Dara Thai Lao Cuisine - Berkeley

Located on a bustling street at the corner of Shattuck, this restaurant is conveniently situated across from a Safeway where you can park. That's what I did at least. LOL...

I must admit that I love Dara Thai primarily for their Pad Pet Makuer, also known as eggplant in chili basil sauce. My love for eggplant knows no bounds.

I finally had the chance to visit this restaurant when it was open. I have walked by it many times and always wanted to try it. I was so happy when I finally caught it while it was open and I was hungry. The establishment is...

I wish I had given this restaurant zero stars. I ate in this restaurant a few years ago and the food was decent, not great, but reasonable. We had dinner there last Saturday night and the food was nothing less terrible. Now I have been a little pampered since I lived in Thailand and my wife is from the Isian area of Northeast Thailand (Nongbua Lamphu Province). At first we were attracted to this place because the chalkboard in front of the restaurant advertised both Lao Raw Beef Salad and Ant Egg Salad (Ant Eggs imported from Laos). Since my wife loves both dishes because they are popular in her hometown, we went in. As it turned out, the restaurant had neither even though we were there at 6:30. We ordered Som Tam Ba La (Lao style), but the waitress said they did not have Ba La (not sure how you cook Lao style food without it). My wife spoke to them in Thai and told them to make them “Thai spice as in Thailand” but the court came only slightly spicy. We ordered Larb Pla, a Thai salad, made from slightly cooked minced meat and spiced with rice powder. The dish they had brought out had pieces of deep fried fish and many Khao Taut (Fried Rice Cake pieces) and no spices at all. We also ordered Pla Rad Prik and the sauce tasted as it had been made with canned tomato paste. But the thing that really told me that this was not a Thai/Lao restaurant was the rice. We ordered Khao Neow (Clebrian rice) but what they brought us was the short-grained, non-glutinous rice that is very common in northeast China, Korea and Japan and not the Thai sweet (glutinous) rice that is common for Thai/lao cuisine. I would avoid this place at all costs.

The food here is wonderful flavors are intense and l would venture to say some of their dishes are the best i have ever had. Especially the phad kee mao. Deliciously spicy, fresh ingredients, relaxing atmosphere make this a great place to eat.