Royal King Elephant

Five stars for Royal King Elephant restaurant! I had this place bookmarked for years and now wish I had gone here ages ago. They have delicious food! The restaurant is a small little non-assuming restaurant located in a small strip mall. I walked into the restaurant and immediately was greeted by the owner Xay and her husband Dee. The place is clean and modernly decorated. There are a lot of great things on the menu, it was hard to choose. Gung Che Num Pa. Spicy Raw Shrimp. This dish was my absolute favorite dish I tried! Fresh raw shrimp served over a bed of cabbage, cucumber and tomatoes. Served with spicy chili sauce! This was like a Laotian ceviche. Grade: A!Spicy Basil Clams. Wow. Another delicious choice. A generous portion of fresh clams prepared in a spicy brown sauce. Served with red and green bell peppers and onions. Grade: AIntestines with a spicy sauce. Off menu item. Thick cut intestines served with a generous portion of assorted herbs. I've never had the dipping sauce before - it was a fermented tamarind flavored sauce. Fun to eat with fresh herbs and lettuce. They have all kinds of fun beverages here. Notable is the Lao beer, which is apparently difficult to find! Thank you Xay and Dee for a great and memorable dining experience. I'm a new fan of your restaurant.

Trying to find a decent Lao restaurant- and this place will satisfy your cravings From yummy Lao style papaya salad to raw beef salad and beef innerts soup - it taste like home cooking from my parents.Their angel wings are a great snacks as well.Service was good. We came on a Monday - and it was kind of quiet - just what we like.they play Lao music videos which added a charm to the restaurant. Better than Lao Vientiane restaurant.

Dinner with a friend. And a nice dinner it was. See pics of what we ordered. There were leftovers. Not much but keep in mind, it was only the two of us.To start - free and easy parking. Might have to walk a little bit but I'll say it again. Free. One of the things I like about places in Orange County compared to Los Angeles. Parking. Service was great. It appeared to be a one man operation. Probably wasn't, but I didn't look for others. The gentleman was a one man crew from what I saw. He handled the front of the house like a pro. Attentive. Friendly. Nice. All of the above. I don't know if he also did the cooking but whoever did, did an awesome job. I enjoyed the dishes in the following order: Crispy Fried RicePapaya SaladPad See EwFried Pork RibLoved how the mix of ingredients all just hit the spot. The consistency, the flavors all just had me eating well past my limit - so thank God for adjustable rachet belts. I listed the pork ribs last, and though I ate most of it, I would have eaten all if they weren't so crispy. Not that it was well done and over cooked, it was as if they were double fried. I'll leave it at this - I'd have them again. They wouldn't be the first thing I'd order but I'd definitely eat them again. I enjoyed the food and this place is on my list of places to return to, to try more dishes.

Was craving for boat noodle soup and this is my to go for it, yrs ago. Great Lao/Thai foods. Still have the great quality of the broth. I ordered the lunch special of boat noodle soup and green papaya salad w/ crab (Lao style). The noodle is still fantastic, just less of meats but aok, the salad is abit puncheon for me but very tasty. Overall, still a "it" place.

It's been a while since I've been back and this was a very disappointing experience. I had the boat noodle today and it was salty. The flavors I expect are a bit sweet, salty, and sour but all I tasted was saltiness. As I was eating, I then noticed a piece of hair so I shared with the owner/server and they brought out a new one. However this new one only had one piece of beef ball so basically it was the same bowl but just redressed? The meat ball was also sour smelled. Then came the jungle papaya salad that only had 2-3 shrimp and half a salted crab that was flavorless ($25 btw). The thai iceteas were in an extra small cup, but it was good so that's fine. The pad see ew with crispy pork was still delicious so I kept the 3 star. The restaurant did not have napkins other than the one piece that was given to us, so we would have to go ask. Everytime we needed something we would walk over and ask because they did not hear us or see us, maybe they are understaff so that's understandable. However, when we pressed the bell we can hear the server/owner saying OYYYY as if we were bothering her, and then she told us she can see us from the camera but never responded when we called T.T The restaurant itself was clean and they had nice decorations. They definitely need to make some improvements to their food, quantity, and service though.

Always a hit. This is authentic Lao/Thai food. Service is always friendly. I love the boat noodles!

Amazing and authentic! Never thought I'd find an authentic Lao restaurant that serves actual Lao food, especially in OC. I came here based off Yelp and IG. Upon arriving there was a husband and wife duo owners having lunch at the back table. I originally went there for boat noodles but ended up ordering off the menu based on how delicious their posts looked on social media.My son ended up getting the boat noodles and I ordered 2 items on a secret menu lol. I tried his boat noodles while mixing it for him and it was delicious! It came with different cuts of protein, tripe, meatballs, and liver. I ended up getting their mee gatee to eat there and kua mee to-go. Not a lot of restaurants make mee gatee and can make it taste authentic, at that! My bowl was loaded with pork blood cubes, pork meat, and even had chicken feet! It's rare you get all that if you order a bowl down here in San Diego you'd be lucky if you get pork pieces let alone blood and chicken feet! Their kua mee also came with pork blood omg so good with some papaya salad! You'd never get that here in SD they'll only have noodles, no blood or it cost extra.Husband and wife were super nice and conversed with me during my lunch. Come to find out they're originally from Fresno no wonder their food is delicious! They also used to live in SD for a bit too in the V, he said lol. This is the place for AUTHENTIC! Will definitely be stopping by more often during my OC visits. Sister also hooked it up with extra kua mee for me too I wish I got their names but thank you euy I'll be seeing you guys more often!

i've recently been craving a lot of Thai food, specifically the pad karpow due to a YouTube video.A friend of mine recommended this place, indicating that this was one of the usual spots. They did say that they often tend to lean on the laos side of the menu. they recommended the beef soup and the beef larb, rare, however, once I saw karpow I couldn't resist.The restaurant is in a little strip mall. when I entered it, it was empty and plenty space. It one of the places that you sat yourself. I ordered the thom zap which is the laos beef soup. As well as the karpow. The karpow was amazing. The flea route was wonderful. I just wish I had more rice to go with it. When the soup came out, the server was nice enough to provide me a side of rice to accompany the soup, which is not usually included. Both items tasted amazing.I will be coming back to try their beef larb rare, as my friend suggested. Though, I might order takeout next time.

Atmosphere inside is small but decently nice. My favorite dish is their crabs fried rice. Food was extremely greasy, Pad see eu was not high quality and tasted too cheap for the prices . Crying Tiger very chewy, . Friendly staff before but the last time I was there the owner was drinked with some people next to my table very loud and they let us to waited so long for my food came out . I think they're like to drink more than care for the customer!

Shout out to the cook and owner (sorry forgot your name)Found this place on yelp when looking for Lao Food on a drive from the Bay. Disappointed I didn't get to try the Sai Ou...weren't serving it that day.Food was great especially the Thum Mak Hoong Also had Larb Moo, that was too of course had to get the Khao Neo tooGo try it...