Laughing Buddha Bar

2 Reviews on “Laughing Buddha Bar”

• Christina Silva

  Went for lunch with my daughter & it was very good! It’s a mix of Asain food, but mostly Japanese & Chinese. There was pho and some Thai dishes, though, and I felt like there was good variety. I got a bento box with chicken & broccoli, and my daughter had crispy dumplings (appetizer). It was a bit pricey, but it really was a TON of food, and everything was very, VERY tasty. Choice of soup (best egg drop soup I’ve ever had) 2 crab rangoon, 2 crispy dumplings, salad, 8 good-sized pieces of California roll, and my main dish (I feel like there was something more than I’m forgetting…). I wish there had been better-priced lunch specials, but it was very, very good.

  November 11, 2016, 10:59 pm

  Log in to Reply
• Naor Wallach

  What a strange experience. Both ups and downs. The end result is the rating that I give this place and please realize that this is a result of the blend of everything that happened to us during our visit. Let’s start with the place itself. Since Leonard’s Living Room closed eight or nine years ago, this location has seen a variety of restaurants come, stick around for a couple of years, and then go. Not sure if the location is cursed, or what the problem is, but the Laughing Buddha Bar is the current name of the place. There is ample seating inside and a large patio that overlooks Washington Road and is covered so you can choose where to sit depending on the weather. The decor has been updated since the last iteration by the addition of several sizeable Buddha’s in various locations – which makes sense, given the name of the place.The first oddity was that just inside the first set of glass doors, the owners have kept the waterfall / fountain that has been there for some number of years. that was not strange in and of itself, but what was strange is that the fountain has been dry for over a year! Why have something like that right at the entrance, but then not operate it?We entered the second set of doors, saw, and admired. the large buddhas that overlook the Sushi bar and waited. There was no one at the hostess desk. After a few minutes, a your man came by and asked us if we wanted a table. We answered that we did, so he grabbed a bunch of menus and took us towards the patio. After we indicated our preference for an inside table, he changed directions and sat us at a table that had windows that looked out at … the patio!. This restaurant advertises itself as pan-Asian so I expected to see a variety of dishes from around that continent. Somewhat to my disappointment, there was a Japanese-style menu and then a mostly Chinese menu on the opposite side of the menu. There were a couple of dishes that were probably inspired by Thai food, and that was it. No Indonesian, no Pho, no Indian. Also, what struck us was that contrary to almost all the Chinese restaurants we visited in our lifetimes, the menu was relatively small. Upon reading it, it became even smaller as several of the dishes were basically the same thing with only one or two ingredients being different. Hmmm…After looking things over, we ended up ordering the Thai Basil Chicked, the Ginger and Scallion Chicken (its listed as having shrimp but we asked for a change to the chicken, which the server agreed to do after he checked with the kitchen staff), and something called Imperial Crispy beef. Each of the entrees comes with a soup and we tried the Hot and Sour Soup and Wonton Soup. One of our party asked for a bubble tea which is advertised on the menu in various flavors. For rice you can only choose between steamed white rice, and fried rice. We asked about Brown rice and were told it was not offered.The bubble tea was made and brought over and then the soups. While there was visible steam rising from each of the bowls, all three soups were lukewarm which was strange. The hot and sour soup was neither hot in the spicy sense, nor sour – it tasted like watered down beef broth which then had a bunch of assorted items thrown in. The wonton soup also tasted very watered down and did not have any resemblance to the chicken soups we’ve had elsewhere. By this point, we are getting worried!Our worries only got worse as time went on. Between the soups arriving and out main dishes, twenty minutes or more passed. In a Chinese restaurant? With a limited menu? we looked around thinking that maybe some large parties are in the place and demanding all of the kitchen’s attention but there could not have been more than 6 or 7 parties in all three of the dining areas and they were in various stages of their meals. It’s a complete mystery.The entrees did arrive finally and here again, we found many strange things. The flavors of the main dishes were absolutely superb! The Thai chicken sauch was silky smooth with evident coconut milk and curry flavors married beautifully with the basil flavors. The ginger and scallion chicken had large slices of ginger in attendance and the zucchini and onion that accompanied the chicken slices were perfectly sized for the dish. The crispy beef was obviously deep fried to get that crispiness and was aboslutely delicious with the orange flavors that predominated. Sound wonderful doesn’t it?What we could not understand was why the broccoli that came with the beef was room temperature? Why was the fried rice basically white rice that was then reheated with a splash of soy sauce? And why did all this take so long? It’s a conundrum that so much wonderful flavor was spolied by such silly practices in the kitchen!We are not sure whether we will ever return. While the food was very tasty, the rest of it was somewhat offputting. The biggest reason why we may not come back is that with such a limited menu, there would not be many additional dishes we would want to try and there are excellent Chinese and Japanese restaurant around the area where the food is almost equally delicious, but without all the oddities.

  September 11, 2016, 5:51 am

  Log in to Reply