Reviews for Bhan Mae Vane in Alameda, CA

I go to Alameda for work from time to time. I haven't been to a great restaurant, let alone a Thai/Laotian one, until I went to... Bhan Mae Vane the other night. What a surprise! Food is authentic. Papaya salad Laotian style was amazing. Flavor is true to itsstyle. Crispy rice sausage salad was tangy crispy a lot of flavors. The 3 of us also ordered 3 entrées to share and they wereall cooked to perfection. Let me warn you their portions are huge. We ended up packing enough for another meal for the 3 of us. Service is friendly and the owner lady was very helpful talking to us about their beer choices. ???? will definitely be backnext time!!!! Read more

I'll start by acknowledging that we arrived just before their dinner rush. Though, I would think they'd have some... practice. Food: Overall, we enjoyed the flavors. The Angel Wings are kid-friendly, not spicy, a little sweet and crispy. I hadthe Khao Soy. Very good, I would have liked it to be spicier, like Thai spice. The hibiscus tea and the green tea are tasty buttoo sweet (which is great for the kids. Service: As mentioned before it was their dinner rush. Our server didn't write down ourorder, which had her come back to ask again. I didn't receive our side of rice that we wanted during our meal. Also, as soon asfood was dropped, it was nearly impossible to get the attention of any of the wait staff. Couldn't ask for chili for my soup,and, when finished, it took 10 min to ask for boxes and the check. All servers were very flustered and didn't acknowledge thedelay in service nor apologized for mistakes. I liked the food enough to return, though i will do so during a less busy time. Read more

Hands down one of the best Thai/Lao food and service in the bay! While everything on the menu is delicious, I always order the... Papaya salad platter with Angel wings, Lao Sausage and pork belly. Its perfect for busy nights to feed a family of 5. Kao Piekis also one of my favorite comfort foods. They know what their doing at Bhan Mae Vane! Read more

Great place to get some real lao food. We ordered way to much food, but wanted to try a few dishes. The pork belly was very... good. The papaya salad was also good. This seems to be one of those dishes that can be made such that certain flavors outstand the others and some people prefer certain flavors. I noticed that this did not have the crab flavor stand out so much,but it have a deep savory flavor that was yummy. The egg roll and lettuce wrap were also very good. Highly recommended. Read more

This is my new hotspot for Laotian and Thai food! I've been here three times now in the past! Portions are generous, and service... is great. They do get pretty packed though, so it's good to make a reservation ahead of time. On the different occasions, we'veordered the following... Pad See Ew 5/5 Beef Spring Rolls 5/5 Fried Tofu 5/5 Fried Chicken Wings 5/5 Angel Wings 5/5 Kalbi5/5 Pork Belly 5/5 Papaya Salad 3/5 Match Green Thai Iced Tea 5/5 Love this place! ???? Read more

Well-lit restaurant, instantly welcomed by staff and seated immediately. We ordered the fried pork belly and the appetizer... sampler that had egg rolls, shrimp egg rolls and fried tofu with sauces, and a papaya salad. Food came quickly and it was alldelicious. We made friends with the couple next to us because they had a dish that looked interesting and appetizing. My dinnerdate asked me what was missing from the overall experience. We both thought that some music would complete the overallexperience, either some Lao or Thai music would be perfect. Definitely will be back to try their other dishes. Read more

Cute interior. Large portions. Super flavorful food. Loved the sakoo, pad thai, fried tofu, fried rice, tod mun... Thai green... tea. Great service. Read more

Food was great! But, unfortunately we did not enjoy the taste of the Mok Gai. When letting our waitress know, and asked for a... different dish, they said there was nothing wrong with this one, and that the description was on the menu. She let us know thatsince we tasted it we had to pay for it. That?s true, it was our first time, and we didn?t enjoy it (you have to try it to knowif you like it!). Now before you say we are ?entitled?, this has happened many times before and restaurant owners and staff aremore than happy to replace a dish. We are very loyal to restaurants that we frequent. My wife and I were talking about how ourfood was so awesome, and that this would be a new weekly restaurant for us. We ended up speaking with the owner Mimi, who waspleasant and ended up reluctantly comping our dish. We weren?t pushy. She was very nice, but made it known that we should getmore guidance before ordering our dishes. 3 stars instead of 5, because they made us feel like we were doing something wrong byasking for another dish. We will be back again and hopefully our experience will be better. Read more