Kualao Lao Thai Cuisine

Doesn't look like much but the food is great and the service is awesome. The lime drink is really good and the Tom Kha soup is amazing. Actually I may drive all the way over there tonight just to get that again.

While driving through Lake Wales noticed this place. I had driven on this road several times over the course of a few years and never noticed it. Decided to stop and give them a try. I'm a big fan of Thai Food.1) The place is not very big. About 10-15 tables. We were quickly sat. Only one server. Took 10-15min to take our drink and appetizer order. Only one server and she seems overwhelmed when there are lots of tables filled. Make sure you have a lot of time when you come to eat here and make sure you have your food already picked and ready.2) Server is very busy... there was only one. 3) Ordered several appetizers and dishes. All were okay for the most part. See pictures. Ordered Thai Ice-tea. It was good.Ordered Some fresh prom and shrimp and veggies rolls. They were good. Peanut sauce was basically softer peanut butter. It was thick and lacking in other non peanut flavors.Pork sausage with tomato sauce was good. Chicken on a stick was overcooked.Chicken soup in Coconut milk broth was okay.Red Curry pork was okay. This place has a home cooking feel and taste but it is lacking in some of the Thai flavors I'm more accustom to. I do not mean Americanized Thai food. I mean common Thai food I may usually have had before.Overall, I won't be returning for a while. May give them another try in the near future; however, I recommend you give them a try for yourself and you be the judge.

We were greeted in this warm tropical setting with a relaxed vibe and served by Ting who gave us a friendly welcome and a little humor to "break the ice". We have never had Laotian food before but are familiar with Thai and Vietnamese cuisine. Ting guided us through our orders, presented with style and grace and made us feel like regulars.

What an amazing find. I just started going for walk around the lake with my dog. I was hungry and I am not familiar with Lake Wales.After my walk I sat in my car and used Yelp to see what was in my area. Yelp knew that I like Thai food they actually suggested this place. They had a website and I look at their menu. I called & place my order to pick up my food. The areas are is clean and nice. The staff were friendly and they were dress in traditional clothing. When I got home i started to eat my food it was Delicious. The veggie was so fresh and not over cook. The chicken was cooked to perfection. It's soooo delicious. I can't wait for next week.

So this restaurant used to be a mexican restaurant that I used to eat from when I worked nearby.They bought it from them and turned into a Lao/ Thai Restaurant.I remember the layout and everything. So its a small restaurant with green decor including the chairs. It is a dated decor imo. This place has 1 server and 1 cook from what I noticed. You can view the kitchen through the glass doors from the cash register area. The server is this mid aged asian lady and she is hustling and bustling 5 tables for their service. The menu is laminated 2 sided menu in colorful print. It is not that many items which to me is a good thing. I dislike restaurants that have soooooooooo many items. The smaller the menu the more the restaurant focuses on their craft. So based on the yelp pictures - The Pad Thai is popular but I noticed the sauce is wet and sits on the plate. I requested Shrimp Pad Thai with dry sauce and not too sweet mild sauce. I also asked how many shrimps do I get and the lady stated 6 shrimps. This was $14.99 with shrimp. If its Tofu/ Chicken its $11.99. I noticed they serve Mango Sticky Rice and they serve it with 2 types of rice .. Purple and White together. Opted fort Water and Coconut Water -- So They served the Coconut water with Ice. I am not fond of any juices with ice. It defeats the taste of the juice imo. Waters it down. And they serve less of the juice that way. So I requested another serving of the Coconut Juice without Ice. The lady did not take the other glass of coconut water she served the 2nd glass of coconut water without ice. They serve the juice with 3 good chunks of fresh young coconut meat. I noticed the glasses have "smell" I cannot what it is but It turned me off I am not sure if its the server's hands that made the glasses smell. You smell the scent when you take a sip and place the glass by your nose. The server is kind and sweet. She was nice to replace the juice with no attitude.Let's discuss the food items:The Shrimp Pad Thai - It was plated generously with the sprinkles of crushed peanuts and bean sprouts, And it was served with the dry sauce. It was a good portion of the noodles. I needed more crushed peanuts so I requested more crushed peanuts for texture. The taste was less sweetened as I requested. It had more of the tamarind taste. But I needed a little bit of sweetness. The taste of the Pad Thai did taste authentic similar to the ones I go to when I head to a restaurant in Orlando. The portion was a good amount Ihat to pack the leftovers to go. Mango Sticky Rice - This dessert was a good portion. it had a layer of purple and white sticky rice. A drizzle of sweet coconut cream and chunks of mangoes around the rice. It was nestled under a banana leaf on a dessert plate. Sprinkled on top was white sesame seeds. The rice was cooked perfectly tender sticky rice - The coconut cream sauce needed more sauce on the dessert because the rice soaked up the sauce. The sauce s not too sweet. The cubed mango was sweet. I requested more coconut sauce to go because it need more sauce - they charge $1 per sauce. The lady gave me 2 tubs which was nice of her. The Coconut Juice I am not sure if it came from the can or bottle or from the fresh coconut - But it was served in a glass. Its a refreshing drink to drink when eating Thai Food. Overall - The experience here was good. The food is authentic and they were pretty busy for a Sunday especially for a new opened restaurant. The staff are nice and it's really a cute place to eat authentic Lao / Thai food. This saves me time to not go to Orlando to eat Thai food.

This is a place I didn't know was in Lake Wales. Boy am I glad I found it. The Drunken noodles and Massaman curry and the spring rolls were delicious. This place is very clean and the service is great.

Kualao is an amazing restaurant for the small town of Lake Wales FL. My wife and I found it on Yelp while we were visiting Bok Tower. After living in Thailand we have been disappointed in Central Florida at not finding "authentic Thai" food. Some others are well rated but do not taste like Thai food.Kualao had authentic Thai and Laotian Food!!!We started with the Tom Kha Kai Coconut Chicken Soup. This dish is served in every restaurant in Thailand and Thai restaurant in America but is done so poorly in most American restaurants. This soup had the right blend of coconut milk and coconut cream, with tender chicken and mushrooms with great Galanga Ginger and Kaffir Lime flavors and the perfect amount of sweet, sour, salty and spice that Thai food strives to deliver. Hands down the best Thai soup in Florida.We also had the Vegetable Summer Rolls which were very fresh and came with two different dipping sauces. A very smooth Thai peanut sauce and a sweet Laotian dipping sauce that I had not had before. Booth sauces were excellent and really made the rolls special tasting.For entrees we had Massaman Beef Curry and Laab Kai minced chicken salad. Both dishes were very authentic. The Massaman is what I like to think of as Thai Beef Stew. The flavor profiles were very good sweet and peanutty. The dish should have been cooked a little longer to get the potatoes and carrots softer and to thicken up the sauce some but still nice.The Laab Kai or minced chicken salad was authentic with the right spice level and served on a lettuce leaf that people sometimes use to eat the dish and with sliced cucumbers. It was also served with Sticky Rice that came in a traditional Laotian Woven Bowl that really added a special and authentic feel to the dish. I liked the dish but it is somewhat of an acquired taste that my wife did not like. It could have been a little sweeter which I remedied with some of the broth from the soup and massaman curry dishes.We finished the meal with the Thai dessert of Mango and warm Sweet Coconut Sticky Rice. The Rice and Coconut Cream were perfect. The mango was not as good as some of the Thai mango varieties but was still great. Definitely a dish everyone should try.They had a good selection of Thai drinks. We had the Thai Iced Tea that always helps to tame the spiciness of Thai food with the sweet condensed milk.Overall we had a very nice meal. Our Laotian server Ting was excellent and spoke some Thai with me and taught me a little about Laotian food and its differences versus Thai food. The outside appearance of the restaurant was somewhat basic but the inside was very clean and was decorated with Laotian woven baskets, etc. They also seem to have a thriving Takeout service as well. All of the food together was under $50. Which normally costs me close to $100 at other Thai restaurants that are not nearly as good.We will definitely be returning to try other items from their extensive menu.

If youre looking for Thai food in Lake wales this is your spot. Homemade and delicious

The food is amazing! The service excellent! It's my daughter's and my favorite restaurant in Lake Wales. We have been there a few times together and I have been several times by myself and it has been consistently great each time. I highly recommend it!!!

Delicious food, great service! Everything was so tasty... Veggie spring rolls, sausage appetizer, Chicken satay, penang curry, pad thai. The place is super clean and I like the open kitchen. I will DEFINITELY be going back!