Bai Bua Thai Cuisine

The mango dessert is so pretty. I admit it, the all the IG pictures drew me in. Also tasty! Worth the $ 10 price tag.
Liked the Thai Iced tea — the sweetness & consistency reminded me of what we got in Thailand.
The tom yum noodle soup is fantastic — I really enjoyed it, lots of flavours going on.
Pad Thai is one of the better ones in the city.
All around solid choice for Thai food. Simple décor, friendly service.

So thankful that I have found this place! This restaurant made me want to start a Unilocal account just so I could rate and review how good their food and service is!
My favourite time to visit is during their lunch hours as they have a lunch special that comes with a soup + appetizer aside from a main dish. The Pad Thai and the Coconut Lovers dessert is my all time favourite and I would definitely come back; especially with the friendly staff!

Bai Bua Thai is turning into a local favourite. The distinct flavours, the variety of items offered and it’s always fresh and tasty. I’m so happy I can get my curry on and not worry terribly about being gluten contaminated. I don’t eat at a lot of places because I worry that I’ll get sick later, but they seem to have an understanding about gluten intolerance at Bai Bua Thai.
I’m not saying don’t bother to ask the usual and generally necessary food prep questions, I still do every time but so far it’s been okay for me.
You’ll return not only for the food, but the warm friendly environment. Eat in or take out. But stay, cause it’s cute in there and the people are nice.

My friends speak very highly of this restaurant so we decide to come here for dinner. They love the food here but not me. The price is definitely little bit cheaper than Salathai and Sawasdee but I find the taste is below both restaurants. We ordered the panang curry, pineapple fried rice and pad prig pao seafood. The panang is too much sauce and not much meat and I find the flavour is too sweet. The pineapple fried rice is just ok but could use little bit more seasoning and the seafood is alright. I also ordered the Thai ice tea which they put way too much evaporated milk and not enough tea mix in there so the tea is too sweet since I practically drink evaporated milk. The worst part is customer service. The waitress appears nice but lazy and beyond bad in ignoring the customers, not attentive and didn’t bring out drinks and chilli sauce when we asked numerous times for them. My friends ordered beers and she forgot the order and she also forgot my tea drink. Then I repeatedly wave at her to get her attention, she looked at me few times and pretended not to see me until I kept waving at her. I asked her over four times for chilli sauce and she kept forgetting to bring out the chilli sauce so by the fifth times, I got pissed off and told her that this is the fifth times I had asked already. She proceeded and brought puny tiny portion of chilli sauce for us. The waitresses were standing around chit chatting and didn’t even bother taking away the empty bottles and dishes. Customer service is beyond bad and not even worth it to come back here for just average quality food. There are way better Thai restaurants out there with better customer service.

I’ve been here twice now, and I think it’s time that I comment on this restaurant.
The food here is good and fast. The flavours of fish sauce and Thai aromatics, like kaffir lime leaves and Thai basil, can be tasted in our dishes. I had the «street food» noodle soup. It was good, but did not quite match the flavours of the street noodle soups in Thailand. The Pad Thai was also good, but I found it to be a little sweet. I liked that they used a tamarind based sauce instead of tomato based — tomatoes do NOT belong in Pad Thai. It could’ve used more Thai chilies, though. My wife had the lunch special L1 today, a stir fry with Thai holy basil. I found that it was quite delicious. The beans were crunchy, and the fried egg had crispy whites and a runny yolk.
Today service was prompt as they weren’t busy compared to the first time we visited. Service lagged a little when they were busy and it was difficult to flag down a server. The food came quickly this go around. Staff were courteous, but care more about efficiency than hospitality.

So glad this placed opened in our neighbourhood!
We strongly suggest you try their:
–thai iced tea
–red curry
–curry noodle
–mango sticky rice
It was been difficult to find a place that made a good Thai Iced Tea and they have it! Their prices are not too expensive and the service is always great.

Service is horrible or non exististence.
They never came to check up on us and see how we’re doing. After our meal the waitress just comes up to us and ask us «Are you done», no smile or anything.
Food is basic.
Order the Thai ice tea, it’s different from what I’ve had before and not pleasant to my taste buds therefore didn’t like.
Starters we had the crispy wonton with some very diluted sauce that we could not taste. The wonton were very tiny, not much meat in it at all.
Tried out their Pad See Ew with pork, all I tasted was black and white pepper and that’s it. Not good and very oily.
Desserts we tried out their famous thai dessert the Mango & Sticky Rice is very pretty but tastes very odd to me. The mango is good but with the warm sticky rice, it just doesn’t go well in my opinion.
Overall this place would be a 1.5÷5. Nothing appealing for me to ever come back for here.

Food is super. Absolutely super. I’ve never heard my boyfriend rave so highly about a curry. He literally wants to be buried with it.
I think the service could be worked on a bit, dishes come out a bit staggered and everyone is always waiting on someone else’s food, but I won’t reflect that in my review because the staff is always so lovely.

Bai Bua Thai Cuisine is family owned restaurant on Hastings Sunrise neighborhood. It is close to Tacofino Commissary and Mr. Red Café. Bai Bua itself means Lotus Leaf — often used as food wraps and as herbal medicine. Bai Bua itself is brightly lit, open and welcoming.
Chicken Wings 7.99: 8 pieces of deep fried crispy wings marinated in garlic and spices. Juicy and plump and came piping hot. The batter is light, not greasy and reminds me a Church’s. And that is a good thing!
Chicken Satay 7.90: Grilled marinated chicken in coconut milk, turmeric, garlic, Thai spices and served with peanut sauce, salsa of fresh cucumber and red onion. I thought it was a little dry and flavors were bland.
Tom Kha Gai (Chicken coconut milk soup) 10.90: Ever since we went to Departure, we have been craving Tom Kha Gai. So naturally we had to order this when we saw it on the menu. Tom Kha Gai is a spicy coconut milk soup. This one is a little thin but still has a lot of great flavors. Lots of chicken, mushrooms, coriander, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaf, chili, galangal ginger and lime juice.
Som Tum (Papaya Salad) 8.90: One of my favorite dishes of the night. Their Papaya salad with medium heat is refreshing and delicious. Shreaded green papaya, carrot, lime, tamarind juices, green bean, tomato, fresh chili, garlic, peanut and fish sauce. Just the right amount of tart, spices and acidity.
Pad Thai with Prawns 10.99: Stir fried thin rice noodles, tamarind sauce, sugar, salted radish, egg, chives, bean sprouts and ground peanuts. The noodles were a little sweet. I added some chili oil to it and it was ok.
Next time I will definitely order the mango sticky rice. It is made into a shape of a rose. It is so pretty in photos. But I’m looking forward to their curries and other signature Thai dishes.

For Vancouver, I think this is about as good as it gets. Large portions with fairly authentic tastes imho. Although it claims to be street food, the décor, tableware, and dishes scream modern hipster. Perhaps, modern Thailand is more hipster than we’d like to believe.
When they asked for spicy, I requested mild. This was a safe choice. Normally I ask for moderate or regular spice levels, but something about this place made me feel that wouldn’t be a good idea. I love spice, but I could tell from even the mild levels, that if you requested «very spicy», it will be catastrophic levels of burning thai heat. There’s a reason for that large bottle of table water.
Order the large rice for $ 6 to share. The small rice is just enough for one person but the container is very cute. I thought the chicken was just bordering on dry instead of tender. The beef was good. The papaya salad was a bigger portion than I was expecting. Drenched in fish sauce, with grilled peanuts, it was quite good. The spring rolls tasted home made. The Khao Soi curry noodle was excellent, as was the Penang Curry.

Man! You gotta try this authentic Thai restaurant. This is the best one among all other Thai restaurants in Lower Mainland that I have tried so far.
Ambiance
The owner painted the walls white and drew some special flower designs with some gold colour on the flowers. The interior design made the ambiance and environment more comfortable and it was bright inside the restaurant.
Pricing
The prices on all the dishes are quite reasonable or not too expensive comparing to the ones in Vancouver west like the ones on Cambie Street, Granville Street and Vancouver downtown.
Food
Excellent! Very authentic! Very delicious! You have to try the food in person. If I tell you how well the food and drink are, this is not good enough. You have to experience and taste everything yourself.
Service
Average. The servers were oaky. Not very friendly. But they were polite.
I would like to come back and try other dishes.
Cheers!

New fav thai place in the hood! We had fish cakes, and noodle dish with prawns (not pad thai, another one with thick noodles and basil), and green curry. Everything was amazing and we’ll go back very soon to eat all the food. We were a tad sad to not have a drink with dinner, but that’s cheaper and healthier I guess.
Their dessert looked deslish but we were stuffed — I wasn’t such a fan of the fish cakes, so I’d prob hold off on that next time and get the dessert instead.
It was super busy when we arrived, but quieted down after — maybe wait so that you can avoid the dinner rush a bit? But definitely go, since I want this place to stick around!!!

Normally I’m loathe to give a newbie such a high rating so early – why spoil them — lol — but considering the area, this is a welcome addition. Thailicious should be worried haha.
Here is more of a modern feel and date worthy.
Ordered the green curry as a barometer and loved the taste. Not too creamy. As per pics, generous portions of vegetables. Hey they’re getting expensive these days.
Impressed by wide variety of rice options.
As usual, asked for extra spicy was. Free wifi.
Soup included and deep fried wontons, nice touch.
Friendly service.

I never thought I would find another decent Thai restaurant that’s up to par with Kin Kao so needless to say I am thrilled to have stumbled upon Bai Bua Thai.
My first impression of the restaurant is that the interior is very clean and inviting. White walls are sharply contrasted by dark artistic wall arts and dark colored furniture. A modern yet antique-​y chandelier hangs regally above the cash register. This place is so pretty I was skeptical at first if it could serve up unique Thai food.
After much contemplation, I ordered a deep-​fried tofu appetizer, pad thai (with tofu), and tom yum noodle soup (with chicken). Service was efficient and very friendly.
Deep-​fried tofu, these geometric triangular blocks of goodness, reminded me of real fried tofu on the dirty streets of Asia. The glowing golden crispy skins enveloped the delicate soft tofu. When one’s greed overrides his common sense, he’d reach for them and devour in light speed. The consequence is a burn wound on the roof of the mouth and full satisfaction in the tummy. Seriously, these blocks are piping hot! You’ll regret rush eating because you wouldn’t be able to enjoy the rest of your orders. The dipping peanut sauce accompanied with the tofu was slightly sweet and syrupy. This appetizer was a strong prelude.
Pad Thai and tom yum noodle soup arrived almost at the same time. Visually the Pad Thai looked on the wet side but nonetheless delectable. After stirring in the fresh bean sprouts and giving the lime wedge a manly squeeze, I proceeded to eating in silence. Man, this Pad Thai = so damn good! The rice noodles were still chewy (awesome!), the flavors of tamarind and fish sauce had just the right amount of acidity and savoriness (I could have used «umami» but I would sound too much like the Unilocalers from South Park). Our ever-​so-​friendly waiter brought us a glass jar of what looked like home made chili flakes. The heat is not for the faint of heart. The crunchy texture, flavors, and fresh ingredients made my dish of Pad Thai an A+.
The tom yum noodle soup with sliced chicken breast — it was everything I needed to warm up on a cold rainy night. The tom yum was creamy and fragrant. I felt the flavor was exponentially deeper than the others I’ve tried so far (in a good way). My hypothesis is that the lemongrass, lime leaves, galangal, black cardamon were cut up/​crushed to small cereal size where the larger surface area can better expose the flavors into the soup. I had no problem spitting out slivers of lemon grass and crushed lime leaves. To me it added to the experience.
I felt the food was truly «authentic», «well-​prepared», and «unforgettable» as printed on the front page of their menus. No doubt I would return.

I personally have never been a big Thai food fan, maybe 4 to 5 times max out of 365 days… but I was very impressed after I tried BBTC last night. It is new, it is clean & upbeat, it is accommodating, not too noisy, not too dark, overall ambiance makes you feel comfortable to eat here.
Now the food part, the pictured menu is clear & simple, dishes are tasty, right amount of flavor, very pleasant presentation, unique choice of ingredients, good portions with fair prices. I actually am quite attracted to their dessert menu only if their prices would be sweeter for my wallet. On the side note, I don’t feel thirsty at all when I get home at midnight… and that for sure is a plus.
Talk about the service, there are only 3 servers but they were very efficient, and attentive. And I really like their uniforms which is all black.
I rated BBTC the 5 because it does hit my «personal» hot buttons — Separated M/​F clean big bright washrooms (see my attached photo) and accepting credit cards. I definitely will come back for more…

Super tasty street Thai food.
Spring rolls were really good. Spicy red curry chicken was really good to. Crispy pork with Thai greens super tasty but they could have dressed the pork a little better as there was plenty of sinew cartilage to pick through.
–1 for service and atmosphere. I’ve seen grow opps that had less lights on than this place. And our spring rolls came out last. And no liquor licensed. Not really a date nite place just really good priced really tasty Thai food.

Very delicious food~~
I came to the restaurant with my family and my first thought was «wow, it doesnt look like any other thai restaurant». The food is delicious, it is not too spicy for me.
My favorite is a coconut lover and thai ice tea.
I would reccomend this place to anyone who come to hasting street and want to try out Thai food :)

This is the kind of restaurant that makes our neighbourhood awesome. Delicious but not too expensive!
Simple yet thoughtful details were everywhere. It’s a family run restaurant, and they seem really excited to finally be open!
I’m including pictures of the menu, zoom and they should be readable. We tried the green chicken currie (very good), Tao Tu Tod (fried tofu with a yummy peanut sauce) and Tom Kha Gai soup (best we’ve had in years). I didn’t take pictures until halfway through the meal, so take into account the portions are larger than seen here. :)

Fresh and cheerful décor and enthusiastic service bring you in, but the food is the real star. Lots of attention to detail everywhere you look.
East Van sensibility meets authentic Thai food. Like your favorite café, but with soups and curries to impress. Sure to be a new neighborhood favorite!