Wild Orchid Restaurant

Delicious bùn, i got mine to go with pork. I kinda like the extra sauce that comes with the pork, has a more savory taste than the sweet "house" sauce that comes with the salad. Got jumbo egg rolls, very large! Tasted garlicy and flavorful. Curious why they look so orange? The thai tea had little chunks? Like the condensed milk wasnt stirred well? The photo of the tea is from after i stirred and shook it up as well as i could.

Delicious bùn, i got mine to go with pork. I kinda like the extra sauce that comes with the pork, has a more savory taste than the sweet "house" sauce that comes with the salad. Got jumbo egg rolls, very large! Tasted garlicy and flavorful. Curious why they look so orange? The thai tea had little chunks? Like the condensed milk wasnt stirred well? The photo of the tea is from after i stirred and shook it up as well as i could.

We were on our way back to Madison & found this cute gem on our way. The restaurant name stated “Vietnamese and Chinese” but they also served Hmong/Thai food too. The server was very polite and greeted everyone before seating. We got water immediately. It was around 12:30pm on a Sunday, so it wasn’t too busy- there were at least 3-4 other tables in and out during our time there. I was craving boat noodle and see they have a regular and a mini version ($4). Both my partner and I ordered both just to see how small is the mini! We also ordered crying tiger laab and viet coffee + Thai ice tea. Prices were fair and this is something that will continue to bring them business. I see other restaurants who overcharge and give subpar food quality and small portions so great job on this! Thai boat noodle - flavor wise, it’s good. I would give it a 5/5. However, it felt like a regular pho to me and not enough rich pork blood infused with the broth. The color of the broth was light brown and it seemed more of a powder added to a broth (?) I was anticipating dark brown. I would also encourage the owner to add pork blood cube in there as an option. Due to this, it brought my rating down to a 3.5/5. If you were to blind fold and taste the broth, it’s a 5/5 - there wasn’t need to add any condiments. Salt level was appropriate too. Not too salty and not bland, which is a win. Crying Tiger Laab- 5/5. I got 2 peppers but it felt like 3 which is fine. No biggie. Hands down, I would come back for this! Flavor and texture were there. We received some lettuce and celery to eat with it. After trying, my partner decided if this is good, that means their raw laab would also be good and we ended up getting it to go. Thai tea- The tea was excellent. The server brought it out without infusing milk and I thought this was how they make it here until I saw another customer who ordered the same thing and they had milk. Not an issue to us. We simply just asked the server if she can add some milk for us too. We learned that they ran out of milk at the time we ordered and the owner came in with more milk at the time we asked. Perhaps the server can let customers know next time should they run out of milk. Viet coffee- 3.5/5. It tasted like an American coffee - good amount of bitterness from the actual coffee roast but it didn’t really taste like Viet coffee. Maybe the half and half overpowered. I’m not sure! During our stay, we see the owner engaged with some tables/customers asking how are things going which you don’t see that quite often! Server also checked up on tables. Overall, we had a good experience and gave a 20% tip on a $85 bill for 2 ppl. We would come back again!

We were on our way back to Madison & found this cute gem on our way. The restaurant name stated “Vietnamese and Chinese” but they also served Hmong/Thai food too. The server was very polite and greeted everyone before seating. We got water immediately. It was around 12:30pm on a Sunday, so it wasn’t too busy- there were at least 3-4 other tables in and out during our time there. I was craving boat noodle and see they have a regular and a mini version ($4). Both my partner and I ordered both just to see how small is the mini! We also ordered crying tiger laab and viet coffee + Thai ice tea. Prices were fair and this is something that will continue to bring them business. I see other restaurants who overcharge and give subpar food quality and small portions so great job on this! Thai boat noodle - flavor wise, it’s good. I would give it a 5/5. However, it felt like a regular pho to me and not enough rich pork blood infused with the broth. The color of the broth was light brown and it seemed more of a powder added to a broth (?) I was anticipating dark brown. I would also encourage the owner to add pork blood cube in there as an option. Due to this, it brought my rating down to a 3.5/5. If you were to blind fold and taste the broth, it’s a 5/5 - there wasn’t need to add any condiments. Salt level was appropriate too. Not too salty and not bland, which is a win. Crying Tiger Laab- 5/5. I got 2 peppers but it felt like 3 which is fine. No biggie. Hands down, I would come back for this! Flavor and texture were there. We received some lettuce and celery to eat with it. After trying, my partner decided if this is good, that means their raw laab would also be good and we ended up getting it to go. Thai tea- The tea was excellent. The server brought it out without infusing milk and I thought this was how they make it here until I saw another customer who ordered the same thing and they had milk. Not an issue to us. We simply just asked the server if she can add some milk for us too. We learned that they ran out of milk at the time we ordered and the owner came in with more milk at the time we asked. Perhaps the server can let customers know next time should they run out of milk. Viet coffee- 3.5/5. It tasted like an American coffee - good amount of bitterness from the actual coffee roast but it didn’t really taste like Viet coffee. Maybe the half and half overpowered. I’m not sure! During our stay, we see the owner engaged with some tables/customers asking how are things going which you don’t see that quite often! Server also checked up on tables. Overall, we had a good experience and gave a 20% tip on a $85 bill for 2 ppl. We would come back again!

I wish I could give this place 3.5 stars, but I’ll round up. It’s good. Just good. I really enjoyed my mixed vermicelli bowl and spring rolls. The main warning I have is this: the portions are INSANE. If you’ve ever been to Southeast Asia, you’ll know that you receive a fair, reasonable amount of food for the price. It’s usually quite perfect. This place, however, serves *very* American portion sizes. Like, this might be the only meal you’ll eat all day. Both the vermicelli bowl and the spring rolls were so enormous that I was shocked. I walked away wanting to take a nap. I’d even go so far to say that I was uncomfortably full. If you go here as the first and only meal of the day, it might be perfect, but just be warned that you are getting a TON of food. Even my friend’s pho was ridiculously sized. At the very least, you’re getting really great value. Considering the sizes of the dishes, the prices are pretty good.