An Ox Cafe

Spacious restaurant that almost looks like a food hall or a brewery based on how large it is. It also has outside seating and a stage/dancing floor area, I assume they host events here or are planning to or maybe they rent them out. A few miscellaneous cleaning items on display.When I entered the restaurant I waited a little to get seated, it was choose your own seating as soon as they saw me waiting at the front. It was not busy for a Sunday late afternoon. They had some merchandise on a storage rack. Great tasting beef panang curry, I would recommend. It's not sweet at all as other places had them sweeter. This is the only place that has fig in their panang curry that I know of. I tried it at medium spice level and it was spot on. I also tried the pork egg rolls, the wrapper was crispy on the outside and a little chewy on the inside, taste was decent.For beverage I had the sugary sweet taro smoothie with medium firm tapioca. With a Big plastic straw and water with paper straws, kudosTo them for using paper straws and hope one day boba straws can be replaced with sustainable non plastic alternatives.Staff was helpful, it took some time for a non busy afternoon but they were nice.

Very very good food! I wish it was closer to me so I could have it in the regular rotation. Everyone enjoyed their dishes, including those additional to go meals that were eaten the next day!We had beef jerky, pad Thai, red curry, panang curry, and kao poon. All very recommended. We enjoyed the ability to add meaningful spiciness to our dishes when ordering as well! My main criticism is the service charge that I wish restaurants would just fold into the price of meals. There is also a charge for using a credit card.

Best quality ingredients and cuisines for any Lao/Hmong/Thai restaurant I have been too. First time, I walked in you got a weekday lunch special 2 for 22$ for many huge entrees with lots of leftovers. Red curry and drunken noodles were no.1 in the whole city! the spice, the attention to quality ingredients and flavor felt like I was back in SE Asia again. Next two times I went with family and they were also blown away by the pad thai and curries we had! INCREDIBLE FOOD!I will say I tried the sunday 10$ pho special and I couldnt finish the bowl so dont get that but stick my two favorites:PAD THAI AND RED CURRY!Pro Tip: go when Weekday lunch special to save money because there is 20% automatic tip included on bill!Truly one of my favorite for Asian restaurants in the city!

There are quite a few Laotian/Thai restaurants in town that serve tasty food, but I found An Ox Café to stand out in one aspect. The quality of its ingredients tends to be a bit higher, making the food cost a bit more as well. Perhaps price competition among these restaurants is intense, causing them to use cheaper cuts of meat (e.g., beef and pork with more gristles) and cheaper vegetables (e.g., cabbage instead of bean sprouts in a noodle soup). The way this restaurant tries to set a higher price may turn off some customers, though. Even though the prices of the dishes on its menu are just slightly higher than most other Laotian/Thai restaurants in the city, there is a 20% percent surcharge as well as a fee for using a credit card instead of cash. The motive is presumably to avoid showing too much a price difference from its rivals and make sure that all customers pay a "20% tip" so that the "effective" price is higher. I, nevertheless, would be happy to pay a higher price for higher-quality ingredients. But I do want to add that the ingredients are not necessarily of the highest quality, as the jalapeno peppers that we were served with our pho were clearly cut a day before with dark brown edges. We ordered three dishes: Beef Pho, Roast Pork and Nam Know. The quantity of each dish was quite large, so we packed at least half of the dishes home for another meal. The stock of the pho that we ordered was fairly rich; the flavor of the stock was, however, a bit plain, although I made it tastier by adding more lime juice and chili sauce. The Roast Pork was lightly marinated; although it was clearly precooked, the chef was able to heat it up in a way that makes/keeps the skin crispy. The Nam Know salad was the most flavorful of the three dishes. So far, An Ox Café is probably my top choice for Laotian food in the city.

Love, love, love this restaurant. Unbelievably flavorful, fresh and authentic Thai/Laotian dishes served in heaping portions. You can choose from 5 different spice/heat levels for your dish and they serve up your order fast - wether you dine-in or take to go. Friendly service and a huge bar/entertainment space with live music occasionally during the week. What you see when you walk in is not what you will expect. It's kind of a disco night club meets quick lunch spot. Fun local hangout spot with ample, free parking on site and an eclectic vibe. Our new fav spot in MKE for Thai food!

The Lao sausage entree was prepared very well and I'd be back to try several of the 2 for $22 specials But here's where I was very disappointed in the administrative side of this restaurant For being the only customer in the whole entire establishment, customer service wasn't all that great. Wait staff came just as I finishing my meal. At this point a refill was offered on the water but not on soda which was refilled on request. I have no issue tipping 15-20% with great service. Then you have to pay the automatic 20% service fee to help pay the living wages for the employees. When you get the bill, there's a $ 0.75 price difference if you pay by credit card or cash. Personally I think that this establishment is set up more to be a night club than a restaurant.

I'm not going to leave as long a review as the first time I posted one. All I want to do is gush about how amazing the egg rolls are from An Ox Cafe. I've been looking all my adult life for egg rolls that are as fresh and wonderfully tasting as theirs. I think the Pad See Ew is very good as well with little to no spiciness added, but I would come here everyday for the rest of my life for the egg rolls if I could.

Forgot I had these photos. Food before it got wild at An Ox Cafe on Saturday night. Potato wedges. Can't go wrong with wedges. Pork Hmong eggrolls. Not your neighborhood Chinese cabbage filled ones. Beef laab. One of my fav dishes to get anywhere. Papaya. Refreshing! Nam khao. If you know, you know. Don't sleep on this! Crab rangoons. These taste the same everywhere to me. ‍ Solid meal for late night eats. Booze flowed freely afterwards. #eatlikejed #hmongfood #mkeeats #nojmovqabqab #anoxcafe #nojmovhmoob #foodie #foodgasm #hmong #hmoob #yelp @yelpwisconsin

I ordered the chicken pad thai to go and it was delicious. I will definitely eat here again

Food was very good, but they automatically add a 20% tip to the bill including a tip on the tax. And to make it worse, they list it as only 15%