We recently moved abroad and I am already missing Padaek! We have been regular customers for years and coming here (almost) never disappoints. Once our food was over-salted and that was not great. But usually you have great meals for fair prices at a nice location.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Tom Ortiz
A great dining experience! The staff is friendly, experienced and knowledgeable. The food is excellent. The halibut steamed in banana leaf, the dumplings and the Aom are great!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Brandon Henke
This was one of those phenomenal dining experiences that compels you to immediately write a review. The food here is absolute fire ?. Very flavorful with service to match. Personal favorite was the Aom with braised brisket. Will absolutely be back to explore more of the menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Satay, Shrimp Pad Thai, Papaya Salad
Joseph Gentsch
Food was amazing highly recommend
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Khao Soi
Michael Milligan
Extraordinarily delicious and excellent service. Truly worth making a trip for.
Virginia B. Britton
I had a Baptism in the Small Dining Room at Padaek in Arlington. We set up an altar (service table ) on one end, with family style dining for 18 people.A Methodist minister came and we had a brief service followed by fantastic food. The spring rolls, vegetarian and chicken , savory chicken wings, puffs, and noodle based main dishes were completely eaten up. It is also colorful and pretty throughout the whole restaurant !
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Sierra Prochna
Every single dish we tried was phenomenal, and the service was fantastic! There wasn’t anything at all leftover. I will definitely be back!
Jason Gross
FANTASTIC! I went at the very end of lunch hour, so expectations were moderate. Staff was very friendly and helpful. Food was really outstanding. Flavors were well spiced, but not too spicy, just right. Warm and vibrant. Shrimp was VERY fresh, perfectly done. Plate was beautifully but simply decorated, and this is all at lunch mind you. Very impressed and will be back soon. Great for lunch, and would be also nice for a date-nite. Waitstaff VERY polite and friendly. Couldn’t ask for a better experience. Arlington is very lucky to have this restaurant.Now been for dinner as well. Three times now. Consistently fantastic. This place is really doing something special. crab dish was subtle yet spicy and perfectly flavored. Very pretty presentation as well.VERY vegetarian friendly and/or flexitarian/pescatarian friendly. Clearly marked menu for vegetarians.Very lucky to have this restaurant nearby.Vegetarian options: Everything clearly labeled for vegetarian and many dishes can be ordered vegetarian. Clearly labeled on the menu and a nice note stating they can accommodate vegetarians/modify.Dietary restrictions: VERY accommodating for vegetarians and flexitarians.Parking: EASY parking. In the same lot as the Giant and other food places.Wheelchair accessibility: yes, very accessible, everything on ground floor and right off parking area.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Red Curry, Panang Curry, Green Curry
SK
We enjoyed our first visit there, trying drunken noodles and curry. It was a bit pricey side but atmosphere and service justified the visit.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Luis R Castellanos
Great food and great service
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Satay, White Rabbit, Crab Noodles, Papaya Salad
We went to check out the new Padaek in Arlington after having been to the Falls Church location a few times. This one is nice, service is amazing, and the food is good. Buuuuuuttttt, it's different...I like my food spicy, and knew to order it "Lao spicy". When it arrived at the table, I could see that it just had a bunch of chilis added. This gives it a bit of spice, but is more like a level 3 out of 5. It was just lacking the heat as when ordering spicy at the other location. Obviously, they don't want to overwhelm their guests with spice, but if you're asking for that level of heat, you obviously want it. Oh well...it's good, and the flavors are tasty...but the other location feels more authentic.
Alicia M.
Great experience! Food was delicious, service was great and attentive and the interior is bright and transporting to Lao. Definitely make a reservation, as it was busy even early on a weeknight.
BILL YI
Classic sausages and barbecued pork ~ full of Southeast Asian
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
Yaz R.
This place was incredible! So beautiful of an interior and definitely a large space. The service was also very attentive and it was still pretty busy on a weeknight. I love that so many of the dishes here are so unique and I definitely got to try some of their specials, but would come back to try other things for sure because it was all five stars! I tried the lemongrass catfish, which was cooked to perfection, and not fishy at all. This dish had a ton of flavor and was slightly spicy and not over powered by the lemongrass flavor! They also gave you a pretty hearty serving of catfish, and it was nice and flaky and it was fried very lightly so it wasn't overly greasy or heavy to eat. I also tried the pad Thai special, which had really large shrimp in it, and a very unique flavorful sauce that tasted a little bit more like a dark soy sauce. I really love this pad. Thai and the noodles were not dry at all like some places! Finally, I tried the crab noodles which were really good and a very interesting and unique flavor. These were definitely delicious. I also tried the spring rolls which were not my favorite, but they were still good.
Trang H.
Very friendly staff and quick services. I would recommend the porn sausage and grilled pork shoulder. The crab longevity noodle was too salty for me. It's $100 including taxes and tips for an appetizer, two main dishes, and two beers. A bit pricey but the portions were quite big.
We recently moved abroad and I am already missing Padaek! We have been regular customers for years and coming here (almost) never disappoints. Once our food was over-salted and that was not great. But usually you have great meals for fair prices at a nice location.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
A great dining experience! The staff is friendly, experienced and knowledgeable. The food is excellent. The halibut steamed in banana leaf, the dumplings and the Aom are great!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
This was one of those phenomenal dining experiences that compels you to immediately write a review. The food here is absolute fire ?. Very flavorful with service to match. Personal favorite was the Aom with braised brisket. Will absolutely be back to explore more of the menu.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Satay, Shrimp Pad Thai, Papaya Salad
Food was amazing highly recommend
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Khao Soi
Extraordinarily delicious and excellent service. Truly worth making a trip for.
I had a Baptism in the Small Dining Room at Padaek in Arlington. We set up an altar (service table ) on one end, with family style dining for 18 people.A Methodist minister came and we had a brief service followed by fantastic food. The spring rolls, vegetarian and chicken , savory chicken wings, puffs, and noodle based main dishes were completely eaten up. It is also colorful and pretty throughout the whole restaurant !
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Every single dish we tried was phenomenal, and the service was fantastic! There wasn’t anything at all leftover. I will definitely be back!
FANTASTIC! I went at the very end of lunch hour, so expectations were moderate. Staff was very friendly and helpful. Food was really outstanding. Flavors were well spiced, but not too spicy, just right. Warm and vibrant. Shrimp was VERY fresh, perfectly done. Plate was beautifully but simply decorated, and this is all at lunch mind you. Very impressed and will be back soon. Great for lunch, and would be also nice for a date-nite. Waitstaff VERY polite and friendly. Couldn’t ask for a better experience. Arlington is very lucky to have this restaurant.Now been for dinner as well. Three times now. Consistently fantastic. This place is really doing something special. crab dish was subtle yet spicy and perfectly flavored. Very pretty presentation as well.VERY vegetarian friendly and/or flexitarian/pescatarian friendly. Clearly marked menu for vegetarians.Very lucky to have this restaurant nearby.Vegetarian options: Everything clearly labeled for vegetarian and many dishes can be ordered vegetarian. Clearly labeled on the menu and a nice note stating they can accommodate vegetarians/modify.Dietary restrictions: VERY accommodating for vegetarians and flexitarians.Parking: EASY parking. In the same lot as the Giant and other food places.Wheelchair accessibility: yes, very accessible, everything on ground floor and right off parking area.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Red Curry, Panang Curry, Green Curry
We enjoyed our first visit there, trying drunken noodles and curry. It was a bit pricey side but atmosphere and service justified the visit.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Great food and great service
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: Satay, White Rabbit, Crab Noodles, Papaya Salad
Restaurantji Recommends
We went to check out the new Padaek in Arlington after having been to the Falls Church location a few times. This one is nice, service is amazing, and the food is good. Buuuuuuttttt, it's different...I like my food spicy, and knew to order it "Lao spicy". When it arrived at the table, I could see that it just had a bunch of chilis added. This gives it a bit of spice, but is more like a level 3 out of 5. It was just lacking the heat as when ordering spicy at the other location. Obviously, they don't want to overwhelm their guests with spice, but if you're asking for that level of heat, you obviously want it. Oh well...it's good, and the flavors are tasty...but the other location feels more authentic.
Great experience! Food was delicious, service was great and attentive and the interior is bright and transporting to Lao. Definitely make a reservation, as it was busy even early on a weeknight.
Classic sausages and barbecued pork ~ full of Southeast Asian
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 4
This place was incredible! So beautiful of an interior and definitely a large space. The service was also very attentive and it was still pretty busy on a weeknight. I love that so many of the dishes here are so unique and I definitely got to try some of their specials, but would come back to try other things for sure because it was all five stars! I tried the lemongrass catfish, which was cooked to perfection, and not fishy at all. This dish had a ton of flavor and was slightly spicy and not over powered by the lemongrass flavor! They also gave you a pretty hearty serving of catfish, and it was nice and flaky and it was fried very lightly so it wasn't overly greasy or heavy to eat. I also tried the pad Thai special, which had really large shrimp in it, and a very unique flavorful sauce that tasted a little bit more like a dark soy sauce. I really love this pad. Thai and the noodles were not dry at all like some places! Finally, I tried the crab noodles which were really good and a very interesting and unique flavor. These were definitely delicious. I also tried the spring rolls which were not my favorite, but they were still good.
Very friendly staff and quick services. I would recommend the porn sausage and grilled pork shoulder. The crab longevity noodle was too salty for me. It's $100 including taxes and tips for an appetizer, two main dishes, and two beers. A bit pricey but the portions were quite big.