Bai Bua Thai Cuisine

Bai Bau Thai Cuisine is located on the East Hastings corridor near Nanaimo Street – near my former haunts. There’s nothing like finding a nice new Thai restaurant (well, new to me at least). We checked this place out in mid-August and started with a Lychee Mint Slushie ($5.90) and Chicken Satay Skewers ($7.90). The mint slushie was a welcome addition given the warm weather we’ve been having this summer and the creamy peanut sauce with the satay skewers was spot on.

This is a far better restaurant than the review average suggests. I have been coming for several years now. Maybe about 10 times. The fairly bright lghting and quiet background music provide an excellent ambience. The service has always been attentive, including the welcome and goodbye. This is far more than a simple Thai curry restaurant. I have had a variety of dishes and I cannot remember any one dish that I did not enjoy. My favourite is # 88, an egg noodle chicken dish. An acquaintenance recommended it to me. I ask for medium spicing, or medium hot spicing. This is a reasonable price and leaves me well satisfied.

Bai Bua is a fairly priced Thai restaurant located on Hastings East Van area, directly across the street of southbound 95 B-Line. I went there twice, and this review is gathered on the basis of both experiences.

First time, I went for their lunch special menu that I heard from my girlfriend. The lunch menu is reasonably priced with many choices. Most choices are downsize version of the regular menu (dinner). However, I believe the downsize somehow made the presentation of certain dishes better compare to dinner. Perhaps it was 2 PM, less busy time, the service and food qualities are above my expectations for a family run restaurant.

Services: 4/5
Food: 4.5/5
Drink: 5/5 I really like the ice tea
Overall: 4.5/5

Second time, I went with four friends, and we ordered 4 dishes to share. This time it was 6PM Thursday night, so much busier time period compare to first visit. The dish presentation was a lot careless, and service was speedy but lack of attention to details. Ice tea orders were missed, and we mentioned once when main dishes were served. Unfortunately, after we finished main dishes, and decided to pay our bills, they still didn’t notice anything wrong with ice tea orders and included that in the bill.

Services: 3/5
Food: 4/5
Drink: 3/5 even though we didn’t get it, it is good taste
Overall: 3.5/5

Hopefully, I get more time next couple weeks to try it once more, like always, 3 is a charm. I will update the review accordingly after third visit in short future

Finally got the third time to try it. This time, it is dinner with my lady, two dishes plus Ice Tea with milk and coconut rice. The coconut rice is amazing, smells fresh and tasty, medium firm, and goes well with sweet and sour dishes.

Services: 4/5 better
Food: 4/5
Drink: 4/5 got my drink this time
Overall: 4/5

I guess third time is indeed a charm. The overall experience is much better than first time and second time. However, I still highly recommend to go at lunch time, portions are more manageable and services are better.

A few weeks ago the Royal Family Circus was in town and my friends and I got cheap tickets on Groupon! It was only $15 each so that was a great deal for a night of entertainment. They were set up on the PNE fair grounds so we went to Bai Bua Thai on E. Hastings and Nanaimo for dinner first. It’s right across from the 95 B-line stop.

We were going up along Hastings street and being that I passed by Bai Bua Thai on my commute to school practically every day, I figured that it was about time that we go by. Since we were here at lunch, our meal came with complimentary soup and prawn chips. I thought the chips were crispy but they didn’t taste like shrimp and tasted more like the oil they were fried in. As for the soup…it was merely MSG soup.

Man! You gotta try this authentic Thai restaurant. This is the best one among all other Thai restaurants in Lower Mainland that I have tried so far. 

Ambiance
The owner painted the walls white and drew some special flower designs with some gold colour on the flowers. The interior design made the ambiance and environment more comfortable and it was bright inside the restaurant. 

Pricing
The prices on all the dishes are quite reasonable or not too expensive comparing to the ones in Vancouver west like the ones on Cambie Street, Granville Street and Vancouver downtown. 

Food
Excellent! Very authentic! Very delicious! You have to try the food in person. If I tell you how well the food and drink are, this is not good enough. You have to experience and taste everything yourself. 

Service
Average. The servers were oaky. Not very friendly. But they were polite. 

I would like to come back and try other dishes. 

Cheers!