer chose to see the facts as untrue. I felt obligated to reply to this review because at Lao Laan-Xang we are a family run restaurant that goes out of its way to accommodate everyone. The customer in this review has since been contacted and received a fair compensation. We look forward to his return to the restaurant, however, it is important for us that our side of the story is told, and that we address, and try to resolve any complaints about our restaurants.

Maxwell Queen
Lao Laan-Xang Atwood Ave

04/25/2011 - Steve Leone
The food is very good, the management lies and told me, "if I don't like him lying to me, I didn't have to eat there anymore". I ordered food for pick-up, they got the order wrong and knew it, because the person who ordered what we picked up, must have complained.
This person who claimed to be the manager said they would deliver the correct order, but it would be over an hour because they were busy. I gave him the address and when I called back one and a half hours later, he gave me some bogus story about someone who called back and canceled. That is a lie. He said he would credit my card back and that was a lie. You owe me $ 75.00 and an apology 608-698-9297

02/21/2011 - David Irwin
I live over an hour from Madison but love this place. It is right next to the Barrymore Theater and I dined in a couple of times. I have had good service with no complaints. I love spicy food and here you can let them know how hot you want it. 1 star, 2 star, 3 star or 4 star. Yesterday while in Madison I got take out to take home. I got two meals thinking it would last me for a couple of days. 24 hours later and the food is gone. I am mad for not getting more. The next time I am in Madison I will stop in or get carryout again!! You will LOVE the food!

12/22/2010 - Damis
SO GOOD! Great food.

11/15/2010 - Munson
Love it, we have never ordered a dish we didn't like. We order out from there when we want to splurge, but it's sooooo worth it. As for poor service, I've never sat down at the large location, but if it's a matter of "speed" and that's your issue, then just order take out...otherwise, slow down, take minute to discuss your day with your friends and enjoy life!

11/12/2010 - Tom
I've been there a dozen times and ordered take out over 20 times. Food is always consistently good to great (usu great), service is just fine. Take out service is very solid and the food is ALWAYS hot. I've eaten Laotian cuisine in top rated restaurants in other cities and little Lao Laan Xang is the best of the bunch.

10/31/2010 - timoteo
i've been to the atwood store 3 times. twice the to go orders were wrong after waiting over 45 minutes for my order. the third time was dining in and after the poor and excruciatingly slow service the food came out 25 minutes later! i'll not be back.

08/19/2010 - Noor Zan
Very rude waiter.

07/15/2010 - Susan
I am really surprised that others have had problems with the service because I haven't. I go to LLX fairly often when I am in town, and I haven't had this problem when I've been there. I do enjoy having a Thai beer while I am waiting, and usually have enough to say to my dinner companions that I'm not paying much attention to speed of serving. I love the food, much of which is not the same as that available at the Thai restaurants. Saying that, I do have favorites among their offerings.

01/12/2010 - andrew
The food is more than fantastic, every time. Unfortunately, the service is very poor every time. I've eaten here many times. Often the food for each person at the table comes at different times. I've even been there once with a group of 6 when I got my food AFTER all 5 others were completely finished eating. And it was the wrong dish.

But I will continue to order take out because the food is that good.

10/08/2009 - Michael
just had lunch for two w/ beers total came to about 20 bucks for some of the most authentic feeling ethnic food i have had in a long time definately worth the vist.

05/17/2009 - shampow
Great food. The service can be bad though especially when it's busy. I think they need to hire more staff during busy weekend dinner rushes. I have had really awful service on more then one occasion, the waitress said "do you know what you want?" While staring at her notebook and didn't even tell us her name or ask if we wanted drinks....strange, but again food is awesome.

03/16/2009 - obliqueStrat
I tried the Kang Vanh and thought it was amazing. Delicious, complex, and addictive. Definitely coming back.

01/26/2009 - MenuPix User
I have had almost everything on this menu, and never been disappointed. It's amazing food!

10/23/2008 - MenuPix User
like alll the other reviews (except the one) i agree that the food is absolutely fantastic. and also like the other reviews, i have to agree that the service could use some work. sure, the food came out a bit slow - i'm a patient person and don't mind sitting and waiting when i've ordered - but it took a good ten minutes for our waitress to come and take our order (when she finally came over, she admitted, "I totally forgot all about you guys!").. For appetizers i ordered the pork eggroll, and my girlfriend, a vegetarian for 16 years, ordered the veggie eggroll... i think you know the end of this story. the waitress put the pork in front of her and the veggie in front of me, and eager to start eating twenty minutes after arrival, my poor vegetarian girlfriend almost cried after realizing she'd had a mouthful of pork. you would think they would be more conscientious about that kind of thing. anyhow.. the only other gripe i have is the atmosphere. the tables are ridiculously close together, so i could hear every word the people next to us were saying, and they could hear us. kind of off-putting. i realize that it's a busy place and they want to squeeze in as much business as possible, but one or two less tables, especially the small ones by the window, would go a long way. i think next time, i'd go for the take out since he food is so good.

06/30/2008 - Belle
One of Madison's best options for vegetarians. Definitely Madison's best Lao/Thai. And that's saying something. I always go for the mock duck . . . hmm . . .

06/28/2008 - Sun Prairie
I've been at both locations in Madison and service at both locations could have been better. Contrary to what I've been hearing from word-of-mouth and these reviews, the food is really not all that great? We had the catfish which has absolutely no flavor..they don't even sprinkle any fish sauce on there--which is what would make this dish a "lao" dish. The meats they use for dishes are quite dry. The sqash curry dish we had that day didn't have any bold flavors that should be there. (Every lao/thai restaurant in town has this dish so we know it isn't suppose to just taste like curry sauce). The stir-fly platters just taste like 100% soy sauce! the garlic vegtable sitr-fry had NO garlic smell to it, it just tasted like all the other stir-fry dishes they had on the menu. The atmosphere at the larger location is ok probably because it's located on Atwood, but otherwise considering the COSTS, this place is not worth it. There are a small handful of thai/lao restaurants in town and this one is has the best atmosphere BUT has the highest prices and worst tasting food!!!!

05/06/2008 - MenuPix User
love love love this place.

03/11/2008 - llx waitress
This isn't really an unbiased review as I work there, but I do want to let you know there are 2 locations for this restaurant. The Atwood location is larger and takes reservations for groups of 6 or more, and yes it can get REALLY busy there making for a wait both for a table and for the food-please just remember that the servers cannot make the kitchen cook your food any faster. The second location-actually the older of the two is at 1146 Williamson Street, right down by the Weary Traveler and Jolly Bob's. This location is tiny, we only have ten tables and can seat a max of 24 people at a time-so if it is really busy there can be a wait for a table, but there is a trade off in how long the food takes once you've been seated. The kitchen is also really small but the staff work well together and usually the wait for food is less than at the Atwood location. Another thing to keep in mind is that all the food is made to order, almost nothing we serve is prepared ahead of time, with the exception of the Spring Rolls which are made at the beginning of the evening and never kept overnight. This means that the food may take longer than other places, but you can customize it to suit your taste, dietary restrictions, or whatever. Overall our food is awesome, even if I didn't work there I would eat it all the time-I even order it on the nights I'm not working! If you like Lao and Thai food we are certainly worth your time and money.

02/26/2008 - MenuPix User
Food is delic, but service was sub par both instances i had visited the restaurant.

11/17/2007 - chadL
the service is often beyond slow but if you have time the food is worth the wait. dishes and curries are spectacular. I just wish the owners would train their staff to acknowledge people or create a better sense of urgency over quality service. Other than that the food is rock star.